Carlene Carter performs at the GRAMMY Museum

Photo: Mark Sullivan/WireImage.com

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Carlene Carter Keeps It In The Family

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GRAMMY-nominated country singer/songwriter discusses her new album, Carter Girl, and performs "Black Jack David" at the GRAMMY Museum
THE GRAMMYs
GRAMMYs
Dec 2, 2014 - 4:06 pm

Carlene Carter: Family Ties On New Album

Carlene Carter Performs "Black Jack David"

GRAMMY-nominated country singer/songwriter Carlene Carter recently participated in an installment of the GRAMMY Museum's The Drop series. Before an intimate audience at the Museum's Clive Davis Theater, Carter discussed the making of her latest album, Carter Girl, and why she finally decided to put her own spin on classic tracks made famous by country music's revered Carter Family, among other topics. She also performed a brief set, including "Black Jack David."

"While my mother and my aunts were still living, it didn't seem like the right time because they were still carrying on [their songs] themselves," said Carter. "And I needed a bit of time to go by so that it didn't hurt when I sang these songs because a lot of these songs I sang with them on the road as a member of the Carter Family."

Born in Nashville, Tenn., Carter's country music roots run deep. She is the daughter of GRAMMY winner June Carter Cash and country singer Carl Smith, stepdaughter of country legend Johnny Cash and granddaughter of "Mother" Maybelle Carter, who was one-third of Recording Academy Lifetime Achievement Award recipients the original Carter Family, a collective also including A.P. Carter and Sara Carter. In 1978 Carlene released her self-titled debut album, which was followed by a string of albums, including 1980's Musical Shapes, which cracked the Billboard 200. Her 1990 album, I Fell In Love, peaked at No. 19 on Billboard's Country Albums chart and garnered Carter a 1990 GRAMMY nomination for Best Country Vocal Performance, Female.     

Released in April, Carter Girl was produced by GRAMMY winner Don Was (Bonnie Raitt, Ziggy Marley) and peaked in the Top 40 on the Country Albums chart. The album features 12 tracks, 10 of which were originally written by members of the Carter Family, including "Blackie's Gunman," "Little Black Train" and "Black Jack David." Carter Girl also features collaborations with GRAMMY winners Vince Gill, Kris Kristofferson and Willie Nelson, among others. 

Carter is currently in the midst of a U.S. tour, with dates scheduled through November.

Upcoming GRAMMY Museum events include Spotlight: A.J. Croce (July 22), Great Guitars: Pete Anderson (July 30), Omar Souleyman In Conversation With Henry Rollins (Aug. 3), and The Drop: Billy Joe Shaver (Aug. 7). 

Heather Moore

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GRAMMY Museum Announces Arcadia High's Heather Moore As 2019 Jane Ortner Education Award Recipient

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The Los Angeles County 11th grade history teacher has been selected by the museum for the award that "honors K-12 academic teachers who use music in the classroom as a powerful educational tool"
Ana Yglesias
GRAMMYs
Oct 17, 2019 - 2:55 pm

Today, the GRAMMY Museum announced 11th grade history teacher Heather Moore as the 2019 Jane Ortner Education Award recipient. "The award honors K-12 academic teachers who use music in the classroom as a powerful educational tool," the museum explains. They have also opened applications for the 2020 edition of the award.

The Arcadia High School (located in Arcadia, Calif.) teacher will receive a monetary honorarium—the second year this has been offered to the awardee—along with a grant for the Los Angeles County public school.

Moore will be celebrated later this year at a special GRAMMY Museum event in L.A., and has been invited to attend the 62nd GRAMMY Awards on Jan. 26, 2020.

"We look forward to honoring Heather Moore for her dedication to executing cutting-edge lesson plans and devotion to creating a positive influence on her students through the power of music," Michael Sticka, President of the GRAMMY Museum, said.

The award celebrates educators who integrate music into the classroom experience, who is selected based on the lesson plans they submit. The museum reviews the lessons via a panel of teachers and education administrators who evaluate for "creativity, teachability, transferability and level of student engagement."

Moore's lesson plan, along with other music-centered education tools from the Museum and past award recipients' lessons, can be downloaded for free and implemented by other teachers. Her plan focuses on examining the impact of the Great Depression on the American public through the lens of music at the time, highlighting artists like Louis Armstrong, Woody Guthrie and others.

