Kings of Leon

The 52nd Annual Grammy Awards took place on January 31, 2010. CBS broadcasted the event, which took place again at Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. Neil Young was honored as the 2010 MusiCares Person of the Year on January 29. Beyoncé Knowles led the nominees with ten nominations. Other nominees include Taylor Swift with eight and the Black Eyed Peas, Maxwell, Kanye West with six nominations, and David Guetta, Jay-Z and Lady Gaga with five nominations. Colbie Caillat, Kings of Leon, Bruce Springsteen, T-Pain, and Keith Urban each received four nominations. Eminem became the Hip-Hop Artist with the second highest number of Grammy Awards winning 2 in the ceremony which makes a total of 11 Grammy Awards for him, while only Kanye West winning 2 further awards with having a total of 14 Grammy Awards beating him. Beyoncé set a new record for most Grammy Awards won by a female artist in a single night with six. Taylor Swift won four and the Black Eyed Peas and the Kings of Leon won three. Taylor Swift's Fearless was awarded the Grammy Award for Album of the Year, Swift's first Album of the Year award in her career. "Use Somebody" by rock band Kings of Leon won the Grammy Award for Record of the Year, while "Single Ladies" by songwriters Thaddis Harrell, Beyoncé Knowles, The-Dream and Christopher Stewart, was named Song of the Year.

The Soul of Designer Records Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Chances are, you've never heard of Designer Records. One of many independent labels run on a little less than a shoestring in the '60s and '70s, Designer Records was one of the many imprints run by Style Wooten, a Memphis recordman who recruited new talent in classified ads in the back of local newspapers (this also happened to be how he found his wife). Wooten's rates ran low but he wasn't cheap. As long as the musicians had the cash, he took his time in the studio, coaxing the best possible performances out of his nonprofessional artists, which wasn't a particularly easy thing to do due to his own amateur status. He could play a little, but he left a lot of the actual recording up to Roland Janes, a former studio guitarist for Sun who had played with Billy Lee Riley and Jerry Lee Lewis before he departed to set up Sonic Studios in Memphis in 1962. Two years later, Style became a regular customer of Sonic, cutting a wide variety of artists – country, rockabilly, soul, rock & roll – and issuing them on a bewildering number of imprints, many of them named after cars.

Exclusive pressing of her 2009 album includes a bonus six-track live CD ‘Live At The Living Room’. Norah has taken a new direction on the The Fall, experimenting with different sounds and a new set of collaborators, including Jacquire King, a noted producer and engineer who has worked with Kings of Leon, Tom Waits and Modest Mouse. Jones enlisted several songwriting collaborators, including Ryan Adams and Okkervil River's Will Sheff, as well as her frequent partners Jesse Harris & Richard Julian. Musicians include drummers Joey Waronker (Beck, R.E.M.) and James Gadson (Bill Withers), keyboardist James Poyser (Erykah Badu, Al Green), and guitarists Marc Ribot (Tom Waits, Elvis Costello) and Smokey Hormel (Johnny Cash, Joe Strummer).

Norah has taken a new direction on The Fall, experimenting with different sounds and a new set of collaborators, including Jacquire King, a noted producer and engineer who has worked with Kings of Leon, Tom Waits and Modest Mouse. Richly detailed and vocally lush on HiRes-Audio, The Fall, Jones’ fourth album, may surprise some of Jones’ die-hard fans, Billboard magazine notes. During the 13-song set, Jones ditches the gentle piano playing of her previous work and tears into fresh, beat-savvy arrangements, playing plenty of electric guitar and exploring the piercing quality of Wurlitzer electric piano. Jones’ smoky voice and soulful veneer highlight the opening track and first single, 'Chasing Pirates.'

Vocalist and pianist Norah Jones developed a unique blend of jazz and traditional vocal pop, with hints of bluesy country and contemporary folk, due in large part to her unique upbringing. This Hi-Res collection includes all of Norah Jones' studio releases plus another one is collabotation with Billie Joe Armstrong.