This is why the Democrats lost.

I’m not watching the Grammys, and who cares. Of course I tuned in for the lame opening. I heard it was going to be “I Love L.A.,” but I expected the man himself, Randy Newman, instead of Dawes and a coterie of the half-dead. Either do it right or don’t do it at all!

Oh, you’re such a hater, don’t you like anything?

That’s the thing about art. You’re shooting for the bullseye. Assuming you’re an artist yourself. The rest is commerce. But when you nail it, it feels so good and it resonates. One of the reasons “I Love L.A.” works is because of Randy Newman’s delivery, the sneer. And you only need him and his piano. Simplicity is frequently better than complication. Today’s records are crammed with junk, steel wool in goggles that obscures the truth.

So we’ve got Brittany Howard who can’t write a hit song to save her life. Brad Paisley, great guitarist, what in the hell is he doing here. Ditto on John Legend. As for Sheryl Crow…she made a deal with the devil eons ago, to be the token female at every high profile music event.

And the public doesn’t care. The ratings went down. The audience dropped 9% to 15.4 million. A drop in the bucket to Mr. Beast and the rest of the influencers, but they’re capturing the zeitgeist, testing limits.

And the Grammys are congratulating themselves on what has been hailed as the best show in eons…

Assuming you’re only reading traditional media. Assuming you’re not on TikTok. Where the backlash is DEAFENING!

I wasn’t looking for it, it found me. People are up in arms about Beyoncé winning Best Country Album. Video after video.

And they’re right.

And you wonder why these people voted for Trump.

Have you seen that video wherein James Carville says we ran our 7th string quarterback for President?

https://shorturl.at/d00Oe

Everything is so massaged, you can no longer speak the truth. I hate DOGE and self-appointed president Elon Musk, but the orthodoxy of the Democrats drives me wild.

This is just evidence that the Grammys have lost touch with the public. The public doesn’t care about the hits as much as they used to. They’re a turn-off. They hate Taylor Swift, shrug at BTS, but if you say this out loud you’re a pariah!

“Cowboy Carter” is not a country album. Beyoncé even said so, she called it a “Beyoncé album.” But after the manufactured backlash stating that country radio racially dismissed Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road,” the industry and the media were afraid to blow the whistle on Beyoncé.

This is even worse than Jethro Tull winning for best metal album. At least there’s a thread, however thin, between Tull and Metallica. But Beyoncé and today’s country? Just because you say something is country, that does not make it so. All you’re doing is sh*tting on country fans. The same fans who elected Donald Trump, by the way.

Morgan Wallen is a pariah in leftist circles, for being drunk and using the n-word as a term of endearment like he’s heard in so many rap records. Dumb, but now he’s been canceled by people who think they know better, who never  made a mistake in their lives themselves. Meanwhile, Wallen is the biggest act in America, bigger than Taylor Swift, the Weeknd and Beyoncé. He sells out stadiums, has his own festival that went clean, but we keep reading about friendship bracelets.

Hell, if you watched the Grammys you’d think men didn’t make music. If it’s macho it doesn’t play. All those people listening to metal, going to see the Insane Clown Posse, attending jam band shows, focusing on people who can play their instruments as opposed to selling out to become stars…they were absent. In a kumbaya celebration wherein everybody was friends on the arena’s floor and bogus awards were handed out.

You can’t quantify art. That’s tech. And no one goes home and listens to a Sam Altman record.

Then again, Steve Jobs did no market research and had a hard edge in pursuit of excellence. And if you know any of the legendary artists…so many are just like him.

Even Jon Stewart was stunned that Beyoncé won the country award.

But the story is most prevalent on social media.

If you want to read one tech story, read this one from last Saturday’s “Wall Street Journal”:

“Stop Panicking Over Teens and Social Media – Modern life is digital. Adults need to help young people navigate the costs and benefits, not launch bans and hope for the best.”

Free link: https://rb.gy/ugz17a

The research showing the harm of smartphone use on the young doesn’t exist. But that didn’t keep the “New York Times” from printing two anti-smartphone articles this weekend.

