Backstage At The Grammys

Rickie Lee Jones, of any of the artists included, has really has carried on Nyro’s torch in her own brave and brilliant music more than anyone.

“Because Rickie Lee is the most obvious and apparent person in that lineage, that legacy,” he added. “In that dramatic treatment of songs, that blend of jazz with songwriting and pop sensibilities.”

Cajun accordion master Jo-El Sonier won for Best Regional Roots Music Album for The Legacy. Backstage he spoke movingly about the actual legacy of his life.

“My parents were sharecroppers,” he said. “They worked in the cotton fields all day. All they cared about was their crops. They used to take me to the cotton fields. I always remember watching Mom and Dad pull that sack of cotton, for which they were paid all of two cents a pound. Born and raised in the South, in the very heart and soul of Cajun, I was always influenced by Cajun music. A big part of it was championed by Hank Williams, who came out and tasted some of that jambalaya, and right away put that spirit into music. That Cajun music – that rhythm- was like rock and roll for us. I always remember everybody was on the dance floor after working all day in the fields, dancing to Cajun music, the sound of that accordion. And the music never stopped, one band would pick up right away when the other stopped. And that’s the music I remember as a boy, and the music that I make today.”

Asked how it felt to get this award after so many years of making music, he said, “It means everything. I have been performing for 55 years. Never did I touch anything like a Grammy.”
The great Rosanne Cash won three Grammys: Best American Roots Performance and Best American Roots Song (along with her husband John Leventhal, who wrote it with her) for “A Feather’s Not A Bird” from The River & The Thread, and also Best Americana Album.

“The last time I won a Grammy,” she said, “Reagan was president.”

Asked if she ever voted for Reagan, she laughed and said, “Of course not. I have never voted Republican in my life.”

The impact of the Grammys even on an established and legendary artist was well evidenced by her reaction.

“I won three in a row,” she said, “and my son was next to me. There are second acts in American life. I just showed up for work, and this happened. And I did this with my husband John Leventhal, which was a heart opener.”

The daughter of Johnny Cash, she grew up in a musical home, but not around the country music one might guess. “My dad grew up in a rural Arkansas and listened to all that deep Southern music. I grew up in L.A. listening to The Beatles, Elton John and Buffalo Springfield.”

“I did grow up with a healthy suspicion about this industry,” she added of growing up in the music industry. “My dad and the business did often seem to be at odds. I grew up with a healthy sense of rebellion about fitting into the industry. But now, you know, I have done this for 35 years; I kept doing this when nobody cared. A lot of musicians are discouraged and think they can’t make their living anymore. But you don’t lose your love, you don’t lose your creative spark.”

The late great Johnny Winter was awarded with the Best Blues Album for Step Back. Paul Nelson, the guitarist who shaped the album, accepted the Grammy in honor of his absent friend.
“In producing him, I am a sponge,” he said. “ I tried to nail down who he sounded like, and it is hard to say. He was all of blues in one; he was also a sponge. He took all the styles and made them himself. You have to really be into your craft to be like that.”

What was it about his playing that was so influential?

“The articulation, the speed, his paying respects to Chuck Berry, B.B. King, Texas blues. He was also one of Rock’s greatest singers, and also one of the greatest slide players. His cohorts had one thing maybe; he had many.”

The duo A Great Big World, composed of singer-songwriters Ian Axel and Chad Vaccarino, won Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for “Say Something,” their collaboration with Christina Aguilera, a track from Is There Anybody Out There?

“We were really scared,” said Axel of working with Aguilera. “Like who are we to work with her? But she was so humble. And her voice is as astounding as you think. When she is working she is on 100%. She needs only 3 takes at the most . We wanted her to sing a whole verse, but she was so cool, she said no, she wanted to sing harmony. She is amazing.”

“Hearing my name get called for a Grammy,” said Vaccarino, “is one of the most special moments of my entire life.”

“Weird Al” Yancovic, famous for his great parodies of songs going back to the 1980s, won Best Comedy Album for Mandatory Fun. Asked if there are always songs he wants to parody, he said, “Yes. I haven’t gotten around to everyone yet. I go through every song in the Billboard Top Ten. And I try a lot of them and try to come up with ideas, and almost of my ideas are bad. But a few that aren’t terrible, those are the ones I record.”

Asked if he could have written any song at all himself, he chose one and one only, “Bridge Over Troubled Water” by the great Paul Simon. Asked why, he said, “Because it is a rock classic.”

Asked about another legendary songwriter, Prince, Al said, “If Prince wants to hang, I am open to that. He’s always said no to parodies, so I never did a Prince song but I wanted to. I am a big fan. If he wants to go bowling or play Parcheesi, I am all for it.”

Another songwriter triumph was the Grammy for Best Musical Theater Album presented to Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, which is about not only the great songs written by Goffin and King, but also by their peers Mann & Weil.

“We loved her music because she is a genius,” said Jason Howland, who produced the Original Broadway Cast album along with Steve Sidwell and Billy Jay Stein. “We are humbled to have this music to work with. She wrote perfectly constructed songs. If we messed up, it would be really rubbish, cause these are such great songs.”

The South African artist Angelique Kidjo won a Grammy for Best World Music Album for Eve, a remarkable work for which she traveled throughout Africa recording the voices and music of a hundred African women.

“For me music is the weapon of peace,” she said movingly upon acceptance of her honor, “and as artists we have a role to play. This award is dedicated to the beauty and resilience of the world of Africa, and to the 100 women who worked with me.” She added that, “Music is the language of everybody. I believe in the power of music to transform the world.”

“When every door is closed,” she continued, “we artists are the ones who open those doors. And it is the power of music to open those doors. And to speak to people’s hearts. Not to lecture them or make them feel guilty, but to empower them. I come from a culture where if you are gifted with a talent, be it the talent for making music, you step forward and bring that music to the world.”