Winners
Album of the Year: Adele, 21
Record of the Year: Adele, “Rolling in the Deep”
Song of the Year: Adele Adkins & Paul Epworth, “Rolling in the Deep”
Best New Artist: Bon Iver
“Best” Country Album: Lady Antebellum, Own the Night
Best Pop Vocal Performance: Adele, “Someone Like You”
Best Country Solo Performance: Taylor Swift, “Mean”
Best Country Duo/Group Performance: The Civil Wars, “Barton Hollow”
Best Country Song: Taylor Swift, “Mean”
Best Americana Album: Levon Helm, Ramble at the Ryman
Best Bluegrass Album: Alison Krauss & Union Station, Paper Airplane
Best Folk Album: The Civil Wars, Barton Hollow
– – – – –
11:33 Ben: I had a blast. Big thanks to Dan for doing a bang-up job leading the live blog, and thanks to everyone who partipated in the comments. See y’all at ACM season!
11:32 Tara: Thanks for hanging out, y’all! Tonight’s show kind of grew on me, with its surprising focus on the music (how quaint). And lest we forget: when Adele wins, we all win.
11:27 Dan: And we close the show with a spirited “Carry that Weight” with Paul McCartney, The Boss, Dave Grohl, and a bunch of guitar dudes I’m ashamed to say I don’t recognize. Slow night, but some really nice moments!
11:24 Dan: “A little bit o’ snot” is literally the best thing I’ve ever heard in an acceptance speech. I don’t know how you could hate Adele.
11:22 Ben: Does Adele need to come up with her own version of the Surprised Face?
11:21 Dan: So many upsets tonight!
Album of the Year: Adele, 21
11:20 Ben: I love the chirpy way Diana Ross talks.
11:13 Ben: “Still to come: Will Diana Ross present the Grammy for Album of the Year to Adele…” or to someone who is not Adele. Gotta love how they at least attempt to build supense.
11:11 Ben: “Thank you so much. This is ridiculous.” Oh, how she makes me smile.
Record of the Year: Adele, “Rolling in the Deep”
11:1o Ben: Go ahead, Lady A. Remind us of all the undeserved awards you won last year.
11:10 Dan: I wish I had liked that song more on first listen. Nicki’s a great talent, but that felt self-indulgent.
11:10 Ben: It’s…interesting.
11:08 Tara: From a visual standpoint, this is the coolest performance of the night. Jury’s still out on the song. I’m kind of scared?
11:06 Dan: I can’t believe the Grammys let Nicki Minaj get away with this “Roman’s Revenge” “Exorcism” spectacle. God bless ’em.
10:53 Ben: Oh gosh. Kill the AutoTune. Please.
10:52 Dan: I have one word to the Grammys for each Chris Brown performance tonight: 1) F*** 2) you.
10:49 Tara: Stunning performance by J Hud. As frustrated as I am with some of the nominations and wins, tonight’s shining moments have come in the form of naked voices – and that’s really refreshing.
10:46 Ben: So genuine. So sincere. So…wow.
10:44 Ben: Jennifer Hudson is the right person for the job.
10:43 Dan: Jennifer Hudson’s Whitney tribute starting now. Looking and sounding awesome on “I Will Always Love You.”
10:36 Ben: He’s clearly putting on no airs here. Very down-to-earth.
10:35 Dan: I was rooting for Nicki, but this is well deserved. Justin Vernon is the real deal.
Best New Artist: Bon Iver
10:33 Ben: The first hour was blah, but this show has picked up a heck of a lot of steam. I am loving this Bennett-Underwood duet.
10:33 Tara: Carrie proving why she won this award five years ago. That voice.
10:31 Dan: Tony Bennett and Carrie Underwood on “It Had to Be You” now. Quality, as you’d expect. I have to wonder how these old-guy-young-girl duets usually manage to avoid sounding creepy.
10:26 Ben: The Adele performance and the Glen Campbell tribute are, so far, this year’s “Grammy moments.”
10:23 Tara: Very sincere, sweet tribute. If we ignore the Lady A win, country music is cleaning up tonight.
10:22 Ben: My heart has a happy.
10:22 Dan: Glen sounds lively and buoyant, rephrasing “Rhinestone Cowboy” as a career retrospective and advice to the young ones. And between-line commentary. Just wonderful.
10:21 Dan: Blake Shelton does justice to “Southern Nights.” But here comes the man!
10:20 Ben: I think they’re sounding really great tonight. Love hearing that mandolin!
10:17 Dan: Thank goodness – they’re sounding nice and string-bandish on “Gentle on My Mind.” I usually find Kimberly’s vocal style a little shouty, so it’s good they’re performing a song with a quick, percussive feel.
