Backstage at the Grammys show in Nashville

By Phyllis Stark
Special to MSN Music

Last night's Grammy nominations special on CBS included some great performances from Maroon 5, Luke Bryan, Ne-Yo and others, plus the announcement of nominees in five of the 81 Grammy Award categories. But there was a lot going on behind the scenes at Nashville's Bridgestone Arena that TV viewers didn't get to see on "The Grammy Nominations Concert Live!! -- Countdown to Music's Biggest Night," including a few funny (and awkward) backstage moments with some of the nominees. Here's a recap of what you missed.

1. Celebrating their six nominations backstage, the band Fun. (pictured above) were just that in the media room. On one serious note, singer Nate Ruess revealed that he was happy they successfully pulled off their performance of "We Are Young" with Janelle Monáe because, "For the last week I've had more vocal problems than I've ever had. All I wanted was to get up there tonight and be able to give it. Fortunately, my voice worked." He also reveled that the band members prayed backstage with Monáe prior to their performance, something he said is "so not us, because we're not really religious." But after going on to earn six Grammy nominations last night, the band's Jack Antonoff joked that they may now make praying a regular part of their pre-show ritual, "which is awkward for me as a Jew," he quipped.

2. Ne-Yo, who has collaborated in the past with country stars Tim McGraw and Carrie Underwood, revealed that he'd like to make a country album. "I would follow in the footsteps of one of my mentors, one of my idols, Lionel Richie, and I would absolutely make a country album," he said. "I'll wear the hats, the boots, I'll do it." He also said he loves Nashville and would consider buying a home there. "I might have to go look at some property later," he said. "Everybody knows if you want to get away from the silliness of what Los Angeles, or what New York can be, or what the business can be -- the smoke-and-mirrors element of it to quality of music first -- Nashville is definitely one of those places to go to do it."

3. Members of Alabama Shakes came backstage and talked about staying grounded in the wake of the band's two nominations and other recent career successes. The band's Brittany Howard said, "I think it's important to stay humble, so when I get home, I'm not like, 'Hey, don't honk your horn at me. I'm Grammy-nominated.'" Amusingly, the band also revealed that they weren't exactly dressed and coiffed by an expensive stylist for the show. One band member confessed that his T-shirt was a freebie and his shoes were purchased on an overseas tour using his touring per diem. Howard, meanwhile, shared that her leather jacket was really "pleather," that her shoes came from Burlington Coat Factory and that the band's tour manager had styled her hair for the show.

4. Country star Dierks Bentley, who earned one nomination last night and also performed a Johnny Cash tribute with the Band Perry, told reporters that this is his 12th Grammy nomination and he has yet to win. Bentley joked, "They're starting a thing next year where if you're nominated 13 times you're guaranteed a win." Win or lose, Bentley said, "The best part of being nominated is the chance to go sit in the seats [at the Grammy Awards] and be a part of history."

5. Hunter Hayes, who earned nominations in three categories last night, including Best New Artist, was also enlisted to present the Best Pop Vocal Album nominees in an unusual way: by singing snippets of each of the nominated songs. Problem was, the nominees had to be a kept secret, even from Hayes, until the last minute, giving him little time to prepare. "It was a fun little challenge for me, but nerve-wracking," he said backstage later. In the end, he successfully pulled off the medley of songs from Kelly Clarkson, Florence + the Machine, Pink, Maroon 5 and Fun.

6. Ne-Yo is known as much for his singing as his terrific onstage moves. But incredibly, he told the press corps backstage that he thinks he's not much of a dancer, and gave all the credit to his choreographer, Jamaica Craft, for making him look good. "She is absolutely amazing," he said. "She takes people that don't dance very well [pointing to himself] and makes them look like they can dance really, really good. So thank you, Jamaica, for fooling the world for me."

7. Fans expecting the Who to be live during their performance of "Won't Get Fooled Again" were disappointed when, instead, the show aired footage shot last Sunday night of the band performing the song in the same venue during a regular tour stop. Fans who missed the quick announcement about the piece being taped were likely surprised to see the audience on-screen morph significantly from last night's mostly young crowd. As USA Today correspondent Brian Mansfield tweeted during the canned piece, "All of a sudden @Grammy crowd just aged 40 years."

8. To make matters worse, the Who's song didn't air in its entirety, as the show cut to a commercial partway in. This didn't go unnoticed by country star Martina McBride, who tweeted, "Wait. Did they just cut off THE WHO???"

9. Prior to performing with Fun. on last night's show, Janelle Monáe proved she doesn't take herself too seriously by tweeting a backstage picture of herself getting her makeup sprayed on with an airbrush. She went on to earn three nominations last night.

10. Judging by the volume of tweets posted during the show, way more of the Nashville music industry appeared to be watching A&E's oddball reality show "Duck Dynasty" than the Grammy special.

The Grammy Awards will air Feb. 10, 2013, on CBS.

Veteran entertainment journalist Phyllis Stark has been reporting extensively on the music industry for two decades. As a freelance writer, her work appears regularly in numerous publications and sites. She previously was Nashville bureau chief at Billboard magazine. She regularly reports on country music for MSN Music, where she writes the One Country blog.

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