subject: Blues News Old And New For The Music Fan [print this page] If you're wondering who took home Grammy's for the best BLUES albums, you needn't have watched the Grammy Awards Show at all.
You might have caught the scintillating performances by Lady Gaga and Elton John. I've got nothing against either, but I'm more interested in music that moves me emotionally and says something to my spirit. I'm certain Lady and Elton both sell more albums than all the artists nominated for Best Blues Albums combined, but that doesn't mean the category shouldn't be televised. What an injustice!
For those of you who don't already know, the Grammy for Best Contemporary Blues Album went to Already Free by The Derek Trucks Band on the Victor Records Label.
Some of the other nominees included This Time by The Robert Cray Band on the Vanguard Label The Truth According To Ruthie Foster by Ruthie Foster on the Blue Corn Label; Hope At The Hideout by Mavis Staples, and Back To The River by Susan Tedeschi on the Verve Forecast Label.
The Best Traditional Blues Album Grammy went to A Stranger Here by Ramblin' Jack Elliott. Other nominees were Blue Again by The Mick Fleetwood Blues Band Featuring Rick Vito on the 429 Records Label Rough & Tough by John Hammond on the Chesky Records Label Stomp. The Blues Tonight by Duke Robillard on The Stony Plain Records Label and Chicago Blues A Living History by Billy Boy Arnold, Lurrie Bell, Billy Branch & John Primer, Larry Skoller, produced by Raisin' Music.
Another blues album won in the category of Best Historical Blues album The Complete Chess Masters 1900 through 1967, a Little Walter compilation from Hip O Select, took top honors. However, the soundtrack for Cadillac Records did not win for Best Compilation Soundtrack Album for Motion Picture, Television or other Visual Media, losing out to Slumdog Millionaire.
I actually preferred the GRAMMY pre show on their website to the actual televised GRAMMY awards. However, I did get to see a few gospel, Rhythm and Blues and folk performances on the GRAMMY awards show, along with award presentations by Mick Fleetwood and Robert Flack. Taylor Swift even showed up to collect her first two GRAMMYs and no one shouted her down or took the microphone away from her.
If you're a blues fan, you really can't go wrong purchasing any music from the Chess Records discography. Their discography includes awesome music by Chuck Berry, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, KoKo Taylor, Sonny Boy Williamson, and of course Little Walter. You may want to check out some of the more obscure Chess recordings by artists such as Lonnie Brooks, Wayne Cochran, Irma Thomas, Monk Higgins, Albert King and Otis Rush together. these are all awesome recordings.
Who would've ever thought that Leonard and Philip Chess, two Jewish immigrants from Poland, could've possessed so much soul and musical insight. I have the same amount of respect for the Chess brothers as I do for Tom Dowd, or Ahmet Ertegun. These guys changed the music scene forever for me and for countless others, by discovering, recording, and engineering artists like Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, Derek & The Dominos, The Allman Brothers, Chicago, Eric Clapton, John Coltrane, Dr. John, Quincy Jones, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Kenny Loggins, Dusty Springfield, Rod Stewart, The Drifters, just to name a few.
I'm a huge fan of the blues and I'm a musician myself. I have played guitar for most of my life, starting at the age of 12, so I'm speaking from a position of relative experience.
I've purchased copies of Already Free by The Derek Trucks Band, and Back To The River by Susan Tedeschi. I highly recommend both of these albums. They deserve GRAMMY nominations in my opinion. I was a fan of Pop Staples and I'm certainly a fan of Mavis Staples. I've listened to nominated tracks from Mavis Staples, Robert Cray, and John Hammond. They are all excellent. I'm only sorry that GRAMMY producers don't feel these great artists deserve to be televised as prominently as all of the other musical genres. To the producers of the GRAMMY awards I have to say shame on you.
