Hag Still Miffed by Grammy Snub. Well, Get Miffed and Get Over It!

On November 2, 2007 the Bluegrass Blog made a post titled "Grammy committee says Hag is not bluegrass," in which they stated:

"The nominating committee for the National Academy Of Recording Arts & Sciences, who distribute the Grammy Awards each year, decided yesterday that the new release from Merle Haggard, titled The Bluegrass Sessions would not be eligible for Grammy consideration in the Best Bluegrass Album category in this year’s voting."

The Bluegrass Blog has updated us (Feb 8, 2008) with another post titled "Hag still miffed by Grammy snub." There is also a story on the iBluegrass.com web site. The story is currently on the front page of iBluegrass.com but will probably be archived on another page in the coming weeks.

Personally, I cannot believe some of the things I'm reading in these posts. Things like:

"Anyone who knows the bluegrass community knows that its members like to debate definitions," McCoury Music's General Manager Chris Harris said. "But this is an album that Merle and Del decided to call The Bluegrass Sessions, produced by a bluegrass musician with bluegrass musicians, recorded at a bluegrass studio, released on a bluegrass label, racked under bluegrass in record stores, aired on bluegrass radio, covered by the bluegrass press, and it's currently in it's fourth consecutive week at # 1 on Billboard's Bluegrass chart. If that's not enough, even The Washington Post wondered why 'no one had thought to pair Merle and Bluegrass together before.' "

Let's analyze some of these statements, shall we?

"...this is an album that Merle and Del decided to call The
Bluegrass Sessions..."

That's nice. You can call something whatever you want to, but a name or title doesn't turn something into something it's not.

"...produced by a bluegrass musician with bluegrass
musicians..."

Oh. Well excuse me! I guess the simple fact that the CD was produced by a guy that normally plays Bluegrass music himself and because Bluegrass musicians were involved, that automatically makes the CD a Bluegrass project. Honestly, where are these people coming from?

"...recorded at a bluegrass studio..."

Well, la tee da. Of course, you know what la tee da means don't you? That's hillbilly for "c'est la vie." Anyway, please excuse me again; I should have realized. Yes, I remember the rule now. I think it's rule number one. Anything recorded in a "Bluegrass" studio shall be called Bluegrass. What I'd like to know is this: what exactly, is a Bluegrass studio? Is that a studio that is owned by a Bluegrass musician or is it a recording studio within the sate of Kentucky? I'm obviously missing something here!

"... released on a bluegrass label..."

Yeah, whatever! What is a Bluegrass label? That's right, it's just a label!

"... racked under bluegrass in record stores..."

Of course it is - they're trying to pawn this project off as Bluegrass. In just what category do you think they're going to put a CD titled The Bluegrass Sessions? Um, hello?

"... aired on bluegrass radio..."

Don't even get me started on this one!

"...covered by the bluegrass press..."

Again, of course it is. Check the title of the CD.

"...and it's currently in it's fourth consecutive week at #
1 on Billboard's Bluegrass chart..."

That's because the Bluegrass radio stations are playing it every chance they get. Have you checked the title of the CD? In my opinion, this CD has no business being played on any Bluegrass radio stations but, hey, you can't get a country radio station to play the Hag any longer (through no fault of the Hag), so where else are you going to play it? It also happens to be true that by my estimation, the vast majority of Bluegrassers are also Merle Haggard fans, so they're not going to complain about it, are they? But, the fact that it's being played by Bluegrass radio stations and has been at the top of the charts for a while still doesn't mean it's Bluegrass music. Have you checked out some of the other non-Bluegrass content being played by these "so-called" Bluegrass radio stations?

Nonsense like this is the kind of stuff that tends to make my blood boil, but I'll settle down before I blow an artery. I can't tell you how pleased I am that the NARAS has not bowed to pressure and made decisions based on "who" the artist and producers are rather than the content. Good job NARAS; you have my full support on this one!

Now that I've got all of that out of my sytem and I don't feel like I'm going to have a stroke, I would like to point out that I have nothing but the highest respect for Del McCoury and Merle Haggard as musicians, and I think "Merle Haggard - The Bluegrass Sessions" is a fine CD, but PLEASE, don't try to pass it off as being Bluegrass. It's not! Not by any stretch of the imagination!

Merle Haggard says

We intended this to be accepted by people who like bluegrass music, and I want to know how I missed that...”

Well Merle, it is accepted by people that like Bluegrass music. Most of us like it. We just won't accept it as Bluegrass; the exception being all of the Bluegrass radio station owners - they'll play anything with the word Bluegrass in it.

If you want to know how you missed it, I'll be happy to tell you. It's not sung in a Bluegrass style - not at all - not even a little bit. I don't care who produced the CD or who is playing on it. This only serves to support the notion that "just because it's got a banjo in it, doesn't mean it's Bluegrass" idea. The music on this CD is sung in a 100% old country music style. Nothing wrong with that, it's just not Bluegrass.

It's not that I don't like Merle Haggard or Del McCoury. I do. I like both of them. I'm just having a small problem with their logic, which appears to go something like, if I say the word Bluegrass a thousand times, my music will turn into Bluegrass music by mere association. I'm really confused as to how two professional musicians (and they are not the only ones involved in this project that share the same line of reasoning) that have been in the music business for as long as Del and Merle have, could come to such conclusions. Actually, I think they know full well this project is not Bluegrass, but it makes for a great debate and publicity - it's all about money and marketing. But, as usual, what do I know? They're the pros; I'm just a consumer of the product.

