Former President Jimmy Carter has received a Grammy nomination in the spoken word category for his reading of "Faith: A Journey for All."
The 2018 book concerns the role faith has played in Carter’s life, in good times and bad, and suggests ways that faith can help his readers.
It is Carter’s ninth spoken word nomination in 21 years.
He won a spoken word Grammy in 2016 for his recording of the memoir, “A Full Life: Reflections at 90,” and again in 2007 for his recording of “Our Endangered Values.”
(In 2007 his win was shared with Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee for their recording of “Ossie and Ruby.”)
The other competitors in the spoken word category this year are actress Tiffany Haddish for her book “The Last Black Unicorn”; actor Courtney B. Vance for his reading of Neil deGrasse Tyson and Avis Lang’s book “Accessory to War”; humor writer David Sedaris for his “Calypso”; and drummer and bandleader Questlove for his “Creative Quest.”
Carter’s achievement is significant, but he is still in a tie with another Democratic president, Barack Obama, who won in 2006 and 2008.
Bill Clinton has two spoken word Grammies also, from 2004 and 2005, but one is for narration of a children’s album. That category, Best Spoken Word Album for Children, has been discontinued.
Other presidents whose spoken word recordings have yielded Grammy awards are John Kennedy and Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Other Georgians have also earned multiple nominations in music categories, including Janelle Monae, Cardi B. and Future.
Stone Mountain native Donald Glover (as Childish Gambino) was given the nod five times, including for record and song of the year and best music video for “This is America.”
The Los Angeles Times points out that Carter is in a very small group of Nobel Prize-winning presidents with Grammy awards.
The only other one is Barack Obama, “who has two spoken word trophies — and a new book on its way.”
So, writes the LA Times, “start campaigning now, President Carter.”
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