So how did they win all those awards, when supposed experts like myself predicted that it was obviously Eminem's year and that maybe Cee Lo Green's fantastic (and profane) pop song would get a little somethin'-somethin' besides?
Easily. The Grammys like to think of themselves as daring and edgy, more Gaga than Antebellum, when it comes to their choice of Ladies. But while media attention was paid to Eminem's impressive comeback and Cee Lo's pop hit - referred to on the Grammys as "the song otherwise known as 'Forget You' " - something got lost in the shuffle. East and West Coasters who wouldn't be caught dead listening to country radio wouldn't know it, but the album that led in sales for most of 2010 was Lady A's Need You Now. It ultimately sold 3.09 million copies, second only to Eminem's Recovery, which sold 3.42 million.
Lady A is being referred to as a "country-crossover" act in a lot of places. But that's not nearly as true for them this year as it was in 2010 for Swift, who was that year's big country-pop Grammy winner. Swift has an omnipresent, mainstream-pop, girl-next-door profile, but Lady A is largely a phenomenon of country radio.
If you stubbornly insist on thinking that "country" means Dolly Parton and Merle Haggard more than Kenny Chesney and Sugarland, then you probably don't think Nashville slickers like Lady A have any business pretending to be part of the Hank Williams-Patsy Cline legacy.
