The Polka King’s dance card was already full

The Polka King was a no-show.

Could it be that after being nominated for best polka recording Grammys for 18 straight years and winning 14 times, Jimmy Sturr had become blase about the awards?

Why else would he be playing a show in Florida on Sunday instead of being at Staples Center to pick up No. 15, which he won for “Let’s Polka Round”?

“They changed the day,” Sturr, 51, said by phone Sunday. “I get booked like a year in advance, and they changed the Grammy date this year. It’s always toward the end of February. I would have been there if it had been the same time. I love to go to the Grammys.”

Sunday was a big day for the clarinetist and bandleader -- he was also profiled in a Grammy-pegged feature on “CBS News Sunday Morning.” Sturr, who has tried to spread polka’s reach by collaborating with such artists as Willie Nelson, saw it as a big boost for the genre.

“You know, polka’s always taking a beating,” he said. “And finally we’re starting to get some recognition.... Now all of a sudden people say, ‘Hey, man, this is good music; it’s not just ethnic music from Europe.’ ”