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Micheal Ledbetter

Photo: Courtesy of The Blues Foundation

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Blues Music Awards Celebrate The Late Michael Ledbetter & Much More In Memphis

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The 40th annual Blues Foundation event saw touching tributes, spontaneous moments and electrifying performances
Mark Jordan
GRAMMYs
May 14, 2019 - 10:53 am

The blues music community gathered at the Cook Convention Center in Memphis, Tenn., on May 9 to recognize excellence in the genre. It was at the 40th anniversary of the Blues Foundation’s Blues Music Awards, a milestone the marking of which ordinarily would have dominated the evening. But this year’s ceremony took on an appropriately bittersweet — if no less joyous — tone, with the big winner on the night being a rising young blues vocalist whose career was tragically cut short.

Go Backstage At The Blues Music Awards

Michael Ledbetter, a distant relative of the early 20th century folk blues great Lead Belly, died in January at age 33 from complications from epilepsy. On this night the blues community honored the opera-trained vocalist and guitarist with his first individual BMA wins, including the coveted B.B. King Entertainer of the Year award.

“There’s a lot of people who knew Mike as a great entertainer but his family knew him as a great person and lot of people here tonight have come and said the same thing,” said Ledbetter’s sister Ginger Burroughs, who accepted the award along with their parents and Ledbetter’s partner Kathy Cahoon.

Ledbetter also won best vocalist. His group with guitarist Monster Mike Welch, the Welch-Ledbetter Connection, took home best band.

Ledbetter was on the minds of other winners, many of whom who paid tribute to the Illinois native from the stage, most notably his band mate Welch, who won best guitarist, and traditional male artist winner Nick Moss, with whom Ledbetter started his blues career nearly a decade ago.

“We all miss Mike every day, but I feel like I got a little angel looking over me,” Moss said backstage. “When Mike won that first award, I looked up and said, hey man, got a little bit more in the tank for me.”

Moss almost missed accepting his award; he had been in the lobby looking for his wife’s cell phone and had stopped at the bar when someone came up and told him his name had been called. It was the kind of spontaneous moment that has come to typify this award show over four decades.

“This is one of my favorite events,” said actor, radio host, and member of Rock and Roll Hall of Famers the E Street Band Steven Van Zandt, who returned for the second year to host this year’s awards. “The fact that it’s so crazy. It’s very loose, it’s very spontaneous, and there’s nothing quite like it. But I enjoy that. I enjoy the fact that things are changing constantly and improvising. It’s like the blues.”

Among the night’s other winners were such well-known no shows as Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top, who won best blues-rock album for his solo effort Big Bad Blues, as well as Grammy winners Buddy Guy and Ben Harper. Joining them were such blues circuit stars as Shemekia Copeland, who took home two awards, Kenny Neal and Eric Gales, all of whom were present to accept their awards.

Presenters at the show included Grammy nominees Maria Muldaur, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, and GRAMMY Lifetime Achievement recipient Steve Cropper, whose Memphis soul band Booker T. & the MGs was inducted into the Blues Foundation’s Blues Hall of Fame the night before in a ceremony co-hosted by GRAMMY winner Dom Flemons, formerly of the Carolina Chocolate Drops.

Kenny Wayne Shepherd At The Blues Music Awards

A nearly five-hour long affair, the BMAs were studded with dazzling performances, including an all-star set featuring Copeland, Tony Braunagel, Scot Sunderland, and Kid Anderson, a powerful song featuring best blues/rock artist Gales playing dazzling acoustic guitar and a barn-burning finale with the Reverend Peyton’s Big Band backing saxophonist Mindi Abair, Flemons, Cropper, and Van Zandt in a rendition of “Shake Your Moneymaker,” an Elmore James classic that was also inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame this year.

