Well, it was a pretty quiet night for North Carolina acts at Sunday night's Grammy Awards ceremony. About the only Tarheel victory was indirect and by association: Al Green won best traditional R&B vocal performance for "You've Got the Love I Need," a track that had Charlotte native Anthony Hamilton in a featured billing role.

Hands down, the best performance of the night came from Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, who did a couple of songs right before they were presented with album of the year, and it was just as great as their show in Raleigh last year. Even better, Winston-Salem banjo player Riley Baugus (who played on one track on the Plant-Krauss album) was among the support players to get a shout-out from Plant during his acceptance speech.

UPDATE: I stand corrected, a reader was kind enough to point out that High Point's Anthony Dean Griffey won two classical Grammys (classical album and opera recording).

. . . and I have to say it was a pretty decent show. Dude came out in a gold-lame windbreaker and turned out a two-hour set that was equally extravagant. He launched into many of his favorites ("Charlene," "Comin' from Where I'm From") as well as a couple of tracks from his upcoming album, "The Point of It All" (the title track is the best). He truly had the packed crowd riveted when he did an apropos cover of Sam Cooke's "A Change Is Gonna Come," which had him seguing into "Do You Feel Me," the best song of last year that came from a movie and didn't get nominated for an Oscar.

Yes, Mr. Hamilton turned it out here in Raleigh. For more accounts of Hamilton turning it out in other cities, go to his tour blog.