The 2014 Blues Grammy Winner & Rant

So last night, in the usual media blitz and the hoopla, the red carpet catwalk, Ryan Seacrest, and the gay and straight marriage mass ceremony, the Blues category of the Grammys was announced (in a pre-telecast of course).

Below from the official Grammys website:

Now, as much as I like Charlie Musselwhite, a very diverse and talented harp player (and guitarist), I think due to the fact that the Grammy bosses decided to merge the Traditional Blues and Contemporary Blues categories into one, the award has become just like any other award, such as Best Country Album (Taylor fucking Swift was nominated for this category, even though her album Red was pure pop). 

Surely, Ben Harper's album deserves praise, it's very good. But, at what point do you draw the line? It's a multi-genre album, mixing blues with R&B, gospel, and rock. While both musicians are technically proficient, but when it comes to the blues, in this case I think James Cotton should have won.

James Cotton is one of the last remaining original Chicago bluesmen still alive today, at the age of 78. His musical contributions span six decades, starting in the 1950's with Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf. He was there at Muddy Waters 1977 Grammy winning album Hard Again, playing the harp like they did back in the early days of Chess Records.

James Cotton's opening harp riff sums up this whole song

Truly, Cotton was the obvious choice for having the best Blues album; his legacy alone deserves the win, after all he did win the Grammy for Best Traditional Blues album in 1996.

The Grammy bosses also horribly excluded Buddy Guy's critically and commercially acclaimed album Rhythm & Blues from this list.

The Grammy Awards continues to be a commercial spectacle, and since their butchering of the blues and jazz categories, we know that these awards don't represent the real will of the music fans.

The official Blues Music Awards will take place on May 8th, so stay tuned for the real blues!