By David Hinckley
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Monday, February 1st 2010, 1:14 PM

Who'd have thought that Neil Young was just winning his first Grammy now - and that it would be for art direction?



Loudon Wainwright III, the veteran New York singer-songwriter whose name is almost always accompanied by the word "quirky," won his first Grammy Sunday night and responded with a classy thanks to his recently deceased ex-wife, Kate McGarrigle.

Wainwright won for "The Charlie Poole Project: High, Wide and Handsome," a two-CD set built on the music of the great 1920s country banjo player Charlie Poole.

Poole led a fascinating life and made wonderful music that still sounds fresh today. Just a couple of years ago, musicologist and Poole fan Henry Sapoznik assembled a three-CD set of his work, titled "You Ain't Talkin' To Me."

Still, Poole's name has receded as years have passed, so it was heartening that Wainwright and his friend Dick Connette decided to record many of Poole's old songs and write new music in his style.

"The Charlie Poole Project" didn't knock Kelly Clarkson off the charts, but it's a fine record. Wainwright has made a lot of fine music before, too, but this one finally caught the ear of Grammy voters.

In his acceptance speech, Wainwright concluded by saying that Kate McGarrigle "taught me to frail the banjo" some 40 years ago. He thanked her for it.

Wainwright and McGarrigle were married and divorced in the 1970s. Their two children, Rufus and Martha, are both popular musicians today.

Levon Helm nabs first-ever "Americana" Grammy after being told he'd never sing again

The Grammys are full of inspiring stories, a few of which are even true. None of Sunday night's is better that Levon Helm's.

Helm won the first-ever "Americana" Grammy, beating among others a couple of guys named Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson.

But the real triumph is that Helm made this record at all, because a decade ago he was told he'd never sing again.

He was diagnosed in the late 1990s with throat cancer and advised to have his larynx removed. He chose instead to undergo a long series of radiation treatments, at the end of which he could only speak in a whisper.

He wanted to return to music, however, because music is what he's done since the 1950s. From the late 1960s until well into the 1990s he was one of the singers with The Band, where he did the vocals on songs like "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" and "Up On Cripple Creek."

So he started a series of regular informal sessions called the Midnight Ramble at his studio/home in Woodstock, and for the first few years he just played the drums.