You can listen to samples of Merle Haggard's CD, The Bluegrass Sessions, on the McCoury Music web site and come to your own conclusions. In fact, please do.

Isn't She a Beauty?

Just look at her. Isn't she a beauty? Everything from her scroll and machine heads, to her slender neck and fret board, upper bouts, c-bouts and lower bouts, top, back, sides, bridge and tailpiece; she has it all! She's a 1963 model.

Pretty as a picture, she is! And she makes a fine piece of furniture too! What's that? You thought I was talking about the Bluegrass Widow? Nah, but she's not bad either. Say, old friend, what tipped you off that I wasn't talking about the Widow? Was it the fine piece of furniture comment or something else?

Actually, I am talking about the Bluegrass Widow's beauty metaphorically speaking, excluding the furniture remark, of course. Is she not beautiful? I certainly think she is. The Widow is not a 1963 model however. She's a...

Now you may be thinking, what kind of trouble are you in that makes it necessary to write a post like this? And the answer is none - no trouble at all. Perhaps you're thinking I'm simply trying to bank some extra points for those times that you know I'm going to mess up in the future. Nope, that's not it either. On the other hand, if there are points to be gained, I'll take 'em, but don't mention it to the Widow because it would just cancel them out if she thought the only reason I said somethhing nice was to get extra points.

I did read something in an e-mail just the other day though, the subject was Why Men Are Never Depressed and it said men get extra credit for the slightest act of thoughtfulness. Sounds reasonable enough, I guess. But really, who does something hoping they'll gain extra points? Certainly not me - that's just nonsense.

I've just been taking extra notice of the Bluegrass Widow's beauty these past few months and I can't help but remark about it. Of course, you haven't seen her in the morning like I have. Did I just lose some points?

Click on the image to see a high quality version.

Think of What You've Done

Where to start? How about the jam last Friday evening with nine Bluegrassers in attendance? In terms of numbers, that's a few more than we would normally have at a private jam due to the possibility of having the noise level get out of control. While in fact it did get loud at times, I found it to be a very enjoyable evening regardless. Maybe I’m mellowing out. No, that’s not it; it was just a lot of fun! We started at 7:30 PM and didn’t end until 1:00 AM.

I started out playing the banjo but wasn't doing much with it, so I handed it over to Mike Scott and took over on the upright bass. As a result of playing the bass I had the opportunity to experience what the phrase "blistered fingers" really means. I played for some 4 hours pretty much nonstop. If you consider the fact that I'm not a bass player, you'll realize my fingers aren't toughened up in the appropriate places yet. Youch! I think that's going to change though, because playing bass is a ball. Who needs a banjo? Actually, I learned quite a bit from trying to play bass and it has made my resolve to play banjo all the more.

With the banjo in mind, I've been working on a tune called Think of What You’ve Done from an old Ricky Skaggs long play album titled Family & Friends. I bought the album when I was still in high school, so you know it’s a few years old. I remember buying it at the music store in Lancaster Mall; I think the store was called A & A Records or something like that.

I used to hang out at the Radio Shack store in the mall every day after school. You know how people that hang around skating rinks become known as rink rats? Well, I was the local Radio Shack rat; not the snitch type, but rather the hang around type. Anyway, I rushed right on over to Radio Shack, removed the cellophane wrap and put the album on one of the turntables and cranked the volume.

Wow! Did I ever get a surprise! About 5 notes into the first song I reached for that volume control and couldn’t get it to zero fast enough. My face turned five shades of red as I wondered what everyone around me was thinking. Actually, I think I knew what everyone was thinking! I had already grown used to being called names like "hayseed" and whatnot and it didn’t bother me a bit, but for some reason I wasn’t ready for the next wave with this Bluegrass stuff. That high lonesome sound is pretty extreme when you think about it.

That was the first and only time I have ever been embarrassed by playing music (except for when I’m trying to play it myself, that is). I had been playing a lot of Skaggs’ material but it was his country stuff; I just didn’t expect the album to be Bluegrass! In fact, I really didn’t know a whole lot about Bluegrass, so it was a bit of a shocker. For the record though, I love this album; it’s top drawer all the way.

I’ve been working on the intro to Think of What You’ve Done for about 4 days now. Nothing in the intro is particularly difficult in and of itself, but trying to play the right licks in the proper sequence is proving to be a bit of a challenge for me. I know the rolls in it, but I just can’t seem to get my brain and hands to work together with regard to the sequence of licks. And of course, timing is everything to get the right feel for this song. On any song, I know my timing is good when I hear that nice steady plunk that results from playing the 5th string repeatedly. Now that is music to my ears!

I worked on this tune for 3 hours in total yesterday, so it shouldn’t surprise you when I tell you I didn’t sleep well last night because I couldn’t get the tune out of my head. But, can anyone offer a suggestion as to why the Del McCoury Band singing "We’re Gonna Have A Bluegrass Christmas" was a contender as well?

I am so very tired right now.