At the Grammys, there are four big categories, where recordings, songs and artists from all musical genres compete against one another: Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Album of the Year and Best New Artist. Over the years, many entries from the country music field have appeared.
We will look back at country contenders in all four categories over the next two weeks. If a year isn’t listed, then there were no country music nominations in the category that year. We’ll start with Record of the Year, beginning with this year’s nominees and working our way back.
2007
Mary J. Blige, “Be Without You”
James Blunt, “You’re Beautiful”
Dixie Chicks, “Not Ready to Make Nice”
Gnarls Barkley, “Crazy”
Corrine Bailey Rae, “Put Your Records On”
The Chicks are nominated here for the first time in their career, but they face stiff competition. I’d imagine this is a race between Blige and Blunt. “You’re Beautiful” and “Be Without You” were inescapable hits this year. Blige is the top nominee and this is the biggest category she has a chance to win in, and Blunt’s ballad is classic Grammy fodder.
1999
Brandy & Monica, “The Boy is Mine”
Celine Dion, “My Heart Will Go On”
Goo Goo Dolls, “Iris”
Madonna, “Ray of Light”
Shania Twain, “You’re Still the One”
Country hasn’t gotten much love in this race lately, as evidenced by the eight years separating the genre’s noms in this category. Twain won two Grammys in the country field for her warm anniversary ballad, but lost to Celine Dion’s Titanic anthem. Gotta love Twain, but for my money, “Ray of Light” is still a mind-blowing listen today. Madonna deserved this one.
1995
Boyz II Men, “I’ll Make Love to You”
Mary Chapin Carpenter, “He Thinks He’ll Keep Her”
Sheryl Crow, “All I Wanna Do”
Bonnie Raitt, “Love Sneakin’ Up On You”
Bruce Springsteen, “Streets of Philadelphia”
Mary Chapin Carpenter was a surprise nominee with one of her biggest hits. It remains the only country record to ever be nominated without also hitting the top 40 of the pop singles chart.
The vocal sounds worn down at times, but it works well given the song’s message. One of their better singles, “Lucky Man” is a timely reminder of what it means to be grateful for what you have, even if you still sometimes feel envy for what you don’t have. I’m a big fan of this duo when they’re at their best, which is on smart material like this, not the mindless redneck rave-ups that are all microphone stand-twirling bombast. They’re starting to age gracefully.
Olivia Newton-John has inked a digital distribution deal with Digital Music Group, Inc. (DMGI), effective immediately. This deal provides distribution for four rare Newton-John albums, two of which have only been released in specialty stores and one that has never seen a U.S. release. The albums, which are already available on iTunes, are:
Released last year in Walgreen’s drug stores across America, Grace & Gratitude is a spiritual album that draws influence from religious traditions around the world.
Download Now: “Instrument of Peace”, “Let Go Let God”, “Pearls on a Chain”
Released exclusively through Hallmark Gold Crown Stores as a fundraiser for breast cancer research, Newton-John wrote the bulk of the tracks and reworked one of her classic country hits (“Don’t Stop Believin’”). The closing track, “Serenity”, is based on the famous prayer.
Download Now: “Can I Trust Your Arms”, “Serenity”, “Stronger Than Before”
This collection of covers, produced by the legendary Phil Ramone, features songs by women that inspired Newton-John during her formative years. It sold well in Australia and England, and is now available for the first time in the United States.
Download Now: “Anyone Who Had a Heart”, “Where Have All the Flowers Gone”, “How Insensitive”
Gaia is the first album that Newton-John ever wrote on her own, and she did so as she was going through cancer treatment and the aftermath that followed. It’s one of her best albums and features a strong country flavor on a few of the tracks; the arrangements and general twanginess of “No Matter What You Do” and “I Never Knew Love” are reminiscent of her earliest hits.
Download Now: “No Matter What You Do”, “Why Me”, “Trust Yourself”
With these four releases, the bulk of Newton-John’s recent material is now widely available. Some of her most popular work, however, remains out-of-print, including the platinum albums Totally Hot (1978) and Two of a Kind [Soundtrack] (1983), her gold-selling country albums Let Me Be There (1973), If You Love Me, Let Me Know (1974), Have You Never Been Mellow (1975), Clearly Love (1975), and Don’t Stop Believin’ (1976), and her pop album The Rumour (1988). The singles from these albums can be found on Gold, currently the best career retrospective available of Newton-John.
