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The History of Americana Music and the Grammys
The
recent addition of the term "Americana" to the Grammys
reminds us of the difficulty inherent in defining Americana as a
unique musical category. As America's most prestigious musical
award, the Grammys have used a variety of labels to categorize
Americana music since the inception of the awards in 1958.
The
very first Grammy Awards held in 1958 did not contain an Americana,
folk or traditional music category. It also failed to recognize the
burgeoning rock 'n roll movement. The initial awards did
contain a category entitled "Best Country and Western
Performance" which included the Everly Brothers "All I
Have To Do Is Dream" and the category winner "Tom
Dooley" by the Kingston Trio. "Tom Dooley"
would eventually sell 5,000,000 copies, become a major pop hit, and
launch the folk music revival of the 1950s and 1960s. This was
obviously a very broad definition of "Country and
Western."
The
following year the Grammys added a new category called "Best
Folk Performance." The category was maintained for 10
years and included nominees such as Harry Belafonte, Big Bill
Broonzy, Bob Dylan, Flatt & Scruggs, Pete Seeger, Leadbelly,
John Hartford and Woody Guthrie.
In
1970, the folk category was dropped and replaced by a category
called "Best Ethnic or Traditional Recording (Including
Traditional Blues)." Perhaps reflecting the end of the folk
revival, the new category was a musical hodge-podge including blues
artists (T-Bone Walker, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, John Lee
Hooker), folk performers (John Hartford, Doc Watson), and world
music artists (Ali Akbar Khan, Keiko Matsuo). By the mid-1970s,
however, the category had become dominated by blues artists.
Folk-oriented performers essentially disappeared from the Grammys
altogether.
In
1982, the Grammys re-tooled their categories once again. Recognizing
the need to deal with blues as its own unique genre, the awards
created a specific category for blues called "Best Traditional
Blues Recording." The old "ethnic and
traditional" category was renamed the "Best Ethnic or
Traditional Folk Recording." On its face, this was
attempt to create a specific category for folk music, but once again
the category became a home to a variety of performers that didn't
really fit anywhere else. Nominees included Quen Ida (zydeco), the
Chieftains (Irish folk), Ravi Shankar (Indian), Clifton Chernier (zydeco),
and even reggae artists. In 1985, every nominee in the category
represented cajun or zydeco music.
The
following year, the Grammys introduced the concept of traditional
and contemporary folk music. For the first time since 1970,
folk was once again singled out by the Grammys. The Best Traditional
Folk Recording essentially replaced the Best Ethnic or Traditional
Folk Recording which had previously existed. Nominees
continued to include cajun, zydeco and world music performers,
together with the occasional traditional folk artist like Doc Watson
and Norman Blake.
The
Contemporary Folk Category became an exclusive home to folk singers,
singer-songwriters and other American roots music performers. The
first set of nominees in 1986 included John Prine, Nanci Griffith
and Loudon Wainwright III. In the years since, the category
has embraced artists such as Guy Clark, Rosanne Cash, Jerry Garcia,
T Bone Burnett, Bob Dylan, Steve Earle, Johnny Cash, Bruce
Springsteen, Richard Thompson and Jimmie Dale Gilmore. The
contemporary folk nominees have included a broad range of pop, rock,
country and folk musicians whose sound was too distinctive for the
other traditional Grammy categories. These are Americana artists in
every sense of the term.
Last
year we joined a chorus of Americana voices to encourage
the Grammys to rename the Contemporary Folk category as the
"Americana" category in keeping with the more commonly
used term. The new "Contemporary Folk / Americana"
category is a recognition of the growth and development of Americana
as a unique musical genre.
Now
let's see how long it
lasts.
(December
10, 2006)
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