Americana Music Festival and Awards Recap – The Year Americana Goes Legit

Finally winding down from my annual trip and I’m here to say that 2011 is the year the Americana went mainstream.

The Americana Music Association, the Nashville professional trade organization that puts on the whole shindig, just experienced its biggest year yet: Their membership is up by 45 percent compared to 2006. The festival showcased twice the number of bands it did five years ago; and this year’s overall attendance was around 15,000, as opposed to the roughly 10,000 reported in 2011. Jed Hilly and the good people of the AMA were able to do all this while maintaining the performance intimacy and musical quality I’ve experienced over my 5 years of attending the event. They have also been able to avoid the band-of-the-minute trading bazaar plaguing events like South-By-Southwest .

CMT.com know a good thing when they see it. With the commercial breakout of artists like Mumford & Sons, The Civil Wars and the Avett Brothers the cable music channel, that in many ways embodies everything Americana stands in contrast of,  is setting up a small section of it’s site branded “CMT Edge” focused on showcasing artists outside their usual fare of quasi-“outlaws” and warbling blondes. The venture is focusing on the heart of Americana’s best. The tapping that i attended while attending the AMA conference featured Jason Isbell and justin Townes Earle in performing a solo acoustic set of a few songs in a setting that was more Bluebird Cafe than the hell-raising arenas most SMT artists can be found.

Craig Shelburne, a CMT.com writer and producer is the driving force behind CMT Edge introduced the artists before their performances. I briefly spoke to Shelburne and he seemed to me to be a man doing good that wants to do well. CMT sees that the Americana brand is blowing up  (thanks in large part to the promotional efforts of the AMA and the sheer talent under the genre’s tent.) Sure CMT is a corporation concerned with eyeballs to sell soap, but they offer a much larger stage where deserving artists can make more money and upgrade their instruments and crappy touring vans. or as Jason Isbell told me when i ran into him at the Buddy Miller Lee Ann Womack show “We all need to make money.” Indeed.

The Americana Honors & Awards program was a tightly executed package to showcase exceptional talent for wider public consumption. The new two-year deal with Mark Cuban’s AXS TV to broadcast the event live was added to the already existing live broadcast on radio, satellite and the web via outlets including Nashville’s WSM, SiriusXM’s “Outlaw Country” and NPR.org, respectively. The show’s current TV partner, Austin City Limits, also broadcasts an edited special ACL Presents on November 10.  Voice of America and Bob Harris’ BBC Radio 2 will broadcast overseas in following weeks.

All this spiked with an official hashtag #Americanafest and the youTube videos from the festivals shows cropping up afterward and you have a full-scale media juggernaut.

The inclusion of Bonnie Raitt , Booker T Jones and Richard Thompson for lifetime achievement awards for performance, instrumentalist and songwriting respectively. There’s no denying the legendary status of these great artists and their appeal to an Americana demo that trends towards the Boomer generation, but – to polish an old chestnut – are they “Americana?”

Each of these artists have established themselves as legends in the well defined genres of blues, R&B & soul and folk & rock. Honoring these legends in an Americana awards ceremony undoubtedly allows the AMA to hitch the brand to established and well-repected talent, but at what cost? By seemingly playing a game of “me too” the AMA could be using their crown jewel awards program to further obscure the Americana brand at best. At worst there the risk that the AMA will lead Americana into being a cast as an always derivative genre, riding on the coattails of established genres in order to gain credibility and an audience.

I’m not sure which of these scenarios will play out but I see them both as unnecessary as the above numbers and CMT attention show that Americana is doing just firm staking out it’s own turf heading toward greater brand visibility. How can a genre that has legitimate ties to Steve Earle , Ryan Bingham and The Civil Wars  need to pilfer genre to create awareness?

But maybe I’m wrong. maybe Americana at it’s core crosses so many lines that those lines are the real outlines of what this movement we all  love is really about. Maybe it’s a result of that truly American phenomenon of a society emerging from a diversity of the melting-pot.

Maybe it’s like Jim Lauderdale said from the stage of the Ryman Auditorium the other night. “Boundaries are for cowards.

Maybe.

Americana Honors & Awards Picks

One of the highlights of the Americana Music Festival and Conference is the Americana Honors and Awards program, which takes place at within the sacred walls of the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tenn. on Sept. 12. It’s a great event because not only do you have Buddy Miller leading a stellar house band and Jim Lauderdale, and tireless and engaging MC, deserving of the moniker “Mr. Americana,” but the performances are always some of the best I’ve had the good fortune to witness from those storied pews.

For the first time TV viewers get a new perspective. This year’s Americana Honors & Awards will be broadcast on AXS TV which will include live behind-the-scenes coverage.

The ceremony will also broadcast live on radio, satellite and the web via outlets including Nashville’s legendary WSM, SiriusXM’s “Outlaw Country” and NPR.org, respectively. As they did last year Austin City Limits, will broadcast an edited special ACL Presents on November 10, and Voice of America and Bob Harris’ BBC Radio 2 will broadcast overseas in the following weeks.

I’ve already opined on my views of the nominees, now it’s time to settle in for the ride. below find the nominees and my pick in bold.

Album of the Year
Here We Rest – Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit
I’ll Never Get Out of this World Alive – Steve Earle
The Harrow & The Harvest – Gillian Welch
This One’s For Him: A Tribute to Guy Clark – Various Artists

Artist of the Year
Gillian Welch
Hayes Carll
Jason Isbell
Justin Townes Earle

Emerging Artist of the Year
Alabama Shakes
Dawes
Deep Dark Woods
Robert Ellis

Song of the Year
“Alabama Pines” – Written by Jason Isbell and performed by Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit
“Come Around” – Written and performed by Sarah Jarosz
“I Love” – Written by Tom T. Hall and performed by Patty Griffin
“Waiting On The Sky to Fall” – Written and performed by Steve Earle

Instrumentalist of the Year
Buddy Miller
Chris Thile
Darrell Scott
Dave Rawlings

Duo/Group of the Year
Carolina Chocolate Drops
The Civil Wars
Gillian Welch & Dave Rawlings
Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit
Punch Brothers

Happy Birthday Woody Guthrie

Today would have been Woody Guthrie’s 100th birthday. I have gone on record as saying that I think direct political commentary in music cheapens it. Inevitably someone plays the Guthrie card to prove that politics and music can result in greatness. I say Guthrie is the proverbial exception that proves the rule. His songs and life, like Martin Luther King’s life and speeches and the Parables of Jesus, are the property of no political party. They transcend politics to speak to the plight and dignity of humanity. No political party has a monopoly on that.

I have collected some cover’s of Guthrie’s song from some current disciples. I hope you enjoy them.

Here’s to teh greatness of music that matters, and to a true American original.

Lucinda Williams – “I Ain’t Got No Home”

Steve Earle – “This Land is Your Land”

Uncle Tupelo – Do Re Mi

Willie Nelson, Arlo Guthrie, Neil Young – “This Land is Your Land” (segment)

Arlo Guthrie and Emmylou Harrris – Deportees
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXOdrk3Ypfw&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PL7B51C7B58B751604

The Band & Bob Dylan – I Ain’t Got No Home

Father’s Day – Daddy Sang Bass

If you’re lucky enough to have your father near, hug him and tell him you love him, and get him a damn beer!

Here are some Country and Americana music performances by fathers and their children. I hope you like them.

Johnny Cash & Rosanne Cash – Don’t need no memories hanging round

Steve Earle with Justin Townes Earle  – “Mr. Mudd & Mr. Gold (Townes Van Zandt)

Billy Joe Shaver and Eddie Shaver – Georgia on a Fast Train

Willie Nelson and Lukas Nelson – Help Me Make it Through the Night (Kris Kristofferson)

Doc Watson and Merle Watson – Summertime

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNYHJIr0ur4

Doc & Merle Watson – Summertime

A Solid Selection of Americana Music Association Nominees ‎Announced

Through a spotty online streamed event (at least on my side) from Grammy Museum’s Clive Davis Theatre in L.A. the Nashville-based Americana Music Association announced their 2012  announced their nominees for Album of the Year, Artist of the Year, Emerging Artist of the Year, Song of the Year and Instrumentalist of the Year.

On hand was “Mr. Americana,” and the premier host of the Americana Awards program, Jim Lauderdale. Buddy Miller lead the Americana All Star quartet with Don Heffington, Greg Leisz and Don Was. Featuring excellent performances by Lauderdale, Shelby Lynne,  Lucinda Williams and Texas’s own Robert Ellis.

Jed Hilly gave a gracious speech and then introduced the actor John C Reilly, and mighty fine roots musician in his own right, as M.C.  for the event.  Taking the stage and looking rather sheepish Reilly stated  “They call this the Americana Awards but really it should be the All the Great Artists Out Right Now Awards.”

The nominees are some of the most solid since I’ve been keeping score of the AMA awards.  Jason Isbell and  Gillian Welch lrad nominations with 4 and 3 respectively. The Artist of the Year noms Welch, Isbell as well as Hayes Carll and Justin Townes Earle leaves me for the first time with no clear favorite to root for. There is the staple legend that released something unexceptional but still gets a nod (  Steve Earle with an Album of the Year nod for  I’ll Never Get Out of this World Alive ) but overall even this category is solid (not least of which because 2 of the nominees , Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit and Gillian Welch, were on my best  of 2011 list)

There appears to be some bandwagon jumping with the Emerging Artist of the Year nominees Alabama Shakes and Dawes. I could give you a list of a  dozen artists I’d replace them with. (one being already on the list, the exceptional Robert Ellis.) Buddy Miller is to the AMAs what Kenny Chesney is to the CMAs, is once again on the list for Instrumentalist of the Year.

The performers and the band then ended the ceremony with a rousing rendition of the traditional spiritual “Let the Circle Be Unbroken.”

Winners will be announced at the Americana Honors and Awards program  at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tenn. -  Sept. 12. The ceremony is part of the Americana Music Festival and Conference, which takes place on Sept. 12-15.

Full list of nominees below:

Album of the Year
Here We Rest – Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit
I’ll Never Get Out of this World Alive – Steve Earle
The Harrow & The Harvest – Gillian Welch
This One’s For Him: A Tribute to Guy Clark – Various Artists

Artist of the Year
Gillian Welch
Hayes Carll
Jason Isbell
Justin Townes Earle

Emerging Artist of the Year
Alabama Shakes
Dawes
Deep Dark Woods
Robert Ellis

Song of the Year
“Alabama Pines” – Written by Jason Isbell and performed by Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit
“Come Around” – Written and performed by Sarah Jarosz
“I Love” – Written by Tom T. Hall and performed by Patty Griffin
“Waiting On The Sky to Fall” – Written and performed by Steve Earle

Instrumentalist of the Year
Buddy Miller
Chris Thile
Darrell Scott
Dave Rawlings

Duo/Group of the Year
Carolina Chocolate Drops
The Civil Wars
Gillian Welch & Dave Rawlings
Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit
Punch Brothers

Happy Birthday Levon Helm – A Tribute in 10 Songs

Levon Helm’s was taken to us too soon, and he didn’t write many songs on his own, but every song he performed he distinguished as his own. On this anniversary of what would have been his 72nd birthday here are some well-known and lesser known songs he left his imprint on. RIP brother Levon. The place isn’t the same without you.