If you read the “Times,” you’d think the Grammys were a triumph.

If you went on TikTok you’d think they were a disaster.

Did you see John Rich’s tweet?

“Beyonce slammed by country legend over Grammy win amid DEI push to make awards more diverse”

https://shorturl.at/6ejbd

You’re rolling your eyes and saying John Rich is a right wing crank. But you’re wrong, he’s a hero to those people who believe they’re being pissed on by those who believe they know better. And Rich revealed block voting by labels and…the truth almost doesn’t matter, if Beyoncé wins the country album award the Grammys must be fixed, untrustworthy, because how can this BE?

You’re telling people who love their music that an interloper knows how to do it better. You’re telling them their taste is bad. You’re telling them they have to create a big tent just to satisfy a group that doesn’t listen to their music anyway!

And you wonder how the Democrats lost the election.

As for Beyoncé winning Album of the Year… I don’t know about you, but the first thing I thought was that Grammy voters were browbeaten into giving it to her. If you asked me, I’d say to abolish the Grammys. Or turn it into a party more like the Brits, with few awards, most of which are not taken that seriously.

When it comes to music, the experts always get it wrong and the public gets it right.

The Beatles win almost no awards.

Led Zeppelin is a pariah.

You can pooh-pooh the public’s taste ,but the people have consistently been more right than the Grammys. A self-congratulatory navel-gazing back-slapping organization that is so busy kvelling for honoring Beyoncé while asking us to overlook the fact that a woman who wanted change was squeezed out and it’s still a boys club.

But I don’t give a sh*t about the Grammys.

But I do care about the pulse of America. And right now that’s on social media. In podcasts. While the Democrats keep playing to traditional media with one hand behind its back. Can’t people admit it went too far? If Beyoncé wins for Best Country Album… Isn’t this like trans swimmers jumping into the pool and beating biological females? You can intellectualize it all you want, but it doesn’t sit right emotionally, people think it’s not fair.

So I grew up in the holler. I learned how to pick. I moved to Nashville. I paid my dues. And some Top 40 superstar comes along and wins my award? I topped country radio and she was barely heard (and when she was, it was a DEI spin).

Oh, now I’m the enemy.

If I wrote anything negative about Kamala people thought I was voting for Trump. Of course not. But I’ve got common sense when they don’t.

Common sense says “Cowboy Carter” was not a country record. She was entitled to make it, people were entitled to stream it, but you can’t convince country fans that it’s part of their world.

And when you make a mistake like this the credibility of your entire organization comes into question.

Are you voting for what you believe or what others tell you to?

This is groupthink, of the worst order.

They keep telling us the Spotify Top 50 rule music. They keep telling us a limited number of superstars dominate. They keep telling us they know better.

But they don’t.

The Grammys have lost touch with the culture. And the major labels too.

Maybe we need a holiday wherein we force everybody to go on TikTok for 24 hours.

But the Chinese will get my data! I will be exposed to falsehoods!

Live in a bubble if you want, live in fear.

But on TikTok Beyoncé lost.

And the audience is on TikTok, not even paying attention to traditional media.

If you don’t know we live in a bottom up world…

You’re on top and think you know better.

But you don’t.

1

Isn’t that Fred Tackett?

Dealing with seating by the side of the upstairs bleachers…

I heard “Slow Turning” in the background. And I sneaked a look forward and…

There was this white-haired guy wailing on guitar and…

I scanned the Troubadour stage and I saw Billy Payne on keys. And Kenny Gradney was on bass. The heart of Little Feat was playing one of John Hiatt’s most memorable numbers like they’d been lit by firecrackers. Leads were traded. I went right up to the railing and stared.

And then it was over. And although Billy Payne appeared again, Fred did not.

But maybe you don’t know Fred Tackett. Maybe you don’t know he composed the second side opener on “Dixie Chicken.” Bonnie Raitt did a good version of “Fool Yourself,” but it’s Lowell George’s sweet vocal that puts this over the top.

