Adam Pierce is part of a quiet revolution in music-making: the move from professional studios to home recording. Making an album used to mean booking a fixed amount of very expensive time in a well-equipped but unfamiliar room; now, it can be a matter of rolling out of bed and pressing a button.

Home Sweet Studio

This URL probably won't last very long, but it's here for a while, anyway. I've selected a few winners for your consideration.

Electronic/Dance Album: "Kish Kash," Basement Jaxx.

Country Album: "Van Lear Rose," Loretta Lynn.

Female Pop Vocal Performance: "Sunrise," Norah Jones.

Country Collaboration With Vocals: "Portland Oregon," Loretta Lynn and Jack White.

Female Country Vocal Performance: "Redneck Woman," Gretchen Wilson.

Country Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocal: "Top of the World," Dixie Chicks.

Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal: "Vertigo," U2.
Rock Song: "Vertigo," Bono, Adam Clayton, The Edge and Larry Mullen (U2).
Short Form Music Video: "Vertigo," U2.
Pop Collaboration With Vocals: "Here We Go Again," Ray Charles and Norah Jones.

Rap Performance by a Duo or Group: "Let's Get It Started," The Black Eyed Peas.

Reggae Album: "True Love," Toots and The Maytals.

Contemporary Blues Album: "Keep It Simple," Keb' Mo'.

The 2005 Grammy Winners

Now let us have a little talk with Jesus
Let us tell Him all about our troubles
He will hear our faintest cry
He will answer by and by
Now when you feel a little prayer wheel turning
And you know a little fire is burning
You will find a little talk with Jesus makes it right

I recommend Loretta Lynn's recording on "The Gospel Spirit".

http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?playlistId=20459287&selectedItemId=20459346

Just A Little Talk With Jesus

PopMatters ranks the top 100 of the year, and Loretta Lynn clocks in at number 14.

Have you heard it?

"Truly a record for all seasons, Loretta Lynn's Van Lear Rose sounds just as good driving towards the water with the windows open on a summer day as it does when the skies are gray and snow is falling. It's the one to put on when you're not certain what you want to listen to because it always sounds great. Loretta Lynn sings as if the world attempted to break her and she returned not only triumphant, but with a brighter gleam in her eye. Jack White, in his best role yet, adds all of the atmosphere and attitude, with a surprisingly subtle touch. 'Portland Oregon', the best single of the year, is the aural equivalent of unwittingly biting into a hot pepper -- at first you're only aware of something being different, and then suddenly, you're on fire. With Loretta belting these out so wondrously, one ponders when mainstream country music executives will catch on to what the world really needs: more, and more, and more of this."

"Loretta Lynn joins forces with blues-punker Jack White in the unlikeliest pairing of the year and the results are stunning -- a raw and honest work that surprisingly has garnered some play on conventional country radio. White provides an energetic impulse on the disc, his burning guitar and crystal clear production turning raw and edgy country songs like 'Family Tree' -- a song in which the singer stands up to her husband's mistress -- and the barroom romp 'Portland Oregon' into new country classics. Lynn's voice on Van Lear Rose offers a connection to the past without giving up anything to that past, a drawl-soaked soprano that floats in on angel's wings - though, her phrasing and range remind the listener that she is no push over."

Best Music of 2004

"A perspective that is utterly different, yet utterly fascinating."

A Klezmer Christmas - Oy to the World!

... Listen up
You can be anything in the world, in God we trust
...
But nothing comes easy, it takes much practice
...
Timbuktu, where every race came to get books
...
Read more, learn more, change the globe

NYT highlights the year's best. Making the cut:

Loretta Lynn, featuring Jack White. "Portland Oregon"

The Year's Best Pop Albums (and Singles)

I wandered so aimless, life filled with sin;
I wouldn't let my dear Saviour in.
Then Jesus came like a stranger in the night;
Praise the Lord, I saw the light!

    I saw the light, I saw the light.
    No more darkness; no more night.
    Now I'm so happy no sorrow in sight.
    Praise the Lord, I saw the light!

Just like a blind man I wandered alone,
Worries and fears I claimed for my own.
Then like the blind man that God gave back his sight;
Praise the Lord, I saw the light!

    I saw the light, I saw the light.
    No more darkness; no more night.
    Now I'm so happy no sorrow in sight.
    Praise the Lord, I saw the light!

I was a fool to wander astray,
For straight is the gate and narrow is the way.
Now I have traded the wrong for the right;
Praise the Lord, I saw the light!

    I saw the light, I saw the light.
    No more darkness; no more night.
    Now I'm so happy no sorrow in sight.
    Praise the Lord, I saw the light!

A reading from the Book of Hank, Chapter 1

Potential openers include Snow Patrol and the Scissor Sisters.

U2 World Tour to Kick Off March 1 in Florida

Whether long range weapon or suicide bomber
Wicked mind is a weapon of mass destruction
Disinformation is a weapon of mass destruction
Fear is a weapon of mass destruction
Inaction is a weapon of mass destruction

Faithless - Weapon of Mass Destruction Video