Recap: 2023 Grammy Awards
Talking all about country music’s big night at the Grammy’s. Find out the 2023 Grammy Award winners, who performed, and the big surprises of the night. Featured Artists: Bill Anderson, Willie Nelson, Carly Pearce, Ashley McBryde, Chris Stapleton, Bonnie Raitt, Molly Tuttle, Shooter Jennings, Brandi Carlile, Kacey Musgraves, Cody Johnson, and Luke Combs.
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Show Notes
The Grammy's were last night, and country music was well-represented. The show was pretty long - I think it ended up being just about 4 hours, but it moved along very well and had a good mix of performers.
One of the highlights was the tribute to Smoky Robison who was named the Grammy MusicCares Person of the Year and Stevie Wonder and Chris Stapleton performed in his honor.
Brandi Carlile was the second performance of the night - she ended up winning several awards in the Americana and rock Categories. Shooter Jennings and Dave Cobb both produced her latest album and they joined her onstage during the pre-telecast to accept those awards.
During the pre-telecast all but one of the country awards were presented.
Carly Pearce and Ashley McBryde would become first-time Grammy winners when "Never Wanted To Be that Girl" won for Best Country Duo or Group Performance. If you listened to my last podcast where I shared my predictions, this is who I hoped would win but I wasn't sure if they could win over Alison Krauss and Robert Plant who seem to win every Grammy they are nominated for. I also thought the star power of Reba and Dolly could possibly sneak in a win.
But Carly and Ashley were very thrilled to win - they gave a great acceptance speech.
Willie Nelson would be the big winner among the country categories - he took Best Solo Country Performance for “Live Forever” which I predicted he would.
During the TV broadcast, Shania Twain presented the award for Best Country Album - a category she won in 1996 for her breakthrough record The Woman In Me. It was a stacked category with Miranda Lambert, Willie Nelson, Maren Morris, Luke Combs, and Ashley McBryde - and the award went to Willie - Willie's been nominated for this award several times but this is first win in the category. This category was presented in 1965 and 1966, but they would eliminate it the following year and it wouldn't return until 1995.
Willie was not present to accept the award - I wish they could have had him via FaceTime or something because that would've been a great moment.
The in memoriaum segment was very well put together as far as the music and performers. Kacey Musgraves honored Loretta Lynn by singing “Coal Miner's Daughter.” That was Loretta's guitar that Kacey was playing - Loretta's daughters wanted her to play it during the tribute. They didn't include all of the people within the country music community during the video tribute - but they did include Grammy nominees Olivia Newton John, Jeff Cook of Alabama, Mickey Gilley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Naomi Judd, and Peter Cooper.
Sheryl Crow and Bonnie Raitt also performed during this segment - and Bonnie was one of the surprise winners of the night. She would win Song of the Year for “Just Like That” - a song that John Prine inspired. It was one of the best speeches of the night.
Another surprise was “Til You Can't” - performed by Cody Johnson - winning for Best Country Song. A lot of times a country song can rack up the most airplay, awards, and sales and still be left out of winning. We've seen a lot of non singles win in the last few years. Chris Stapleton's “Cold” won last year. Glen Campbell won with "I'm Not Gonna Miss You." Kacey Musgraves took the trophy for “Space Cowboy.” I was fully expecting "I'll Love You Til The Day I Die" that Willie Nelson recorded, and Chris Stapleton and Rodney Crowell wrote, to win. It had the triple-threat factor. I was very surprised and very happy to see “Til You Can't” win. The award goes to the songwriters, and it was great to see them recognized.
Luke Combs performed for the very first time on the Grammy's with his current single "Going, Going, Gone. The performance had an orchestra, and he did a great job of representing country music.
There was a really cool tribute celebrating Hip Hop's 50th anniversary. Typically medleys just fall flat at award shows - it's really hard to execute them without feeling rushed...but the Grammy's did the best job I've ever seen with a medley. I don't even know how many artists they crammed into that segment, but it was incredible and flowed. One of the best moments of the night.
The Grammy's have a huge impact on sales - looking at the iTunes charts the morning after the Grammys - Samara Joy - who won Best New Artist is at number one. I can't wait to dive into her album - I wasn't familiar with her previously. Bonnie Raitt is at number two, Harry Styles who scored the biggest award of the night, Album of the Year is at three, Shania is at four with Queen of Me which was just released. And then there's Willie Nelson sandwiched in between Beyonce who is at five and Lizzo - who took Record of the Year and gave one of the best speeches ever - at number seven. Luke Combs is at number four on the Country Songs Chart.
I love the Grammy's because it gave artists like Willie Nelson to be featured during the telecast and we got to see legend Bill Anderson walk the red carpet because he was nominated for Best American Roots Song...you also get to see artists like Carly Pearce, Ashley McBryde, and Molly Tuttle winning their first Grammy's. Plus, there are so many performances that you are bound to discover some new music to check out.
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