Blogging the 2023 Grammys Category 25 – Best Rap Song

A Songwriter(s) Award. A song is eligible if it was first released or if it first achieved prominence during the Eligibility Year. (Artist names appear in parentheses.) Singles or Tracks only.

• Churchill Downs
  Ace G, BEDRM, Matthew Samuels, Tahrence Brown, Rogét Chahayed, Aubrey Graham, Jack Harlow & Jose Velazquez, songwriters (Jack Harlow Featuring Drake)
• GOD DID
  Tarik Azzouz, E. Blackmon, Khaled Khaled, F. LeBlanc, Shawn Carter, John Stephens, Dwayne Carter, William Roberts & Nicholas Warwar, songwriters (DJ Khaled Featuring Rick Ross, Lil Wayne, Jay-Z, John Legend & Fridayy)
• The Heart Part 5
  Jake Kosich, Johnny Kosich, Kendrick Lamar & Matt Schaeffer, songwriters (Kendrick Lamar)
• pushin P
  Lucas Depante, Nayvadius Wilburn, Sergio Kitchens, Wesley Tyler Glass & Jeffery Lamar Williams, songwriters (Gunna & Future Featuring Young Thug)
• WAIT FOR U
  Tejiri Akpoghene, Floyd E. Bentley III, Jacob Canady, Isaac De Boni, Aubrey Graham, Israel Ayomide Fowobaje, Nayvadius Wilburn, Michael Mule, Oluwatoroti Oke & Temilade Openiyi, songwriters (Future Featuring Drake & Tems)

The only song here I liked was “Churchill Downs” because it’s about Kentucky. I’ve never heard a rap song about Kentucky. None of these are as good as Public Enemy.

Blogging the 2023 Grammys Category 26 – Best Rap Album

For albums containing greater than 50% playing time of new rap recordings.

• GOD DID
  DJ Khaled
• I Never Liked You
  Future
• Come Home The Kids Miss You
  Jack Harlow
• Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers
  Kendrick Lamar
• It’s Almost Dry
  Pusha T

I haven’t heard anything I like on the DJ Khaled record I liked – except a bizarre gospel song from Kanye West and Eminem. I don’t like this style of production. Not for me.

Future is more of the same. Kanye shows up again. I guess this is mumble rap. Awful.

Jack Harlow was ok. I listened to the entire thing. Not nearly as good as he thinks he is. He has several songs about how difficult it is to be famous, and how he’s so rich he can buy whatever he wants. Word to the wise: invest some of these newfound riches.

Didn’t Kendrick Lamar win a Pulitzer or something? I have nicknamed his genre “whiny rap.” my goodness, dude, stop whining. Way better than mumble rap, but it’s exhausting. There’s an entire song on here that is him and a lady arguing. Is this entertainment? It didn’t entertain me!

Pusha T was my favorite here. I see there are three versions of the album. I have no idea which one I listened to. Kanye is involved again. Didn’t he come out as anti-semetic recently, and praising Hitler? He’s a good producer, but I’m not going to waste any syllables lauding this guy.

Blogging the 2023 Grammys Category 27 – Best Country Solo Performance

For new vocal or instrumental solo country recordings.

• Heartfirst
  Kelsea Ballerini
• Something In The Orange
  Zach Bryan
• In His Arms
  Miranda Lambert
• Circles Around This Town
  Maren Morris
• Live Forever
  Willie Nelson

The Kelsea Ballerini tune is a cute country-pop song, I have no problems with it. Zach Bryan delivers a very off folky tune I didn’t get into at all. Miranda Lambert has a distinctive voice, this song is ok, not great. The Maren Morris is great, Willie Nelson teams up with Lucinda Williams on this Billy Joe Shaver classic. Which is weird, because this is a duet. Did they mean to nominate “Live Every Day?” The Grammys strike again.

Blogging the 2023 Grammys Category 28 – Best Country Duo/Group Performance

For new vocal or instrumental duo/group or collaborative country recordings.

