Texarkana Entertainment Blog

Just my opinion:

1) Record of the Year – “Please Read the Letter” is achingly beautiful and Alison Krauss and Robert Plant sound perfect together, but I choose the Third World trippy hip-hop of M.I.A. and “Paper Planes,” something more original to my ears. 

2) Album of the Year – “In Rainbows” from Radiohead. It won’t win, but it’s a dreamy, challenging masterpiece. 

3) Song of the Year – “Viva la Vida” from Coldplay. Love the driving percussion and strings on this insanely catchy song, and lyrically it’s fascinating. 

4) Best New Artist – Please let it not be the Jonas Brothers. Let’s go with Adele. What a voice! 

5) Best Female Pop Vocal Performance – Adele’s “Chasing Pavements.” Definitely not “I Kissed a Girl.” 

6) Best Male Pop Vocal Performance – I pick the silky, suave R&B song “Closer” from Camden, Ark.-born Ne-Yo. But I think John Mayer or Kid Rock will take home the award here – both fine songs. I love James Taylor’s song, but is it pop? 

7) Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals – Tough choice here. I love OneRepublic’s “Apologize.” But I love the soulful weirdness of Gnarls Barkley’s Cee-Lo in “Going On” even more. 

8 ) Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals – “Rich Woman” by Krauss and Plant is the obvious pick to me, but I must confess I like the Rihanna/Maroon 5 combo in “If I Never See Your Face Again.”

9) Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance – “Rise,” from the unmistakable baritone of Eddie Vedder, is a gorgeous piece that fits the film “Into the Wild” just fine. And it’s a great song in its own right. Still, it would be nice to see the old man Neil Young win it. 

10) Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals – I could go with the hometown boy (well, by way of Linden anyway) and his band. The Eagles with “Long Road Out of Eden,” a beautiful, mature rock song. But then there’s Radiohead. Yep, “House of Cards.” You should see the great video for it:

Looking through the nominee list, I am sure I could go on some more but I’ll stop here. What do you think? Agree or disagree and who do you hope wins big in these categories or others?

- Aaron Brand

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I was just surfing the Grammy Awards site online and noticed they’re keeping music fans updated hour-by-hour at their Twitter page (including, it seems, with trivia contests and answering questions about the big show): The Grammy Twitter page. The Grammy Awards will air Sunday night. Here’s a list of nominees: The 51st Annual Grammy Awards nominations list. Alison Krauss and Robert Plant, seen below, are nominated for Record of the Year for “Please Read the Letter.” 

- Aaron Brand

Wire photo:

In this June 15, 2008 file photo, Alison Krauss and Robert Plant perform at the Bonnaroo music festival in Manchester, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, file)

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Cherryholmes played in Texarkana at Jump, Jive and JamFest earlier this year and put on a show of fun, electrifying, dance-all-you-can bluegrass. The Nashville, Tenn.-based family band enthused a disappointingly small but nevertheless dedicated crowd back in May. Judging by the pleased reaction, those in attendance seemed to recognize they were seeing six super musicians playing music they love to share. Cherryholmes just landed two Grammy Åward nominations (they’re developing a habit of that) — one for Bluegrass Album of the Year (for “Don’t Believe”) and another for Country Instrumental of the Year (for “Sumatra”), according to their Website. Props to them. And let’s hope they come back to Texarkana sometime.

- Aaron Brand

Staff file photo by Tanner Spendley.

Staff file photo by Tanner Spendley. Members of the band Cherryholmes perform on the main stage during the Jump, Jive and JamFest in downtown Texarkana.

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