If Atlantic Records can start paying royalties to all the old African-American musicians it ripped off in its heyday can’t NARAS start giving Grammy awards to artists it has criminally overlooked over the ages?  Especially the unsung, those in need of remembrance, those not shining as bright as Led Zeppelin?

First and foremost I nominate Lowell George.

If Lowell hadn’t O.D.’ed, he’d have been up on stage at last night’s James Taylor tribute.  But he wouldn’t have been center stage, he’d have been off to the side, adding a sweet, subtle harmony, or just a note of slide, that would have taken the pedestrian, the merely good to a TRANSCENDENT level.

Just listen to James’ "Angry Blues" if you doubt me.

That’s what’s wrong with the Grammy telecast.  It contains little of the essence of music, little of its power.  Focusing on hits, greatness is too often overlooked.  And make no mistake, Lowell George was great.

The fat man in the bathtub was the mayonnaise, the ingredient the sandwich needs to be tasty enough to eat.

But he was also the special sauce.  What you didn’t expect, something extra that takes the average into the realm of the superior.

Unlike today’s "musicians", it took Lowell George some time to find his way.  Although he kicked around L.A. for a number of years, he came of age, he gained a presence in the popular consciousness as a member of Frank Zappa’s troupe.  It would be as if today’s musicians wanted to play with Philip Glass or Buddy Guy instead of talking with Matt Lauer.  It was about chops, not fame.

But then, not being as warped as his mentor, Lowell broke off on his own.  And wrote "Willin’".  But he didn’t really find his groove, didn’t find where he fit in, until his band Little Feat recorded "Dixie Chicken".

Although that record’s title track has achieved some notoriety as a late night bar anthem, it’s not the album’s essence.  You’ve got to start with "Two Trains", where, in 1966, Lowell found his love…  Then you’ve got to go to "Roll Um Easy".  Ever been alone after too many beers way past midnight?  That’s life.  That’s what "Roll Um Easy" sounds like.  Not a nation of winners, but a nation of individuals, just trying to get by.  Oh, it’s a love song, but from a distance.  You know how you fall in love with someone you’re never going to have?  And the more you realize this, the better they look?  Where is that frustration in today’s music?  Oh, the lyrics might reflect this, but you can’t hear the frustration, the RESIGNATION in the singer’s voice.

But what makes me nominate Lowell for the initial overlooked Grammy award is "Fool Yourself".  A song written by Fred Tackett which sounds like it came straight from Lowell George’s brain.  That was his power.  Everything emanating from Lowell had the ring of TRUTH!

You might say you ain’t got a hold on yourself
You might say you only try your best
You might say you only need a rest
You might say you can only fool yourself

I don’t care how sincere the NARAS brass is.  I don’t care how hard they’re working.  They’ve missed it in the past, and they’re continuing to miss it.

It’s not the mainstream that tends to stick with us, that stays for the ages, rather it’s the innovative stuff, the fringe, which the masses only come to love over TIME!

I say take five minutes out of the telecast to inform young viewers of the unheralded legends of the past.  Get them mining through history.  For their benefit.  We must pass our greatness, our heritage, down through the generations.  We must let them know that music used to be made to last.  That the goal wasn’t to get into Lindsay Lohan’s pants, but to touch souls of alienated unnamed people all across this great nation of ours.