Never too early to start the back-patting.

Yamaha has put together a list of its artists who played on Grammy-nominated albums this year. The award show will take place in Los Angeles on February 10, 2008 (assuming, that is, the on-going writers strike doesn’t somehow bring it down), but until then, the Yamaha hopefuls are:

• Larry Mullen Jr. (U2)
• Matt Flynn (Maroon 5)
• Oliver Charles (Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals)
• Mike Bordin (Ozzy Osbourne)
• Paquito D’Rivera (Paquito D’Rivera Quintet)
• Mark Walker (Paquito D’Rivera Quintet)
• Ray Brinker (Tierney Sutton Band)