02.11.08
Steve Earle Wins a Grammy! (Hi, Mom!)
I have to admit I’m ambivalent about this. I mean, overall he deserves recognition for being such an amazing songwriter, old rocker and political guy. Maybe he deserves one just for being married so many times. Steve definitely deserved the 2005 Grammy he got for The Revolution Starts Now. It was his first Grammy, despite other nominations and I’m pretty sure it was the Best Contemporary Folk album in 2005. He’s an incredible guy, hell, we named the site after his brilliance. We owe the man and we don’t even have anything like a Grammy to offer him. How ever, I’m still not in love with Washington Square Serenade. It is growing on me and you might, someday in the future see me slavishly rambling on about the brilliance of it, but today is not that day. It isn’t bad. It just doesn’t do much for me. It sounds to me too much like a watered down, love-sick version of The Revolution Starts Now. When I listen I don’t hear the heart that Jerusalem has, or the rough emotion of I Feel Alright. I’m just not 100% convinced that Washington Square Serenade is the Best Contemporary Folk/Americana album in 2007.
I will say that against the other nominees, he did deserve to win (The Calling, Mary Chapin Carpenter; My Name Is Buddy, Ry Cooder; Children Running Through, Patty Griffin; Orphans, Tom Waits–though I did like the Tom Waits album better than WSS, but I think Earle deserved the award in this specific category more than Waits does). I’m amore excited about Levon Helm’s Dirt Farmer winning Best Traditional Folk Album, as that is a sensational album. Of course the Grammy voters gave Amy Winehouse four awards, so clearly the entire enterprise is fairly meaningless these days.
Congrats, Steve! We love you, for always and forever, even when we feel like maybe you didn’t give us what you wanted. We love you for doing what you want to do.
(I only wrote this because of a comment my mom left on the last post. She didn’t make me, believe me, if I did everything my ma asked, I’d be in a very different place today, but I felt since she pointed it out, it did deserve some comment here, even if I don’t have anything nice to say. And now I’m sure my mom wants to disown me, if for nothing else the run-on sentence that precedes this one.)
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Grammy » Blog Archive » Steve Earle Wins a Grammy! (Hi, Mom!) said,
February 11, 2008 at 10:00 pm
[…] Music Careers wrote an interesting post today on Steve Earle Wins a Grammy! (Hi, Mom!)Here’s a quick excerptSteve definitely deserved the 2005 Grammy he got for The Revolution Starts Now. It was… […]
Music Critic said,
March 6, 2008 at 11:39 am
I’m completely with you. I felt that Washington was half as good as any of his recent output.
YrMom said,
March 28, 2008 at 11:33 pm
I agree with your assessment, even after recently seeing him perform most of the Washington Square songs live. 50% good, 25% meh, 25% self-indulgent. Still, great guitar work. Seeing him live in his pseudo-solo show, one is reminded what a great musician he is. And I don’t know that any of the titles you note surpass in quality, even if some had a better beat to dance to. But thanks for at least bringing up this event. The amazing thing, in the current decade of tepid politics, is that a lefty like Steve good win twice, for material that has political content.