In the days leading up to Sunday's Grammy Awards, which Pop & Hiss will be covering live, this blog will tackle various Grammy artists, personalities, categories and just plain oddities. For even more Grammy info, check Awards Tracker and The Envelope.

A rundown of the races to watch during Sunday’s 53rd Grammy Awards. The ceremony from Staples Center will be broadcast on CBS at 8 p.m.

Album of the year

It's not unusual for hip-hop artists to earn a nomination for album of the year. Actually winning, however, is still a rarity. The favorite for this year's top prize is Eminem, whose "Recovery" was 2010's top-selling album. Once a magnet for controversy, Eminem on "Recovery" is more thoughtful and serious, with a darker, less hook-filled tone. This is, however, Eminem's third album of the year nod, having been bested before by Steely Dan and Norah Jones.

Such has been the fate for many a hip-hop artist, because Kanye West couldn't garner the votes to top Herbie Hancock, and Lil Wayne never had a shot against Robert Plant and Alison Krauss. Yet Katy Perry's "Teenage Dream" is too frivolous, even by Grammy standards, and Lady Antebellum's "Need You Now" is pleasant but not the crossover force that was Taylor Swift's "Fearless." Forget Arcade Fire, whose adventurous concept album "The Suburbs" is significantly outgunned by the star power here. Lady Gaga's "The Fame Monster" spawned hit after hit, yet at only eight tracks was billed as an EP. That should clear the way for Eminem, who, seven albums into his career, is something of a seasoned old-timer, which is a trait Grammy voters love.

Record of the year (artist and producer)

Jay-Z has never won in one of the top Grammy categories; his pairing with Alicia Keys for "Empire State of Mind" is likely his best shot yet. The I-heart-N.Y. anthem has already been granted iconic status. Still, this award typically goes to something voters consider more serious, which likely spells doom for Cee Lo Green's "[Forget] You" and B.o.B.'s "Nothin' on You." Lady Antebellum's "Need You Now" is the type of slow-moving pop song right in the Grammy voters' wheelhouse, and Eminem and Rihanna's "Love the Way You Lie" found a way to turn themes of domestic abuse into a No. 1 single.

The Times' Randy Lewis recapped the Country Music Assn. Awards for the new Envelope blog Awards Tracker. An excerpt is below.

Texas country music firebrand Miranda Lambert won big at the 44th Country Music Assn. Awards ceremony on Wednesday in Nashville, taking home trophies for best album, top female vocalist and video in connection with her album “Revolution.” Brad Paisley took the night’s top award as entertainer of the year, and Lady Antebellum’s chart-topping hit “Need You Now” was named the year’s best single.

The entertainer award to Paisley recognizes a combination of live performance, recorded music and ambassadorship for country music. “My hero is Little Jimmy Dickens,” Paisley said, mimicking the broken voice of the Grand Ole Opry veteran, “and he has a saying: ‘If you see a turtle on a fencepost, it had help getting up there.' I feel like a turtle on a fencepost at this point.”

Lambert, whose awards came on the day she turned 27, said, “‘Revolution’ has truly caused a revolution in my life this year.... It’s my baby; it’s what I live for. Thank you so much for loving it too.” “The House That Built Me,” a Tom Douglas-Allen Shamblin composition that Lambert sang on the album, was named song and video of the year.

Blake Shelton, Lambert’s fiancé, took two awards, including male vocalist in what may have been the evening’s biggest surprise, trumping George Strait, Keith Urban, Brad Paisley and Dierks Bentley. Sugarland took the vocal duo trophy.

Atlanta’s party-minded jam group the Zac Brown Band was named new artist of the year, and the Georgia-based trio Lady Antebellum also collected vocal group honors on a show that sought to pump up its celebrity quotient, and ratings, by showcasing actress Gwyneth Paltrow in her public debut as a country singer.

Paltrow, awkwardly strumming an acoustic guitar and joined by Vince Gill, sang the title song from her forthcoming film, “Country Strong,” for which Nashville pros helped guide her through a crash course in country music to prepare for her role, and to do her own singing, in the tale of a fallen country star who tries to overcome a personal tragedy and an alcohol abuse problem to regain her career.

Read more on Awards Tracker.

-- Randy Lewis

Photo: Brad Paisley / Associated Press

What follows will be instant grades of every performance at tonight's Country Music Assn. Awards. This post is written off-site from the CMAs at the LAT HQ, and strives to be as fast and accurate as possible. This will be updated constantly throughout the night.

There may be typos. 

