Vince Gill has defended the Recording Academy after it was criticised for underrepresenting female artists at this year’s Grammy Awards.
“I look at it kind of trying to see the whole field, you know. And I think the Grammys will go on and the country artists will feel slighted. Or maybe the classical people will feel slighted,” Gill said. “It’s impossible to pull something off like that and not leave a few people by the wayside.”
The country star spoke out before a benefit concert for the Country Music Hall of Fame in New York. Sat with Emmylou Harris and Maren Morris before the concert began, the 21-time Grammy winner said all that matters is that people are “conscious of what’s great at the end of the day.”
He continued, “You’re looking at three really open-minded musical people. We don’t care about genres, of color of skin, or gender, or anything. We just love playing music with great people and that’s all.
Morris emohasised this view, adding, “I think the person that’s won the most Grammys is Alison Krauss so I don’t know. I mean, there’s obviously some things that need to be looked at, I think, and maybe it’s just voting members…”
Krauss is tied for second place with Quincy Jones for the most Grammy wins, with Hungarian composer Georg Sorti holding the current record with 31 wins.
Harris acknowledged that she was aware of the problems facing women in the industry, but excluded being ever treated inappropriately. “I haven’t run into a lot of the problems that I know are out there. But my path has been pretty unfettered with those kinds of things”, she claimed.
Recording Academy CEO Neil Portnow recently stated that women need to “step up” when asked about the lack of female winners backstage. He later said he misspoke.
