'Sand' storm

Plant, Krauss, and local label Rounder snag big Grammys; Coldplay takes three

Chris Martin of Coldplay performing at the Grammy Awards last night. (Mark J. Terrill/Associated Press)

Last night's Grammys brought a historic win for Rounder Records, the Burlington-based label that released Robert Plant and Alison Krauss's "Raising Sand." It's the first time a local label has won the award for album of the year, completing a stunning five-Grammy sweep for the Led Zeppelin god and bluegrass songbird.

"It has been quite a year for Rounder. We are honored to have been a part of "Raising Sand" and to work with such talented artists as Robert Plant, Alison Krauss, and T Bone Burnett," Sheri Sands, Rounder's executive vice president and general manager, said from the ceremony. "We are thrilled for these great artists to receive this type of recognition."

Back in Burlington, the excitement was just as palpable. "I think we're all in shock. This is insane," said Jennifer Sacca, vice president of publicity, noting Rounder is only the second independent label in Grammy history to win record and album of the year.

The awards ceremony was supposed to be a sign of the times, a redeeming chance for the Recording Academy to prove it has a clue about the merits of modern music. Instead, the 51st awards ceremony was its usual safe self: big on talk of new artists, short on real surprises, and woefully overstuffed with cross-generational collaborations that made perfect sense and others that completely backfired.

There was some drama before the ceremony even started. The red carpet was abuzz with talk of R&B superstar Chris Brown being investigated for allegedly assaulting an unidentified woman the night before. Brown, who was up for two awards and was supposed to perform, was a no-show, as was his girlfriend Rihanna, a three-time nominee. Brown was briefly held and released on $50,000 bail.

More surprises would have been welcome, of course. Rapper Lil Wayne led the nominations with eight for his instant hip-hop classic "Tha Carter III," and Radiohead broke out of the alternative category with five nods for "In Rainbows," including some of the bigger awards (album of the year and rock performance by a duo or group). Instead, the British band won only one award for - oh, irony - best alternative album.

On the same night that Lil Wayne joined fellow hip-hop luminaries Kanye West, Jay-Z, T.I., and a very pregnant M.I.A. for an explosive performance of "Swagga Like Us," Neil Diamond brought down the house with a stadium-size sing-along of "Sweet Caroline." Even Sir Paul McCartney, who acted as the night's unofficial royalty seated in the front row, joined in on the chorus.

Granted, Lil Wayne did win in four categories, including rap album, rap song ("Lollipop"), rap solo performance ("A Milli"), and rap performance by a duo or group, ("Swagga Like Us"). He lost in the rap/sung collaboration category to Estelle's "American Boy," also featuring West.

We all knew he'd take those trophies home. There was hope that Lil Wayne would be the dark horse in the album category, just as Herbie Hancock's "River: The Joni Letters" was last year when it shocked everyone and won the award. That accolade single-handedly revalidated the Grammys' acknowledement of jazz's importance.

That didn't happen with rap or hip-hop this year. Instead, Plant and Krauss were on a roll, bringing their Grammy totals to a staggering 26 for her and seven for him (all post-Zeppelin). Early in the evening, Plant and Krauss were locked in a showdown with Coldplay, the British rockers whose album "Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends" was sensitive enough to appeal to Mom and Dad while getting their kids worked up into a Top 40 radio tizzy. Nominated for seven awards, Coldplay ended up with three - rock album, song ("Viva La Vida"), pop performance by a duo or group ("Viva La Vida").

Perhaps as karmic retribution for last night's botched onstage pairing with Stevie Wonder, the Jonas Brothers lost the award for best new artist to Adele, who canceled out her fellow British soul sister Duffy and was handed the award by Estelle, another Briton.

It was an evening of firsts and emotional returns, too. Country legend George Strait finally broke his Grammys hex and won his first award for best country album for "Troubadour." First-time nominees Kings of Leon took home the trophy for best rock performance by a duo or group. And Jennifer Hudson won for her self-titled R&B album, choking back tears as she accepted to a standing ovation.

James Reed can be reached at jreed@globe.com.

Correction: Because of an editing error, yesterday's Grammy Awards story in G misstated the location of Rounder Records. The label is in Burlington.