"I am honored to receive the Jane Ortner Education Award," Moore stated. "I have always believed that music is a beautiful and important way to connect students with the people and stories of the past. The Jane Ortner Award is a wonderful acknowledgement and celebration of music's centrality to education and our human story."

"Arcadia High was recently distinguished as being in the top 1% for having the best public high school teachers in America, and Heather Moore exemplifies why we received this recognition," Angie Dillman, Arcadia High School Principal, added. "Heather goes above and beyond in her institution practices to challenge and inspire our students to have a positive and profound impact on their world. We are so grateful for all she brings to our students and our team."

As part of the Museum's deeply impactful music education programs and initiatives, the Jane Ortner Education Award for teachers and the Jane Ortner Artist Award were established by the Museum in partnership with entertainment attorney and Museum Board member Chuck Ortner. His late wife Jane Ortner was a devoted and beloved public school teacher who valued music as a tool for teaching academic subjects and building confidence and community. Previous recipients of the Jane Ortner Artist Award include Lady Gaga, Jackson Browne, Janelle Monáe and John Legend.

Applications for the 2020 Jane Ortner Education Award are currently open for K-12 English, social studies, math, science, and foreign language teachers and will be accepted through Dec. 4, 2019. Music teachers may apply (and be nominated) for the Music Educator Award, which is currently open for the 2021 award.

GRAMMY Museum Announces 'Face The Music' Richard Ehrlich Photography Exhibit

Vince Gill

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Vince Gill Tackles The Tough Conversations On His New Album 'Okie' & Recalls First GRAMMY Win

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The Recording Academy sat down with the 21-time GRAMMY winner to talk about driving real conversations with his latest batch of songs Behind the Scenes at the GRAMMY Museum
Nate Hertweck
GRAMMYs
Sep 24, 2019 - 4:25 pm

Country singer/songwriter and guitar-slinging legend Vince Gill has done it all, and yet his new album Okie sitll manages to cover vast amount of uncharted territory. After over 40 years in music and 21 GRAMMYs, perhaps it isn't surprising the Oklahoma native feels and sounds more comfortable in his own skin tha n ever. And with Okie, Gill not only reclaims an old slur with its title, but redraws the boundaries of taboo in its songs. 

Behind The Scenes: Vince Gill On 'Okie'

"You shouldn't be afraid of conversations about anything. Whether it's race, or it's religion. There's a song about teen pregnancy. There's a song about sexual abuse... There's a ficticious song about a guy killing his dad to protect his family," Gill told the Recording Academy Behind the Scenes at the GRAMMY Museum. "I mean, yeah [these topics are] not the norm. But in a sense they really are the norm of what's really going on with people when they struggle."

Gill hopes tackling these tough subject matters head-on will inspire listeners to do just that: listen. 

"If you can have a decent conversation without judgement, without people drawing lines in the sand," he said, "It's amazing to me how devisive we've gotten with each other, so hopefully these kinds of songs can maybe make someone who doesn't agree with that listen with a different heart."

Gill also reflected on his very first of a 21 GRAMMY wins, which came back in 1990 for Best Country Vocal Performance, Male for his song "When I Call Your Name."

Hear more about the spirit of Okie, how Gill identified Ken Burns' new series "Country Music" as a great connector between some of his new material and Jimmie Rodgers and more in the video above.

Maggie Rogers On Her Rapid Rise To Fame, Singing With Sheryl Crow & Songwriting Catharsis

Maggie Rogers

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Maggie Rogers On Her Rapid Rise To Fame, Singing With Sheryl Crow & Songwriting Catharsis

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The Recording Academy caught up with the pop powerhouse immediately before her performance at the GRAMMY Museum
Rachel Brodsky
GRAMMYs
Sep 23, 2019 - 1:11 pm

Maggie Rogers has a career arc like no other, and she's just getting started.

Ever since her NYU Masterclass video, which showed Pharrell tearing up at the sound of what would become her first single, "Alaska," went viral, Rogers has experienced unprecedented a level of overnight success experienced by very few new artists. In the time since, she released her debut album Heard It In A Past Life this past spring, and is currently on an expansive fall tour. She's also doing a killer job of staying grounded. 