COMPLETE LIST OF 2019 BLUES MUSIC AWARDS WINNERS:

Acoustic Album
Journeys to the Heart of the Blues, Joe Louis Walker/Bruce Katz/Giles Robson

Acoustic Artist
Rory Block

Album of the Year
America's Child, Shemekia Copeland

B.B. King Entertainer Of The Year
Michael Ledbetter

Band of the Year
Welch-Ledbetter Connection

Best Emerging Artist Album
Free, Amanda Fish

Blues Rock Album
The Big Bad Blues, Billy F. Gibbons

Blues Rock Artist
Eric Gales

Contemporary Blues Album
America's Child, Shemekia Copeland

Contemporary Blues Female Artist
Danielle Nicole

Contemporary Blues Male Artist
Kenny Neal

Instrumentalist-Bass
Danielle Nicole

Instrumentalist-Drums
Cedric Burnside

Instrumentalist-Guitar
Monster Mike Welch

Instrumentalist-Harmonica
Dennis Gruenling

Instrumentalist-Horn
Vanessa Collier

Instrumentalist-Pinetop Perkins Piano Player
Marcia Ball

Instrumentalist-Vocals
Michael Ledbetter

Song of the Year
"No Mercy In This Land," written By Ben Harper and performed by Ben Harper and Charlie Musselwhite

Soul Blues Album
I'm Still Around, Johnny Rawls

Soul Blues Female Artist
Annika Chambers

Soul Blues Male Artist
Sugaray Rayford

Traditional Blues Album
The Blues is Alive and Well, Buddy Guy

Traditional Blues Female Artist
Ruthie Foster

Traditional Blues Male Artist
Nick Moss

Kenny Wayne Shepherd Talks Career Beginnings At The Blues Music Awards

GRAMMYs

Liz Brasher

Photo: Jarrod Anthonee

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Liz Brasher Opens Up About Memphis, Mental Health & Her New "Sad Girl Status" Video

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The tough and talented emerging artist talks candidly about her career journey, how Memphis' "grit and hustle" inspires her, and what went into her powerful and personal new video
Robert Ham
MusiCares
Jun 23, 2020 - 10:19 am

Singer/songwriter Liz Brasher definitely took the backroads to discover and develop her distinctive style of Southern music. Influenced by everything from the spirituals of Mahalia Jackson to the crafty harmonies of the Beatles, Brasher honed her self-described mix of "garage rock meets the Delta blues meets gospel meets soul," along the winding personal and musical journey from her hometown of Matthews, NC, through Chicago and Atlanta. 

The backroads eventually led her to the home of legendary labels Stax and Sun Records, Memphis, Tenn., where she began her career in earnest and found her new creative home.

"It’s a really healthy place to write and to exist as an artist. There’s no feeling of industry or competition here," she says. "I came to Memphis to record an album and hopefully get signed. And literally the first weekend I was here, those things happened for me."

Fast success awaited Brasher in Memphis. She was snapped up by Fat Possum Records and soon found herself on the road, opening for the Zombies and the Psychedelic Furs, and making her highly acclaimed first appearance at SXSW in 2018. She released her debut album Painted Image in early 2019 and even earned a place in the hallowed halls of the Stax Museum, with one of her stage outfits and guitars on display, further celebrating and cementing her connection to the "Home of the Blues." 

But soon, Liz started to see her promising young career stall out just as the lights were turning green. 

“You’re promised that things are going to go one way,” she remembers, “then you see yourself fall to the wayside because... things aren't the way you were told they would be.” 

Instead of succumbing to adversity, Brasher poured her disappointment into her music. She sat down at her piano one day and out came a heartfelt ballad called “Sad Girl Status.” The song is a powerful expression of personal anguish and fiery determination written with ample room for her wall-shaking vocals to boom out. Appropriately, it’s matched up with a video featuring the wildly talented artist walking with purpose through Memphis—both guided tour and a reminder of her place in the musical history of this legendary city.  

While she waits for the quarantine to lift and for her touring life to begin again, Brasher spoke with the Recording Academy about the hard times that led to the creation of “Sad Girl Status,” inheriting her work ethic from her immigrant mom, and what her adopted hometown of Memphis means to her. 

Let’s start off by talking about your new single “Sad Girl Status.” In the notes for the song, you talk about how it was born from a really low point in your career and your life. What was going on at that time? 

