Several of yesterday’s winners at the Grammy Awards had connections to Memphis and the Mid-South, leading many music insiders to scratch their heads and tell themselves there must be “something in the water.” All “music industry” towns notwithstanding, there is no replacement for the local heritage and high standards that continue to cause local creatives of all generations to bubble up to the top.
Kim Welsh
Bobby Rush
Speaking of generations, 87-year-old Bobby Rush continues to show us how it’s done with his second Grammy win in the Best Traditional Blues Album category, for last year’s Rawer than Raw (see our interview with Rush here). “Wow … who’d have ever thought? A few years ago, I won my first Grammy at 83 years old. Now I’m this old and winning another one,” he exclaimed in a video acceptance speech. After thanking friends, media, and Recording Academy members, Rush added that his win “gives me the sense of knowing I’m on the right track. Because I’ve been writing this book for a while now. And now you certify that what I’m writing about is a true thing. I’m the true man, and I thank God for it. So I’ve got this book coming out called I Ain’t Studdin’ Ya. Some great things that I haven’t told about myself, but I’m telling on myself and about myself and others too.”
Another local talent also nabbed a golden phonograph for his mantel, none other than music writer Bob Mehr. Having written Trouble Boys: The True Story of the Replacements, his definitive biography of the Minneapolis band, he went on to write the liner notes for the group’s four-disc retrospective Dead Man’s Pop, released in late 2019, leading to his win for Best Album Notes yesterday. In a heartfelt comment on Instagram, Mehr noted that “this project began as an escape for me after the loss of two of my closest friends, Tommy Keene and Ali Borghei, and it was completed just as I lost my dear Uncle Shirzad Bozorgmehr. Those three guys would’ve been happier than anyone for me. I sure hope they’re proud, wherever they are.”
Catherine Elizabeth Patton
MonoNeon
It was also a big day for Memphis bass players. When rapper Nas won in the Best Rap Album category, for King’s Disease, there was much celebration in the Bluff City for the role bass virtuoso MonoNeon had in the track “All Bad.” Though he once played with Prince, and has many other high profile collaborations under his belt, this marks MonoNeon’s first involvement in a Grammy-winning record.
Meanwhile, another bass ringer, David Parks, aka PARKS (see this rare profile from The Daily Helmsman), was celebrating Ledisi’s win in the Best Traditional R&B Performance category for her ninth studio album, The Wild Card, to which he contributed parts. He briefly posted an Instagram comment recalling being exhausted, disembarking from a plane at 1 a.m., and going straight to the studio to add his contributions at the last possible minute. The moral of the story, for Parks, was to “always help your friends,” no matter how tired you might feel.
