DEANA CARTER WILL PERFORM AT PEPPY'S

Peppy's Sports Bar in Cape Girardeau scored big earlier this year when it managed to sign Deana Carter to a concert -- just before her country music hit "Strawberry Wine" soared to the top spot on the country charts.

Peppy's general manager, Doug Armour, said he and two other clubs, one in Louisville, Ky., and Cincinnati, who he keeps in contact with, decided to sign Carter in September when "Strawberry Wine" made its appearance on the Billboard chart.

"We thought she might be good and now they're saying she might be the next Shania Twain," Armour said, referring to the platinum-selling singer famous for such songs as "Any Man of Mine," and the "Woman in Me."

"She has only five club dates booked for this month and Peppy's, Louisville and Cincinnati are three of them."

Carter will be performing songs from her debut album "Did I Shave My Legs For This?" at Peppy's 9 Tuesday night.

Not only did Peppy's land a red hot performer for the concert, they got her at a bargain-basement price and at just the right time. Carter will be releasing her second single from "Did I Shave My Legs For This?" this week.

"Her price went up about $50,000 practically the day after we signed her," Armour said.

Carter inherited her musical talents from her father Fred Carter Jr., at one time one of Nashville's most sought-after session guitarists. She got her start in country music performing in Willie Nelson's Farm Aid VII. She co-wrote six of the 11 songs on her album.

Carter jokes in a prepared statement that she shouldn't even bother giving her songs titles, just name them after the people who influenced them.

The title track of "Did I Shave My Legs For This?" was written after a session of girl talk with friends.

"When I sing this in front of an audience, the women out there immediately start to sing the chorus with me," Carter has said. "They know. The song comes from a specific incident in my life, but I wanted it to be the album title because it also describes being prepared for one thing, and running into something different."