We had just released my debut album Painted Image. Everything in my whole life had been leading up to this moment. Like, it’s your first record. You really want it to do well. I had just come off a really good previous year of touring. Then suddenly I watched everything fall into this stalemate. It didn’t matter how many songs I was writing. It didn’t matter what I was doing to get better, I couldn’t propel anything forward. That was just so frustrating because I’m not a person who sits still very well at all. That’s what I was now forced to do for almost a year. I found myself in this cycle of frustration. I knew what my potential was, but I couldn’t get myself to where I wanted to go. So, in that really low state, I sat down at the piano, and in a few minutes, the song completely came out of me. It was really melancholy, but I thought it was beautiful at the same time. I think it was really what I needed to make this mental switch. It was the catalyst for me to be able to make changes that needed to be made in my career. 

What changes did you make to help you move forward? 

I took my career into my own hands. As an artist it’s easy to feel like a lot is out of your control. You write the music, perform it, record it, but you can feel so disconnected to everything from the business side – like it’s something that’s happening to you. Some artists are okay with being hands off, with just getting informed as things happen, but I realized that’s not what I wanted. That forced me to take a step back and see that, while I have help with my career, I ultimately needed to own the fact that it’s up to me to make sure it’s driving forward in the way I want it to go.

Is it normal for you to start with the piano to write a song? A lot of the material on Painted Image is very guitar-forward. 

Aside from singing, piano was my first instrument. My mom started me on piano lessons when I was four. When I began to join bands, I would just sing. Later on, I picked up the guitar and that kind of overtook everything for me. It’s so much easier to lead a band as a guitar player. I’ve got some songs that are more piano-based but not like this. Not stripped down—just vocals and piano. 

Your hometown of Memphis is such a huge part of the video for “Sad Girl Status.” What does the city mean to you? 

The thing that attracted me most is that Memphis refuses to conform. There’s this very unique grit and hustle to this city. This constant mindset that Memphis is going to do whatever it wants to do. It’s a really healthy place to write and to exist as an artist. There’s no feeling of industry or competition here. I came to Memphis to record an album and hopefully get signed. And literally the first weekend I was here, those things happened for me. I don’t know if I’ll be in Memphis forever, but it’s always going to be the place where my career began. 

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Liz Brasher's stage outfit and guitar on display at the Stax Museum in Memphis
Photo: Shane Trulin

Was it easy for you to get into the grind and hustle of the city? 

That’s something that was ingrained in me from childhood because my mom is an immigrant. She had to work her ass off to support me, including having multiple jobs so that I could take piano lessons. She’s one of nine siblings that came from the Dominican Republic where they all lived in a one room shack with dirt floors. My family came here seeking a better life. I grew up seeing how many things they had to balance and struggle with just to make ends meet. For me, it was like, how could I not work as hard as my mom?

How has your family responded to your music and your career? 

They just kind of stay out of it. Some will ask or keep up with how things are going, but most just act like it doesn’t exist. I have a very strict religious family. I grew up singing in the church and I wasn’t allowed to listen to secular music. I had to sneak out to go to concerts and had friends burn me CDs so I could hear what was going on. I had to literally hide in my closet with my radio because I was so addicted to music and wasn’t allowed to hear it. I grew up singing and was always playing some instrument, so it really shouldn’t be a shock that I turned out to be a musician. It can be an issue of contention because a prevalent thought within my family is that any time music is used outside of the church it’s automatically evil or negative. I think it’s a cultural and age difference, more than anything. My mom had me at 40, so that’s a huge age gap. You combine that with a different mentality from a different country and a legalistic view on faith, it just makes for a melting pot of misunderstanding. But I think all artists feel that way to a degree. My family’s response actually drives me. I want to be even more successful because I want them to see that this is a valid career and way of life. 

Do you have any ideas about what comes next for you – once you can get back on the road and onstage? 

I'm going to take over the world. I’ve written so much, even from the time of my first record. I’ve got multiple albums just waiting to be recorded right now. We’re having the conversations and discussing what the best options are. Is it building our own team independently or is it working with a label that’s going to be fully on board? Right now, we’re sorting through all of our options. I want to ensure we avoid repeating what I just went through. We’re just taking it one song at a time right now.   

