» Chron: He wasn't looking for recording success, but it found him (Richard Vara)

...and all it took was four Grammy nominations ;-)

Seriously, though, this is a pretty good writeup of Israel's recent success.

As for the Grammy's, here's how the competition looks for Israel:

Best Gospel Performance
(For solo, duo, group as collaborative performances. Singles or tracks with vocal containing Gospel lyrics. All genres of Gospel music are eligible.)

• Victory (Yolanda Adams) Track from: The Gospel — Soundtrack
  
• Not Forgotten (Israel & New Breed) Track from: Alive In South Africa
  
• The Blessing Of Abraham (Donald Lawrence & The Tri-City Singers) Track from: Finale Act One
  
• Made To Worship (Chris Tomlin) Track from: See The Morning
  
• Victory (Tye Tribbett & G.A.) Track from: Victory Live!

Best Gospel Song (A Songwriter(s) Award. For Song Eligibility Guidelines see Category #3. (Artist names appear in parenthesis.) Singles or Tracks only.)

• The Blessing Of Abraham [Donald Lawrence, songwriter (Donald Lawrence & The Tri-City Singers)] Track from: Finale Act One
• Imagine Me [Kirk Franklin, songwriter (Kirk Franklin)]
• Mountain Of God [Brown Bannister & Mac Powell, songwriters (Third Day)] Track from: Wherever You Are
• Not Forgotten [Israel Houghton & Aaron Lindsey, songwriters (Israel & New Breed)] Track from: Alive In South Africa
• Victory [Tye Tribbett, songwriter (Tye Tribbett & G.A.)] Track from: Victory Live!

Best Traditional Gospel Album (For albums containing 51% or more playing time of VOCAL tracks.)

• An Invitation To Worship (Byron Cage)
• Paved The Way (The Caravans)
• Still Keeping It Real (The Dixie Hummingbirds)
• Alive In South Africa (Israel & New Breed)
• Finalé Act One (Donald Lawrence & The Tri-City Singers)

Best Contemporary R&B Gospel Album (For albums containing 51% or more playing time of VOCAL tracks.)

• Set Me Free (Myron Butler & Levi)
• Hero (Kirk Franklin)
• A Timeless Christmas (Israel And New Breed)
• This Is Me (Kierra Kiki Sheard)
• Victory Live! (Tye Tribbett & G.A.)

The categories where Israel goes up against Chris Tomlin and Kirk Franklin look tough. That leaves Best Traditional Gospel Album as a decent shot for him to pick up a win. Anything more is gravy.

Also upcoming from the Grammy's are a few more categories worth watching. Another Houston-area success, Leeland, is up for "Best Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album." They're up against Tomlin's latest, though. I'd have to peg Tomlin as a heavy favorite to win a lot of trophies tonight, but the Baytown locals don't come off too badly with a nomination for their first CD.

Also, there's a category for "Best Rock Or Rap Gospel Album" (seriously, where do they get these category ideas from?) that has Jonny Lang up for the award. I'm not familiar enough with the other entrants to gauge his odds, but if Lang doesn't win something for his latest album, it'll be yet another blight on the Grammy's for my concern.

SIDENOTE: One category I overlooked. In the secular listings, there's a good chance Carrie Underwood might win song of the year for "Jesus Take the Wheel." The other songs, I'm not familiar with. These awards sometimes follow sales (which favor Underwood), but sometimes just get awarded on what seems like a whim on occassion (see Norah Jones and Jethro Tull for examples). I opted to run the video for this Carrie Underwood song for a previous YouTube Tuesday. So feel free to rewind and revisit this great song if you feel like it.

UPDATE: Israel won "Best Traditional Gospel Album." Jonny Lang won his category as well ... so there's some justice in the world. Meanwhile, Chris Tomlin lost out to Third Day and Yolanda Adams. So my brief with the Grammy's only festers.

Carrie Underwood gets some plaudits for "Jesus Take the Wheel" ... Best Female Country Vocal Performance and Best Country Song. Still unannounced before I hang it up tonight is whether that song wins out for Song of the Year. Somewhere, Faith Hill is fuming.