In a poll of over 80 country music critics across the continent – the most comprehensive survey of its kind – the Chicks were voted Best Overall Act and Best Group or Duo, Taking the Long Way was voted Best Album and “Not Ready to Make Nice” was voted the top single of 2006. The Chicks came in #2 on the list of Best Live Acts, Natalie Maines finished fourth among Female Vocalists, and Emily Robison ranked #10 among Best Instrumentalists.
Alan Jackson was another big winner, finishing as the #2 Overall Act. He was voted Best Male Vocalist, “Like Red On a Rose” was ranked #2 among Singles, and he placed twice on the Best Albums list: Like Red on a Rose (#4) and Precious Memories (#15).
Vince Gill finished third overall. He was voted Best Songwriter, and finished #2 among Male Vocalists, Instrumentalists, and Albums for These Days. He was also ranked #6 among Live Acts.
Rosanne Cash was the #4 overall artist. She was named Best Female Vocalist, the #2 Songwriter and the #10 Live Act. Her album Black Cadillac finished #3 and it apparently had a single, as “House on the Lake” was ranked #6 on that list.
Other list toppers were Kenny Chesney (Best Live Act), The Wreckers (Best New Act) and Jerry Douglas (Best Instrumentalist.)
You can read the entire list here, along with an analysis by Geoffrey Himes. Here’s a sample of the latter:
This year’s poll is dominated not by alternative-country outsiders who have never even sniffed the country charts, nor by Music Row insiders who control the charts today. Instead the poll belongs to insiders-turned-outsiders—the Dixie Chicks, Vince Gill, Rosanne Cash, Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash—five acts who once ruled the charts but who haven’t had a Top 20 country single between them since 2002. The voters preferred those artists who demonstrated an ability to connect with a broad country audience but who are also determined to challenge that audience rather than pander to it.
Three generations of country music are represented here. Johnny Cash and his three bandmates in the Highwaymen—Nelson, Waylon Jennings and Kris Kristofferson, who all did well in the poll—flourished in the ’70s. Cash’s daughter Rosanne and her studio collaborators such as Gill, Rodney Crowell, Guy Clark and Emmylou Harris prospered in the ’80s, as the Chicks did in the ’90s. Running through country-music history is a current of such musicians—they have No. 1 hits, push the limits of the genre, feud with the industry, get exiled from country radio and create some of their best art afterward. In other words, the Dixie Chicks aren’t an isolated incident—they’re heirs to a tradition.
This is what I’m talking about when I write that you need a memorable song to launch a new artist. Who hasn’t drank way too much and had to call around to find out what they did last night? A common scenario that is long overdue for a song, though the classic Carlene Carter “Too Drunk (To Remember)” came close back in 1980.
The only problem is the production. It tries a little too hard to show “attitude”, and ends up making Bryan’s vocal sound more timid than it actually is. And the singalong is overkill. Isn’t it always?
Lonestar is starting to remind me of Restless Heart. When at their peak, they sounded great on the radio and racked up the hits. They haven’t changed their sound much, and now they sound like they’re still in their late-90′s heyday. The problem is, the rest of the world has moved on. Rascal Flatts is the current country-pop milquetoast act. Witness “What Hurts the Most” scoring on the AC chart like “Amazed” and “I’ll Still Be Loving You” before it. Same script, different cast.
So there’s nothing particularly wrong with the song. It just kinda lays there. Probably would’ve been a #1 smash in 2000, but times have changed.
Billboard is reporting the the upcoming reissues of the classic Dolly Parton albums Coat of Many Colors, Jolene and My Tennessee Mountain Home will feature multiple bonus tracks, most of which are unreleased studio recordings of Parton’s original material.
An upgrade of Parton’s catalog is long overdue, but I hope that RCA will dig deeper. I would’ve preferred the approach that was taken with Merle Haggard’s catalog – two albums on one CD – and seen all of her early albums reissued. Quite frankly, those albums are short enough to fit two on a CD and still leave room for bonus tracks. Since the three above albums have already been issued that way in Europe, with Joshua also in the mix, the RCA reissues are feeling like a rip-off.
2007
1999
1995
Montgomery Gentry, “Lucky Man”
Olivia Newton-John has 
The results of the 
Luke Bryan, “All My Friends Say”
Billboard is 
on 
on 
on 
on 
on 
on 