When it comes to the accordion, I try to keep an open mind. I’ll listen to virtually any type of music if I’m told there’s an accordion involved. Polka? Naturally. Tex-Mex punk? ¡Sí! Finnish folk-metal? Sign me up… IN BLOOD.

Same goes for reading articles or books about the accordion. But when it comes to the written word, there is one thing that will stop me dead in my tracks every time. It’s something tiny, but it absolutely drives me up the wall:

accordian

That’s right—accordion misspelled with “an” at the end, instead of “on”. Whenever I see that horrible, misshapen word, I want to bellows shake some sense into the author’s head. And, unfortunately, it happens all too often. What gives? No one goes around misspelling “guitar” or “piano” and gets away with it.

To combat the continued spread of this atrocious misspelling, we’ve created a very simple site: a-c-c-o-r-d-i-o-n.com. So the next time you see someone misspell the name of our favorite instrument in an article, tweet, or Craigslist ad, gently refer them to a-c-c-o-r-d-i-o-n.com. And remind them to use a spell-checker, for goodness sake.

Ever since the Polka and Cajun/Zydeco categories were eliminated from the Grammys, it’s been tougher for accordion-toting artists to bring home Grammy hardware. But that didn’t stop some of our favorites from breaking through at this year’s event.

Los Angeles’s La Santa Cecilia has been building a national following over the past couple years and won Best Latin Rock/Urban/Alternative Album last night for their major label debut, Treinta Días. If you haven’t heard their unique and lively fusion of rock, jazz, and latin rhythms—and the incredible voice of Marisol Hernandez—check out their NPR Tiny Desk Concert.

Louisiana’s Terrance Simien & The Zydeco Experience won Best Regional Roots Music Album for their Dockside Sessions. Not only is Simien a fantastic musician, he was a key figure in the creation of the short-lived Best Cajun/Zydeco Album Grammy back in 2008 (which he later won).

Zydeco legend Clifton Chenier was also honored posthumously with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. If you watched the prime-time show last night, you may have noticed that The Beatles received the same award. Pretty good company for the King of Zydeco, eh?