Grassroots Grammys From its humble bluegrass start, Rounder Records becomes a player for music's top prize

They started as college kids selling homemade records out of a beat-up Volkswagen bus.

Today, they're at the helm of one of the country's premier independent record labels, preparing to add even more Grammy Awards to an already impressive collection.

Newburyport residents Ken Irwin and Marian Leighton Levy and their company — Rounder Records — have a vested interest in today's Grammy ceremonies. Several of the label's musicians are up for 11 awards this year — the most nominations in the company's 38-year history, Irwin said.

Among the Rounder artists nominated this year: bluegrass crossover star Alison Krauss, who was discovered by Rounder as a teenager and already holds the record for the most Grammys ever awarded to a woman; Harry Connick Jr., for a piano record he made on one of Rounder's divisions, Marsalis; and folk singer Mary Chapin Carpenter.

With this latest slew of nominations, Rounder Records, which moved its headquarters to Burlington last year, may be at the top of its game.

Rounder is a company with humble beginnings, sparked by three college students who loved Americana music — folk, country, bluegrass and polka.

"We were simply people who were music fans," said Leighton Levy, who was an undergrad at Clark University in Worcester at the time. "There's really no way we could have anticipated how the company was going to grow."

It started in 1970, when Irwin was hitchhiking home to Cambridge after enjoying a fiddler's convention down south. He was picked up by a guy who, with no formal training, had started his own record company.

So when he got home, he mentioned the idea to his roommate at Tufts University, Bill Nowlin, and convinced both Nowlin and their friend Leighton Levy to join him in the venture.

Nowlin was the one who came up with the company's name. They all agreed on Rounder because it means "hobo" or "traveler" — the perfect name, they believed, for a record label built on rural American music and run by three people who liked to travel the country to see musical shows.

Sometimes they brought that old Volkswagen bus to the shows, selling their early records out of the back. They based themselves in Cambridge, where they would remain until moving their offices to Burlington last year.

In the early years, the trio put any money they made back into the company, focusing solely on making records showcasing the Americana music they loved so much. For five years, they went without salaries, living off what little they brought in from "real" jobs. And even when they did start drawing salaries, they kept them low.

Irwin now laughs when he thinks about how they managed to succeed without the tools most corporations use, such as a formal "business plan."

Despite their lack of planning, things started taking off for Rounder in 1975, when the company signed banjo player J.D. Crowe, a Grammy nominee for Best Bluegrass Album this year. Crowe, who was already a big bluegrass star when he joined Rounder, brought a stamp of credibility to the label among the bluegrass crowd.

Then, Rounder received wider recognition with the 1977 release of an album by George Thorogood and the Destroyers. The self-titled release was a hit and quickly became a classic. And while Thorogood is no longer with Rounder, the song "One bourbon, one scotch, one beer" from that album still gets ample air time on rock stations.

Nowadays, the Rounder label is known in the industry for giving artists a certain amount of creative freedom — freedom that has been stripped away by many of the bigger labels.

Whenever bluegrass musician Tony Trischka, another of Rounder's Grammy nominees this year, had an idea, he said Rounder executives did nothing but encourage him.

"They just put it out. They didn't say we need to make it more commercial or bluegrassy," said Trischka, who is up for best bluegrass album against fellow nominee Crowe. "They've been very supportive."

Although Americana music is at the core of Rounder Records, the company does occasionally try its hand at other genres. When the Canadian rock band Rush couldn't interest its own label in a live DVD a few years ago, Rounder stepped in and agreed to put it out, producing the fan favorite, "Rush in Rio." They've also done DVDs for Godsmack and Duran Duran.

Krauss, like Trischka, credits Rounder with allowing her to try new things. When she decided last year to team up for some duets with Led Zeppelin's Robert Plant, Rounder supported her while other labels balked at the idea.

The result? The album, "Raising Sand," garnered wide critical acclaim and produced the hit, "Gone, gone, gone," one of two Grammy nominations this year for Krauss. Because it's up for a Grammy for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals against superstars Christina Aguilera, Beyonce, Shakira, Gwen Stefani and Justin Timberlake, it has a good shot of airing on tonight's televised portion of the Grammys.

"The record with Robert Plant came out of nowhere. It was the last thing anyone expected (Krauss) to do," Leighton Levy said. "She continues to do things that are surprising or unexpected."

Krauss also is nominated for best female country vocal artist for "Simple Love," from "A Hundred Miles or More: A Collection." She's in good company with heavy-hitters like LeAnn Rimes, Carrie Underwood and Trisha Yearwood.

Most Rounder artists, however, are little known outside bluegrass or folk music circles. Some, like Trischka, an important musician on the national bluegrass scene who has been with Rounder from the beginning, have been around for years, but are only now gaining widespread recognition. Trischka's "Double Banjo Bluegrass Spectacular" is nominated for Best Bluegrass Album.

"It was an exciting year for him," Irwin said. "And for us, too, to have somebody we've known so long be an overnight success after 35 years."

As Rounder has grown, its founders made a conscious decision to stay in the Boston area, where it all began, instead of moving to New York or Los Angeles.

Irwin and Leighton Levy discovered Newburyport through Scott Billington, a record producer and vice president of Rounder. He moved to Newburyport in the mid-1970s, around the same time he joined Rounder, to share a house with his bandmates. Others at Rounder eventually found their way to Newburyport, with Leighton Levy moving in 1985 and Irwin following about 10 years ago. Kate Swanson, who works in the business and legal affairs department, is the latest transplant.

The Rounder executives have tried to share a little of their love of Americana music with their neighbors in Newburyport. In recent years, they brought musicians in to perform at the Firehouse Center for the Arts and Belleville Congregational Church in Newburyport and Landry Stadium at Amesbury High School.