Carrie Underwood, "Songs Like This." The host of the show gets things going with her Nashville-via-Shania Twain rocker, and a  a song that works on country radio simply because it uses a banjo as if it's a lead guitar. Sporting red heels and a glittery silver dress that looks like it was ripped from a made-for-TV-version of "Tron," Underwood howled and wailed and started the show with a high energy pop tune. It was Keith Urban who gave Underwood an assist on the banjo, and co-host Brad Paisley who wielded the guitar. A minute or two later the hosts gave a shout-out to Gwyneth Paltrow, who was sitting in the audience and will perform tonight, but were careful to say this show is broadcast from Nashville rather than Los Angeles. Underwood's performance, however, was all Hollywood. Grade: B-. Bonus grade: Paisley doing country versions of Lady Gaga songs in the opening monologue: A

Rascal Flatts, "Why Wait" The stage is going for a Las Vegas look, but this is all Branson, Mo., shtick. Proving that a country sparkle is not just for the genre's leading ladies, singer Gary LeVox paces the stage in a shiny purple shirt, doing his best to justify rushing into marriage. Why not? The angry drunk divorce songs can come on Album No. 10. Like too much of mainstream country, this is Nashville comfort food, and it's easy to knock the plain-and-simple quality of the band. But Rascal Flatts look like they're fancy accountants playing Western dress-up for the night, and I find the look too charming to hate. Grade: C

Blake Shelton, "All About Tonight." When Blake's girl Miranda Lambert was onstage accepting an award for “The House That Built Me,” writers Tom Douglas and Allen Shamblin noted that the song could have easily gone to Blake. Shelton’s "All About Tonight" could just have easily gone to Rascal Flatts, as there's little to distinguish this tossed-off party tune. Though it's odd to hear Shelton sing the line "we're rocking all kinds of concoctions in our hands" (you know things are getting RECKLESS when there's "CONCOCTIONS"), the tune comes and goes, and without an impact. Grade: D

 
Music award shows such as the Country Music Television cable channel’s CMT Awards at 8 tonight exist chiefly to recognize distinguished works, typically of the recent past — and attract audiences with all the star power they can muster — rather than to provide a forum for the discovery of new music.

But tonight’s ceremony from Nashville highlighting viewers’ favorite country music videos of the past year also is giving a first look and listen to singer-songwriter Jamey Johnson’s ambitious new album “The Guitar Songs,” which doesn’t come out until September.

Johnson, who gained critical accolades and a healthy amount of commercial success for his 2008 album “That Lonesome Song” and its award-laden single “In Color” apparently has been on a writing frenzy. He’s assembled two CDs worth of new material: 25 songs, including “Macon,” the one he’s slated to sing tonight at the CMT event, an atmospheric tale of a Georgia trucker on his way home.

Miranda Lambert scored twice at Sunday night's Academy of Country Music Awards in Las Vegas, winning album of the year for "Revolution" and being named top female vocalist. If she seemed especially flabbergasted by the vocalist win, it wasn't an act.

When I spoke with her last year just before "Revolution" was released, she spoke with great pride about the strides she'd taken in her songwriting. Yet she had trouble mustering much confidence in talking about her singing -- something that left her boyfriend, singer-songwriter Blake Shelton, shaking his head in disbelief and chiding her for not owning up to that facet of her talent when he joined in on the interview.

But she's starting to get the message. After the show, as she, Shelton and a few close friends and family members celebrated both of their wins -- Shelton took the trophy for vocal event for his "Hillbilly Bone" duet with Trace Adkins -- I commented on the choice of the ballad "The House That Built Me" for her ACM spotlight performance rather than one of her signature upbeat numbers bursting with take-no-prisoners attitude.

"This time, I just wanted to stand there and sing," Lambert said. And sing she did, in what was one of the standout performances among the two dozen songs over the course of the three-hour ceremony.

Reporting from Las Vegas -- For most people, the 2 a.m. closing-time phone call to an ex- is an act of desperation, but Lady Antebellum turned it into a source of inspiration in their hit “Need You Now,” which brought the Augusta, Ga., trio top awards, including vocal group, single and song of the year Sunday at the 45th Academy of Country Music Awards ceremony here.

The ACM’s reigning entertainer of the year, Carrie Underwood, made it two in a row in something of an upset over country-pop princess Taylor Swift, who outsold every other act in pop music in 2009 and otherwise dominated country and pop, also launching her first headlining arena tour with a slate of sold out shows across the country. Swift gave Underwood a hug as the “American Idol” winner took the stage to accept the award, which was voted on by fans during the show and over the last several weeks.

Lady Antebellum continues its ascent in country music circles, nabbing a field-leading seven nominations for the 45th Academy of Country Music Awards, among them album, single, song and top vocal group.

The Georgia trio is the hottest act in all of pop music at the moment, having sold more than 1 million copies of its sophomore album “Need You Now” in the four weeks since it was released in January. Lady Antebellum just edged out Carrie Underwood and Miranda Lambert, who scored six nominations each, and Taylor Swift with five nods. It creates a roster of top award contenders heavy on new blood.

