2021 Grammy Awards LIVE Blog

Random Notes 80 Comments

Welcome ladies and gentlemen to the 2021 edition of the Saving Country Music Grammy Awards LIVE blog! For the next three hours or so, we’ll be following along with the live broadcast, sharing completely unscripted and off-the-cuff quips, criticisms, praises, and observations as the dog and pony show transpires on CBS.

Please understand this is all in good fun, and there will be dirty words and syntax errors as the presentation transpires.

If you want an update on what transpired during the Grammy Premier Ceremony where most of the country and Americana Awards were given out, CLICK HERE.

(All times CENTRAL time)

10:42 – Thanks everyone for following along! I really appreciate it. Goodnight!

10:41 – The Grammy for Record of the Year goes to Billie Ellish. For something. They didn’t mention what.

10:39 – Thank goodness, they’re giving away Record of the Year finally.

10:30 – Is this thing going to 11:00? Grammy’s, it’s 2021, America doesn’t have the attention span for this.

10:26 – I really appreciate the brave souls who’ve followed along all night, and the folks who’ve commented. Unless something unforeseen happens, this will likely be the last Grammy Awards Live blog. Will keep it to the CMAs and ACMs from now on. Just not enough relevance to the country and roots world, and not much interest, either here, or anywhere on the internet from what I can see. Will be interesting to see where the ratings land.

10:25 – Now we have to sit through a BTS performance? I’m checking out at 10:30 sharp, so you better get to Record of the Year post haste.

10:20 – This vignette with acting CEO Harvey Mason Jr. is pretty good, addressing all the concerns folks have levied against the Grammy Awards, and the importance of music, and asks, “Work with us, not against us” as they try to transform the Grammys. And they need to be transformed if they are to survive.

10:13 – Also, it looks like a clearance wax flowers display at Michaels vomited on Taylor Swift.

10:12 – With no country albums nominated, I guess “Folklore” by Taylor Swift is as close as country could come to a win in this category. It’s a fine album, and it does feel like it should have won something. It turns out it wins the biggest award of the night.

10:10 – The 2021 Grammy for Album of the Year goes to Taylor Swift for “Folklore.”

10:09 – Funny, I’ve been to all of the venues the Grammys are highlighting tonight, including The Hotel Cafe. Great, important listening room.

10:08 – Also, the gripes have already gone up, with people pointing out all but one of Beyonce’s wins have been in genre categories, not in general categories. Nothing is ever good enough for the Beyhive.

10:07 – By the way, Beyonce winning her 28th Grammy means she surpassed Alison Krauss, who had the previous record for a female artist with 27.

10:03 – Oh great, another overly-gesticulating choreography display. Whatever happened to starting with a strong lyric, an infectious melody, and gracing it with a soaring performance? This isn’t music, this is meme making.

10:00 – Had a Doja cat in college. Damn thing refused to piss anywhere but behind the couch.

9:58 – Grammys really selling hard how many awards Beyonce has so they don’t get accused of being racist in the morning.

9:57 – Gee, Taylor Swift sure is . . . enthusiastic.

9:56 – The Grammy for Best R&B Performance goes to Beyonce, making her the most awarded female in Grammy history.

9:55 – It appears we’re going past 10:00 Central.

9:51 – There’s Killer Mike, who we were looking for before.

9:47 – This Lil’ Baby performance portraying the shooting in a Wendy’s parking lot in Atlanta forgot the portion where the dude wrestled away the cop’s stun gun and shot it at him.

9:45 – Taylor Swift right now after getting shut out again: “Should have stayed home and hung out with my damn cat.”

9:44 – Dua Lipa just won some pop award. “Pop Vocal Album.” As opposed to “Pop Instrumental Album” ?

9:44 – Holy shit, who’s the dude in the flower shirt. I though Screech died.

9:42 – Interesting to note: All of the country artists who performed tonight (Miranda Lambert, Mickey Guyton, Maren Morris), are all from Texas.

9:39 – Man, this thing started out decent, and is definitely nose diving here in the 3rd hour. They need to hand out Album of the Year and kick it to the local news, or nobody’s going to ever watch The Grammy Awards again. Trevor Noah hasn’t landed a shot all night.

9:34 – Okay, this is some creepy vampire shit in this Post Malone performance. Someone conjure up Kris Kristofferson circa Blade to save us.

9:31 – Post Malone: Big fan of Colter Wall, Tyler Childers, and Billy Strings, apparently.

9:30 – Beyonce deserves some award for enduring having two Medieval maces dangling from her earlobes.

9:28 – Megan Thee Stallion seems like good people. But she should put that talent and intellect into her music.

9:26 – I wonder why The Ryman Auditorium is not one of the venues being featured in these Grammy segments? No offense to the Bluegrass Inn. Cool to feature that too,but it feels like that was a missed opportunity. They Ryman is country music’s Apollo.