Learn more about how you can donate to or apply for assistance via the Recording Academy's and MusiCares' COVID-19 Relief Fund.

Learn more about the financial, medical and personal emergencies services and resources offered by the Recording Academy and MusiCares.

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Hero The Band perform at the Recording Academy Atlanta Chapter Annual Membership Celebration
Photo: Marcus Ingram/WireImage

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Report: Music & Culture Infrastructure Can Create Better "Future Cities"

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How sound planning for a creative future in our urban areas makes all the difference for artists and musicians
Nate Hertweck
GRAMMYs
Oct 23, 2019 - 2:27 pm

The future, as they say, is now. And for music makers around the world, building a future for themselves often starts at home, in their local creative community and in the city where they live. While technology has expanded communication and made the world smaller, cities continue to grow, making planning for the future a critical cultural mission of the present.

To that end, a new report by global organization Sound Diplomacy titled "This Must Be The Place" examines, "The role of music and cultural infrastructure in creating better future cities for all of us." The 37-page deep dive into community planning and development highlights the importance of creative culture in what it calls "Future Cities."

"The government defines ‘Future Cities’ as 'a term used to imagine what cities themselves will be like," the report states, "how they will operate, what systems will orchestrate them and how they will relate to their stakeholders (citizens, governments, businesses, investors, and others),'"

According to the report, only three global cities or states currently have cultural infrastructure plans: London, Amsterdam and New South Wales. This fact may be surprising considering how city planning and sustainability have become part of the discussion on development of urban areas, where the UN estimates 68 percent of people will live by 2050.

"Our future places must look at music and culture ecologically. Much like the way a building is an ecosystem, so is a community of creators, makers, consumers and disseminators," the report says. "The manner in which we understand how to maintain a building is not translated to protecting, preserving and promoting music and culture in communities."

The comparison and interaction between the intangibility of culture and the presence of physical space is an ongoing theme throughout the report. For instance, one section of the report outlines how buildings can and should be designed to fit the cultural needs of the neighborhoods they populate, as too often, use of a commercial space is considered during the leasing process, not the construction process, leading to costly renovations.

"All future cities are creative cities. All future cities are music cities."

On the residential side, as cities grow denser, the need increases for thoughtful acoustic design and sufficient sound isolation. Future cities can and should be places where people congregate

"If we don’t design and build our future cities to facilitate and welcome music and experience, we lose what makes them worth living in."

For musicians and artists of all mediums, the answer to making—and keeping—their cities worth living in boils down to considering their needs, impact and value more carefully and sooner in the planning process.

"The report argues that property is no longer an asset business, but one built on facilitating platforms for congregation, community and cohesion," it says. "By using music and culture at the beginning of the development process and incorporating it across the value chain from bid to design, meanwhile to construction, activation to commercialisation, this thinking and practice will result in better places."

The report offers examples of how planners and leaders are handling this from around the world. For instance, the Mayor Of London Night Czar, who helps ensure safety and nighttime infrastructure for venues toward the Mayor's Vision for London as a 24-hour city. Stateside, Pittsburgh, Penn., also has a Night Mayor in place to support and inform the growth of its creative class.

Diversity, inclusion, health and well-being also factor into the reports comprehensive look at how music and culture are every bit as important as conventional business, ergonomic and environmental considerations in Future Cites. Using the Queensland Chamber of Arts and Culture as a reference, it declared, "A Chamber of Culture is as important as a Chamber of Commerce."

In the end, the report serves as a beacon of light for governments, organizations, businesses and individuals involved in planning and developing future cities. Its core principals lay out guideposts for building friendly places to music and culture and are backed with case studies and recommendations. But perhaps the key to this progress is in changing how we approach the use of space itself, as the answer to supporting music may be found in how we look at the spaces we inhabit.

"To develop better cities, towns and places, we must alter the way we think about development, and place music and culture alongside design, viability, construction and customer experience," it says. "Buildings must be treated as platforms, not assets. We must explore mixed‑use within mixed‑use, so a floor of a building, or a lesser‑value ground floor unit can have multiple solutions for multiple communities."