10:16 Dan: Glen Campbell time! Don’t blow this, Perrys.
10:10 Ben: THIS IS ADELE’S MOMENT.
10:09 Tara: Adele looking as gorgeous as she sounds. The nuance in her performance is just incredible.
10:09 Ben: Adele is looking great tonight. That new haircut suits her well. Oh yeah… sounding great too.
10:08 Ben: At least we can enjoy the long-awaited Adele performance as I’m reeling from the Lady A victory.
10:04 Ben: I already knew that Lady A’s new music was ovverrated as heck, but honestly… This isn’t even funny anymore.
9:59 Tara: I told you guys I had a feeling about this. What a disappointment, and what a waste of sheer talent.
9:59 Kevin: They must own the accounting firm that tabulates the votes.
9:59 Ben: Oh gosh. This is the part where I start throwing things at the TV.
9:59 Dan: AGGGGH
“Best” “Country” Album: Lady Antebellum, Own the Night
9:58 Ben: Country Album now. Let it be anyone but Lady A.
9:57 Tara: Katy Perry reminding me that I’ll take sleepy performances by legends over dynamic performances by substance-less pop stars any day.
9:57 Ben: Still lip-synching, I think.
9:55 Well, this second song maybe sounds a little more raw and pitchy. Maybe it was just on “E.T.”
9:54 And the most obvious lip-synching of the night: Katy Perry.
9:52 Ben: Happy face for Adele Adkins and Paul Epworth!
Song of the Year: Adele Adkins & Paul Epworth, “Rolling in the Deep”
9:37 Ben: I hate how the host network away has to stick the stars of their current programs in random spots just like ABC does with the CMAs. I know they want to drive ratings, but it seems to take the focus off the music.
9:50 Ben: I must have missed the “OMG!” face. Either that or I’m so used to it that it goes by without notice.
9:46 The Taylor Swift “OMG!” face returns. It was so ridiculous that you had to laugh.
9:46 Ben: My favorite performance so far by a long shot. A wonderful and unabashedly fun performance.
9:44 Tara: A lovely 60 seconds of “Barton Hollow” followed by Taylor Swift’s best live performance in a while on one of 2011’s best country singles. Country music victory on the Grammys. Wonder what Lefsetz is thinking right now?
9:42 This is kind of surreal, seeing her perform the song that was probably inspired by the backlash over her last Grammy performance.
9:42 Ben: It’s great to see a Taylor Swift performance that actually feels representative of the country music genre.
9:41 Ben: Yay! It’s our jam! “Mean”!
9:40 Ben: I can’t get over how much John Paul White looks like Johnny Depp.
9:38 Ben: Finally! The Civil Wars are here to restore order.
Best R&B Album: Chris Brown, F.A.M.E.
9:34 Paul McCartney crooning some very Valentine’s-Day-ish song. The Grammys are determined to send us to an early sleep.
From Twitter: Stevie is never allowed to die. @SaraJBenincasa
9:35 Tara: I’m so in, Dan. I can’t even pinpoint why the show is dragging so much – the performances haven’t been awful.
9:31 It’s only an hour and a half in and I think everybody is already super-duper bored. You guys wanna play Never Have I Ever?
9:20 Tara: The Beach Boys make my heart smile. But this is oh so sleepy…
9:20 Foster the People are faring slightly better with “Wouldn’t It Be Nice,” but…this could be any bar band, really.
9:18 Maroon 5 start off the Beach Boys tribute/reunion with a rather tepid “Surfer Girl.” They need to turn up Adam Levine’s mic, but this just isn’t the right song choice, either.
9:15 Terrific acceptance speech from Krohl about keeping music organic and craft-centered.
Best Rock Performance: Foo Fighters, “Walk”
9:12 However it ends up going, I’m really excited to see the Glen Campbell tribute. Really cool of the Grammys to honor him and his music on the telecast.
9:09 Tara: Y’all, I paid more attention to the countrified Chipotle commercial than anything on the show so far. True story.
From Twitter: Have a Pavlovian response to Coldplay. Gotta go fail to make out with a gay guy in my dorm room. Bye. @JillMorris
9:01 Tara: Chris Brown: 0, Rihanna: 1. No?
8:59 Kevin: Rihanna’s Tina Turner look is a brilliant way to acknowledge Brown’s presence on the show.
8:58 Whatever your feelings about Rihanna’s music, she usually sounds really solid live.
8:52 Wasn’t wild about the audio job on that Foos performance, but it’s great to see they’re still on top of their game. Dave Grohl really is an icon.
