| If it weren't for The Chieftains, the truth about Irish music might have remained a well‐kept secret from Americans... Many Americans might persist in believing Irish music to be songs like 'MacNamara's Band,' 'Danny Boy' and the music of The Clancy Brothers, rather than the wild jigs and reels, impish hornpipes and raucous slides played by this seven‐man instrumental group. | | | | |  | Chieftains chieftain Paddy Moloney, left, with his pipes and his band in October 1976.
(Estate of Keith Morris/Redferns/Getty Images) | | | | | "If it weren't for The Chieftains, the truth about Irish music might have remained a well‐kept secret from Americans... Many Americans might persist in believing Irish music to be songs like 'MacNamara's Band,' 'Danny Boy' and the music of The Clancy Brothers, rather than the wild jigs and reels, impish hornpipes and raucous slides played by this seven‐man instrumental group." | | | | Sweetheart Not of the Rodeo
Six months after ditching most of the secret committees that had the power to massage and manipulate GRAMMY nominations, and which had massaged and manipulated one of 2020's most popular and acclaimed albums out of any nominations, the RECORDING ACADEMY has a new committee mess on its hands. This time it's the genre committees, which have the power to decide what is and isn't hip-hop or metal or "progressive R&B" or, in this particular case, country. The Academy's country committee has decided KACEY MUSGRAVE's STAR-CROSSED, a divorce album recorded in Nashville by the same artist and team whose last album won three country Grammys on its way to winning Album of the Year in 2019, which chronicles the real-life breakup of two country singers, and which has been in regular rotation at CMT, on SIRIUSXM's The Highway and on country playlists across the streaming universe, isn't in fact a country album and isn't eligible to be nominated for a country Grammy.
What the what what?!?!?
As of Tuesday night, the Academy had yet to say a word in public about the first boneheaded decision of the 2022 Grammys, which came to light thanks to a long and fantastic letter of protest from UMG NASHVILLE president CINDY MABE to Academy chief HARVEY MASON JR. Mabe, who's in a position to know these things, makes the case for "star-crossed" as a country album sonically and thematically, in the way it's been publicly received and even in the way its metadata is written. (It's 2021, y'all, and the metadata is the message.) But she also explains how important Musgraves and her album is to a genre where women have famously struggled to get radio airplay and for whom Musgraves represents an alternative path to mainstream success and an alternative perspective on what country music can mean.
Country is one of those genres, like hip-hop and metal, in which the question of who belongs and who doesn't is an ongoing, impassioned, heavily coded debate. Every fan acts as a gatekeeper and every tradition is fiercely protected. "ARE YOU SURE HANK DONE IT THIS WAY," asks one of country's most iconic songs. But what sometimes gets overlooked in the country debate is that the Hank who WAYLON JENNINGS sang about flirted with pop stardom toward the end of his life, and some of his most notable descendants, from DOLLY PARTON and JOHNNY CASH to SHANIA TWAIN and CARRIE UNDERWOOD, did a lot more than flirt. They and other mainstream country stars have absorbed and repurposed elements of pop, rock, Latin music, dance music, hip-hop and any number of other styles over the years. Musgraves, in opening her arms to dance and pop production ideas (and whatever other styles the Grammy country committee thinks she's engaging in), is honoring *that* tradition. Hank, you could argue, did do it this way. Same trailer different spark.
UMG's Mabe has one more subject to broach in her letter, and it may be the most damning one of all: "The idea that a handful of people including competitors, who would benefit from Kacey not being in the country category, are deciding what is country." The secret committees were long dogged by accusations of conflicts of interest, and here's a major label president spelling it out in black and white: Eliminating "star-crossed" from the country categories may well be in the explicit interest of the people doing the eliminating. And their wins will be country music's losses. The more a musician opens her ears, the message seems to be, the less Grammy's country wing wants to listen.
But you still have time to listen, Harvey Mason Jr., and to follow Kacey's arrow.
Coach Calls Audible
What the what what, COACHELLA and STAGECOACH?!? The twin festivals, which are scheduled to return next spring, quietly announced Tuesday that they're reversing course and no longer requiring that all attendees be vaccinated for Covid-19; a negative test can be used instead to gain entry. The announcement came not via press release or the Coachella mailing list but on Stagecoach's Instragram feed. Stagecoach, unlike Coachella, isn't sold out, and attracts a mainstream country audience, and it's hard not to wonder if those two facts—and not updated health and safety data—are behind the change. Coachella buried its version of the announcement in a news item on its website. Are all artists at both fests (including headliners TRAVIS SCOTT, RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE, CARRIE UNDERWOOD, THOMAS RHETT and LUKE COMBS) OK with the change? Will California state and local officials be OK with it? Will the fans who already have tickets? Will be interesting to watch.