9:18 – Sure, watching Ben Shapiro recite the words to “WAP” is hilarious as he proves how little he understands about popular culture and comes across as a total prude. But it’s no laughing matter when an echo chamber of universal consensus crowns “Wet As Pussy” as anything but derivative bullshit praised for it’s shock value. There’s nothing there, and it’s defaming to anyone’s reputation who knowingly lies and says there is simply to virtue signal.

9:14 – I want the last 10 minutes of my life back.

9:10 – Megan The Stallion isn’t “empowering.” It’s just vacuous ear and eye candy with no value to be found. This is a choreographed dance routine with music as the excuse.

9:02 – Don’t go anywhere! The song about female genitalia we’ve all be waiting for is coming up! Tell you’re kids to get ready!

9:00 – I’m not familiar with the song, but H.E.R. has impressed me every time she’s come on my radar, including last year when she wailed on guitar at the Grammys, and during the Super Bowl, where she did the same. A true musician.

8:59 – The 2021 Grammy for Song of the Year goes to “I Can’t Breathe” by H.E.R.

8:57 – Best Melodic Rap Performance? Yes, please. More melody in rap.

8:54 – Mickey Guyton too.

8:52 – Think Brandi Carlie has the performance to beat so far. Bruno Mars and Haim brought the goodness too.

8:50 – Maren Morris performing “The Bones,” which just like Miranda, was her single one or two singles ago. Not sure country is putting its best foot forward in it’s little quarantine pod. I don’t hate John Mayer, but his tone was dog shit.

8:48 – Hearing from Twitter they did tribute Joe Diffie, Jerry Jeff Walker, and a few others I missed while typing. Good for them.

8:46 – John Mayer looks like he’s on a sedative.

8:45 – Miranda Lambert comes out to sing “Bluebird.” Song’s fine, but I wish she’d perform something that shows off her strengths more.

8:44 – And Mickey Guyton also just had a baby like a few weeks ago! She looks ravishing.

8:42 – Mickey Guyton comes out to perform “Black Like Me.” Really surprised it did not win Best Country Solo Performance, especially when they announced it for a performance slot. Really like this arrangement with the steel guitar.

8:37 – Also saw Harold Reid of The Statler Brothers and a few others flash by. Didn’t feel like they featured as many names as they’ve done in the past. Did anyone see Justin Townes Earle, or Joe Diffie, or Paul English?

8:34 – The sincere tenderness Brandi Carlie brought to John Prine’s “I Remember Everything” illustrates why it just won two Grammy Awards, and why it’s never an unworthy expenditure of time to pause to remember Prine’s legacy.

8:30 – Jan Howard, Charley Pride (and singing “Kiss an Angel Good Morning,” Ennio Morricone, then Brandi Carlile comes out to sing “I Remember Everything,” which just won TWO Grammy Awards earlier today. Brandi Carlile’s voice is so splendid!

8:28 – Lionel Richie and Barry Gibb would be the only two proper people to tribute Kenny outside of country. Remember that fiasco at the CMA Awards when they tapped Little Big Town? Can’t even remember what the hell they sang.

8:25 – Eddie Van Halen, with his guitar placed at center stage with a spotlight on it. Mac Davis, Charlie Daniels are also seen, leading into Lionel Richie singing “Lady” for Kenny Rogers.

8:24 – K.T. Oslin, Tony Rice make it in the the Grammy’s In Memoriam segment before it breaks out into a Little Richard tribute. The Grammy’s always go MUCH deeper than the ACMs and CMAs remembering fallen music greats. The apparently considered over 400 names this year. That’s how much death music has endured over the last year. Country got especially hit.

8:22 – That whole category was terrible. Taylor’s “Cardigan” was probably the strongest. Got robbed.

8:22 – Harry performed “Watermelon Sugar” earlier. It was hot garbage.

8:21 – The 2021 Grammy for Best Pop Solo Performance goes to “Watermelon Sugar” by Harry Styles.

8:20 – The Troubadour is a badass place. If you ever get to see a show there, do it. Hallowed ground.

8:15 – Lionel Richie gets the Kenny Rogers tribute? I guess it makes sense, but would rather see a country artist get some face time. He’ll probably nail it though.

8:13 – Bigger fan of singing one song and trying to knock it out of the park as opposed to trying to squeeze three choruses into a medley, especially when the songs are understated like Swift’s current stuff.

8:12 – Jack Antonoff is such a dork. I want to steal his lunch money and stick his head in a commode.

8:11 – Good to see Taylor Swift holding her ground against the Grammy Awards after refusing to participate last year after all the drama. :/

8:09 – Taylor Swift’s set looks like a Nativity scene you would buy at Hobby Lobby, fake moss and all.

8:08 – I probably would have chosen Ashley McBryde for Best Country Album, but Miranda is a quality pick.

