No Matter What Is Said ... Grammys Are A Big Deal!

Jimmy Carter in his homebase Nashville

Jamey Johnson said he was humbled ... as he should be, to be voted among the best in the world of music. The Grammys are the Oscars of Music. Political, oh yeah, like you wouldn't believe. But still harder to fix than some of the Country awards.

Grammys get it right some of the time with nominations for Jamey Johnson and Alison Kraus/Robert Plant. The left-outs are huge this year. The nomination show got an audience of 7 million and finished 4th place out of four for the evening. Still that's 7 more million than the year before -- with no show.

Singing on LIVE TV is danger filled!! Taylor Swift trying the Brenda Lee classic, "I'm Sorry." Or Mariah Carey's voice cracking in the weight of trying to be Darlene Love and not making the trip. John Mayer has no shame even trying to play with B.B. King with his level of skill.

The NBC Christmas tree lighting in NYC had tracks on, many if not all with live vocals. Miley Cyrus hit more keys than Columbus. Jonas Bros weren't much better. Harry Connick can play anything, anyplace, anywhere.

The mix on these big live shows comes and goes. Not at all sure what the deal was at NBC. Maybe the deal is ... some folks can't sing!

Taylor Swift is so mature beyond her years. Slick and cool as she could be, hosting with LL Cool J. Already now at 1 million sold with Fearless.

Tours aplenty in 2009. Money shortage coming if all predictions are correct. Bonnarroo is letting ticket buyers pay for their show with five payments of $50 bucks. The Rodeo Houston is letting some shows like Reba and AJ go for $10! Yep ... 10 bucks for the rodeo and concert. I think the parking is almost $10!

Look at the talent buys for the Florida Strawberry festival. The superstars are very high (WAY INTO 6 FIGURES), so some venues are going new and cheap, or classic act and cheap.

See the story on the video play-along game, Rock Band. They are adding some country music titles alongside the punk and metal stuff. The current residents of Rock Band are not happy. On some of the forums, Country music is called the devil and God's curse on Earth. Amazing! Again, parents, why are you buying this game for your pre-teen to use and swim in the romance of punk and metal? Geeez....