“The Weight”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjCw3-YTffo

“The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down”

“Up On Cripple Creek”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDnlU6rPfwY

“Ophelia”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RjqcTsxx-8

“Poor Old Dirt Farmer”

“Anna Lee”

“The Mountain” (w/composer Steve Earle)

“Atlantic City”

“Evangeline”(w/Emmylou Harris)

Honky Tonkin’ “(w/Sissy Spacek)

The White Buffalo New Video – ‘Once Upon A Time In The West.’

“Wish It Was True” is a sparse, acoustic song of longing for faith and the risk and disappointment that often comes with that yearning. The White buffalo (aka Jake Smith is a master songsmith in the manner of Guy Clark and Steve Earle, engaging the listener through expansive allegory that always winds up in the interior landscape of the mind and heart.

The video features Jake and his actual son and was filmed in Death Valley partially in an “old pseudo-abandoned motel” and a gutted bus. Both of which serve as apt forsaken symbols for the lyrics.

Mother, I tried to do right by you,To do what you asked me to.
I did wrong, and I knew.

Mother, I tried to behave for you.
Now I’m a-diggin’ a grave for you.
It was all I could do.

Find a way back home, make everything new.
I wish it was true.

Father, well I gave my soul to you.
I came in blind folded for you.
It was all that I knew.

Open your arms and I’ll fly out of hell up to you.
I wish it was true.
Boy, come on out from the cold.
You’re lost outside there, don’t you know?
It’s not what you say, it’s what you do.
Just keep wishing your wishes are true.
Well your dreams, they’re reality.
There’s no pain, there’s no misery.
Just polish the blood and the brews.
For there’s just no way you can lose.
Well I wish it was true.

Country, I was a solider to you.
I did what you asked me to.
It was wrong, and you knew.

Country, now I’m just a stranger to you.
A number, a name; it’s true.
Throw me away when you’re through.

Home of the brave and the free; the red, white, and blue.
I wish it was true.

Exclusive Download: Justin Townes Earle, ‘Nothing’s Gonna Change the Way You Feel About Me Now’

It’s only been 6 years since the release of his Bloodshot Records debut, Yuma,  but in the brief time Justin Townes Earle has stepped outside the formidable, shadows of his Father , Steve Earle, and his namesake, Townes Van Zandt, to carve out his own path as a  torchbearer for the Americana movement.

Earle’s new release for Bloodshot Records Nothing’s Gonna Change the Way You Feel About Me Now, his follow-up to 2010’s Harlem River Blues, will be released on March 27th.

The video below by Joshua Black Wilkins was filmed during the recording process at the converted church studio of Echo Mountain Studios in Asheville NC. The video shows a live feel of the recording (with Justin making changes on the fly) and features Amanda Shires. The 10-track album was recorded with no overdubs over the course of just 4 days

Describing the the new album Justin describes the sounds as “1960s-era Muscle Shoals sound accompanied by lots of brass.”  and that it’s “completely different” than last year’s Harlem River Blues. “This time I’ve gone in a Memphis-soul direction.”

Download the title track in trade for your email address from the song title link below.

Nothing’s Gonna Change the Way You Feel About Me Now track list

01. “Am I That Lonely Tonight?”
02. “Look the Other Way”
03. “Nothing’s Gonna Change the Way You Feel About Me Now”
04. “Baby’s Got a Bad Idea”
05. “Maria”
06. “Down on the Lower East Side”
07. “Won’t Be the Last Time”
08. “Memphis in the Rain”
09. “Unfortunately, Anna”
10. “Movin’ On”

Jason Isbell Accuses Dierks Bentley of Plagiarism

Yesterday evening I was hanging around on the twitter machine (I’m a wild man on a Friday night!) I was watching the usual silliness pass along on the distinguished group of folks that I follow there and then I saw a post from singer/songwriter Jason Isbell that caught my attention:

“Dierks” has officially ripped off my song “In A Razor Town.” Dierks is a douchebag.”