8:48 Jack Black introducing the Foo Fighters is just the injection of life this show needs after that sleepy duet.
8:45 Ben: I like “Don’t You Wanna Stay” for what it is, but I don’t like the way it sounds in a live setting. I have an acoustic version in my iTunes, and I so much prefer listening to it in that form.
8:42 Ben: Yeah, leave Kelly’s mic on. Turn Jason’s off. Works for me.
8:41 Kevin: For the blog: I think they turned off Jason’s mic. Thanks for that.
8:41 Tara: “Don’t You Wanna Stay” isn’t an awful representation of country music on the Grammys, I suppose. I just. Don’t. Get. Jason Aldean.
8:39 I like “Don’t You Wanna Stay” but this performance does have a little of that “Ooo is that paint drying over there?” quality.
8:37 Ben: Yay, Reba! Nice little speech about how music brings people together.
8:37 Well okay. Hey, Reba’s here!
Best Rap Performance: Jay-Z & Kanye West, “Otis”
8:30 Tara: Not particularly impressed by this infamous Chris Brown comeback performance. All I know is Ken Ehrlich’s “victim” statement is deplorable.
8:27 Chris Brown performing now. Have y’all read this yet?
8:25 Ben: I love how she thanks her doctors for bringing her voice back. She’s so adorable.
8:24 Ben: Adele. Surprised? No. Happy? Yes.
Best Pop Vocal Performance: Adele, “Someone Like You”
8:23 Ben: Alicia Keys and Bonnie Raitt make a very interesting musical pairing. I enjoyed that performance.
8:23 Tara: Love the simplicity of this tribute. And damn, Alicia Keys can wail.
8:22 Alicia Keys and Bonnie Raitt (!) paying awesome tribute to Etta James with “Sunday Kind of Love.” No complaints here!
8:21 Ben: Snippet of “Something to Talk About.” My toe instantly begins tapping.
8:19 Ben: I’m pumped. Excited for The Civil Wars, and for Taylor Swift’s “Mean.” Very well-deserved wins
8:19 Tara: So I’m pretty pumped about the pre-telecast country awards. Y’all?
8:15 Bruno Mars just wrapped up the second performance. Some nice mention of people getting off their “rich asses.” Hey, did you guys see Nicki Minaj and Japanese Taylor Swift?
8:11 Tara: I’m digging this “family of musicians” theme of the night. “Music is universal and healing,” says LL Cool J – absolutely.
8:10 Ben: That was cool how they showed the clip of Whitney singing “I Will Always Love You.”
8:10 “Are we excited to hear Adele’s beautiful voice tonight?!” They’re not even going to pretend this isn’t her show, y’all.
8:06 L.L. Cool J is the first Grammy host in several years, and he’s kicking off the night in beautiful fashion with a prayer in memory of Whitney. “There is no way around this; there’s been a death in the family.”
8:01 Kicking off with Bruce Springsteen is not the worst idea. Sounding lively on “We Take Care of Our Own.” It’s hard for that sentiment to set off some thoughts about last night’s events – I wonder if the whole night will be like this.
7:51 Watching this 60 Minutes on Adele. It’s really cool. I don’t have anything else to say about it, really – I just missed you guys!
7:05 Howdy, guys. Dan here. I’ll be running the blog tonight, though a lot of us CU writers will be chiming in. After last night’s loss, should be an especially dynamic show. It’s a good occasion to remember what a special gift music is. Show starts at 8 PM/7 Central – hope you can join us!
Yay for The Civil Wars!
Agreed. And yay for Dan running the live blog tonight!
I have a bad feeling that the first performance of the evening is also going to be the best performance of the evening.
I caught part of the Adele 60 Minutes too. It was indeed cool!
L.L. Cool J is hosting with class so far tonight.
Ditto to that, Leeann.
Nice tribute to Edda James…and yay for Adele!
Nice to see Lady Gaga wore her dress mosquito netting to the Grammys this year.
Let me know when Chris Brown is done performing.
Thank you to Fergie for reminding the younger generations that LL Cool J had a music career before “NCIS Los Angeles.”
I wonder if we’ll hear any country music on this show tonight?
Not from Jason Aldean, but hopefully Glen Campbell will deliver.
The mixing on that performance was horrible. Through most of the first chorus you could hardly hear Kelly at all, and near the end there were random riffs by various instruments playing too loudly.
I am hoping Glen Campbell does well on stage tonight. Nervously looking forward to it. In clips I’ve seen from recent performances, he still sounds great, but has had some tough moments now and then.
