At the risk of sounding like a grumpy old man: How in the hell have these kids never even heard of Bonnie Raitt?
The legendary blues singer won her 14th Grammy at last night’s awards ceremony, not including her Lifetime Achievement Award from 2022. She’s a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and her 1989 album Nick of Time was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Recording Registry and has been certified 5x platinum by the RIAA. And she was ranked on both Rolling Stone’s list of 100 Greatest Singers of All Time and 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.
Bonnie Raitt is a legend.
But apparently, a lot of people didn’t know who she was until the title track to her 2022 album Just Like That won a Grammy for Song of the Year at last night’s ceremony, beating out names like Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, Adele, Harry Styles, and Lizzo.
The UK’s Daily Mail called Raitt an “unknown blues singer” when discussing the icon’s Grammy win.
And fans of the other nominees (most of them much younger) took to Twitter to express their shock and confusion…while many admitted they don’t even know who Bonnie Raitt is.
And they even took to Bonnie’s Instagram to express their displeasure (and show their lack of class) after her win.
Well there goes any hope I had for the younger generation…
For her part though, Bonnie was of course all class, giving an emotional speech about the song that was inspired by a news segment she saw about a woman who was going to meet the man who had been given her young son’s heart in an organ donation:
“I was so inspired for this song by the incredible story of the love and the grace and the generosity of someone that donates their beloved’s organs to help another person live.
And this story, it was so simple and so beautiful for these times.”
She also paid tribute to her friend and frequent collaborator, the late, great John Prine:
“People have been responding to the song partly because of how much I love and we all love John Prine. And that was the inspiration for the music, for this song and telling a story from the inside.”
That’s how you do it – and Bonnie’s been doing it for longer than people like Taylor Swift, Harry Styles and Beyoncé have been around.
Kacey Musgraves Delivers Perfect Tribute To Loretta Lynn At Grammy Awards With Perfomance Of “Coal Miner’s Daughter”
Meanwhile at the 65th Annual Grammy Awards, Kacey Musgraves absolutely nailed her tribute to the late, great Loretta Lynn.
She performed Loretta’s signature song “Coal Miner’s Daughter” during the in-memoriam portion of the Grammy Awards show last night, in what was an absolutely perfect performance of a country standard.
The song was a solo write by Loretta, and was by far the most significant of her career, leading to her aforementioned 4th career #1, 2nd Gold album certification, and a famous biographical musical film of her life that won an Academy Award and two Golden Globes.
Of course, the song perfectly describes her life growing up dirt poor in Butcher Holler, Kentucky, with a father who grew corn and worked in the Van Lear coal mines:
“My daddy worked all night in the Van Lear coal minesAll day long in the field a hoin’ cornMommy rocked the babies at nightAnd read the Bible by the coal oil lightAnd ever’ thing would start all over come break of morn’”
She mentions in the chorus, though, how proud she was of her parents and her upbringing in the hills and hollers of east Kentucky, which was extremely evident throughout her entire life and career.
Kacey took the stage playing Loretta’s iconic epiphone frontier and delivered a flawless acoustic performance, and I have to say, it’s so damn good to hear Kacey singing stone cold country again.
Her vocals were impeccable, and it was easily one of my favorite performances of the night… and I also really appreciate her nod to Loretta with her whole outfit and look for the evening, as well.
She certainly did Mrs. Loretta proud, that’s for sure:
