Booker T. Wins GRAMMY for Potato Hole

Booker T. won a GRAMMY in 1997 for his work with Booker T. & The MGs, taking home honors for Best Pop Instrumental Performance. He was named a Lifetime Achievement Award recipient ten years later, also for his work with the MGs.

But on Sunday night at the 52d Annual GRAMMY Awards, Booker T. scored his first-ever GRAMMY as a solo artist, winning the Best Pop Instrumental Album trophy for his April 2009 release Potato Hole (Epitaph/ANTI-). Potato Hole, on which Booker is backed by the blistering Drive-By Truckers, was Booker T's first new album in nearly two decades, and the lead single "Warped Sister" had been nominated for Best Rock Instrumental (the legendary Jeff Beck took home that award.)

On the Friday just prior to the GRAMMY ceremony, Booker T. appeared at the MusicCares benefit event honoring his old friend Neil Young--who contributed guitar work to Potato Hole . As part of what Rolling Stone called "a true power trio" (along with Keith Urban and John Fogerty) Booker T. played keys on a rousing rendition of “Rockin’ in the Free World.”

Potato Hole and two tracks from the album, "Hey Ya" and "Space City," were all included in The Village Voice's annual Pazz and Jop poll, which tablulates the votes of over 697 music critics' in an attempt to distill the most important music of the prior year. Potato Hole was also recognized by No Depression in its Top Albums of 2009. Finally, yet another Potato Hole track, "Pound It Out," will be prominently featured in Ken Burn's forthcoming "Tenth Inning," an epilogue to the filmmaker's acclaimed nine-part "Baseball" documentary series.

Following the GRAMMY's, Booker T. left California for the Pacific Rim, where he has a whirlwind tour of Japan slated, prior to returning to the States to work on his as-yet-untitled follow-up to Potato Hole.