Lowell George never won a Grammy. And slipped to the other side at 34, but if you were a fan, you were not a casual listener, Lowell and Little Feat own a distinct part of your heart.

Fred is 79, he’ll be 80 in August. Billy Payne is a veritable youngster at 75, he’ll be 76 in March. They looked like they just walked in off the street, with no airs, but boy could they play.

They might have to play. Then again, both wrote successful songs, hopefully the revenue is coming in.

But one thing’s for sure, just like the dear departed Lowell George, they’re musicians, not stars. And musicians PLAY!

2

I guess what struck me was how many of the acts on stage were not on a major label, although some were once.

John Hiatt himself… He had a buzz in the early 80s, he played Wong’s West, David Geffen was there. The next time I ran into Geffen he told me he’d signed him. To the nascent Geffen Records.

But Hiatt didn’t connect there. He was dropped, and ultimately A&M picked up his breakthrough album “Bring the Family” after it was recorded.

Back in the day… You were either on a major label or an also-ran. Today’s best musicians don’t have a label at all. There’s a layer of stars that get reams of press, appeal to younger generations, but those who have aged out, or have been dropped, or were never signed, are no longer demoralized, they’re just doing what musicians have always done, write and play. We’re back to basics. And seemingly everybody but the media industrial complex seems to know this. Music has morphed. We’re in evolution. Sure, avenues of remuneration have jumped the track, however anyone in the world can listen to your music for free, and that’s a good thing, no, that’s a GREAT THING! You monetize last in tech. And in the attention economy, you’re thrilled if anyone’s paying attention at all.

3

Now the dirty little secret of tonight’s Grammy telecast is so many of those acts are singing to Pro Tools. I heard Questlove talking about his SNL movie on NPR on the way to last night’s gig. The Ashlee Simpson debacle. He likes some warts, some mistakes, and he said 90% of what you hear on “The Tonight Show” is live, but ever since Michael Jackson’s “Thriller,” acts feel it necessary to get it exactly right, because they believe this is what the audience expects, and if the spotlight is upon them, they don’t want to disappoint, they want to do their best sales job.

But the funny thing is so many working musicians are no longer selling at all. They’re leading with their music. And if that’s not enough…

There are all these stories of brand extensions… I’ll say if you want to be a Kardashian, why play music at all?

And I’m not saying everyone’s entitled to make a living in music, but there are some who are better than the rest, and all of those on stage last night fit that bill.

4

The absolute highlight was Michael McDonald singing “Have a Little Faith in Me.” Just him and his piano. I guarantee you if McDonald repeated the performance tonight at the Grammys it would be the pinnacle. Because that’s all you need.

And experience, those miles, pay dividends.

“When the tears you cry

Are all you can believe

Just give these loving arms a try, baby

And have a little faith in me”

The lyrics are good, but it’s the tune and the delivery that put the enterprise over the top. They call that a song.

“Have a little faith in me

Have a little faith in me

Have a little faith in me

Have a little faith in me”

Despite his dignified and sometimes debonair appearance, Michael McDonald struggled to make it. He had issues with drugs. Last night he said the last time he played the Troubadour…he’d had to be bailed out of the Van Nuys jail to hit the stage.

That’s music. There’s no degree that ensures success. It’s something that comes from deep inside, that when done right resonates with the listener. McDonald is playing and singing with his deep voice and you’re just waiting for a crack… It’s so right, naked, he’s on the high wire…

But he’s a professional.

Utterly astounding.

5

Joe Bonamassa played “Perfectly Good Guitar.” And threw off some notes, he wailed.

He didn’t sink the track, it was tasteful.

All the genres could coexist. You can play a Les Paul and have a fiddle on the same stage. It’s all music. The audience knows this, but not the industry.

Lyle Lovett had a moment forty years ago. But he’s still here, sans his large band. He too knows how to sell a song.

As for Los Lobos?