8:07 – Miranda Lambert: “I’m holding it for all of us, especially us girls.”

8:05 – The 2021 Grammy Award for Best Country Album goes to “Wildcard” by Miranda Lambert.

8:03 – This is on the the cool things that the Grammy Awards are doing. Cool to see The Station Inn get some face time. Too bad they didn’t hand out Billy Strings’ Best Bluegrass Album there.

8:02 – Bruno Mars could blow most or all the singers in country’s current Top 40 off the stage.

8:00 – This Bruno Mars, Anderson Paak thing ain’t half bad. So much modern music feels like refried R&B nostalgia, but it’s so much more favorable to mumble rap on top of unimaginative beats.

7:56 – I know Brandi Carlile is tributing John Prine. Not sure who is singing for Kenny.

7:53 – Ooh! John Prine and Kenny Rogers tributes coming up.

7:51 – Dua Lipa gets to perform two songs, but we can’t get Tyler Childers on this thing?

7:49 – I think “Dua Lipa” is Bosnian for “just another pop star.” She doesn’t look bad in her skivvies though.

7:47 – I guess they’re putting together background segments like this one for Dua Lipa for all the Album of the Year nominees. Not a bad idea.

7:44 – It appears country fans can feel some satisfaction that Latin and hip-hop has also been trainwrecked by boring electronic beats and mush mouth lyrics.

7:42 – How did Da Baby get a hold of the Thanos gauntlet?

7:40 – Da Baby’s choir looks like it’s composed of asshole judges that assign you to community service for paraphernalia.

7:38 – Earlier this week, I wrote a big article about how the Grammy Awards need to focus more on telling the stories behind the artists. Seems like they may have been one step ahead of me.

7:32 – We’ve lucked out so far. Actual musicians playing actual instruments. Much better than how this usually goes.

7:29 – The Black Pumas can feel a big standard for rootsy R&B, but they’re super solid musicians and performers. Good performance.

7:27 – This vignette on The Black Pumas is what the Grammy Awards need more of. Tell the compelling stories behind these artists. Sell them to the audience, and introduce them to something new. Hats off to my boys from here in Austin.

7:25 – Ingrid Andress was the country play for Best New Artist, but it felt like a Hail Mary.

7:23 – The Grammy for Best New Artist goes to Megan Thee Stallion. She likes to rap about her pussy.

7:22 – Do we still hate Lizzo because she lost some weight?

She’s looking good.

7:20 – The Kevin Bacon commercial is already leagues funnier than anything Trevor Noah has done.

7:15 – Haim is more country than half the shit they play on country radio. Why can’t they “go country” instead of Diplo?

7:13 – Yeah, Haim is a guilty pleasure. I even find the bass player’s crazy faces badass. What modern garage pop should be.

7:11 – Whose wrecked car is that Billie is standing on? Sam Hunt’s after he caught his dewey?

7:10 – This bedroom emo stuff is fairly inoffensive, but when you’re creative depth is compartmentalized to a laptop, it leaves you wanting.

7:09 – Billie Ellish’s hair is making me crave a lime dreamsicle.

7:06 – Harry Styles? Can we go back to the era when boy band stars flame out after 18 months and end up getting spit out of the back end of the porn industry?

7:05 – Is it too late to call an audible and get Reba in here to host this?

7:04 – Not a single joke from Trevor Noah landed. Get to the hip-hop women screaming at us about their pussies already.

7:02 – Trevor Noah is not funny. Along with awards shows, one of the biggest victims of the COVID shutdown is the humor on late night TV.

7:00 – Here we go!

6:58 – In the “country” realm, expect performances by Miranda Lambert and Brandi Carlile tributing John Prine. Maren Morris is also performing. And Mickey Guyton

6:56 – All but one of the country and roots awards have already been handed out already, including John Prine winning twice for American Roots Song and Performance, Sarah Jarosz for Americana Album, Billy Strings for Bluegrass Album, and Gillian Welch and David Rawlings for Folk album. Overall, I’d say it’s been a pretty good showing so far. Can’t really quibble with any of the roots categories.

Was a bit surprised Vince Gill won Best Country Performance for “When My Amy Prays,” but it’s not a bad song. “10,000 Hours” by Dan+ Shay is a bad song, but that win was expected, as was “Crowded Table” for Best Country Song by The Highwomen.

All that’s left is Best Country Album.

“Lady Like” — Ingrid Andress
“Your Life Is a Record” — Brandy Clark
“Wildcard” — Miranda Lambert
“Nightfall” — Little Big Town
“Never Will” — Ashley McBryde

6:50 – Alright folks, I was hemming and hawing about doing this at all, and with the time change time, I’m a bit disorientated. I just tried to call a buddy using a banana. But we’ll give the snark machine a rev and see if it fires up.

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