UW-Madison professor of folklore and Scandinavian studies Jim Leary came up short at the 58th Grammy Awards Monday night after being nominated for Best Album Notes.
Leary was nominated for his 10-year-long project “Folksongs of Another America: Field Recordings from the Upper Midwest, 1937-1946,” a compilation of a 456-page book, a documentary film and five CDs containing 187 songs in 25 different languages.
Leary selected and restored these songs from 2000 archival recordings made in Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin. The project was co-published by the University of Wisconsin Press and music publisher Dust-to-Digital.
The category consisted of five nominees, including Jeff Place for “Lead Belly: The Smithsonian Folkways Collection,” Ted Olson for “Portrait of an American Singer,” Ryan Barna for “Songs of the Night: Dance Recordings, 1916-1925” and winner Joni Mitchell for “Love Has Many Faces: A Quartet, A Ballet, Waiting To Be Danced.”
Leary said he was thrilled to have been nominated for his work. He retired from UW-Madison at the end of 2015 after 32 years of teaching at the university.
Updated at 1:40 p.m.