Positively mesmerizing. Los Lobos had a moment, but they never had a hit. But they continue to exist. Albeit worse for wear physically, like all of us from way back when.

But when they laid into “Down on the Riverbed”…

This is the rock that triumphed. A band so well-oiled, so tight, and so powerful that the music itself makes you pay attention, no stage antics are necessary. Once again, it’s a thrill to see pros at work.

And then there was Hiatt himself.

6

He’s been up and down. And never a household name. I remember seeing him as part of Ry Cooder’s band at the Country Club in Reseda back in ’81. The supergroup Little Village made a good record, but times were changing and it did not garner a mass audience and its members went their separate ways.

John did play a song he had a writing credit on that is most famous in Cooder’s version, “Across the Borderline.”

But I’d be lying if I didn’t say the highlight of his set was “Thing Called Love,” well-known by its Bonnie Raitt cover on her commercial breakthrough, “Nick of Time.” Hell, you probably remember the video, with Dennis Quaid.

Now last night it was a duet, with Brandy Clark. Who may not have the fame of Raitt, but who is built in her mold. Then again, like Hiatt, she’s more famous as a songwriter than a recording artist.

“Ugly ducklings don’t turn into swans

And glide off down the lake

Whether your sunglasses are off or on

You only see the world you make”

Ain’t that the truth. You don’t count the blessings you have, you build up your weak points, shine up your personality and your soul… That’s what it takes to make it in music. It’s a long hard road. There might be a detour to stardom, but now less than ever in the post-Beatles era.

Everybody’s in their own vertical. And if you’re complaining… It’s a hard road, but only you are responsible for your success. When you get your moment, you’ve got to deliver, you’ve got to capture the crowd.

And there was one moment last night when Cedric Burnside performed “Icy Blue Heart.” After looking Cedric up on Wikipedia, I listened as he played a song I do not know by heart and…

My mind started to drift and…

I realized this was the experience. The through thread from then to now, from being bitten by the bug to late age. Going to the gig, not to dance or make friends but to be released into a world you cannot access otherwise. Where your whole personality is in evidence, but you are alone in the room. You can see your past, you contemplate your future, all you know is this feeling…this feeling is what you live for.

And that was the feeling last night.

Setlist: https://shorturl.at/UJVx7

1

Deadheads are like the Democrats. There’s an orthodoxy. If I write about the band I hear from all these Gen-X’ers setting me straight, even though I saw the band way before they did.

Even happened last night. People were boasting how long they’d been into the Dead. They first saw them in ’78!

I saw them in ’71. Would have seen them in the winter of ’70 if the New Haven Railroad ran after midnight. Because the Dead headlined the Fillmore starting just then, and played until the sun came up.

I saw them at Watkins Glen, I saw them at Boston Garden and the reason I’m mentioning all this is because I plan to get heretical, I’m going to tell you…

DEAD &COMPANY ARE BETTER THAN THE GRATEFUL DEAD EVER WERE!

It’s kind of like the Stones. They used to play for an hour and a half. Somewhere in the middle of the show they’d lock on, and then they ultimately lost it. The Dead? They’d play for four hours, one hour would be unlistenable, one hour would be great and two hours would be so-so. I only saw them be good from start to finish once. And just like Dead & Company, on this last tour the Stones were great from start to finish too. In some ways, these are the good old days.

Sure, I miss Jerry. Sure, it would be great to have new material. But if you were there…

They were a west coast thing. They meant almost zero in the east. The first three albums were nearly complete stiffs everywhere. I got in with “Live/Dead” in ’69, that was the first package to actually get good reviews. For me the highlight was “St. Stephen” into “The Eleven,” but there was a whole side of Pigpen and “Turn On Your Love Light” and…McKernan died of substance abuse before it was hip, most people have no idea who he was, never mind being in the Grateful Dead.

The breakthrough was “Workingman’s Dead” in the spring of ’70, with “Uncle John’s Band.” Crosby, Stills, Nash and sometimes Young ruled. Acoustics and harmonies were everything. Who knew the Grateful Dead could do this?

