Grammy-nominated country music vocalist Martina McBride [ tickets ], a candidate for major crossover success, will spend much of 2000 on an extensive tour that will hit most parts of the United States. McBride's fifth album for RCA Nashville, the 1999 release "Emotion," has sold better than 500,000 copies, and comes of the heels of her double-platinum 1997 release, "Evolution."

McBride, who has never won a Grammy Award, is nominated this year in the Best Country Female Vocal Performance category for ''I Love You,'' a track from "Emotion" that also appears on the soundtrack to the motion picture "Runaway Bride." Besides receiving support from country radio, the track was a hit on adult contemporary radio.

Tonight and tomorrow (1/21-22), McBride is performing at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, which is taking place at its most famous home, Ryman Auditorium, for the rest of January. (The Opry came to the Ryman Auditorium earlier this month, having been in the Grand Ole Opry House at Opryland since 1974; it returns to Opryland in February.)

McBride's touring plans for 2000 include a slot in the George Strait Country Music Festival, a stadium tour that gets underway in late April. A large slate of fair dates planned for the summer, as well as dates at theater-sized venues, are scattered into McBride's itinerary throughout the year.