Maggie Rogers Talks Singing With Sheryl Crow

"Writing music has always been how I've processed," the singer told the Recording Academy prior to her recent performance at the GRAMMY Museum. "So much of this record that I made, Heard It In A Past Life, that is actively me processing this giant change that happened in my life. I write a song, and then I play it until I feel better, and then my life shifts, and then I write another song, and that's how albums have always happened for me. The thing that is most important to me is that I am doing this thing I love. It gives me this giant emotional release, and hopefully in some world it can do that for others. If that's all happening, then everything is good."

In the video above, Rogers delves further into her creative process and staying grounded in the face of extreme fame, plus what it was like to sing "Strong Enough" with one of her musical idols, Sheryl Crow, at Newport Folk Festival. 

Billie Eilish On Her Long Relationship With The GRAMMY Museum, How Rihanna Shaped Her Fashion Sense & More

Avril Lavigne at the GRAMMY Museum

Avril Lavigne at the GRAMMY Museum

Photo: Alison Buck

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Avril Lavigne Has Always Known Exactly Who She Is

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At the GRAMMY Museum last night, the eternal punk princess reflected on her musical beginnings, unyielding self-confidence and the impact of her music
Ana Yglesias
GRAMMYs
Sep 6, 2019 - 3:48 pm

17 years ago, a Canadian teen named Avril Lavigne skated her way into our hearts with her debut album, Let Go, along with unforgettable hit singles like "Complicated" and "Sk8ter Boi." She was just a teenager when the GRAMMY-nominated LP was released in June 2002, but she already knew who she was and felt ready to share her punk-rock style and sensibilities with the music world.

As she recounted to 250 lucky fans at her GRAMMY Museum event last night, Lavigne famously dropped out of high school at 16 to move to Los Angeles and pursue a music career. Clearly things went her way, as she is now one of the most recognizable names in pop—and through all the pressures that come with being a young woman in the music industry, she never lost sight of who she was.

Avril Lavigne at the GRAMMY Museum

Photo: Alison Buck

Speaking to Scott Goldman in the Museum's Clive Davis Theater, the eternal punk princess, rocking all black with punky suspender pants, reflected on her musical beginnings, that unyielding self-confidence and the impact her music has had on the next generation of female alt-rockers. They also discussed her sixth studio album, Head Above Water, which she released earlier this year. To close, she brought out two of her bandmates to share a few songs they've been rehearsing for her upcoming tour, her first one in five years.

Looking back on her initial experience with the L.A. music industry, she explains that they didn't quite get her at first. "The music was too soft and fluffy for me… I just wanted to hear guitars, even though I was only 16," Lavigne said. "The label saw me as a pop star," she added, musing that pop-rock wasn't so much a thing yet, in the early part of the millennium. She knew she had to be clear with who she was in order to prove herself to those who didn't understand it.

"I'd show up to a high-fashion shoot with a book bag of neckties," she explained, a testament to her confident demeanor and edgy style. Sharing some wisdom on how she managed to be so much of herself at such a young age, she said, "You have to love yourself and find your confidence."

When Goldman asked what her early music, specifically her first two albums, sound like to her when she listens now, Lavigne replied that she was proud of what she wrote as a teen and hears "variety and a lot of depth."

Goldman also asked what it felt like to be a role model for the next generation of guitar-loving women, citing rising alt-rockers Soccer Mommy and Snail Mail, who've named those early albums as major influences to their own music. "It's so cool…to know that my music inspired or influenced anyone," the "Complicated" singer beamed.

The much-anticipated performance included two songs from the new album, opening with the title track and closing with the anthemic "Warrior," as well as two of her '00s hits. After serving up a powerful rendition of "Head Above Water," Lavigne went into one of her "favorites to perform," "My Happy Ending," from her second album, Under My Skin. Before breaking into the chorus, she asked the audience to join her. She asked the crowd what they wanted to hear next, and over a dozen selections from her discography were shouted out.

Lavigne gave the audience a chance to be heard, listening, before responding, "'Girlfriend' should be fun." She was right.

Finally, in an epic act of on-stage cuteness, as Lavigne got up from her stool to exit the stage, the suspenders hanging from her pants got stuck, evoking a laugh. This was the perfect time for the crowd to request an encore, and she left everyone on a high note with "Warrior," even getting fan-assistance with a lyric she forgot on the new song.

As the fans filed out of the theater, a teen with hot pink hair and a cutoff plaid shirt turned to her dad and said with wide eyes: "I'm seriously shaking."

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