I'M A LITTLE BIT COUNTRY

With live country music on the downswing of late, the Dixie Chicks are the only country crooners expected to make the jump to headliner status in 2000, with a 70-city North American arena tour running June through October. If older women are more your style, check out Wynonna Judd or Martina McBride. Or for twanging with a bit more testosterone, check out Brooks and Dunn, Clint Black, or Dwight Yoakam.

ROCKIN' IN THE FREE WORLD

If you prefer music with a bit more of an edge, there's plenty of that to go around this summer. Ozzy Osbourne, fresh off last year's suceessful "Ozzfest," plans another of his modestly-titled hard rock tours. Among the supporting players: Pantera, Godsmack and Methods of Mayhem. Metallica is also slated to hit the road, playing with Korn, Kid Rock, Powerman 5000 and System of a Down on their "Summer Sanitarium" tour. That heavy dose of metal kicks off June 30 at Foxboro Stadium and continues to other stadiums, speedways and arenas. Meanwhile, grunge lives on with Pearl Jam (fronted by Eddie Vedder, right), whose U.S. tour begins in August and runs through November. (The band's sixth album, Binaural, hits stores May 23.) If you're short on cash, but still craving some hard core rock, Limp Bizkit set out for a free concert tour (yes, free). Perhaps they're doing it all for the nookie-or maybe it's just that lucrative endorsement contract from Napster.com. Rock on.

To find out specific dates and more information about when these bands and others are coming to your hometown, check out local listings, the performers' respective websites or tour information websites www.livedaily.com, www.sfx.com and www.pollstar.com.