In A Razor Town” is a cut off Jason Isbell’s first solo release ‘Sirens in the Ditch.”

There aren’t many Dierks that I’m aware of in music so my assumption was that he was accusing Nashville Capitol Records recording artist Dierks Bentley. That assumption was confirmed with subsequent tweets as Isbell called Bentley out by his full name and named the title of the allegedly “ripped off” song.

The accused song is “Home,” the title song off Bentley’s 10/10/11 release. Wikipedia states that  “The song was inspired by the Tucson, Arizona shooting that killed six people and critically injured U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords in January 2011.”

Isbell also accuses Bentley of possibly bringing an idea of his song to co-writer of Home Dan Wilson.

“I bet Dierks brought that idea to the table and Dan ran with it.”

Bentley took to his twitter account to address the accusation:

“@Jasonisbel “I bet Dierks brought that idea to the table and @Danwilsonmusic ran with it.” -HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! that is some funny shit!”

These things are tricky, and I was terrible at spotting copyright infringements in my copyright law class at NYU, but after listening to both songs (below) it’s a pretty amazing coincidence. If Bentley had heard Isbell’s song, and mistakenly brought it to the writers table as his own idea, he needs to listen objectively, fess up and cut Isbell in on the songwriting credits.  That’s what Miranda Lambert did when it was brought to her attention that the title song to her album “Kerosene” was strikingly similar to Steve Earle’s  “I Feel Alright.” Miranda will always be aces in my book for that.

ON EDIT: Ernie over at El Trash has a post striking similarities between Dierks Bentley song “Up on the Ridge” and Matt King’s songs “Hard Luck Road” and “Shanty Town.” there appears to be a pattern forming here.

Jason Isbell – In A Razor Town

Dierks Bentley – Home

 

 

Dierks Bentley

Twang Nation Interview with GRAMMY Americana Album of the Year Nominee Linda Chorney

The GRAMMY nominees categories that I cover does not come with choreographed dancers or share the stage with Rihanna. They appear further down on the list near Best World Music Album and Best Spoken Word Album -  the Americana/folk/bluegrass and the speck of trad country that might find its way into a movie soundtrack or liner note nods. This is the the pre-telecast posse, the back of the bus and behind the gym crowd. This is where the cool kids hang out. Where Lou Reed can sit between a nominee for Best Opera Recording and Best Comedy Album. These are the rough and rowdy mongrels of music.

I watch the nominee concert dutifully but it’s nothing to do with me or my readers.  I am waiting for the full list to be posted online. Then I run my eye over it. downward to the Best Folk Album, some nice surprises with The Civil Wars and Eddie Vedder.  Best Bluegrass Album, great to see the old guard Del McCoury and Ralph Stanley in the mix with Steve Martin and Jim Lauderdale. Next the big enchilada – Best Americana Album. Ry Cooder, Emmylou Harris, Levon Helm, Lucinda Williams legends all…wait…who’s this? Who is Linda Chorney?

I’m a frikkin “Influencer” for krips sake (or so Klout tells me), how is it I don’t know this person? Where did she come from and how, after 6 albums, is it that I haven’t heard of her until now? i like a to be surprised as much as the next music blogger, but sometimes there is this feeling that if you missed this artist how many others are sliding past your gaze. I needed to atone and find out who this person is.

So i did what any red-blooded Americana blogger would do – I Googled her. First off a video that appears to be centered on scuba diving in some tropical locale. She’s easy on the eyes, but how does she sound? First impression is Aimee Mann, Chrissie Hynde and Michelle Shocked on a serious Meet The Beatles! bender. I emailed her directly from her site. She can’t already have a layer of people to sift through for a conversation. I’m the the official GRAMMY folk/Americana blogger guy. I figure that that should account for something!

Maybe it did. Maybe I caught her at a vulnerable time in the wake of her nomination. Maybe she confused with with her friend Bryan Lang. Whatever…i had an interview set.

I hope the below exchange let’s you get to know Linda Chorney and you find her as charming and talented as I did. enjoy…

 

Twang Nation – So, how are you feeling?

Linda Chorney – I’m still a little but in shock but I feel great. When I told my mom and dad (about the Best Americana Album Grammy nomination) and my mom said this is one of her greatest moments since your birth for me.

TN – Wow, you can’t buy fans like that.

LC -  (laughs) When I was younger they paid for my demo tapes and have been coming to biker bars that I’ve played throughout my life. They’ve waited for me to get my big break and now it’s kind of come.

TN – Tell me a little about how you got here.

LC – I once broke the top 40 in the adult contemporary on the Friday Morning Quarterback (music industry news publication) with my song Living Alone. We thought then that something was going to happen. Then the day we had some deals on the table was on September 11th (2001) and everything sort of got put on hold. I said to myself that I didn’t die that day, and nobody I know died. How important is another song? So I didn’t take (the deals falling through) that hard. Though I took the the events of September 11th very hard and wrote a song about it on my third album.

TN – I’ve been blogging about this genre for several years and lived in New York City for 5 years, how is it I’m just now hearing about a Grammy nominated Americana artists based from New Jersey?

LC – Probably because I’ve been bopping around the whole world. I played on Bleecker Street for years, at Red Line and the Back Fence and a few other clubs. I’ve played the Hamptons. I like to travel! I’ve bartered my way around the world. I’m an avid scuba diver but diving costs a lot of money so when I travel I will write a few dive places and say “Hey I’m a singer/songwriter and will perform for your crew aboard or your place in exchange for scuba diving. Diving can easily can run you a couple of hundred bucks a day. One place that responded was the Bottom Time Bar in Palau Micronesia and that where I shot my video for my song Sink or Swim (see below) I played a weekend and was able to dive for two weeks for free.

TN – Not a bad gig.

LC – it was awesome! I also went to Mount Everest where I sang at 17,000 feet – I’ve sung below sea-level and sung 17,000 feet above sea-level.

TN – Did you know you were in the running for a Grammy nomination?

LC – From the feedback I was getting from Grammy 365 people. I said to my executive producer, “Jonathan is all the people that say I’m great and are voting for me actually do vote for me I think we might have a shot.” I had no idea what I was doing. This is my first time with the whole Grammy process, two weeks before the ballets were due I had zero contacts. My husband and I stayed up 20 hours a day and we wrote every single person we could on the Grammy 365 site to ask for their contact information. Out of the roughly 6000 emails we personally wrote – we didn’t have a staff it was just me and him – then around 2000 people responded and I asked them to consider my stuff. I was overwhelmed with responses. One guy was the historian on (Martin) Scorsese’s George Harrison documentary, he said very nice things about my stuff, he said it touched him and that he was going to talk to other people about me and get them to consider my music – this happened several time with others -  I was just blown away!

TN – Tell me the story about your executive producer and how y’all met.

LC – I was in Colorado playing a ski resorts, because the moneys good and I sell a lot of merch and get to keep all the money, and I would ski to my gig every day with my guitar on my back to perform at 10.000 feet. At one gig this quirky guy comes up to me after buying all my CDs I had for sale  and said “You have something special here. I’m a doctor but I wanted to be a musician, so I know how hard it can be. I’d lie to send you something.” I had no idea who this guy was or if he was hitting on me so I gave him a P.O. Box address and sure enough a few weeks later a chord-less mic and guitar pickup showed up in the mail and it contained a note that read “This is for you kid, way to go.” Over the years I got to know his family, and we became really good friends. Last year he approaches me and says “Linda, I want you to make the album you’ve never been able to make before, and I’ll pay for it.”

