Louisianans featured at Grammy Awards

Zachary Richard, photo: Acadiana Center for the Arts

BY JOHN WIRT
JWIRT@THEADVOCATE.COM
New Orleans songwriter, pianist and producer Allen Toussaint has been nominated for two Grammy awards. He is among several New Orleans and Acadiana artists who received Grammy nominations Friday night in Los Angeles.

Toussaint’s album, “Songbook,” is up for best Americana album. He recorded the album, which features solo voice and piano performances, in the fall of 2009 at Joe’s Pub in New York City. “Songbook” track “Shrimp Po-Boy, Dressed” earned a nomination for best American roots song.

Toussaint, a member of the Rock and Rock Hall of Fame, Songwriters Hall of Fame and recipient of many other honors, is a previous Grammy nominee for his 2009 album, “The Bright Mississippi.”

Grammy nominations for the best regional roots music album include New Orleans’ Hot 8 Brass Band’s “The Life & Times Of...The Hot 8 Brass Band” and two albums by Acadiana acts, Zachary Richard’s “Le Fou” and Terrance Simien and the Zydeco Experience’s “Dockside Sessions.” Simien won a Grammy in 2008.

Hot 8 Brass Band

Also from New Orleans, Bishop Paul S. Morton Sr., pastor of the Greater St. Stephen Full Gospel Baptist Church, was nominated in the best gospel album category for “Best Days Yet.” Morton’s tenth album, “Best Days Yet” features songs written by his son, PJ Morton, and vocals by his daughter Jasmine Morton-Ross.

PJ Morton has a Grammy nomination of his own for “Only One.” Recorded with Stevie Wonder, “Only One” received a nomination for best R&B song.

Breaux Bridge native Hunter Hayes, a nominee for numerous country music industry awards this year, received a Grammy nomination for best country solo performance for his No. 1 hit, “I Want Crazy.”

Jazz trumpeter and composer Terence Blanchard, a New Orleans native and a previous Grammy winner, received a nomination for his improvised solo for “Don’t Run,” a track from Blanchard’s album, “Magnetic.”

New Orleans singer-songwriter Andrew Duhon’s “The Moorings” is nominated for best engineered album, non-classical. Trina Shoemaker, a previous Grammy winner based in Fairhope, Ala., engineered “The Moorings” and Eric Conn served as its mastering engineer.

Country singer and north Louisiana native Tim McGraw received a best country album nomination for “Same Trailer Different Park.” Blues singer Bobby Rush, a north Louisiana native and Mississippi resident, has a best blues album nomination for “Down in Louisiana.”

The Grammy Awards will be broadcast Jan. 26 from the Staples Center in Los Angeles.