Stars In LA For Grammy Weekend

They all want one of those little gramophones.  And who wouldn’t?  They have become, as Eric Church said, “The Holy Grail” for musicians.  This weekend, a bunch of country stars have made the trek to Los Angeles to take part in the activities.

Eric Church will perform his nominated song, “Give Me Back My Hometown.”  He told Country Countdown USA’s Lon Helton, “It’s a good time to play the Grammys because we’re on tour.  Our knives are sharp.  We know what we’re doing on stage.  We’re just gonna do what we do.  Everybody who’s there is there because they’re a fan of music.  The ‘win’ for me is going to be playing and represent the format.  The rest of it, we’ll see.  I don’t even want to think about it.  Even if we go 0 for 4, we still get to play.”  Church is nominated for Best Country Album, Best Country Song, Best Country Solo Performance, and Best Country Duo Performance with Keith Urban.

Miranda Lambert also has four nominations in those same categories, and will also perform on the show.  She had a slightly different view of being at the Grammy Awards: “It’s scary, it really is.  It’s scary to be at country award shows because my heroes are in the crowd.  Grammys is like that times 20 because it’s all genres, and everybody is in that audience.  It’s just like crazy.  Grammys is really prestigious to me.  I’m representing my genre, and we’re so great!”

Hunter Hayes is nominated for Best Country Solo Performance, and will also host the pre-awards show.  “It’s a special thing.  A nomination for a Grammy is always a big deal.  This one carries a lot of personal heart and soul because of how we recorded it.  I was crying when I sang this song, and I don’t like the vocal, but it means something because it’s real.  I learned a lot from this song and this nomination gives it more meaning.” The song Hunter is talking about is called “Invisible,” and he debuted it on last year’s Grammy show.  “I had big dreams for this song.  The invitation to introduce this song to the world was pretty spectacular.  We were excited to premiere the song that way, it gave the song a bit of honesty that it wouldn’t have any other way.”

Dierks Bentley is nominated for Best Country Album, and he’ll be a presenter during the show. “The first time you go to the Grammy’s you’re so blown away because of who’s there.  It’s a real special awards show, and I always love going out there and be part of the show.  Obviously to be nominated is the coolest way to go out there.  But as soon as I take my seat, I’m a fan.  The best part of being nominated is to sit in the seat and watch a great show, be part of history.”

Keith Urban has two nominations: Best Country Duo Performance with Eric Church and Best Country Solo Performance for “Cop Car.”  Keith will also be a presenter on the show: “The Grammys are such a surreal award to musicians because they’re the ‘big kahuna’ for musicians around the world, it’s one of the best known awards, so it’s quite an honor to be nominated, and it’s pretty amazing to win one as well.”

Other country performers will include legend Dwight Yoakam with double nominee Brandy Clark.  The 57th annual Grammy Awards air Sunday night on CBS-TV.

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