• Wishful Drinking
  Ingrid Andress & Sam Hunt
• Midnight Rider’s Prayer
  Brothers Osborne
• Outrunnin’ Your Memory
  Luke Combs & Miranda Lambert
• Does He Love You – Revisited
  Reba McEntire & Dolly Parton
• Never Wanted To Be That Girl
  Carly Pearce & Ashley McBryde
• Going Where The Lonely Go
  Robert Plant & Alison Krauss

Robert Plant & Alison Krauss will win. Grammy rule. The best actual Country singles here are the Luke Combs & Miranda Lambert single and the Carly Pearce & Ashley McBryde single. I really liked the latter. I love the Merle Haggard song Robert Plant & Alison Krauss cover, and they do a great job – but was this a hit on Country radio? “Wishful Drinking” is a clever country-pop tune. I think the dude singing is not a Country singer? I didn’t see the point in the Brothers Osborne song – half of it is “On the Road Again.”

Blogging the 2023 Grammys Category 29 – Best Country Song

A Songwriter(s) Award. A song is eligible if it was first released or if it first achieved prominence during the Eligibility Year. (Artist names appear in parentheses.) Singles or Tracks only.

• Circles Around This Town
  Ryan Hurd, Julia Michaels, Maren Morris & Jimmy Robbins, songwriters (Maren Morris)
• Doin’ This
  Luke Combs, Drew Parker & Robert Williford, songwriters (Luke Combs)
• I Bet You Think About Me (Taylor’s Version) (From The Vault)
  Lori McKenna & Taylor Swift, songwriters (Taylor Swift)
• If I Was A Cowboy
  Jesse Frasure & Miranda Lambert, songwriters (Miranda Lambert)
• I’ll Love You Till The Day I Die
  Rodney Crowell & Chris Stapleton, songwriters (Willie Nelson)
• ‘Til You Can’t
  Matt Rogers & Ben Stennis, songwriters (Cody Johnson)

The only songs in this category I haven’t talked about in prior reviews are the Taylor Swift and Cody Johnson songs. Taylor will win, because it’s the Grammys and they vote for people they have heard of. The best song here is the Willie Nelson song. I liked them all.

Blogging the 2023 Grammys Category 30 – Best Country Album

For albums containing greater than 50% playing time of new country recordings.

• Growin’ Up
  Luke Combs
• Palomino
  Miranda Lambert
• Ashley McBryde Presents: Lindeville
  Ashley McBryde
• Humble Quest
  Maren Morris
• A Beautiful Time
  Willie Nelson

Despite the fact that he still cranks out two or three albums a year at the age of eighty-nine, the best record here belongs to Willie Nelson. I’ve heard bits and pieces of this one, but taken as a whole it’s a startling how great these songs are. I recognize one as a cover (Tower of Song), but the rest feel like newly-written Willie Nelson songs. He’s had a few albums in the last decade of all-original sets after what felt like decades of no new material. The songs here are poignant ruminations on getting older, of being old, and are quite simply amazing. His voice is okay here, I do hear the dreaded auto-tune, but the songs are the star. This is one of two Willie Nelson records nominated this year. It was good enough to make me forget the other nominees.

The first track on the Luke Combs album is the best one – “Doin’ This” about what he would be doing if he wasn’t a famous Country singer. He has a decent non-auto tuned voice, and he’s not one of the Country music pretty boys, so he kind of feels like ‘the real deal’ whatever that even means anymore. “On the Other Line” is a song about fussin’ and fishin’. See, he’s telling his wife he can’t talk because he’s got a fish he has caught on the other line. Nice. I also really liked “Middle of Somewhere.” Country music still has the best songs.

Miranda Lambert had a few great songs on her record – I was intrigued by the indie-rock production on “Actin’ Up,” but the rest of the record was more mainstream. It felt like an updated “Rock On” from David Essex. “In His Arms” was also nice – The B-52’s showed up on a song for some reason. “Country Money” was also entertaining. The album was too long, though.

