The Shadow
Former Bath County resident Christopher King of Faber has been nominated for a Grammy Award.
Wednesday, he was nominated for Best Historical Album of the year, both as producer and mastering engineer, for “The Bristol Sessions, 1927-1928: The Big Bang Of Country Music.”
He shares the production honor with Ted Olson and the mastering honor with Chris Zwarg.
The box set, on the Bear Family label, contains five CDs which gathers together every surviving recording from the 1927 and 1928 Bristol Sessions. The set also includes a 120-page book detailing the performers and the performances captured during these momentous recording events.
Olson and Tony Russell were also nominated for Best Album Notes for the collection.
King, a native of Hot Springs, is the son of the late Leslie Eugene King Sr. and Anne Andrews King of Hot Springs. He graduated from Bath County High School in 1989.
King’s brother, Gene King of King of Comfort, LLC, lives in Mountain Grove. He also has a late brother, Zack King.
This is King’s fifth nomination for a Grammy. He was nominated at the 45th, 48th, 49th and 50th annual Grammy Awards. He won a Grammy in 2002 at the 45th Grammy Awards for his work on the “Screamin’ & Hollerin’ The Blues: The Worlds Of Charlie Patton.”
King produces and remasters collections of early analog recordings through his company, Long Gone Sound Productions. He also works in Charlottesville for Rebel and County Records. He serves on the selection committee for the Richmond Folk Festival and is a member and reviewer for the A.R.S.C. Journal.
“It was a profound honor to work with Ted Olson, Tony Russell and Bear Family owner, Richard Weize, to produce this essential cornerstone set of American Roots Music,”?��King said. “I am elated that this collection has captured the attention of the Recording Academy. It is, to me, the Rosetta Stone for understanding all rural folk music that was captured during the early part of the 20th century.”
The 54th Grammys will be held Feb. 12 in Los Angeles. The ceremony will mark the first since the academy shaved its categories from 109 to 78 this year, amid some protest.
Some of the more niched categories, like best Zydeco or Cajun music album, were eliminated.
In addition, men and women now compete together in vocal categories for pop, R&B and country, instead of having separate categories for each sex. This year, the category is best pop solo performance and Bruno Mars is the only man nominated for “Grenade.” His competition includes Adele for “Someone Like You,” Lady Gaga for “You and I,” Pink for “(Expletive) Perfect” and Perry for “Firework.”
Kanye West came away with a leading seven nominations Wednesday, including a bid for song of the year for his all-star song “All of the Lights.” However, the album from which it came – “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy,” heralded by many critics as the best album of 2010 – was not in the best album category, and all of his other nominations were relegated to the rap fields.
