The show opened with the song
"Sound of Silence" performed by Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel. A
wonderfully played song, and all acoustic at that! Both musicians received a
Lifetime Achievement Award this year due to their excellence over many decades. Other recipients of the 2003 Lifetime Achievement Award
included Etta James, Johnny Mathis, Glenn Miller, Tito Puente. Engineer, producer and folk music archivist Alan Lomax and the New York Philharmonic
were honored with Trustees Awards.
After a commercial break, the band No Doubt with lead singer Gwen Stefani
(pictured above) performed a medley
of two their popular songs. After their performance, No Doubt won the Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal
for their song "Hey Baby". Nora Jones (pictured below) was the next artist with her
song "Don't Know Why". As a side note, Classic
Records has available her album Come Away With Me (JP-5004,
$33) on 200 gram vinyl! Get it while the gettin's good! The award for Best Pop
Vocal Album was won by; you guessed it, Nora Jones.
Faith Hill then performed
her song "Cry" with an amazing presence and breath-taking
appearance. Faith also gave an outstanding live performance during the 2001
Grammy Awards with her song "Breathe" (album
reviewed here).
After a few other performances, James Taylor played the
wonderful song "Sweet Baby James". Another all acoustic performance
with James on guitar and the assistance of none other than YoYo Ma on cello!
Next up on stage to receive an award was sixteen year old John Mayer who won
the Best Male Pop Vocal Grammy for "Your Body Is A Wonderland".
Eminem took the stage for winning Best Rap Album for The Eminem Show.
Crossover band (country, rock, folk, contemporary, etc.) Dixie
Chicks consisting of Martie Seidel, Natalie Maines, and Emily Robison played
their song "Landslide". This leads right up to their winning the
Best Country Album for Home that naturally includes the song
"Landslide". One of the world's funniest men, comedian Robin
Williams, won the Best Spoken Comedy Album Grammy Award. This guy is amazing
and everyone who enjoys comedy should own Robin Williams – Live 2002.
After a few more music artists gave performances this lead us to...