Ashley McBryde has a concept record I guess? Life in a small town? There are a few fake commercials and most of the songs are on the “trying to be funny” side – “Brenda Get Your Bra On,” “Gospel Night at the Strip Club,” etc. Was this one written by Kinky Friedman? It was okay – but I’m not sure who this is for.

I liked the lead track on the Maren Morris album the best – “Circles Around This Town.” I lived in Nashville for eight years, and I know exactly what she’s singing about here. I would go out with a friend sometimes and just drive around the city on the bypass interstate that went in a circle. “Tall Guys” was also a topic I’d never heard addressed in a song. But the Willie Nelson record is the one to beat.

The songs I liked on Willie’s record were “I’ll Love You Till the Day I Die,” “My Heart Was a Dancer,” “Energy Follows Thought,” “Dreamin’ Again‘,” “I Don’t Go to Funerals,” “Dusty Bottles,” “Live Every Day,” “Don’t Touch Me There,” and “Leave You With a Smile.“

Blogging the 2023 Grammys Category 31 – Best New Age, Ambient, or Chant Album

For albums containing greater than 50% playing time of new vocal or instrumental new age recordings.

• Positano Songs
  Will Ackerman
• Joy
  Paul Avgerinos
• Mantra Americana
  Madi Das & Dave Stringer With Bhakti Without Borders
• The Passenger
  Cheryl B. Engelhardt
• Mystic Mirror
  White Sun

OH MY GOD! New Age, Ambient, or Chant! Hahahahahaha. I have never seen this category before. What kind of chant? Gregorian chants? Lordy.

The best nominee here is Will Ackerman, which comes as no surprise because he is the Bill Monroe of New Age. Well, maybe that’s Ray “Deep Breakfast” Lynch or Paul “Grand Canyon” Winter. But Will Ackerman put out a solo acoustic guitar record in the late 70’s / early 80’s on his own Windham Hill record company and he started a quiet revolution. In it’s heyday the Windham Hill catalog flew off the shelves and spearheaded an entire new section in the record store called New Age!

This is a nice Will Ackerman record – they all are. There are some other instruments here, but it’s nice. Old people will like this.

Paul Avgerinos is stereotypical New Age – wooshy synths, ambient clarinets, kind of what Brian Eno was doing 45 years ago, but here it is again. This wasn’t that interesting, but old people will love it!

Gotta say no to “Mantra Americana” Maybe this is the chant album? I was confused when listening because there weren’t wooshy synths. Just some dude singing.

Cheryl B. Engelhardt delivers a solid New Age experience. Wooshy synths and noodly piano.

White Sun – you know, I could sit here in my smug chair and crack wise about this record, but I won’t. I have matured. I liked the last track, “Ma,” ok – it was the only track without lyrics. I will leave the snark at the door for now.

I am very excited to start on track 3,452 of this adventure – and it’s the country album category.

Blogging the 2023 Grammys Category 32 – Best Improvised Jazz Solo

For an instrumental jazz solo performance. Two equal performers on one recording may be eligible as one entry. If the soloist listed appears on a recording billed to another artist, the latter’s name is in parenthesis for identification. Singles or Tracks only.)

• Rounds (Live)
  Ambrose Akinmusire, soloist
• Keep Holding On
  Gerald Albright, soloist
• Falling
  Melissa Aldana, soloist
• Call Of The Drum
  Marcus Baylor, soloist
• Cherokee/Koko
  John Beasley, soloist
• Endangered Species
  Wayne Shorter & Leo Genovese, soloist

There is a Grammy for BEST SOLO. If that doesn’t tell you there are too many categories, I’m not sure what will. The Ambrose Akinmusire solo is amongst the clatter of an avant-garde nonsense party. I really hated it. Terrible solo!

