Robert Plant And Alison Krauss Win Grammy Album Of The Year

Raising Sand, from Led Zeppelin vet and bluegrass superstar, wins five Grammys on Sunday night.
By James Montgomery with MTV News staff

<P>"I'm bewildered," <MTVNLINK type="artist" id="14245">Robert Plant</MTVNLINK> said onstage as he accepted the <MTVNLINK type="news" id="1604580">Grammy Album of the Year award</MTVNLINK> with <MTVNLINK type="artist" id="506074">Alison Krauss</MTVNLINK> on Sunday night. "In the old days we would have called this selling out, but it's a good way to spend a Sunday."</P><P>He was probably one of the few who were surprised, because <i>Raising Sand,</i> which won five trophies at Sunday night's show, is in many ways the perfect Grammy album. It features two respected veterans, a critically lauded producer, some sandpaper-and-velvet vocals and a baker's dozen of time-tested standards.</p><div style="margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; float: left;"></div><p></P><P>You're probably familiar with Robert Plant from his <MTVNLINK type="artist" id="993">Led Zeppelin</MTVNLINK> days, and you might be aware of producer T-Bone Burnett's work on the "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" soundtrack (it won the Grammy for Album of the Year in 2002). And if you don't know who Alison Krauss is, she possesses a haunting set of pipes and is one of the meanest fiddle players in the world. Oh, and she's won 21 Grammys, more than any other female artist and the seventh-most in history.</P><P>Really, she's the key to <i>Sand</i>'s success, and not just because of her voice (or her fiddle playing). She and Plant first met in 2004, at a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame tribute to legendary bluesman Leadbelly, and the former Zeppelin man was amazed by her knowledge of American Roots music &#8212; so much so that they began kicking around the idea of recording an album together. Three years later, <i>Sand</i> was released.</P><P>And while Plant possesses the more famous voice, the album's finest moments radiate from Krauss. Whether she's getting bluesy on Little Milton's "Let Your Loss Be Your Lesson" or entwining with Plant's husky voice on songs like "Please Read the Letter" and Roly Salley's winsome "Killing the Blues," she more than carries her end of the bargain.</P><P>And perhaps that's also due to producer Burnett, who handpicked the 13 songs the duo cover on <i>Sand.</i> His arrangements are sparse &#8212; giving the two voices ample room to breathe &#8212; yet dense, warm and crackling at the same time. It's a testament to his work that he's often given just as much billing as Plant and Krauss on the project ... and it's certainly justified.</P><P>To date, <i>Sand</i> has sold more than 1 million copies, heaped tons of acclaim and actually earned a Grammy last year &#8212; "Gone Gone Gone (Done Moved On)" took home the award for Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals.</P><P>One expert was surprised not by the album's success, but by the fact that it's actually quite a good album.</P><P>"At first, the album seemed like a vanity project. ... Two names, clearly a one-off record, didn't have to be any good, you know?" <i>New York Times</i> music critic Jon Caramanica said. "Led Zeppelin fans would buy it because of Robert Plant, Alison Krauss would get a check. But it actually turned out to be a really thoughtful, really <i>good</i> record. So when you combine all that with the fact that the Grammys love to lionize one of their own, I could really see it taking home some awards." </P>

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Lil Wayne Delays Dedication 4 To Amplify 2 Chainz Album

Weezy holds release of his Gangsta Grillz mixtape to spotlight close friend 2 Chainz's Based On A T.R.U. Story.
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Eminem Beats Lady Gaga, Rihanna To 60 Million Facebook Fans

Rapper now has more Facebook "likes" than any other living person.
By Gil Kaufman

<P>If you had to guess which artist has the most Facebook "likes," who would you guess? Lady Gaga? Justin Bieber? Michael Jackson? Close, but no cigar.</P><P>Eminem recently set the record for the most Likes by a living person with 60.1 million, blowing past the competition and landing at #5 on the list of the top 10 Facebook pages.</P><P>According to the App Data page, Eminem is picking up close to 179,000 new Likes a week (or 26,854 a day), edging out Rihanna, who has 59.4 million Likes and is gaining around 167,000 "likes" per week pace (or 22,141 a day).</P><P>The only things blocking the 39-year-old Detroit MC's path to the top are the kinds of wildly popular time suckers that are hard for any flesh-and-blood superstar to pass: YouTube (61.2 million), Texas HoldEm Poker (63.8 million), Facebook itself (70.3 million) and the Facebook for Every Phone page (117.5 million).</P><P>Where do his fellow pop stars land? Shakira is #8 on the list with 53.3 million Likes (just below "The Simpsons" with 53.8 million), then Lady Gaga at #9 (53 million) and Jackson at #10 (51.1 million). Bieber is down at #15 (45.7 million), just ahead of Katy Perry (#16, 45.5 million), Linkin Park (#17, 44.2 million) and Lil Wayne (#20, 39.8 million). You didn't ask, but we'll tell you that MTV is at #27 (36 million).</P><P>Slim Shady might be the Facebook king, but he has quite a way to go when it comes to ruling the Twitter universe. That realm belongs to Gaga, who has more than 27.8 million followers, with Bieber a hair behind at 25.8 million and Perry gaining ground at #3 with 24.2 million. Em, meanwhile, is way down on the list at #19 with 11.8 million followers.</P>

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Lily Allen Has Changed Her Name

English recording artist/ singer-songwriter Lily Allen is, as we previously reported, already at work in the studio, working on tunes with producer Greg Kurstin after a three year hiatus following her 2009 album, It?s Not Me, It?s You.  But, if that music is ever released it won?t be under the name Lily Allen?the singer has [...]

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