8:00 pm Eastern, 7:00 pm Central on CBS
Carrie will be performing a duet with Tony Bennett
Carrie up for Best Country Solo Performance. Here's the list of nominees in that category:
Carrie Underwood - Mama's Song
Martina McBride - I'm Going To Love You Through It
Taylor Swift - Mean
Jason Aldean - Dirt Road Anthem
Blake Shelton - Honey Bee
For what it's worth, my thoughts on that are that "Mean" is a relatively strong song (I seem to be one of the few on this board who thinks so! LOL). It could be a serious contender for Song of the Year, were it not up against the eight year old "You And Tequila" (like "Bless the Broken Road", a song whose time has finally come!). However, this is
not a songwriting award - it's supposed to be a
performance award, and I'm afraid I can't rate Taylor Swift highly for performance.
I'll leave it to others to judge the two male singers - they're too Mainstream for my taste, but probably good radio formula material (If I was forced to choose between them, I guess I'd take "Honey Bee")
That leaves Carrie and Martina McBride - who are both very strong performance artists. These are the deserving winners in my book. "I'm Going To Love You Through It" may stand out for subject matter, and issue relevance, but, personally, I think Martina has had stronger songs.
I posted my thoughts on "Mama's Song" recently in this thread
http://www.carriefans.com/forums/play/148702-4th-album-potential-songs-121.html
Basically, what I felt was that Carrie's performance lifted this song to a new level. Her recent appearances generally (including the ones with Tony Bennett, which many voters will have seen earlier) have marked her out as a great performer. So I do think she has a chance here.
(We have to remember, though, that the Grammys have come under great pressure from the record companies to pay more attention to current popularity, and reward their strong current promotional favourites)
