This year the Grammy's and SPBGMA fell
on the same weekend. Sitting in our trailer in Lake Manatee State
Park near Bradenton, FL, trying to keep an eye on both events was an
interesting and thought provoking spectator sport. Much better than
the sound of drag racing coming from across the street.
There's something quaint about the name
Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music in America. It
suggests that bluegrass is dying and that a major effort is required
to keep it alive. The awards themselves are an exercise in nostalgia,
a fan-based selection of bands, musicians, and song-writers worthy of
recognition who might not have received sufficient notice in other
settings, event producers, and others. The arbitrary division of
singers into contemporary and traditional divisions allows for more
awards to be presented. While, as of last Tuesday, no complete list
of SPBGMA Award Winners had yet been posted (Grammy Awards were
available almost immediately, as were IBMA winners last fall), it was
good to see the Larry Stephenson Band win the Best Album award for
his latest gospel album, Pull Your Savior In, Ben Greene as
banjo player of the year. and Bertie Sullivan for her very popular
festival in Louisiana. Nominations for SPBGMA awards are based on
mail-in forms, which, I understand, may be photo-copied and sent
anonymously. Final voting is limited to people who pay to attend the
SPBGMA festival in Nashville on Saturday night. There is, apparently,
no Society, that is, an organization devoted to the preservation
of bluegrass music in America. Rather, there is a very popular winter
festival held in Nashville which, by all accounts, offers an exciting
and engaging time for all who attend. The stunning disregard for
attention beyond its own self-serving goals regarding the people who
win its awards is obvious from the lack of publicity provided by the
awards to its own winners.
Meanwhile, out in Sodom and
Gomorrah...., oops, Hollywood, there was also a musical awards
ceremony going on. As a matter of personal taste, merely getting past
the opening production from AC/DC, looking like a group of severely
aging British public (elite private) schoolers, was a real step for
me. Much of the music featured on the Grammy awards is really not to
my taste, and I don't seek it out for my own listening. The
subdivisions between various iterations of rock music or hip hop
elude me. Billy Joel wrote, “It's still rock and roll to me,” and
I think that applies, broadly, to other genres as well. I spent well
over an hour on Sunday night watching the Grammy's while following my
Twitter and Facebook feeds. While there were differences in tone and
emphasis between the two show, they were useful. (The only coverage
of SPBGMA winners was provided by sound engineer/bassist Rebekkah
Long, who was there and provided a running list of award winners,
without comment.) The Grammy Awards can be counted on for revealing
dress, outrageous behavior, and plenty of pizzazz while presenting
some stunning performances by up-and-comers, current stars, and
legendary former headliners. I'm certain that each separate
performance found an audience, but the whole show, because of its
broad spectrum, must have had many reaching for their remote control.
But it appears that there's a question
about performances at the Grammy Awards: Is it music? Here's three
responses from my Facebook feed. “Not my planet...I live amongst
people who buy and actually listen to Kanye music, if that's what you
call it. He got big because of you and your lack of knowing what
music is” comes from one person. Here's former ASCAP VP and current
professor of music business at Belmont College Dan Keen's take on the
same performer. “Ok...so...I often tell my students that it's
pointless to bash success. Just figure out why it works.
But...well...I'm looking at the list of Top 5 Grammy winners of all
time; Alison Krause (sic) - 28, U2 - 22, John Williams- 21, Chic (sic) Corea-20 -
all amazingly worthy and...and...I can't say it....I'm going to throw
up...oh lord...Kanye...also with 21. Life has no meaning...” and
finally, a comment from Skip Cherryholmes, guitar player for
Sideline, “Extremely disappointed with music in general... (If it
can even be called that anymore).” I couldn't find the comment I
read that there was “no music” on the Grammy show. Lots of what I
see and hear isn't to my musical taste. What a sad and boring world
it would be if everyone liked exactly the same music I do! And how
would I ever discover new music to I enjoy and even come to treasure
if I weren't being constantly introduced to more and different music?
But whether I like it or not, it's still music. The very modern
contemporary classical music composer John Cage once presented a
piece in which the performer sat down at the piano and didn't play a
note for twenty minutes....the sound of silence. It was music to some
ears. So let's give up this meme of what is or isn't music. It's all
a matter of taste.
More interesting to me is how did
bluegrass and bluegrass related/derived music fare at the Grammy
Awards on Sunday? The Grammy for Best Bluegrass Album went to The
Earls of Leicester's self-titled (and wonderfully ironic) CD The
Earls of Leicester. When I
heard this band at IBMA's World of Bluegrass in Raleigh last fall, I
found it to be one of the highest impact bluegrass bands I had ever
heard: a spot-on tribute to Flatt & Scruggs as they must have
sounded at their very best. I imagined it must have struck me the way
the original Flatt & Scruggs concert in Carnegie Hall on December
8, 1962 must have hit those who were there. This recording belongs as
a key holding in the collection of any lover of bluegrass. It also
reminds us of how much power the founders of the genre retain more
than fifty years after the original event. How's that for
preservation? The Grammy for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album
went to Chris Thile & Edgar Meyer for their recording Bass
& Mandolin. No one would
question Thile's chops as a bluegrass mandolin player. Who would deny
him the opportunity to express his genius in other ways and settings?
Who wouldn't claim him as “bluegrass”? The Grammy for Best Folk
Album went to Old Crow Medicine Show for their CD Remedy.
Old Crow doesn't even claim to
be a bluegrass band, and Wikipedia describes it as an Americana,
old-time string band, alt country, or folk band. But there's no
question that it's sound is bluegrass derived, has broadened the
popularity of the banjo, the quintessential instrument of bluegrass,
and influenced bluegrass as well as being influenced by it. Their
song Wagon Wheel is
heard from the stage and in jam circles at bluegrass festivals
everywhere, so popular it has become a cliché. Finally, one of the
most influential of all pre-bluegrass brother duos, The Louvin
Brothers, were given a Lifetime Achievement Award during the Grammy's
annual Special Merits Awards ceremony. They were also given a
Lifetime Achievement Award at the IBMA Special Awards luncheon in
2014. Perhaps most notably, only one performer was nominated for and
award at all three ceremonies: Female Vocalist of the Year. Rhonda
Vincent won the SPBGMA award.
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