GRAMMY WRAP-UP (Items on Grammy Awards, Alison Krauss, Robert Plant, George Strait, Jennifer Nettles, Brad Paisley, Carrie Underwood)

Alison Krauss and Robert Plant went five-for-five at The Grammys Sunday night, with "Raising Sand" winning Album of the Year and Best Contemporary Folk/Americana Album.
"Sand's" "Please Read The Letter" took Record of the Year and the platter's "Killing the Blues" topped all comers for Best Country Collaboration With Vocals.
And, dig, "Sand's" "Rich Woman" nabbed Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals, the second straight year a selection from the "Sand" box, was tops: Last year, "Gone, Gone, Gone (Done Moved On)" was the winner.
So, as mentioned, Alison is the all-time female Grammy winner (and the most Grammy-blessed vocalist of either gender) and she's now extended her trophy case lineage to 26 of the gold and black thingies. She's also-now tied for third-most all-time (she's now just one behind the great Quincy Jones; the late classical genius Sir Georg Solti is tops with 31 Grammys).
Meanwhile, this is Plant's third Grammy. There was last year's win with Alison, plus one ten years ago for another collaboration, with his Led Zepplin co-pilot Jimmy Page, plus 'Zeppelin won the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in '05 (in a sweet class that included The Carter Family, Eddy Arnold and Jerry Lee Lewis).
And "Raising Sand" producer T-Bone Burnett copped his seventh Grammy with the Album of the Year trophy...among other wins...you'll recall his win in the category back yonder for a modest (soundtrack) project called "O Brother Where Art Thou?" no doubt.
Meanwhile, 13 (career nominations) was lucky for George Strait who nabbed his first Grammy as "Troubadour" was knighted as Best Country Album.
When Jennifer Nettles wrote, "Stay," I'm sure she had no idea how many curio cabinets she'd have to buy to contain the hardware she'd pick up for it. Besides being named as Best Country Song, it also won Best Country Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals.
Also doubly-blessed (with songs from different albums) by Grammy: Brad Paisley. "5th Gear's" (released almost two years ago) "Letter to Me" won as Best Male Country Vocal Performance and the all-star (Brad, James Burton, Vince Gill, John Jorgenson, Albert Lee, Brent Mason, Redd Volkaert and Steve Wariner) "Cluster Pluck" jam from "Play" was cited as Best Country Instrumental Performance.
Elsewhere, Merle Haggard may not know Carrie Underwood's "Last Name," but the ditty topped esteemed company to win for Best Female Country Vocal Performance...Several nominations for The Eagles bore one win, Best Pop Instrumental Performance, for "I Dreamed There Was No War" from their "Long Road Out Of Eden" album...Best Bluegrass Album went to Ricky Skaggs' project, "Honoring The Fathers Of Bluegrass: Tribute To 1946 And 1947"...The Gaither Vocal Band won best Best Southern, Country, Or Bluegrass Gospel Album for "Lovin' Life"..."At 89," is Pete Seeger the oldest Grammy winner ever? I dunno, but the album of the same name won the Grammy for Best Traditional Folk Album...and Rick Rubin, the bearded wonder who steered Johnny Cash's rich last decade of music, was cited as Producer Of The Year, Non-Classical, for a year that included twiddling the knobs for everyone from Metallica to Neil Diamond.