Portland-Based Reissue Label Omnivore Recordings Won a Grammy Last Night

“It’s Such a Good Feeling: The Best of Mister Rogers” beat out archival releases by Bela Fleck, Nat King Cole and Prince.

IMAGE: B. Baltimore Brown.
By Matthew Singer

It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood, particularly the Portland neighborhood that’s home to Omnivore Recordings.

The reissue label, founded by Cheryl Pawelski, wife of Reed College president Audrey Bilger, won a Grammy last night in the Best Historical Album category for It's Such a Good Feeling: The Best of Mister Rogers, a compilation of songs performed by Fred Rogers on his iconic children's television show.

The collection beat out a remarkably crowded field that included Bela Fleck's Throw Down Your Heart: The Complete Africa Sessions, Nat King Cole's Hittin' the Ramp: The Early Years (1936-1943) and the "super-deluxe" edition of Prince's 1999.

Pawelski accepted the award alongside Bilger from their home in Southeast Portland. Watch their acceptance speech below:

Omnivore Recording’s next release is an unearthed artifact of 20th century history that’s also a piece of Portland history specifically: the earliest known recording of Allen Ginsberg reading his epic poem “Howl” at Reed College in 1956.

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