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RAINNE

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Meet RAINNE: L.A.'s Dark-Pop Duo On A Meteoric Rise

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Inside their journey from GRAMMY Camp and GRAMMY U to the Hollywood Bowl opening for some of music's biggest stars and the event that raised over $450k for MusiCares
Nate Hertweck
GRAMMYs
Dec 20, 2019 - 4:09 pm

Even if you aren't yet familiar with RAINNE, the L.A.-based duo consisting of singer/songwriter Annie Dingwall and saxophonist/engineer Justin Klunk, you're definitely familiar with the artists they opened for on Oct. 19 at "We Can Survive" at the Hollywood Bowl: Taylor Swift, Lizzo, Camila Cabello, the Jonas Brothers, Billie Eilish, Becky G, Halsey, and Marshmello. So how did they get there?

The short answer is RAINNE was selected out of over 14,000 artists who entered the Opening Act contest, 97.1 AMP Radio, and Radio.com, ultimately winning the grand prize opening slot on the bill and $10,000. Remarkably, the event also raised a whopping $450,000 for MusiCares  toward its efforts to ensure music people have a place to turn in times of financial, medical and personal need.

The long answer stretches back nearly a decade, to when Dingwall and Klunk first met as part of the GRAMMY Museum's GRAMMY Camp music industry program for high school students. Their journey to the Hollywood Bowl stage also went through GRAMMY U, the Recording Academy's university network for college students, and USC's Popular Music Program, which they both attended.

Now, with the momentum of their Hollywood Bowl debut and a string of infections singles like "Psycho Killer," Hollow" and the newly released "Sin," RAINNE are just getting started. The Recording Academy caught up with the rising dark-pop duo to hear about their experience at "We Can Survive," the evolution of their sound and more…

First of all – for the uninitiated – tell us more about RAINNE's music. Where do you feel your unique dark-pop comes from?

Dingwall: It has definitely been a journey to find our own sound. Both Justin and I have a wide array of music influences, so it’s been fun to draw our favorite aspects from those different genres and incorporate them in our music. From a songwriting perspective, the songs we put out all have a couple common threads that weave them together – both musically and lyrically – and darker sounds and lyrics are definitely one of those motifs that define our sound.

Klunk: Our music and ‘voices’ have been evolving since we met, and this is where we feel the most comfortable expressing ourselves right now. 

That's right, you met at GRAMMY Camp. What do you remember about the program and has it helped you in your career?

Klunk: Personally, GRAMMY Camp was a major part of my musical education. Prior to the camp, I was really oblivious to the other jobs and responsibilities involved with putting on a show, or creating a record. The only thing on my mind was to play the saxophone, and the camp really opened eyes to the industry. It was inspiring for me to see while I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do for a living. And the program still affects us to this day. We keep in touch with a bunch of GRAMMY Camp alumnus, and it’s great to see how everyone is pursuing and thriving in their own endeavors.

In January, I’m actually going to be a part of the GRAMMY In The Schools Alumni band, so that’ll be a ton of fun to see some familiar faces.

Dingwall: I don’t think I realized back then just how impactful going to GRAMMY Camp would be on my life and career. It was a huge part of my musical foundation and introduction to Los Angeles – and introduced me to my best friend and band mate! I am so grateful to have met and worked with so many amazing people at Camp and so happy that they continue to be a part of our lives.

After GRAMMY Camp, how did you two start RAINNE?

Dingwall: RAINNE was a long time coming for us. After Camp, through college, and for a good time after graduation, Justin and I were playing shows together, but at the same time pursuing our own solo interests and projects. Justin released a few instrumental saxophone EPs and toured with Ariana Grande, Saint Motel, and many others, and I released some solo material and was writing for other artists and tv/film projects, but all the while we continued playing shows together. I think over the years we both felt the most comfortable and creative when performing together, and decided that we wanted to do that more than any of the other things we had going on. We decided to become a band a couple years ago and haven’t looked back since.

As a duo, how do you like to work together? What's your songwriting and production process?

Klunk: Our approach to the band is to utilize each other’s strengths and pick up the slack where one of us may fall short. We each bring a different set of skills to the band that compliment each other very well. Historically Annie has been the main songwriter for the group and I have focused more on the live band arrangements, but as we grow we are both becoming heavily involved in every aspect of the band. We have teamed up with amazing producers who understand the sound we are trying to achieve and help us make recordings we are proud to share with the world.

I also understand you participated in GRAMMY U. What was your experience like?

Klunk: GRAMMY U was wonderful. We got to attend and participate in a ton of events while we were in college – even a battle of the bands. There were even a few GRAMMY Career Days we was able to participate in, which were a blast. The various panels in L.A. and at the GRAMMY Museum were really great to check out.

Dingwall: The opportunity learn directly from successful people in the industry is something that not everyone has access to, and we were grateful to be a part of an organization that afforded us those possibilities.

How did you get involved with the Opening Act contest for "We Can Survive," and what do you think set you apart from the thousands of entrants?

Dingwall: Funny enough, Justin saw an ad for the competition on Instagram. He entered us and didn’t tell me about it until a few days afterwards. To be honest, we thought it was such a long shot, but we ended up progressing through the multiple rounds and when we got into the Top 16, we thought “Hey! Someone from the Top 16 has to win – and that someone could be us!”. The outpouring of love and support we received throughout this whole process was amazing and incredible. We are so honored and grateful to everyone who helped us get to the Hollywood Bowl. Not only that, but a portion of the votes was donated to MusiCares – which is an organization we fully support and had been involved with in the past. They do amazing things for the music community and we are happy to contribute in any way that we can. “We Can Survive” is a really special night at the Bowl and we loved to be a part of such a magical night supporting a great cause.

How did it feel performing at the Hollywood Bowl, especially on such a stacked bill. Any surprising moments?

Klunk: It was INCREDIBLE! We were obviously a bit nervous; not only was it an iconic stage, but a ridiculously stacked lineup. We just made sure to over-prepare during our rehearsal process so that we were ready for any curveball that could come our way. We found that the entire production team and staff were the kindest people ever, and they really treated us just like any of the other artists or bands on the bill. Words can’t describe how smooth they made that process and how welcomed they made us feel. 

With such a prolific and successful 2019 behind you now, what's next for RAINNE in 2020?

Dingwall: We are definitely looking forward to seeing what is in store for us in 2020. Right now we have big plans to release tons of new music and grow our fanbase.

Klunk: We also really want to tour and play even more shows than we played this year. We’d love to be opening for another artist on the road. Our shared love for performing is what got us started and we want to continue sharing that with as many people as possible! 

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Photo: Joe Sohm/Visions of America/Universal Images Group/Getty Images

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Philadelphia Celebrates 25 Years Of Musical Love

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As the Recording Academy Philadelphia Chapter celebrates its quarter-century anniversary, we take a closer look at what makes it such a prolific creative incubator
Brendan Menapace
GRAMMYs
Dec 11, 2019 - 1:48 pm

Philadelphians are a proud people. New Yorkers like to say it's a little brother complex that makes them squirm when it's called the Sixth Borough. Really, Philadelphians are just fine differentiating themselves from other cities. I mean, the sports teams have been using "No one likes us, we don't care," as a battle cry for a few years now.

But, for as much as the city loves to paint itself as the underdog in so many ways, it's a place that's on level ground with any supposed artistic mecca that costs double for an apartment or a cup of coffee. It's also a city that fiercely looks out for its own. So, that may be why so many artists and musicians have called Philadelphia home over the years, whether they were born and raised here or made it their adopted home to grow as artists and music creators of all types.

The Philadelphia Chapter Celebrates 25 Years

For the past 25 years now, the city's music community has had a support system, a place where music people look out for one another. The Recording Academy Philadelphia Chapter is celebrating a quarter-century of playing this crucial role, creating a feeling more like a family than anything by providing resources and programming to grow and strengthen the its music community from within. The Philadelphia Chapter has galvanized its members, rallying them behind legislation to support creators and showing up to support one another not just in the crucial times of making music, but also in life. Over the years, this unique, close-knit community built on hard work is what sets the city apart.

"Philly has always been really, really rich in talent and hard-working bands," says Bruce Warren, general manager for programming at WXPN. "All these artists, whether you start in the '60s, '70s, '80s, all these artists worked really hard to get to where they were at. And I think on a certain level it's easy to work hard in Philadelphia. You don't have the same challenges that you have in New York or Los Angeles or Chicago. Philly's just a boot-strapping, hard-working city. The ethic is there. And I think a lot of bands really adhere to that ethic."

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Warren grew up here, and as a kid fell in love with the Sound of Philadelphia, and soul and R&B acts like the Delfonics, and Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes. Over the years, he got into rock bands like Cinderella, Tommy Conwell and the Hooters. The '80s and '90s saw the boom in hip-hop acts like D.J. Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince. Lately he's been into the indie rock acts like Dr. Dog, the War On Drugs and Kurt Vile.

"It's not just one genre of music," he says. "I just referenced a dozen bands across genres. Patti f*ckin' LaBelle! Schooly D! Jill Scott! Come on!"

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A lot of the lore of Philadelphia is a little exaggerated. You're probably not going to get pelted with batteries at Lincoln Financial Field just for showing up in another team's jersey. But, it's an honest city. The people will tell you what they think, whether it's praise or criticism. But there's no guessing intentions or keeping up appearances. If they show you love and support you, it's genuine.

"Philly is real," said Carol Riddick, a singer/songwriter and former President of the Philadelphia Chapter of the Recording Academy. "Everything we say and do comes from a place of love, whether we're in agreement or not."

"People here are honest, and demand honesty in their music-making," says songwriter/producer and Recording Academy Philadelphia Chapter Trustee Ivan Barias. "[There is a] "No B.S." factor in our sports, our food or in our music. Realness—you have to come in with that to collaborate here."

Part of that could be that the city really does breed talent on levels beyond what some might expect. There's so much talent across so many genres, the city doesn't need to phone anything in or accept anything less than what it knows it can do. The same way those rowdy fans will boo their beloved sports teams because they know they can and should be winning, Philadelphians know their musical history and the greats that come from every corner of the city, so they expect a certain level of output. For young artists growing up, that's all they know, so they set themselves a higher bar and hold themselves to a higher standard.

And the thing about Philly is that it's not a hip-hop city, although it's been the home for renowned acts like The Roots, Meek Mill and Tierra Whack.

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It's not a rock city, even though it's indie rock and punk scene has become a destination for bands all across the world, with bands from The Dead Milkmen and Hop Along carrying the Philly banner.

And, despite its history of R&B and soul, it's not just a soul city. It's an everything city.

"It's a very diverse city," Warren says. "Creatively, you could draw from a lot of different colors."

You can find everything you need in Philadelphia – world class recording studios, venues of all sizes, a media that loves to sing the praises of local artists, and, most importantly, fans. There are a million and a half people in the city.

"There's always been a built-in music industry in Philadelphia that takes itself very seriously, but doesn't clap itself on the back as hard as New York or Los Angeles or even Nashville," Warren adds. "There's always been a fair amount of humility in what we do here I think."

Singer/songwriter/producer and Recording Academy Philadelphia Chapter Trustee Terry Jones is a bit less humble about things.

"We have the best musical talent," Jones says. "Everyone comes from other towns to our town to take advantage of our musicians, songwriters and producers. Our music creative community [is] serious about honing their craft. Everyone says there is something in the Schuylkill water system—they call it Schuylkill Punch. This could be the secret to our razzmatazz."

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It might be something in the water. Or it might be the fact that the city has bred a mentality of hard work, honesty, perseverance, and support for your own that has boosted the careers of bands starting from the Philly streets as children, or people from all across the world looking for a place to play, create, write, make friends and grow.

If you're a part of Philly—and you'll know if you are—it looks out for you. It might tell you some brutal truths in the moment, but if anyone tries to undermine that talent, Philly will fight like hell for you.

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