Miranda Lambert and her fellow Pistol Annies, Dan + Shay, and Billy Ray Cyrus were among the glitterati that graced the red carpet at Nashville’s Hutton Hotel Tuesday night (Jan. 7) to honor the city’s contingent of 2020 Grammy nominees.
Other nominees spotted in the crowd included Keb’ Mo’, Steven Curtis Chapman, Lenesha Randolph, Tim Menzies, for King & Country and Doyle Lawson, as well as songwriters Liz Rose, Hillary Lindsey, Bobby Pinson, Ruby Amanfu and Sam Ashworth and producer/songwriter Jerry Salley.
The Grammys are awarded by the Recording Academy for recordings of musical excellence. Winners will be announced during the 62nd annual Grammy telecast Jan. 26 from the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
Although the impending Grammy awards was the focus of the party, this was also the first event of the new year to bring most of Music Row’s power brokers together in the same room for chatter personal and professional.
This was the first year the Hutton hosted this event, but, as in years past, the food continued to be spectacular and the background music — once again provided by the Birdsong jazz quartet — both elegant and eloquent. However, unlike its previous site, this one secluded the red carpet activity from the gaze of arriving guests.
As the band breezed through such classics as “Satin Doll,” “Cheek to Cheek,” “My Romance” and “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore,” the partygoers grazed among the four bars and profusion of food tables that boasted such tasty fare as turkey with sage gravy, lump crab cakes, a charcuterie board of cured meats, cheeses, pickles and jams, hummus, broccoli and kale salad with tart cheese and sunflower seeds, mini cheesecakes in many flavors and assorted cookies. Indeed, there were more delicacies to marvel over than one could easily sample.
Again this year, there was a photo machine accessible to all that allowed guests to pose and preen in front of a Grammy backdrop and mail the pictures instantly to their smartphones.
Alicia Warwick, executive director of the Recording Academy’s Nashville chapter, told of the organization’s work with the MusiCares charity, music education and lobbying for more income for people in the music industry.
Chapter president Jennifer Hanson said the Nashville chapter has 118 Grammy nominees this year in 39 categories, including songwriter John Prine who will be given the Academy’s lifetime achievement award.
Lambert is nominated in the category for Best Country Song for “It All Comes Out in the Wash,” as well as Best Country Album for the Pistol Annies’ Interstate Gospel. Dan + Shay’s “Speechless will compete for Best Country Duo/Group Performance.