Every other album I’ve done has been out of my own pocket and I was always watching the clock , I didn’t have the money for live drums or more time for the engineer, I knew how to make a great album but I never had the resources. Jonathan says “I want you to do this album without compromise Linda. I’m going to give you the money for this album and I don’t want anything in return. I just want you to make the greatest album that you can and I want to be part of the process.” I was so touched by this! Jonathan also knows some musicians like Jeff Pevar (CPR) and Leon Pendarvis (band leader for the Saturday Night Live band) who is a great keyboard player. So he got them involved in the project. I knew Lisa Fischer (singer and background vocalist for the Rolling Stones, Luther Vandross, and others) because she sang background on my adult contemporary charting song Living Alone. And I knew bass player Will Lee (The Late Show with David Letterman, B.B. King, Cat Stevens, Ringo Starr, James Brown and many others), then I knew people here in my neighborhood (Asbury Park, NJ) who should be famous , like  Arlan Feiles, who has his own album coming out soon and to me is like Bob Dylan with a prettier voice. I had him sing a duet with me called Finally on the album and then I have a song on the album called Do It While You Can, with a kind of a Satchmo vocal vibe to it and Richie Blackwell (Bruce Springsteen) helped with that. So this whole thing is a passion project. There was no thought to “Let’s make this song four minutes so we can get radio airplay.”

The second CD (on Emotional Jukebox) has a symphony I fantasized about making (Mother Natures Symphony.) The 15 minute piece begins with classical to Bluegrass to folk then back to classical and then ends with a Beatles ending.

TN – Wow, you’re not one to walk the genre straight and narrow are you. You also cover Led Zeppelin’s Going to California on Emotional Jukebox.

LC – I do! I had to fight to have that on because I jammed it in the end with a  Flamenco solo by this guy Hernan Romero (Al Di Meola) who  this amazing player that was just in the Latin GRAMMYs who I met in Boston who’s been on a couple of my albums. I had this idea of the song that ended up being 7 minutes long and we still got airplay. They don’t make songs like that anymore. I like solos. On my song I’m Only Sleeping I put a whirly solo it it. I like music!

TN – Where was the album recorded?

LC – We recorded at Sear Sound in New York and Lupos Studio with Frank Wolf, who I’ve worked with in the past, engineering the project. He’s an amazing talent. I spent the most time on the album than anybody. I did all the editing and arranging myself on my Pro Tools at home at night with the master and poured over every single bar on the album to make sure I had all the instrumentation in all the right places so it was tasty, clean and interesting to me. that was my goal. I probably spent over 2000 hours on it.

TN – well your hard work is being recognized. When did you find out about your nomination?

LC – We were having a party that night and somebody gave me a mock GRAMMY because we all conceded to the fact that I didn’t stand a chance against these amazing and well-known artists – John Hiatt, Jeff Bridges, Steve Earle, Emmylou Harris, Ry Cooder – who is one of my heros – there was just no slot open for an unknown. So all the people went home from the party and then I started getting all these emails saying “Congratulations.” “You have my support.” “I’ll see you in L.A.” I thought this has to be a mistake. This must be a chain email that I’m on and somebody else was nominated. Then I had a hard time finding the list of nominees online. Then we found the list of nominees on GRAMMY.com and there in Americana Album of the year was my name first on the list. I had to wake up my executive producer, Jonathan, at midnight to tell him about it. We freaked out.  He believed in me and my music and he’s such an amazing person.

TN – I love that you are on the nominee list, and that the GRAMMY Americana category appears to be a big tent where talent is rewarded no matter how what your profile.

LC – Early in the process I did put my album up for a lot of categories – best Album, and all of that. In retrospect i should have concentrated on the one category. I submitted for 8 but but as I was getting up to speed submitting my work it occurred to me that I might have been spreading myself too thin and that might not be in my best interest. So then I started concentrating on the Americana music category.

TN – Have you got your speech ready?

LC – (laughs) Not yet.I think I might have a mock one ready for You Tube and to post on my blog (lindachorney.wordpress.com) to thank the people that helped me.