The Back Porch News

The nominations for the 49th Grammy awards have been announced and as usual many of the selections for Folk and related categories seem, well odd. I guess Springsteen’s very contemporary rendering of a bunch of traditional songs was hard to place but I would have included it in the contemporary. I’d much rather the academy included a separate category for Americana rather than lumping it with Contemporary Folk.

Oh well this is pretty much what we’ve come to expect. My sweetie, who was once upon a time a member of the recording academy says that the nominating ballot is about the size of the Manhattan phone book. Most of the people who are voting don’t have a clue outside their own particular genre so of course they vote for the most recognizable names. Anyway here are the nominations in the Folk, Blues and Bluegrass categories.

Best Traditional Folk Album

• I Stand Alone Ramblin’ Jack Elliott [Anti]
• Gonna Let It Shine Odetta [M.C. Records]
• Adieu False Heart Linda Ronstadt & Ann Savoy [Vanguard Records]
• We Shall Overcome — The Seeger Sessions Bruce Springsteen [Columbia]
• A Distant Land To Roam Ralph Stanley [Columbia/DMZ]

Best Contemporary Folk/Americana Album

• Solo Acoustic Vol. 1 Jackson Browne [Inside Recordings]
• Black Cadillac Rosanne Cash [Capitol]
• Workbench Songs Guy Clark [Dualtone Music Group]
• Modern Times Bob Dylan [Columbia]
• All The Roadrunning Mark Knopfler & Emmylou Harris [Warner Bros./Nonesuch]

Best Bluegrass Album

• Long List Of Heartaches,The Grascals, [Rounder]
• Bluegrass, Jim Lauderdale, [Yep Roc]
• Instrumentals,Ricky Skaggs And Kentucky Thunder,[Skaggs Family Records]
• Live At The Ryman, Marty Stuart And His Fabulous Superlatives,[Superlatone Records/Universal South Records]
• All American Bluegrass Girl, Rhonda Vincent,[Rounder]

Best Traditional Blues Album

• Brother To The Blues,Tab Benoit With Louisiana’s Leroux,[Telarc Blues]
• Bronx In Blue,Dion,[Razor & Tie / The Orchard]
• People Gonna Talk,James Hunter,[Rounder]
• Guitar Groove-A-Rama,Duke Robillard,[Stony Plain Records]
• Risin’ With The Blues,Ike Turner,[Zoho Roots]

Best Contemporary Blues Album

• Live From Across The Pond,Robert Cray Band,[Vanguard Records/Nozzle Records]
• Sippiana Hericane, Dr. John & The Lower 911,[Blue Note Records]
• Suitcase, Keb’ Mo’,[Epic/One Haven/Red Ink]
• Hope And Desire,Susan Tedeschi,[Verve Forecast]
• After The Rain, Irma Thomas,[Rounder]

The complete list of nominees can be found here if you’re interested.

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