| Greenhaw
grabs Grammy Gold |
| Daren
Watkins , The Mesquite News |
02/27/2003 |
|
We called him
Mr. Grammy for Best Southern, Country or Bluegrass Gospel
album.
Art Greenhaw Records proved to the Academy of Recording Arts
and Sciences, size doesn’t matter.
Greenhaw snared the Grammy award for best Southern, Country or
Bluegrass Gospel album for his “We Called Him Mr. Gospel
Music – the James Blackwood Tribute” album at this
year’s Grammy awards.
The album featured Larry Ford, The Jordanaires, the Lightcrust
Doughboys and of course, legendary gospel music great James
Blackwood.
Greenhaw received his first Grammy in five nominations at
ceremonies held in New York City. His Grammy carried the same
weight as Grammy awards won by Norah Jones for best new artist
and Bruce Springsteen for best male rock performance.
“This is the greatest professional highlight,” Greenhaw
said Tuesday. “Of course, we’re always thinking about the
next performance, the next recording. But when you are
congratulated by the likes of Tony Bennett, it really says
something.
“This was by far the most enjoyable Grammy experience
we’ve had. I loved New York and this is just great.”
Greenhaw’s independent grass-roots record label won out
against competition from the “big boys” of the recording
industry. Spring Hill Records had two works nominated in the
category and Sparrow Records, a division of multi-conglomerate
EMI, was also nominated.
“The wonderful thing about the Grammy Awards is that it
allows the world’s smallest record label get an award
alongside some of the largest,” Greenhaw said. “The other
nominees in our category were top quality, but sometimes the
tortoise wins out in the race over the hare and, like the old
gospel song says, ‘Little is much.’”
“Mr. Gospel Music” was selected as the academy of some
13,000 voters to be the best of the year – over products
featuring The Gaither Vocal Band, The Oak Ridge Boys and The
Charlie Daniels Band.
Now, life could change drastically for Art Greenhaw Records as
Greenhaw moves from five-time Grammy-nominated record producer
to Grammy award-winning record producer.
“We certainly hope things change for us and that we are able
to expand our territory,” he said. “Paul Simon came up to
me and asked all kinds of questions about southern gospel
music. It was wonderful to establish that dialogue. He said he
was going to write me because he wants to know all about
southern gospel.”
Greenhaw said there is a big difference in being nominated and
winning the award – although there are some similarities.
For one, Grammy award winners don’t leave the awards
ceremony with their awards in tow.
The award Greenhaw was seen and photographed with are
imitations of the real thing – which at this moment is being
hand-crafted by an artisan. It will have his name on it and
perhaps the category for which it stands.
Greenhaw said the most drastic difference between nominations
and award recipients is the way Grammy-winners are treated
after the announcement is made.
He said they are shuttled from media room to media room –
photographers calling for them to look their way for a shot or
two.
Another highlight of the Grammy awards particularly of
interest to Greenhaw was the resurgence of the
singer/songwriter.
From James Taylor and Springsteen to John Mayer and Vanessa
Carlton, the nominees in the various categories featured
artists after Greenhaw’s heart – the musical players who
represent organic music.
As it turned out, Texas music and musicians were somewhat of a
force at the Grammy awards.
Greenhaw won his first. The Dixie Chicks were multi-award
winners – including the award for Best Country Album for
“Home.”
But Dallas-raised Jones was the big winner. She cleaned house
with five Grammy wins out of her eight nominations.
Her eight nominations tied her for the record for most
nominations for a female artist with Alicia Keys and Lauryn
Hill.
Her awards included Best New Artist, Song of the Year and
Album of the Year for “Come Away with Me.”
“She [Jones] is kind of a kindred spirit with us,”
Greenhaw said. “She even said after in one of her acceptance
speeches that she didn’t think the music she did would be
considered popular. For her to be honored at the height of
popular music shows we may be moving in the right direction in
some areas.”
Greenhaw said he is already planning his next release. He said
the Grammy nomination and selection process takes about eight
months.
“Some of the tracks on this latest project were started two
or three years ago,” he said. “I have some wonderful
unreleased James Blackwood tracks and the Doughboys have some
live venue dates coming up. We’ll have to judge how we can
maintain our artistic integrity, yet still make it appealing
to Grammy voters.” |
As
featured in the on-line version of Mesquite
News.
©Mesquite News 2003 |
|
