Grammy Special: Country Off the Beaten Path

Posted by amyclark on 08/24/2008
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2/8/2008 Stephen L. Betts CountryHound looks at the Grammy nominees in the Bluegrass and Americana categories: Best Bluegrass Album ·      Cherryholmes II Black and White Cherryholmes ·      Lefty’s Old Guitar J. D. Crowe & the New South ·      The Bluegrass Diaries Jim Lauderdale ·      Scenechronized Seldom Scene ·      Double Banjo Bluegrass Spectacular Tony Trischka Our prediction: While Cherryholmes is among the most exciting young acts in the business, the real star power is in Tony Trischka’s Double Banjo Bluegrass Spectacular, which also features Bela Fleck, Earl Scruggs and Steve Martin. Best Traditional Folk Album ·      Try Me One More Time David Bromberg ·      Let Us Now Praise Sleepy John Peter Case ·      Banjo Talkin’ Cathy Fink ·      Dirt Farmer Levon Helm ·      Charlie Louvin Charlie Louvin   Our prediction: Levon Helm’s Dirt Farmer should, and will win this one. Best Contemporary Folk/Americana Album ·      The Calling Mary Chapin Carpenter ·      My Name Is Buddy Ry Cooder ·      Washington Square Serenade Steve Earle ·      Children Running Through Patty Griffin ·      Orphans Tom Waits Our prediction: This is a tough one. Steve Earle will probably win it, but Patty Griffin has already has an Americana Music Award on her shelf for her outstanding album. Mary Chapin, however, is a long-time Grammy favorite and can’t be counted out. And Tom Waits and Ry Cooder are, well, Tom Waits and Ry Cooder.