"This Just In....Taylor Swift Is A Nine Point Favorite to Win The Super Bowl..."

It's Grammy Sunday.

So I'm sure you, like me, are thinking just one name.

Benjamin Franklin.

Uh...what?

It was Ben who said " "but in the world nothing can be said to be certain except death and taxes."

Two things certain.

Actually, there's a third.

"And the winner is...

...Taylor Swift...".

SPOILER ALERT: I'm about to commit a little blasphemy.

But, first, a little prologue.

The rise and success of Taylor Swift has, by any conventional measure, been phenomenal.

And it can be said with reasonable certainty, I think, that by that same measure, Taylor Swift, herself, is a phenomenon.

Webster's defines "phenomenal" as "...extremely unusual; extraordinary; highly remarkable..."

Again, when applied to Taylor Swift, I'd offer those are valid descriptions.

But this is where things get a little tricky.

And the aforementioned, forewarned blasphemy comes into play.

And print.

I remember reading, once, someone's pointed observation about another old saying.

"Things always happen for a reason."

"Yes," the observer observed pointedly, "but notice the saying says nothing about it necessarily being a good reason."

Which brings us back to the definintion of phenomenal.

And a checklist of application as regards the ubiquitous Ms. Swift and her career accomplishments.

Extremely unusual?

Check.

Extraordinary?

Check.

Highly remarkable?

Check.

But, to paraphrase an observation, "notice it says nothing about the phenomenon necessarily being any good...".

In a literal sense, applying the three criteria necessary in the definition, Gilbert Gottfried's voice is phenomenal.

But I doubt any of us are going to enjoy hearing it ad nauseum.

Nor are we going to give him every award known to man.

Nor are we going to rush out to buy his latest recordings, greeting cards, play hookey from work to be first in line if he appears in a movie or live in gleeful anticipation of any future guest shot he might do on any or all "C.S.I" episode.

Here's the thing.

I agree that the success of Taylor Swift is a phenomenon and, in a certain context, applaud her accomplishments.

My personal take on it, though, is that the phenomenon is not the talent.

But the phenomenon itself.

Taylor Swift seems like a pretty nice kid with a reasonably nice sing songy voice who uses a few basic guitar chords to write and sing reasonably nice songs about the travails and tribulations of growing up teenage in this age.

You go, girl.

But I can't help but be fascinated by the fact that you can't turn on a TV or a radio or walk through a music store or walk by a magazine rack or watch an awards show without hearing about or seeing the image and/or sound of a pretty nice kid with a reasonably nice sing songy voice who uses a few basic guitar chords to write and sing reasonably nice songs about the travails and tribulations of growing up teenage in this age.

It's...amazing.

No, actually....

It's phenomenal.

"..Who Is It Who's REALLY Not Ready To Make Nice...?"

For years, I've suspected that, underneath it all, country music wants to have it both ways.

Standing up proud, and sometimes, loud for basic and essential down home, small town, mama/papa/family focused middle American values.

Not the least of which is...freedom.

While, at the same time, not being totally averse to a little controversy if it helps folks pick up a CD and find their way to the cash register.

Because, after all, whether it's the pop music business or the country music business, the common thread is the word "business".

I can't testify to it in court, but I'd be willing to bet that record label marketing meetings on 16th Avenue don't usually sound like this...

"We've asked the singer to drop that song from the CD because of that lyric about the black dress hitting the floor...that's not the kind of song down home/small town country fans want to hear..."

Lately, the envelope of sexual reference in country music seems to be getting a new push if what Chris Young and Luke Bryan, among others, are up to.

And the chart success of these, and other, folks testifies that the "country music audience" seems ready to embrace the naughty along with the nice.

This just in...sex finds its way into country music...film at 11.

One down, two to go.

But don't count on the trifecta.

Because I'm pretty confident that it will be at least a generation or two before the other two taboos find any open ears on Mama and Daddy's Ipod.

Religion. Politics.

Not counting, of course, any songs/music of praise and/or songs that boil the process politic down to putting a boot in the ass of any foreign threat to our way of life.

And, speaking of Toby Keith....

The Dixie Chicks are in the news.