They say they hope to keep using the area as a home base while their music label continues to thrive.

"We like when we go home at night, it's to a place like Newburyport or Cambridge," Levy said. "We have our own little oasis here in New England."

It's an honor, sure, but what is it really like to win a Grammy? Most of us imagine wearing a tux or a glamorous gown, and crying tears of joy as celebrities applaud all around.

According to a few Grammy winners at Rounder Records, it doesn't always happen that way.

r Scott Billington, Rounder vice president and Newburyport resident: Billington was a world away from LA — at the Grog in Newburyport — when he found out about his first Grammy win back in 1981.

He had worked as a producer on an album that was nominated, Clarence Gatemouth Brown's "Alright Again!" But Billington didn't think much would come of it. So the night of the Grammys, Billington, a harmonica player as well as a record producer, ended up ignoring the ceremonies and went to play a gig at the Grog instead.

During a break in the Grog show, someone came up and told him his album had won a Grammy. "I said, 'No, it didn't,'" he recalled, adding, "I just never thought it would win a Grammy."

Billington did attend last year's ceremony when as an album he produced — "After the Rain" recorded by New Orleans soul singer Irma Thomas just months after Hurricane Katrina — was nominated for Best Contemporary Blues Album.

"It was just such a thrill to be there with Irma," Billington said of the Grammys. "It's a very elegant affair."

This time, it was Thomas who was in shock when she learned she had won. Billington had to lean over and prod the singer to go up and accept her award.

"It's a wonderful thing, to get a Grammy," he said. "You take it when you can get it."

r J.D. Crowe, Rounder bluegrass artist and 2008 Grammy nominee: Crowe didn't even know he had been nominated for the Grammy in 1993 when he learned he had won. He was in the studio in California when he got the news.

While Crowe called a Grammy "the epitome" of music and "a very prestigious award," he has no plans to attend this year, even though he's been nominated for Best Bluegrass Album, for "Lefty's Old Guitar." The Kentucky musician complains that pop and rock stars get all the glory at shows like the Grammys, while polka and bluegrass musicians are given their awards off-camera.

"If you're good enough to win a Grammy, you should be able to be shown on television," Crowe said. "They put you on the back-burner like you're not important."

r Tony Trischka: Rounder bluegrass artist and 2008 Grammy nominee: Trischka, who is nominated for Best Bluegrass Album for "Double Banjo Bluegrass Spectacular," will be on hand for today's ceremonies. He'll attend in the afternoon, when his own category will be announced, then return in the evening to watch the televised portion in person.

The New Jersey resident notes that his nomination has been a long time coming — he's been making music with Rounder since the early 1970s.

"I'm a late bloomer, what can I say?" Trischka said. "It's, career-wise, my best year ever."

The 50th annual Grammy Awards takes place tonight at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. The televised portion will air on CBS (Channel 4) from 8 to 11:30 p.m.

r Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals: Alison Krauss and Robert Plant for "Gone, gone, gone (done moved on)" from "Raising Sand"

r Best Female Country Vocal: Alison Krauss for "Simple Love" from "A Hundred Miles or More: A Collection"

r Best Bluegrass Album: J.D. Crowe and the New South for "Lefty's Old Guitar," and Tony Trischka for "Double Banjo Bluegrass Spectacular"

r Best Contemporary Folk/Americana Album: Mary Chapin Carpenter for "The Calling"

r Best Instrumental Composition: Philip Glass for "I Knew her" from the "Notes on a Scandal" soundtrack, and Harry Connick Jr. for "Ash Wednesday" from "Chanson du Vieux Carre: Connick on Piano 3"

r Best Instrumental Arrangement: Harry Connick Jr. for "Ash Wednesday" from "Chanson du Vieux Carre: Connick on Piano 3"

r Rounder was one of the first record labels to get involved with a new thing called "compact discs." The label started making CDs in 1985.

r A bluegrass fiddler and singer discovered by Rounder when she was just 14 years old now holds the record for the most Grammys awarded to a female artist. Alison Krauss, now 36, has 20 Grammys, overtaking Aretha Franklin for the record four years ago. She is up for two awards this year.

r Speaking of Alison Krauss, her collaboration with Robert Plant started with a strange phone call. Plant heard about Krauss and called her out of the blue one night to suggest they try singing together sometime. She was busy trying to put her baby to sleep when he called and had to whisper to keep from waking up her little one. What did she whisper into the ear of the rock legend? "That would be nice." At least that's the story according to Rounder Records founder Ken Irwin.

r Cathy Fink, another of tonight's Grammy nominees, has actually performed in Newburyport. The banjo player and children's author once played at the Firehouse Center.

r Rounder was first put on the map by George Thorogood and the Destroyers, a blues rock band that made it big in the late 1970s with such hits as "Bad to the Bone" and "Move It on Over."

r Actor and comedian Steve Martin, who is also a banjo player, was a guest musician on Tony Trischka's Grammy-nominated album, "Double Banjo Bluegrass Spectacular." They appeared on stage together on the "Late Show with David Letterman" and "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" last year.

r Unless you're into polka music, you probably haven't heard of Jimmy Sturr. But among polka enthusiasts, he's a superstar. A native of upstate New York, he regularly headlines polka festivals, and over the years he has won a whopping 16 Grammys. He's up for another this year.

Photos

Posing with a few of the Grammies won by Rounder Records are, standing, from left, Ken Irwin, Scott Billingham, and Marian Leighton Levy, and. sitting from left, Donna Wilson Irwin and Kate Swanson. Staff photo