GRAMMY WATCH: BEST CONTEMPORARY BLUES ALBUM

I had the hardest time voting in the Americana field, but Best Contemporary Blues Album was difficult also.

I was glad to see Solomon Burke's Nothing's Impossible nominated. It's a tribute to two great artists who are no longer with us: Solomon and also produced Willie Mitchell (who produced most of Al Green's greatest records). Willie died before the album was released, Solomon shortly after. This was one of my favorites of 2010, I was even kind of OK with his cover of Anne Murray's "You Needed Me." But what is most haunting about the album is the last song, "I'm Leavin'." I'm glad that the Grammys are paying tribute to Solomon at the ceremony (via a performance by Mick Jagger and Raphael Saadiq).

Dr. John is having a good year: he's getting into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame next month, and he has Grammy nominations for his contribution to The Princess and The Frog... in this category though, he is nominated for his album Tribal. I've got to check it out a bit more, but I love the song, "Manoovas," which features Derek Trucks (the Dr. digs The Allman Brothers Band I guess: he's the piano player on Gregg Allmans'great Low Country Blues album).

Buddy Guy's Living Proof was another of my favorite albums of 2010. The man is just badass. There's no cute hook or big name producer on the album. There's guest spots by Carlos Santana and B.B. King, but other than that, it's just Buddy and his band and they cook.

Talk about badases: Bettye Lavette is as bad as they come. Her album Interpretations: The British Rock Songbook shows her taking a lot of iconic songs and making them her own. I don't mean to sound all "American Idol," but it's true. My favorite track on the album is her cover of Ringo Starr's "It Don't Come Easy," and she would know!

The last nominee is Kenny Wayne Shepherd, who I am not as familiar with. I know he's an incredible guitar player, and I'm glad he is one of the guys out there really bringing the traditional blues to younger fans. But I haven't heard his album so I can't comment on it.

BUDDY GUY - LIVING PROOF (TIE FOR #11)

Well, today on The Morning Jolt with Larry Flick on SiriusXM OutQ, I listed my top 10 albums of the year.  Of course it took me all weekend plus Monday to decide what LPs I settled on. And there were a lot of great albums that almost made it, so it's a big tie for #11.  One of those albums is Buddy Guy's latest, Living Proof.

It's the best "blues" album of the year, but I don't want to categorize it like that. There aren't many other blues artists anyway, Buddy is one of the last true bluesmen standing, hardly anyone holds a candle to the man. And Buddy could coast now if he wanted to: he has nothing left to prove. He is universally regarded as a legend, and a few years ago, he finally got into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (many years too late, but better late than never). Everyone knows that his style was a huge influence (not just an influence, but a HUGE influence) on Clapton, Hendrix, Beck, Page, Townshend, and through them, legions of other guitar players. The odds of him making a landmark album at this point is against the odds, but guess what, this is a pretty awesome album.  It's nearly as good as 2001's Dirt Floor, which is my favorite thing by him since maybe the Chess era.

He starts off totally badass with "74 Years Young."  It begins as a country blues number, and then hits the gas and takes it to Chicago, where Buddy rips your head off with some of his hottest playing EVER. "Got a few scars, from all the battles I won, I'm 74 years young...Tonight I feel like I'm 21, I'm 74 years young!" Dude is still heavy as hell, he means it when he sings. It's the truth.

I don't want to beat up on wimpy bands too much, but after listening to this, it's hard to listen to, like, Vampire Weekend.

The album isn't just for blues people or guitar players, at least not in my opinion.  You don't have to have tons of blues records to dig this. It's a great album. I'm glad that it isn't (yet another) all-star collab album, but there are two guests on the album. Carlos Santana - who loves Buddy - plays on "Where The Blues Begin," which is sort of what you would expect.  A hot blues workout with Santana's very identifiable sound. It's my favorite thing Carlos has done this year too.

But my favorite part of the album may be Buddy's duet with B.B. King, "Stay Around A Little Longer."   I don't think anyone would argue that B.B. is the biggest living blues legend.  That's sort of by design: in one of the Scorsese-produced blues docs from a few years back, old footage of B.B. shows him saying that he wants to be the biggest blues artist ever, and he actually made it happen. Anyway, I'd say B.B. is the biggest, Buddy is the second biggest. They've worked together often, and they've known each other for decades, and "Stay Around A Little Longer" sees them reflecting back on the years and being thankful for what they've got. It's one of my favorite songs of the year. I love when Buddy sings, "There's more songs to be sung.  We've come a long way, but we're a long way from being done!"

I hope that's true.  But if these giants decide to retire, this is a fine curtain call. B.B. is still doing it, and judging by this album, Buddy (who is younger than B.B.) in fact does have a lot of songs left in him. After all, he feels like he's 21.