Russ Breimeier, ChristianityToday.com, Grammys & Gospel article

Keeping You in Tune with Today's Music
Wednesday, February 13, 2008

The Grammys Get Gospel Right

This just wouldn't be much of a music newsletter if I didn't take the opportunity to spotlight music's biggest night last Sunday: the 50th annual Grammy awards.

I have no overarching insight to this year's big event. I was really expecting to be disappointed, since I had no strong feelings for the majority of nominees. And yet the show was more entertaining than usual. In the last five years, the Grammys have gradually emphasized performance over presentation. This year's ceremony was no exception, featuring a wide array of talent and artistic collaborations on stage. And the production quality was as good as I've ever seen—the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS) pulled out all the stops.

Say what you will about who won or who didn't, but there were three things that made my night that I thought I'd share with you:

1) We've previously complained over NARAS voters usually getting it wrong when it comes to gospel music. So it's only fair to note when they finally get it right, particularly for heaping praise on Fred Hammond, Israel & New Breed, and three awards for The Clark Sisters—all projects we reviewed very favorably last year.

I particularly got a kick out of Ashley Cleveland scoring Best [Gospel] Rock Album for Before the Daylight's Shot. Consider that we were one of the few to review the independent project back in 2006 and named it one of the Best Christian Albums that year. The album started to receive more attention in the months after that and finally scored some national distribution in 2007. Granted, Cleveland's won the Best Rock Grammy twice before … but we can't help but wonder if we didn't play some small part in drawing attention to that one.

2) Did you hear Vince Gill's acceptance speech for Best Country Album? "I just got an award given to me by a Beatle!" That was the third-best quote of the night, upon receiving his Grammy from co-presenter Ringo Starr. Then came the second-best quote—"Have you had that happen yet, Kanye?"—jokingly responding to hip-hop superstar Kanye West's egotistical acceptance speech from earlier that night. Gutsy, all in good fun, and awesome.

3) The best quote of the night? That would be Miss Miley Cyrus, and most of you probably missed it … unless you happened to catch the pre-show interviews on the red carpet (yes, I missed it too—thanks to my friend Stacie for pointing it out). After some inane chatter about fashion, the host asks Miley about Valentine's Day and dating. She responds that she's not ready to date right now … and that the three guys she loves the most are, "Jesus, my brothers, and my dad." A small mention with little consequence? I say not bad for a 15-year-old girl who currently happens to be the most popular pop star on the planet.

The Gospel Music Award nominees are announced later this week, and I can only hope it'll lead to an even more entertaining and meaningful event in April. One thing's for certain: the potential Dove nominees for next year are looking most promising. We already have some early favorites from late 2007, such as Sara Groves and Kirk Franklin. This week, we offer three more album reviews scoring 4.5 or 5 stars! Natalie Grant returns to the scene with Relentless, an album every bit as good as her Awaken. Sanctus Real returns to their more rocking, anthemic roots while showing some new musical maturity on We Need Each Other. And say hello to NewWorldSon, one of the most fun new bands I've heard in Christian music for quite a while.

Rounding out this week's review coverage is WoW Gospel 2008 and the debut from pop-gospel worship leader Ken Reynolds. You'll also find a new Glimpse of God feature for the alt-folk album The Shepherd's Dog by Iron & Wine, and an interview with 19-year-old newlywed Leeland Mooring of the worship band Leeland.

Stay tuned for those Dove nominees on Thursday the 14th, and Happy Valentine's Day.


Russ Breimeier
ChristianityToday.com

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