Joe Smith told me he did, he signed them, asked them to make one for him after all those financial losses. Who knows the truth, Jerry’s not the only one who is dead, Phil is too, as well as Joe.

That’s still my favorite LP. It’s sparse, it’s airy. “New Speedway Boogie,” that’s the sh*t, that encapsulates Altamont more than the Stones movie.

But only months later came “American Beauty,” which is when the masses started to glom on. I love “Box of Rain,” but I never need to hear “Ripple” ever again, even though Norah Jones did a good version last night.

As for those Deadheads… Too many middle class kids afraid of danger, when in truth the Dead were the most dangerous of the San Francisco groups. But sometimes the audience eclipses the act. The scene becomes bigger than the music. To the point where those not interested are turned off, but if you were there ’til the end last night…

2

The War and Treaty are just one or two exposures away from being huge stars. Used to be it took a hit, but now you can be known by many without one, like Brittany Howard, or Billy Strings, who performed last night. This duo, and only in Nashville can you be over 21, kills every time I see them. And it was a treat to see Mick Fleetwood and Stewart Copeland pounding the skins. How many more times am I going to see Mick live? The band’s history and he’s pushing 80.

Speaking of being on the verge of stardom, Marcus King…whew! He was playing those leads seemingly without effort, and he’s only 28… The popsters are nominated for Grammys, along with the aged, but it’s King and his brethren who are carrying the flag of authenticity, of skill, of music today.

Wynonna Judd… When was the last time we saw her? She emerged from the wings and triumphed. If you had hits once can you have them again? Let’s hope so.

Now I’m skipping over performances that I found blah…

My Morning Jacket with Maggie Rose? You could b.s. with the crowd an really not miss anything.

Ditto on Vampire Weekend. Too weak for the more dynamic, full-bodied sound of the Dead.

And it was great to see Bela Fleck, but almost all of the quiet performances in the middle of the audience didn’t translate. You couldn’t hear a pin drop because there was so much shuffling and talking. This is first and foremost a networking event. They say it’s about charity, and that’s true, but where else can you get all these titans in one room? You can do a year’s worth of business in one night. That’s one of the reasons I live in L.A.

Man, let me list the other performances that didn’t move me.

Maren Morris delivered the material directly, but there was no soul.

Sierra Ferrell’s true country voice stood out, but it couldn’t conquer the rabble-rousing.

Hornsby? Love him, did well, but man on piano in a cacophonous cavern…doesn’t work.

But Dwight Yoakam?

His was my favorite performance of the night. Because his did have soul, and attitude. There was that freight train running down the track quality the Dead had when they got it right. Dwight lifted the energy in the room.

The complete surprise? SAMMY HAGAR!

What’s Sammy doing at this show? But Sammy’s performance swung. There was a groove. Sammy even picked up his Les Paul and threw off some notes. You got the energy of a performance, you were more than watching, you were involved.

But not with Billy Strings. Who is all about his playing but was mostly singing.

And then…

3

Musicares is normally endless. Doesn’t run on time and ends after midnight, when more than half the audience is gone.

But looking at my watch… Not only had the evening been a seamless production, by time the speeches began it wasn’t even eleven.

Woody Harrelson did the intro. He told a meandering story and endeared himself to us like always. Likes to come across as a stoner doofus, but it’s not long before you realize there’s intelligence and talent underneath. He spoke of the first night he saw the band, at Shoreline, doing drugs and talking with Jerry while the band was waiting for him to come out for the encore.

And Woody had a punchline, but I’ll save it for when you hear him tell it live.

And then Mickey Hart evidenced a spryness and intelligence that you wouldn’t expect from an 81 year old.

As for Bob Weir… He said he was dyslexic and proved it. He said he’d have trouble with the teleprompter but the end result was him endearing himself to us, demonstrating that you don’t have to be good in school to be successful. Hell, most musicians aren’t.

And then…

Dead & Company.

This is not guaranteed. The honoree does not always play the show.

