Grammys recognize country music outsiders

GANNETT NEWS SERVICE

Originally published Monday, January 21, 2002

A native Australian, a former Michael Jackson backing vocalist, a bluegrass legend and an alternative country bad boy are among the surprising crop of country music nominees for the 2002 Grammy Awards.

Those four nominees -- Jamie O'Neal, Sheryl Crow, Ralph Stanley and Ryan Adams -- are all associated with Mercury Records and/or its trendy sister entity Lost Highway Records. O'Neal's "Shiver," Adams' "Gold," the "Timeless" Hank Williams tribute and the "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" soundtrack, all released on Mercury or Lost Highway, accounted for more than one-fourth of all the country nominations in a pool that included a relatively scant number of hit country artists.

Nominees for the Feb. 27 Grammy awards were revealed earlier in January at news conferences in Nashville, Los Angeles and New York. The Tennessee conference focused on gospel and country nominations.

While the gospel category announcements held few surprises, the country nominees were notable for the lack of attention paid to core country format artists. Only three of 11 male and female vocal performance nominees could be heard on mainstream contemporary country radio in the past year.

Brian Philips, general manager of country-oriented cable network CMT and a former country radio programmer, says the inclusion of numerous "nonmainstream" country artists, from Crow and Adams to Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson to Dolly Parton and Alison Krauss, sends a strong signal to Music Row. Philips cited "an unprecedented disconnect between country radio and the Grammys."

"Country radio is freaking," he says. "When the Grammys come out, country radio looks to the superstars who got nominations, and you start thinking about promotions. You give away six-packs of CDs of the artists you've played who were nominated, and this year it's going to be tough for them to find six artists. A pretty strong message is starting to come from different directions that change is in the wind, and it's back to a more credible and organic sound."

Others saw the disparate nominee pool as simply Grammy being Grammy.

"The Grammys are well known for their voters choosing recordings worthy of recognition, regardless of airplay, record sales or whether they're mainstream or not," says Nancy Shapiro, vice president of Nashville's branch of the Recording Academy, the organization that presents the annual Grammy Awards.

Some constants remain. Almost 50 years after his death, seminal country artist Hank Williams' songs remain springboards to public accolades. "Timeless," an album that features rock and country acts performing Williams' material, is up for best country album.

The Olympian Copyright 2002

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