By Catherine Donahoe
Student Writer
Journalism professors often win or are nominated for awards. They have strived for Pulitzer Prizes, Selden Ring Awards and Hearst Journalism Awards for years. But a Grammy Award?
That is what journalism professor Ed Cray hopes to receive Sunday at the 52nd annual Grammy Awards, which start at 8 p.m. Cray and author Bill Nowlin were nominated in the best album notes category for their work on the new Woody Guthrie album, “My Dusty Road.”
“I suspect that I’m the first journalism professor that’s been nominated for such an award,” said Cray, who edited and wrote the notes of about 14,000 words for a 4-CD set of Guthrie songs that were recently unearthed from storage. “It’s a hoot!”
The Guthrie album was also nominated for best historical album. Cray said what makes the project so exciting is the historicity of this event.
“These masters had never been played—they had been in a Brooklyn basement for over 60 years when they were rediscovered,” said Cray, adding that the quality of these records is better than ever.
Cray was contacted by Rounder Records to write liner notes for the album. He wrote notes for the songs while Nowlin focused on the technical notes.
Cray’s interest in folk music began in the 1950s, when he played the music and performed.
“It was part of my life,” he said. “My three biographies I’ve written — on Woody Guthrie, George C. Marshall, and Earl Warren — were all re-telling my own life and times. I’m just trying to understand what happened during my lifetime by using these three figures.”