Emily Robison and Martie Maguire of the Dixie Chicks have recorded an album under the name Court Yard Hounds, according to Rolling Stone. The band name is a reference to the novel, City of Thieves. Recorded largely at Maguire's home studio in Austin, Texas, the album is scheduled for May and will feature Robison on lead vocals for the first time, with an appearance from the Wallflowers' Jakob Dylan. The sisters will also perform as a duo at the South by Southwest music conference in Austin in March. As previously reported, Dixie Chicks lead singer Natalie Maines will not appear on the album, but Robison and Maguire emphasized to Rolling Stone that the Chicks have not formally parted ways.

This news pretty much puts to rest the discussion that fired up this week about whether The Dixie Chicks without Natalie can be considered The Dixie Chicks.

Unasked, I offer my opinion.

Uh, no.

The Dixie Chicks without Natalie are Sugarland without Jennifer, Lady Antebellum without Hillary, Brooks and Dunn without....

You get the idea.

Oh and as far as the whole "controversy" that sent The Dixie Chicks down the rabbit hole a few years back?

I get my political perspective from CNN, MSNBC, FOX and a variety of blog/newspaper, etc sources.

Not to mention my own personal processing and interpretation of political events.

I don't really care what Natalie Maines thinks about the political landscape.

At the same time, I'm not really interested in hearing Rush Limbaugh break into a chorus of "Wide Open Spaces."

Either way, though, the whole business of banning music from the airwaves because of a performer's opinions is, at best, silly and at worst...

Contrary to that most prized down home, small town, mama/papa/family focused middle American value.

Freedom.

"And I Heard Her Exclaim, As She Walked Out Of Sight...MAN! I Feel Like A WOMAN!..."

New year, new decade.

Inevitably a time of looking back.

I was doing that just this morning.

And wondering whatever became of Shania...

Despite bitterly cold, windy weather, Shania Twain carried the Olympic torch through her Canadian hometown of Timmins, Ontario, and into a celebration at a city park. Enduring the minus-30-degree wind-chill factor, more than 1,000 fans cheered and screamed as the five-time Grammy winner, 44, ran onto a makeshift stage wearing a white torchbearer's uniform.

After stopping for a quick photo op, Twain jumped up and down, smiled, waved and lit a ceremonial cauldron to kick off a show.

"There is a lot of excitement surrounding the voyage of the Olympic flame as it makes its way through our beautiful country," the Canadian-born Twain said before the chilly spectacle. "I am proud to be a small part of the flame's journey to its final destination at the games in Vancouver" – where the Olympics will commence Feb. 12. "I will never forget this honor and cherish the privilege," she said.

For a period of time in my misspent youth, I was not just a fan, but, I daresay, a champion of Shania Twain.

When her CD "The Woman In Me" arrived on my desk, I went out of my way to make some calls to industry friends and hip them to what I heard as a very fresh, very unique (at the time) mixture of great country, pop, blues, jazz, etc. I even called a pal at Mercury Records and told him that I thought they should get behind her in a major way.

The rest is history and while I don't, for a second, have any illusions about having had any effect on her success, I know that she and the label gang were sufficiently appreciatve of my efforts that they arranged a little surprise "thank you" meet and greet with Shania at the Mercury office in Nashville.

Hey, I've got the autographed pic and platinum CD framed on my office wall to prove it.

Shania was very pleasant and very gracious.

And I remained, and remain for that matter, a fan of Shania.

Truth be told, though, I don't really care much for SHANIA!

I like performers.

I don't care much for STARS!

Between globe trotting between her luxury homes in Switzerland and the U.S. and vacationing in the Carribbean and Europe, et al, and assuring everyone who visits her website that she is holding up bravely from her divorce from Mutt Lange and subsequent romance with the guy whose wife left him to take up with Mutt Lange, causing Shania to dump Mutt and take up with the guy whose wife dumped him to take up with Mutt, Shania doesn't do a lot of performing these days.

SHANIA! pops up from time to time, though.

Mostly, in interviews for US and People poignantly sharing with all of her many fans around the world that she is holding up bravely from her divorce...yada, yada, yada.

And, of course, photo ops that any celebrity with a savvy press agent would never pass up.

Like carrying the OLYMPIC TORCH!

And then heading back to Switzerland to bravely hold up.

Safe travels, SHANIA!

Tell Shania I said hello and happy new year...