Grammys 2012: Lady Antebellum wins for country album
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Barnstorming trio Lady Antebellum triumphed in the country album field that included works by rising artists who scored career breakthroughs last year (Jason Aldean’s “My Kinda Party,” Eric Church’s “Chief” and Blake Shelton’s “Red River Blue”), another young but well established genre superstar (Taylor Swift’s “Speak Now”) and one standard bearer (George Strait’s “Here for a Good Time”).
Lady Antebellum made it two in a row with “Own the Night,” following on the heels of its previous country album Grammy winner “Need You Now” that also earned the band a group vocal award for the title single. “Own the Night” continues to mine the niche the group captured on its previous two efforts, both highlighted by colorful duets between singers Hillary Scott and Charley Kelley.
Most recently, the country album award went to crossover blockbusters from Lady Antebellum and Taylor Swift (“Fearless,” 2009). But over the years, Recording Academy voters have tended to recognize more adventuresome, and more often critically lauded acts than those typically honored by the Country Music Assn. or the Academy of Country Music.
The Dixie Chicks took the Grammy four times in the 1990s and 2000s. Strait snagged the award in 2008 and twice last decade the trophy was awarded to multi-artist tributes to country pioneers in 2001 (“Timeless—Hank Williams Tribute”) and 2003 (“Livin’, Lovin’, Losin’—Songs of the Louvin Brothers”), which could bode well next year for the recent “The Lost Notebooks of Hank Williams” all-star project spearheaded by Bob Dylan.
The Grammys are determined by about 13,000 voting members. The eligibility period for nominated recordings was Oct. 1, 2010, to Sept. 30, 2011.
The 2011 awards are being held at the Staples Center and telecast on CBS. They are broadcast live except for viewers on the West Coast. The latest headlines and any breaking news will be posted here on Pop & Hiss.
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--Randy Lewis
