Cory Graves
Snarky Puppy Earned Itself A Treat This Week.
Each week, we take a survey of the local music scene and try to determine which acts in town are really putting in work and seeing it pay off. Which bands have the most intriguing shows coming up? Which bands are getting the most press around town? Which bands have accomplished the most notable feats of late? Based off these criteria, our music writers submit a list to be weighted and compiled into a master list revealed each week in this here space. We like to think it's fairly revealing. Check out our previous Buzz Rankings here.
With seven nods, Kendrick Lamar was one of the most heavily nominated artists heading into last weekend's 56th annual Grammy Awards. Thing is, there were several North Texas artists that left the ceremony with more trophies than Lamar.
OK, so maybe the fact that Lamar was shut out of all seven awards he was up for makes that last statement a technicality. But that doesn't mean it's any less true.
Of that handful, though, the Denton-born jazz outfit Snarky Puppy is the only one that can also add topping our local music Buzz Rankings to their list of the week's accomplishments.
“I was shocked,” band leader Michael League told the Dallas Morning News just hours following the unsuspected Grammy win. “I was completely blown away.”
While the band is already something of an international success — they performed in 18 different countries last year alone — there's no question that snagging a Grammy tremendously raises one's profile both nationally and abroad.
Other local artists taking home trophies at that ceremony included Edie Brickell, whose “Love Has Come For You” duet with Steve Martin earned the pair the “Best Americana/Roots Song” award, and, of course, Jordan “Son of Stan” Richardson, who earned a share of the “Best Blues Album” award for his part drumming and helping produce Ben Harper and Charlie Musselwhite's Get Up! LP.
But perhaps the biggest Grammy beneficiary — at least according to this article in Pitchfork — is Mineola native Kacey Musgrave, whose pair of awards and performance at the ceremony is estimated to have given her Same Trailer, Different Park LP at 147 percent rise in sales this week, with the album landing at the No. 28 spot on Billboard 200. Better yet, Billboard expects Musgraves to have an even greater sales week next week. Crazy.
Award ceremonies aside, the other biggest sources of buzz last week centered around reunion shows. To that end, The Party's reunion at the It'll Do, and Pleasant Grove and Ten Hands' Kessler gigs were all extremely well-attended affairs.
Speaking of well-attended showings, does the fact that Sarah Jaffe sold out the Granada this past weekend make her the biggest thing going, locally-speaking, at the moment? We tend to think so.
Elsewhere: B. Reed of Yung Nation was shot and injured during an altercation following his group's show last Friday; Josh Weathers Band will call it quits following this weekend's Billy Bob's performance; Arlington a capella group Pentatonix appeared on Sesame Street; and Fucked Up's Damian Abraham called Power Trip “the best hardcore band in the world right now” at last night's Sound Select event.
(Also receiving votes this week: Mystery Skulls, B. Anderson, A.Dd+, Happy Bullets, Dead Flowers, Blackstone Rangers, Sealion, Booty Fade, Big Hud, Toadies, Jenny Robinson, Def Rain, The Super Browls, Fat Pimp, The Texas Gentleman, Bonnie Whitmore, Spot, Fort Nox, Gus Samuelson, Bludded Head, Whiskey Folk Ramblers, Man Factory, Terminator 2.)