Etc Etc Etc
UNITEDMASTERS artists now have the option to get paid in cryptocurrency. "Payment optionality [is] a big thing in this creator economy," CEO STEVE STOUTE told CNBC's Squawk Box Tuesday morning. UnitedMasters itself isn't getting paid in crypto by services like APPLE and SPOTIFY, meaning it will convert cash to crypto for any artist that chooses that form of payment... SMASH MOUTH singer STEVE HARVELL has left the band after a rough, embarrassing live performance that went viral earlier this week, and says he will pursue treatment for medical issues. "I've tried so hard to power through my physical and mental health issues, and to play in front of you one last time," he said in a statement, "but I just wasn't able to"... The members of BLACKPINK say they'll no longer accept gifts like flowers, balloons and books from their fan army. They're asking fans to make charitable donations instead... The PNAU remix of DUA LIPA's "COLD HEART" has given ELTON JOHN his first US top 40 hit since 1999. It's been 50 years and 10 months since John reached the top 40 with "YOUR SONG," which Billboard says is the longest span between US pop hits, surpassing MICHAEL JACKSON's 46 years and eight months... How to reclaim your favorite song after a breakup.
Rest in Peace
Master musician PADDY MOLONEY played uileann pipes, tin whistle, button accordion and bodhran and, as the founder and driving force of the Chieftains, was one of the most crucial players in traditional Irish music for the past half-century-plus. His band collaborated with the likes of Mick Jagger, Willie Nelson, Roger Waters and James Galway. President Biden, back when he was running to be Vice President Biden, named the Chieftains the band he most wished he could have been in... Film composer/arranger JOHN ASHTON THOMAS' credits included "How to Train Your Dragon" and "Black Panther."
| | | | Matty Karas (@troubledoll), curator |
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| | Kacey Musgraves' Label Protests Grammys' Decision to Exclude Her From Country Categories | | by Chris Willman | | Although as of this year blue-ribbon committees no longer exist to winnow down the final nominations, panels are still in place to decide whether submissions belong in the categories they were submitted in or should be shuffled to a different genre. | |  | | Dada Drummer Almanach |
| | Radio, Radio | | by Damon Krukowski | | I'd like to praise a digital technology, for a change... | |  | | The Guardian |
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| | Paddy Moloney, who helped revive Irish music as head of the Chieftains, dies at 83 | | by Harrison Smith | | He helped revive traditional Irish music as the founder and guiding force of the Chieftains, a largely instrumental ensemble that resurrected forgotten jigs, reels, airs and ballads over nearly six decades of concerts and recordings. | |  | | Los Angeles Times |
| | RETRO READ: Popular Blokes: Paddy Moloney and the Chieftains Always Make Time for a Good Time | | by Jim Washburn | | Where does Paddy Moloney find the time? | |  | | Pitchfork |
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| | How Emo & Pop Punk Are Becoming More Diverse | | by Aliya Chaudhry. | | Aliya Chaudhry grew up being told that rock music wasn't for her. Yet in recent years, the emo and pop punk scenes she loves have started to become far more diverse, as she explores here with contributions from artists such as Pinkshift. | |  | | Mixmag |
| | How amateur DJs are using TikTok to reach millions | | by Niamh Ingram | | TikTok's large user base and highly-trainable algorithm is a perfect storm for viral hits - but is social media hype translating into real world success? | | |  | | Vulture |
| | James Blake Has Come to Terms With His Underrated Influence | | by Charlie Harding, Nate Sloan and James Blake | | Therapy and reaching his 30s have helped the artist-producer focus on simply having fun. | |  | | Billboard |
| | Who's Next: Five Music Companies That Could Follow UMG and Go Public | | by Ed Christman and Glenn Peoples | | Here's an informed but speculative guide to which music companies are likely candidates to go public next, how the market might receive them and what issues they would face. | | | | Pitchfork |
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| | Stagecoach and Coachella festivals no longer requiring proof of COVID-19 vaccination | | by Niki Kottmann | | The annual music festivals in Indio have a new policy allowing proof of a negative COVID-19 test as an alternative to showing proof of vaccination. | |  | | Music Tech Solutions |
| | Why Songwriters Should Care About Inflation Protection for Mechanical Licenses | | by Chris Castle | | Index statutory mechanical royalties before inflation hits. | |  | | NPR |
| | Fans worry over ranchera icon Vicente Fernández, who remains hospitalized | | by Carrie Kahn | | Mexico's most famous ranchera singer remains hospitalized after a fall at his Guadalajara ranch, leaving fans on both sides of the border worried about his fate and the music he made so famous. | |  | | Broken Record |
| | Scarface: The Reunion | | by Rick Rubin and Brad "Scarface" Jordan | | When he was 17, Scarface was recruited to join the Geto Boys, one of Rick Rubin's earliest rap signings for his post Def Jam label, Def American. On today's episode, Scarface and Rick reminisce about working together, and Face talks about how his recent experience with covid was eerily similar to his classic verse on "Mind Playing Tricks On Me." | |  | | Passion of the Weiss |
| | "We Opened That Gate of Get Fly, Get Money:" An Interview With AZ | | by Zilla Rocca | | 16 years after his debut studio album, AZ delivers 'Do or Die 2.' He joins Zilla to talk Quiet Money philosophy, the next generation and more. | | | | From "Chieftains 6: Bonaparte's Retreat" (1976). RIP Paddy Moloney. | | | | | Music | Media | Sports | Fashion | Tech | | "REDEF is dedicated to my mother, who nurtured and encouraged my interest in
everything and slightly regrets the day she taught me to always ask 'why?'" | | |  | | | Jason Hirschhorn | | CEO & Chief Curator | | |  |
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