Who really deserves a Grammy?

With the Grammy Award ceremony less than a month away (Feb. 13 for luck), my question is: Are the right people nominated? After last year’s weird win for Warren Zevon as Best Contemporary Folk (aka – best acoustic modern rock from a legend dying of cancer) Album, at least the nominees in this year’s race make more sense. But it’s still kind of a mishmash. With 107 categories, you would think the Academy could spare more than 4 for Folk (with two being dedicated to Hawaiian and Native American music) to fine tune the genre’s offerings. Among the nominees for contemporary Folk (which includes singer/songwriters Ani DiFranco, Steve Earle, Eliza Gilkyson and Patty Griffin), John Carter Cash showed up with the tribute album he produced of music from the original Carter Family. So, how is the Carter Family contemporary and BeauSoleil traditional? Even Amazon pairs The Unbroken Circle with Beautiful Dreamer, the Stephen Foster tribute album. So what should be the true criteria – traditional versus contemporary?