I hadn’t noticed before. The seating bugged me because I think they kept changing seats. Olivia Rodrigo wasn’t next to Lenny Kravitz the whole time. Taylor Swift moved from the right side (facing the stage) to the left. I couldn’t figure out where Oprah was seated. Billie and Finneas seemed to sit with their parents the whole time.
Tracy has been nominated for thirteen Grammys and has won four, including Pop Vocal Performance for Fast Car.
It is behind a paywall. 
I definitely remember her performance at the Grammys. I believe it was when she won Best New Artist in 1989 (35 years ago!). She performed Fast Car.
Darn it! I don’t have a WaPo subscription and was able to view it. Maybe someone has a gift link. The article makes some interesting points. It articulates the issue better than I can:
“I think the big lesson here is Black women belonged in country music all along,” Holly said. “If that song can chart as No. 1 today in country, it should have charted in [1988]. … The only thing different is a White man is singing the song. I hope that’s a lesson that people take away from it: Our art is good enough and deserves to be recognized on the same scale.”
Sure I can. Assumptions abound in the cafe and I didn’t state it as fact. It’s highly unlikely many of us here have close personal relationships with these artists.
Tracy Chapman released an amazing song. She got lots of affirmation for it, both from the academy and the public. She chose to stop performing a few years later.
Luke Combs was kid riding in his dad’s pickup and heard the song often on the radio and loved it. On the radio, I might add, which is where many of us heard music in the late 80s and where you can’t see the singer. When he began recording music he wanted to make a cover. Some people thought he should make it more country but he wanted to honor the original.
It certainly felt to me that he was honoring her at their performance together.
I loved the Grammys this year.
Tracy and Luke were amazing and when I hear her song it takes me back to a precise moment in time during my grad school days. I instantly loved it back then.
Taylor Swift? Well, as a huge fan of hers, my reaction was probably similar to millions of her other fans- I was expecting a “thank you I love making music” speech and was ecstatic when she announced a new album I wasn’t expecting! {{shrug}}
Jay-Z. My impression of his speech was that he basically did what Kanye did to Taylor without going on stage and grabbing her microphone. He complained about his wife not winning what he thought she was due.
Joni Mitchell was amazing and I love that song so much- I was so emotional watching and listening to her. And at 80, after fighting back from a debilitating aneurysm. Wow.
Because you don’t remember it, it didn’t happen? She got all sorts of accolades at the time, and the song has endured the test of time. Likely you haven’t heard much about her since because she stopped performing.
I read the “complicated response” article and appreciate the point. Due to the success of Fast Car remake and the respectful manner in which Luke Combs seems to have attributed that success with full credit to Tracy Chapman, I hope it will open more doors. I’d love to see more remakes show up for a new generation, if the original artist is onboard and given proper credit.
We can all be “salty” about the sins of the past and the frustrations of lack of access or success due to gender, identity, etc., but when there is a small positive step forward it should be acknowledged and built upon. I hope articles such as this one will bring more awareness and prompt change. It seems the country music industry is finally open to stepping into this century so let’s encourage more. So I’m not salty; I’m hopeful this is just the start.
ETA: I’ve watched that Grammy performance so many times the past couple days. I hope Tracy Chapman will agree to more performances, with or without Luke Combs. The smile and joy on her face is infectious.
I hope people introduced to Tracy Chapman thru Fast Car will go back and buy that entire album. That album is an ALBUM - incredible from start to finish.
Tracy Chapman has verbalized how she feels.
“I never expected to find myself on the country charts, but I’m honored to be there,” Chapman tells Billboard in an exclusive statement. “I’m happy for Luke and his success and grateful that new fans have found and embraced ‘Fast Car.’”
Not only has she been compensated financially for the cover, but she’s clearly happy that a generation who might never have known about her or her music now does. Seems like a win-win all the way around.
Here’s a gift link to the Washington Post article on the complicated reaction to Luke Combs version of Fast Car: https://wapo.st/42rKCBe
Tracy Chapman is apparently very private. Not sure when she stopped doing concerts or making albums.
My favorite songs serve as time machines and I am obviously not the only one. I think the popularity of this year’s Grammy awards was very much centered on that role of music in our lives - Tracy Chapman, Joni Mitchell, Annie Lennox. Such a good show and I am not the only one with the tears to show it (I saw you Meryl Streep!).
Felt the need to revisit the Tracy Chapman/Luke Combs performance after typing response above and found that full performance has been removed from Twitter and not finding it on Google. Now I’m glad I indulged in watching it several times yesterday. One of the things I like about the Kennedy Center Honors is that you can go back and watch the segments on the honorees later. Wish the Grammys would have this segment posted on You Tube permanently!
You can watch it here. Grammy’s is saving all the hits for their own website!
She won 3 Grammy’s back then.
So, in this group, I am the only one who sees an issue which I’ll attribute to differences in lived experiences. Appreciate the lively and mostly respectful discussion.
Unfortunately no one buys albums any longer. Music is streamed and downloaded.
It is a great song. I have a playlist of my top 5 mellow songs and it has been on the list for years.
I totally forgot and misread some articles suggesting she had not won before. She won best pop vocal for Fast Car. I retract my comment in that regard and I am totally thrilled that the song is getting such good recognition now. I thought it was fantastic that Luke Combs shared the stage with her and I like his version too.
The reality, though, is that if she released that song today the chances of it getting air time on country stations is very low. The WaPo article brings up some good points about white artists taking over songs originally by black singers. The fact that Luke Combs brought her onstage and seems to respect and refer to the fact that it is her song seems to mitigate that to some extent in this case.