Herald Staff Writer

Canadian polka king Walter Ostanek, who has many polka pals in Mercer County, is enjoying "Happy Times."

That album secured Ostanek his 15th Grammy nomination, in the Polka Album category.

The resident of St. Catherines, Ontario, has been nominated in 1986, 1988-90 and every year since 1992. He won for three years straight, 1993-95.

Ostanek, 66, called Hermitage his second home because of friends Johnny and Martha Krizancic, who run the Marjon record company and recording studio from their home.

Krizancic said Ostanek makes sure he comes out with something every year to keep himself on the minds of Grammy voters.

A hard worker, Ostanek's steadiness is partly ego-driven, but American acclaim can be turned into financial success in Canada, Krizancic said.

"It brings 'em in," he said.

Krizancic has played on several Ostanek albums over the years, including the 1995 Grammy winner "Music and Friends," and engineered others and released some on Marjon.

"We're very close, good friends," Krizancic said.

Ostanek was named the 1984 Man of the Year by the Penn-Ohio Polka Pals, a group that includes many Mercer County residents.

This year, Ostanek is up against perennial favorite Jimmy Sturr, who has 11 Grammy wins; the last polka act to dethrone Sturr, Brave Combo; Eddie Blazonczyk's Versatones and Lenny Gomulka and Chicago Push.

In regional news, Jerry Douglas, the Youngstown native and LaBrae High School graduate, was nominated in a slew of categories as a member of the bluegrass band Alison Krauss and Union Station, and a contributor to the "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" soundtrack.

Douglas, an in-demand session musician for country and bluegrass acts, plays resonator guitar, an acoustic instrument with a metal disc in the body that also is generically called a dobro.

Among Douglas' nominations include Union Station's nods in the Country Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocal for "The Lucky One" and Bluegrass Album for "New Favorite."

Douglas is nominated twice in Country Instrumental Performance for Union Station's "Choctaw Hayride," a song Douglas wrote, and "Foggy Mountain Breakdown," a song that also features Earl Scruggs, Glen Duncan, Randy Scruggs, Steve Martin, Vince Gill, Marty Stuart, Gary Scruggs, Albert Lee, Paul Shaffer and Leon Russell.

The Cleveland Orchestra was not nominated on its own, but played on "Schoenberg: Piano Concerto, Etc./Berg: Sonata, Op. 1/Webern: Variations, Op. 27." Pianist Mitsuko Uchida was cited for Instrumental Soloist(s) Performance, and Pierre Boulez conducted.

Kim Burrell, who performed in Farrell Dec. 29, was nominated for Contemporary Soul Gospel Album for her "Live in Concert."