Noah Kahan didn’t take home a Grammy Award, but another Vermont musician did win her first
Noah Kahan’s ascendency into the upper echelons of the music industry didn’t translate to a Grammy Award at Sunday’s ceremony, but another Vermont musician did receive her first golden gramophone statuette.
Jericho native Erin Bentlage and members of her jazz vocal group, s?je, won Sunday for Best Arrangement, Instruments and Vocals, for their song “In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning.” Bentlage and her fellow members of s?je – Amanda Taylor, Johnaye Kendrick and Sara Gazarek – shared the honor with guest arranger Jacob Collier.
Bentlage and her West Coast-based group were nominated for a Grammy in 2021, but this year represents their first win. They edged out competitors who worked on songs by Patti Austin, Maria Mendes, Cecile McLorin Salvant and Samara Joy.
Higher Ground in South Burlington will host a performance by s?je on March 31.
Recent Vermont Grammy winners include Addison County native Anais Mitchell, a five-time nominee, who won in 2020 for Best Musical Theater Album for her Tony Award-winning, Vermont-born musical “Hadestown.” Record producer and engineer Rich Costey, a Waterbury native, has won two Grammy Awards for Rock Album of the Year, for his work on “Drones” by Muse and “Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace” by Foo Fighters.
Other contenders with Vermont connections at Sunday’s Grammy Awards were:
Noah Kahan
The Strafford native who has seen tremendous success with his Vermont-inspired 2022 album “Stick Season” did not prevail in the prestigious Best New Artist category, losing out to R&B singer-songwriter Victoria Monet. Other contenders were Gracie Abrams, Fred again., Ice Spice, Jelly Roll, Coco Jones and The War and Treaty.
Bernie Sanders
The U.S. senator from Vermont acknowledges he’s no musician – he told the Burlington Free Press in 2014 “I can’t carry a tune” – but he was nominated for a Grammy this year for Best Audio Book, Narration, and Storytelling Recording for his book “It’s OK to be Angry About Capitalism.” Sanders and fellow nominees Meryl Streep, William Shatner and Rick Rubin lost out to Michelle Obama for her book “The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times.”
Caroline Rose
The former Burlington resident now based in Austin was nominated for Best Recording Package for her album “The Art of Forgetting,” much of which was written in Burlington. The album “Stumpwork” by British indie-rockers Dry Cleaning won the award.
Contact Brent Hallenbeck at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on Burlington Free Press: Noah Kahan didn't win Best New Artist, but fellow Vermonter got Grammy