But…

Now this is not the aforementioned Stones. There’s not a dramatic start, a flash from black to white. Instead, the members were there on stage in the bright lights and the playing began and…

I’d be lying if I said it was marvelous. The vocals were not perfect and I was talking with Steve Boom and Daniel Glass and then…

Must’ve been about ten minutes in. My head popped up, I recognized it, THIS WAS THE DEAD!

The Dead were anti-stars. It was about creating an environment more than a performance. Sometimes Jerry would be walking around on stage, not even looking at the audience. Seemingly in search of that one element that would lift the music.

This is not how it usually is. Normally the building is dark, the only lights are on stage, you’re there to worship at the feet of icons, your eyesight is focused.

But not the Dead. The Dead were reinventing it every night. There was no formula. Back in the day, it would start with the New Riders, Jerry would play pedal steel, which he had a new fascination for. There’d be a break and the band would come out and it would start…slow. Everybody hunting for the groove. There was no pop, there was an evolution.

Now ultimately, the scene superseded the music, the band. It was about being there, even if you were outside the building. But there was none of that if you were there early. Just the band and its fans, the music and the feeling. There were no hits, no showstoppers. Eventually “Casey Jones” and “Truckin’,” but…those were new once too.

So the lights are bright last night. And the band has locked in. In a way that no one else does. Back in the sixties they called it psychedelic. Now they call it jam band. But not only does it evolve from the Dead, it’s truly nothing like the Dead. Because the Dead were the progenitors. They were creating the music, not imitating. There was no form. They existed in a world unto themselves, and either you were hip to it or not, interested or not.

“So “Althea” runs into “Sugar Magnolia” and it’s clear, there will be no breaks, this will not end, this is a journey, and we’re just along for the ride. They’re not playing to us, but themselves. They’re locked together, making this sound, that is new and alive, not just replication of a record.

And it eventually evolves into “Touch of Grey,” the band’s only hit, pushed over the transom by Clive Davis and MTV.

But it’s not the “Touch of Grey” of the record. It’s got the same words, the same changes, but it’s been transmogrified into something different.

And every time you thought it was coming to a conclusion, it was not.

They’d sing:

“I will get by

I will survive”

And that would be a great way to end this piece, but it didn’t end the performance, which settled into more solos, more trading of vocals between Weir and Mayer…

This is the Grateful Dead.

And you can’t get it anywhere else. Can’t even get it on a record, never mind cover versions. Because it’s got to do with the players themselves, and not only the chemistry between them but the trip into nooks and crannies, the surprises, while…

The song keeps trucking along. Lifting you higher and higher.

Tomorrow night they’re going to honor the Spotify Top 50. And there’s money there, but if you want the heart and soul of music you should have been there last night, for Dead & Company’s performance.

And you can go to the Sphere and see them, you should, it’s worth the trip. And it’s different every night, you can’t box in the Grateful Dead, and some nights are better than others, but that’s just like…

Life.

Forget the experts in their tie-dye, keeping you away with their bloviations about this show and that. The Dead were always a big tent, they were never exclusive. They were there when you were ready. Ready to light the fuse and see where the rocket went. Sometimes over on its side, sometimes into the stratosphere.

And you don’t have to be on drugs to get it.

You’ve just got to surrender. Your preconceptions. Your trappings, your beliefs, and go for the ride.

Because when they get it right, it’s great.

And you can’t get it anywhere else.

That’s what the modern music business was built upon. Not hit songs, but culture. Created by those left of center, who liked the money but oftentimes couldn’t read a royalty statement, assuming there was one. It was just about you and your buds, traveling across the country, getting high and playing music. Veritable outlaws.

That spirit’s been gone for a long time.

But it was in downtown L.A. last night. 

Tune in Saturday February 1st to Faction Talk, channel 103, at 4 PM East, 1 PM West.

Phone #: 844-686-5863

Twitter/X: @lefsetz

If you miss the episode, you can hear it on demand on the SiriusXM app. Search: Lefsetz