The Gerald Albright solo is on a Hank Bilal slow jam. I am hearing a lot of trombone. I looked up a picture of Mr. Albright and he is holding a saxophone. A GRAMMY NOMINATED SAXOPHONE. His solo was fine. If you are into saxophone solos on trombone slow-jam instrumentals, have I got the song for you!

Melissa Aldana plays the solo on her own tune. She plays saxophone also, and she is giving Mr. Albright a run for his money. She has a husky tone that I prefer in my saxophone tones, Mr. Albright has a brighter tone. GIVE HER THE GRAMMY! This is a nice little number, and she is amazing.

I will assume Marcus Baylor is the drummer on this one. I once left a concert because the drum solo was too long. Ok, it was the Grateful Dead and they had a song with a thirty minute drum solo. Bob Dylan and Tom Petty had already played, so it was time to go. This drum solo is ok. A lot of tom toms.

John Beasley‘s solo has the misfortune of being in the middle of a tune with lots of scat singing. I didn’t listen to the solo. Sorry, John.

Why didn’t this Wayne Shorter & Leo Genovese album get nominated? Just the solo? Bogus. Wayne Shorter should win anything he’s nominated for. The end.

Blogging the 2023 Grammys – Category 33 – Best Jazz Vocal Album

For albums containing greater than 50% playing time of new vocal jazz recordings.

• The Evening : Live At APPARATUS
  The Baylor Project
• Linger Awhile
  Samara Joy
• Fade To Black
  Carmen Lundy
• Fifty
  The Manhattan Transfer With The WDR Funkhausorchester
• Ghost Song
  Cécile McLorin Salvant

I don’t have much to say about these nominees except “huh? The Manhattan Transfer are still a thing?”

I guess no rock stars did Great American Songbook albums this year. Who are these people? What is a Baylor Project? They do a few religious numbers and then some jazz things. I don’t get it.

Samara Joy was fine – a nice lady singing nice jazzy songs. She also does Misty for some reason. And ‘Round Midnight. And Someone to Watch Over Me. A musical shrug.

The Manhattan Transfer record is terrible.

I don’t even remember Cécile McLorin Salvant, and I just listened to it yesterday. I remember thinking “well, this one is at least mildly interesting and listenable.” Not sure that’s what they were going for, but that’s what they get from me.

Blogging the 2023 Grammys – Category 34 – Best Jazz Instrumental Album

For albums containing greater than 50% playing time of new instrumental jazz recordings.

• New Standards Vol. 1
  Terri Lyne Carrington, Kris Davis, Linda May Han Oh, Nicholas Payton & Matthew Stevens
• Live In Italy
  Peter Erskine Trio
• LongGone
  Joshua Redman, Brad Mehldau, Christian McBride, And Brian Blade
• Live At The Detroit Jazz Festival
  Wayne Shorter, Terri Lyne Carrington, Leo Genovese & esperanza spalding
• Parallel Motion
  Yellowjackets

Jazz jazz jazz. Jassy jazz jazz. Jass for the old-timers. Jazz.

What did I like? The Peter Erskine Trio is pretty amazing. The chord choices are always surprising, yet it flows and is nice to listen to. Who is the pianist? No idea, Peter is the drummer I just discovered.

The Joshua Redman, Brad Mehldau, Christian McBride, And Brian Blade record was a nice, solid, traditional jazz record. I do love Joshua Redman‘s tone. I liked this, and I don’t like jazz usually.

The Yellowjackets are less floofy than I remembered them. This was also a nicely recorded jazz record. Very enjoyable. The drummer and the drum sounds were great.

I liked the Wayne Shorter until that lady started singing. He is my favorite jazz composer – he wrote a bunch of the Miles Davis stuff in the 60’s. I might just listen in to what he’s been up to lately. I did not like the singing lady.

I’m guessing the singing lady was Terri Lyne Carrington, because I didn’t like this record at all, but that’s ok. No one cares what I think.