Swift, who upset a slate of country veterans at last fall’s Country Music Assn. Awards in being named that organization’s youngest entertainer of the year winner ever, is in the running for the same trophy at this year’s ACMs. The organization expanded the entertainer category to include eight names this year, up from the usual five: the other nominees are Underwood, Kenny Chesney, Toby Keith, Brad Paisley, George Strait, Keith Urban and the Zac Brown Band.

Voting for entertainer of the year will be open once again to fans, and audience input also will be factored into the award for best new artist. Awards will be handed out April 18 at a ceremony from the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas, to be telecast on CBS.

--Randy Lewis

Photo of Lady Antebellum (left to right): Charles Kelley, Hillary Scott and Dave Haywood. Credit: Miranda Penn Turin

Over the course of seven increasingly sophisticated albums since 1999, Brad Paisley has established one of country music’s more compelling personas: He’s the ordinary guy constantly on the verge of being overwhelmed by extraordinary circumstances, be they emotional (songs about the miracle of parenthood), cultural (songs about the shifting definition of masculinity) or technological (songs about this here gosh-dang Internet).

On Friday night at Staples Center, where he brought his current tour in support of last year’s album “American Saturday Night,” Paisley appeared determined to have his fans experience that point of view for themselves. This was a nearly two-hour country concert in which the threat of sensory overload never seemed more than a few seconds away.

After a solid but unremarkable opening set by Texas firebrand Miranda Lambert, the show began -- like many of his songs -- with a fake-out: Paisley performing “Start a Band” by himself behind a microphone designed to resemble the one at Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry. Then a scrim dropped, the singer’s state-of-the-art stage set materialized, and we were suddenly knee-deep in the title track from “American Saturday Night,” a backyard barbecuer’s ode to the wonders of international free trade.

 

The year in country music brought some noteworthy breakthroughs (Jamey Johnson, Randy Houser) and some negligible ones (the overhyped Zac Brown Band, the inconsistent yet promising Lady Antebellum), while country-pop queen Taylor Swift posted another stellar performance.

More than ever, the most deeply touching music generally came from acts relegated to the commercial sidelines known as Americana or alt-country.

-- Randy Lewis

Photo, top left: Miranda Lambert. Credit: Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times
Photo, top middle: Justin Townes Earle. Credit: Joshua Black Wilkins / Bloodshot Records
Photo, top right: Rosanne Cash. Credit: Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times

Pop & Hiss brings you instant reviews, typos and all, of all the performances at the Country Music Assn. Awards. It was a big night for Taylor Swift, who won entertainer of the year. She ended a three-year run from Kenny Chesney,

Related: CMA Awards 2009 Scorecard: Complete nominees and winners

Taylor Swift, "Forever & Always." Nashville is going straight to its A-list star, opening the show with pop music's most popular living singer at the moment. She'll have two songs tonight, and first up is "Forever & Always." To sum it up: The 2009 CMA Awards are off and running with a train wreck. The energy and excitement of Swift's MTV Video Music Awards performance, in which she was running through a subway, is completely lost. Beginning with a fake interview with Nancy O'Dell was cute, especially when Swift noted that "If guys don't want me to write bad songs about them, they shouldn't do bad things." But turning her "Forever & Always" into a chair-throwing angsty performance, complete with a stripper --  or fireman’s pole  (depending on your level of innocence) -- was ill-advised. She looked strained in trying to capture the anger of the song, awkwardly rolling on the floor and yanking at her hair. This is a D. But she has another performance in which to redeem herself.

 

Days before she surely cleans up at the Country Music Assn. Awards, Taylor Swift will bring her crossover pop to "Saturday Night Live," hosting the NBC program on Nov. 7. "Saturday Night Live" has been kind to musicians this year, including Lady Gaga, who appeared in a number of sketches during her recent appearance.

Swift has already shown off her comedy chops. In an an opening sketch for the Country Music Television Awards, Swift (a.k.a. T-Sweezy) rapped with T-Pain to open the telecast ("I knit sweaters, yo!"). In the weeks leading up to "Saturday Night Live," expect plenty of speculation as to how exactly "SNL" will attempt to refresh the Kanye West/MTV Video Music Awards incident.

Swift's "SNL" appearance will mark the start of what will be a country-heavy week on television. On Nov. 11, Swift will appear on the CMA Awards, which has bolstered its performance roster: Jason Aldean, Billy Currington and Daughtry, who will duet with Vince Gill, have been added to the lineup.

Autumn is a glutton's feast for pop fans, full of blockbuster albums, buzzed-about debuts, spectacular arena tours and rare small-venue performances. This year offers the usual mix of veterans aiming for another moment of impact, and young pretenders working to make a mark in an ever-widening field.

That's good news for those with eclectic tastes: no one subculture dominates right now, so the listening is best for people who are a little bit country, a little bit rock and roll -- and a little bit dance and folk and Latin, too. What follows is a look at the best bets for recorded and live music in the coming months, album release dates subject to change, of course.