I haven’t seen The Band Perry / Glen Campbell mentioned in any of the promos. Is this standard practice given they aren’t headlining (by a long shot) or is this a sign they’ve been bumped for a surprise Whitney musical tribute?
Also, this is perhaps the first time I’ve ever heard Rihanna live, and it’s… odd. It’s proficient, if a bit breathy, but every line seems infested by the dispassion that made the verses of “Umbrella” so unique and interesting.
Ditto to Confessor’s comments on Aldean/Clarkson. That was kind of a mess. Also echoing Diamond’s comments on Campbell.
I actually really liked Rihanna’s vocals. She’s an interesting contrast to pop artists who depend solely on their voice and those who depend solely on their music.
I usually like Coldplay, but man, Chris Martin is sounding way, way off tonight.
The teasers indicate that the Perry/Campbell collaboration is definitely still on.
The Beach Boys thing was far too long.
Taylor is actually picking up the energy of the show. She usually nails this song.
w00t! I had no idea that Civil Wars were singing, if only a snippit. They were awesome.
Taylor Swift sounds pretty good too; the song actually seems to benefit from the quirks of a live vocal performance, and the arrangement and prominence of the female back-up vocals improve on the recording. Given what I’ve heard about her previous performances, it’s surprisingly on-key as well. Auto-tuned?
Aldean and Clarkson were okay, Swift was excellent. Country music is faring pretty well tonight. Hopefully Underwood will be strong, and the Glen Campbell tribute, with Shelton and the Band Perry, will provide some chills.
Dare I hope that Taylor’s voice is maturing a bit, a bit less whispy?
Adele’s performance was epic…as expected.
I think “Gentle on My Mind” is my favorite Campbell song.
The higher registers of Adele’s voice sounded notably more polished than the lower. I’m not a specialist in vocal technique, but this seems kind of counter-intuitive. Makes me think there might have been a prerecorded track involved.
Either way, I hope Adele learns to use her voice more efficiently in the future. Vocal nodules were one of the factors responsible for the decline in Whitney Houston’s voice… along with the cocaine and marijuana habit, of course.
Is it just me, or did TBP totally nail that performance?
It breaks my heart to see Glen after his Altzeimer’s diagnosis. Because of my grandfather who we lost in October, I have an idea of what he and his family will go through. I’m glad he’s still able to sing and perform now.
I thought the Band Perry did a nice job, but Blake Shelton sounded a little off to me. Glen is sounding good.
Don’t think Blake sounded off. The mic just wasn’t picking up his voice when he’d lean out from it even the slightest bit, and I think it threw off the performance a bit.
I watched Glen’s “Goodtime Hour” in the summers of my youth. I also like “Gentle On My Mind” the best. I enjoyed the tribute. Glad two of his sons, and his daughter, are in his band sharing the final concerts with with him.
I’m liking Carrie Underwood with Tony Bennett. It’s suiting her voice.
A very good showing on the Grammy stage for country music tonight. Carrie and Tony were charming. Not a real exciting song, but it sounded good on my TV. Glad they got to sing on Adele’s show.
Yay Adele!
“11:24 – Dan” – Agreed! She cracks me up.
Awesome job Dan – thanks so much! I’m more pleased with tonight than I thought I would be.
Lady A won for “Own The Night.’ The one thing I prayed would not happen. Lord, make it stop!
Have to comment – Looks like you have to be a crossover artist to get a Grammy award in country. Lady A, album, Taylor S with her one token country song on her album, gets vocal(performance nicely autotuned) and song. Why does she remind me of a Holly wood movie set? all facade, no substance.
Thought the Glen Campbell tribute was good, Jason and Kelly not so good, Tony B and Carrie, good vocals, whoa for Tony being 85 and still singing and putting out albums! Show overall,lots o bad music with bad delivery- thank goodness there were some sparkling moments in between!
Think you hit the nail right on the head Neil. Tay had that one token country song on her album and has all sorts of pop artists share the stage at her concerts. Lady A’s album (though I will say there are 2 songs on there that I find quite nice) is more pop than country by a long shot. I would have loved to see Jason Aldean to have gotten that honor at the grammys this year. I thought the Glen Campbell tribute was nice, Jason and Kelly was off because of the mic Jason had, Carrie showed off yet another side with her flawless duet with Tony though I will say Tony seemed somewhat nervous or something…
Loved Adele and loved Jen’s tribute.
The best part of the night…TS looking stunned when she didn’t win Country Album. I wished it had gone to a real country artist. I like Lady A fine but they are as about as country as Taylor, but I do like their songs a lot better than hers. Since I think her song was padded(auto tuned), she needed some padding in her dresses…talk about flat. I thought her voice was flat..but!! I’m just saying.