The Gongs all here

The Grammys often overlook artists who ought to be showered in awards – and then attempt to make up for the ommission years later with a lifetime achievement prize. This was the honour bestowed at this year’s ceremony upon Loretta Lynn, who hasn’t even released an album since 2005’s collaboration with Jack White of the White Stripes, Van Lear Rose .

An even bigger surprise is the fact that Neil Young has never been recognised with a Grammy. This year wasn’t going to be any different. Shakey did, however, enjoy a moment in the sun when he was granted the MusicCare Award for ‘Person of the Year’. The accoldate was richly deserved: his years of support for Farm Aid and the Bridge School Concerts have earned Young a deep-seated respect, for his campaigning work as much as for his songwriting.
His music, though, was what was at the nub of the matter during the lavish four-hour gala performance in his honour. Proceedings were introduced by School of Rock-er Jack Black, whilst perfomers included Elton John, Elvis Costello, Wilco, Dave Matthews, John Mellencamp, Sheryl Crow and Neko Case, who offered up interpretations of songs from Harvest onwards.
Later on, when the real Grammys were being handed out, Steve Earle picked up the Best Contemporary Folk Album Award for Townes, his collection of cover versions of songs by his late friend Townes Van Zandt.
The oddest of the award winners had to be Steve Martin (yes that Steve Martin, as made famous by The Jerk, Cheaper By The Dozen and a galaxy of other cheesy comedies). He won 'Best Bluegrass Album' for The Crow – New Songs for the Five-String Banjo.
No joke.
Irish audiences are familiar with Jason Ringenberg, or Farmer Jason as he is known to rockabilly fans. And yet there is a real danger audiences would forget the band that made him great in the first place, Jason and the Scorchers.
Back in 1983 when I first read about this group they seemed an extraordinary proposition. Here was an outfit that mixed rock and – could it be true? – country music.
With a name like Jason and the Scorchers (originally Jason and the Nashville Scorchers) you were always going to want to check them out. And they were definitely worth the effort. What you wear listening to was the first wave of alt-country. The world had just become a better place.
They had punk’s energy and country’s song-craft. It was a marriage made, if not quite in heaven, then at least somewhere with a bar well-stocked with tequila and buckfast. There were always tensions in the band between the urge to rock hard and the desire to keep it rich with country soul. Indeed, they split for a while, only to reform in the mid ‘90s. Now, they’re back with a new album Halcyon Times, their first studio effort in over a decade. Catch them at Kilkenny Rhythm and Roots festival, Sunday May 2.
2010 marks the centenary of the birth of the composer and music educator Aloys Fleischmann and UCC is holding a series of concerts and events to mark the occasion. A graduate of the Leeside university he was also professor of music there for the best part of 50 years and one of the key figures in the world of ‘proper’ music to recognise the wealth and diversity of Ireland’s folk tradition. He collaborated with Micheal O Suilleabhain on Sources of Irish Traditional Music, published after his death in 1998. The festival, if you can call it that, continues through February and March and into summer. Some of the high points include Liam O Maonlai’s Trasna, for which the Hot House Flowers man collaborates with Congolese, Iranian and Irish players at The Pavilion, Cork, Wednesday February 24 and Buille’s lunchtime performance in the Gluckmann Gallery Friday March 19.