Sunday, February 11, 2007

Country Stars Call For Vintage Performance Preservation

Hollywood Dirt Daily: Leann Rimes has joined fellow country stars to petition for better preservation of vintage country performances. The singer kicked off the The Soul of Country, this year's (07) Grammy Foundation Music Preservation Project, on Thursday night (08Feb07) with a cover of Patsy Cline's Crazy and used the occasion to highlight the plight of old audio and video performances.

Speaking at the Wilshire Ebell Theater, Los Angeles, she said, "It's so important to preserve music history. I want my kids to know all these great artists of the past."

Other stars supporting the campaign include Marty Stuart, Charley Pride and Porter Wagoner, best known for his duets with Dolly Parton. As well as live performances, the event featured footage from the archives of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, including Richard Nixon's 1974 piano-playing appearance at the Grand Ole Opry.

Meanwhile, in Nashville, some music biz pros complain that country music is the red-headed step child of the Grammys.
Joe Nichols says "I think country never gets its due with anything, really, as far as a global music get-together. Country is always like, 'If we've got time. If we've got the slot for that.' Whereas pop music, they'll get four or five categories and we'll get one. We'll get one or two performances where the pop guys get the whole night. "If they look at the way country has been in the last few years, we've actually kicked everybody else's butt. So I think some more respect needs to be paid on a lot of fronts … because a Grammy means the world, and country music deserves its share in the pond. They sell more records, they actually appeal to more people, and they make more people's lives happier than a lot of genres do." When asked about country's role at the Grammys, Shooter Jennings responded, "Does it have one?"

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