The Americana and roots music authority

55th Annual Grammy Award Nominees in Americana and Related Categories

Tonight, the Recording Academy gathered for a monster television special to announce a handful of the nominees for the next round of Grammy Awards. Among the presenters tonight were last-minute add-on the Lumineers (nominated for Best Americana Album and Best New Artist). Americana darlings the Alabama Shakes scored a few mainstream nominations, as did Jack White, Bruce Springsteen, and others. Holly George-Warren, who you may know from her blogs on this site, was nominated for a Best Album Notes Grammy for her contributions to a Janis Joplin disc. We'd especially like to wish her congratulations!

I'll gather more thoughts about all these nominations in the weeks to come but, in the meantime, I just wanted to share a full list of nominees in categories which may be of interest to the No Depression Community. Even though the "Best Country Album" category typically celebrates more mainstream country acts, I've included the full field here because so many of its nominees were folks whose work has been discussed quite a bit here on No Depression. I could just as well have included the entire field of nominees for Best Recording Package, Best Historical Album, and Best Boxed or Limited Edition Album. I chose instead to delineate those nominees separately, as the folks included therein were also nominated for other awards.

So, without further ado, I give you the folk/Americana/roots/alt/indie/country/rock/whatever categories for the 2013 Grammy Awards. The Awards will be presented during ceremonies held on Feb. 10, 2013. You can watch the televised portion that evening on CBS. For a full list of nominees in all categories, check out Grammy.com. For ongoing coverage about the Americana artists and categories at the Grammys, check out Baron Lane's Grammy blog.

Best Americana Album
The Avett Brothers - The Carpenter
John Fullbright - From the Ground Up
The Lumineers - The Lumineers
Mumford & Sons - Babel
Bonnie Raitt - Slipstream

Best Bluegrass Album
Dailey & Vincent - The Gospel Side Of
The Grascals - Life Finds a Way
Noam Pikelny - Beat the Devil & Carry a Rail
Special Consensus - Scratch Gravel Road
Steep Canyon Rangers - Nobody Knows You

Best Country Album
Zac Brown Band - Uncaged
Hunter Hayes - Self-titled
Jamey Johnson - Living for a Song: A Tribute to Hank Cochran
Miranda Lambert - Four the Record
The Time Jumpers - Self-titled

Best Blues Album
Shemekia Copeland - 33 1/3
Dr. John - Locked Down
Ruthie Foster - Let It Burn
Heritage Blues Orchestra - And Still I Rise
Joan Osborne - Bring It On Home

Best Folk Album
Carolina Chocolate Drops - Leaving Eden
Ry Cooder - Election Special
Luther Dickinson - Hambone's Meditations
Yo-Yo Ma, Stuart Duncan, Edgar Meyer, and Chris Thile - The Goat Rodeo Sessions
Various - This One's For Him: A Tribute to Guy Clark

Artists/albums of interest to the ND Community, nominated in other categories

Mumford & Sons - Album of the Year for Babel, Best Rock Performance and Best Rock Song for "I Will Wait", Best Long-form Music Video for "Big Easy Express" (with OCMS, Edward Sharpe, etc.), Producer Markus Dravs nominated for Producer of the Year
Jack White - Album of the Year and Best Rock Album for Blunderbuss, Best Rock Song for "Freedom at 21"
Alabama Shakes - Best New Artist, Best Rock Performance for "Hold On", Best Recording Package for Boys and Girls
The Lumineers - Best New Artist
Paul McCartney - Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album for Kisses on the Bottom
Bruce Springsteen - Best Rock Performance and Best Rock Song for "We Take Care of Our Own", Best Rock Album for Wrecking Ball
Tom Waits - Best Alternative Music Album for Bad as Me
Dierks Bentley - Best Country Solo Performance for "Home"
Taylor Swift/The Civil Wars - Best Country Duo/Group Performance and Best Song Written for Visual Media for "Safe and Sound"
Don Williams (feat. Alison Krauss) - Best Country Duo/Group Performance for "I Just Come Here for the Music"
Elizabeth Mitchell - Best Children's Album for Little Seed: Songs for Children by Woody Guthrie
Aimee Mann - Best Recording Package for Charmer
David Byrne & St. Vincent - Best Recording Package for Love This Giant
The Rolling Stones - Some Girls: Super Deluxe Edition - Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package
Woody at 100: The Woody Guthrie Centennial Collection - Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package, Best Historical Album
Paul & Linda McCartney for Ram: Paul McCartney Archive Collection - Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package, Best Historical Album
Beach Boys - The Smile Sessions Deluxe Box Set - Best Historical Album
Holly George-Warren, who blogs now and then on this site, was nominated for Best Album Notes, for her contribution to Janis Joplin's The Pearl Sessions.
Old-Time Smoky Mountain Music: 34 Historic Songs, Ballads, And Instrumentals Recorded In The Great Smoky Mountains By "Song Catcher" Joseph S. Hall - Best Historical Album
Ryan Adams - Ashes and Fire - Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical

Comment by Hal Bogerd on December 6, 2012 at 6:41am: Best Americana Album nominations! I'm shocked! No Linda Chorney (somebody had to say it)?

But seriously, John Fullbright! Wow-well deserved but unexpected! Glad to see they dug a little deeper than usual this year.

Comment by Easy Ed on December 6, 2012 at 7:04am: I was trolling the Grammy site this morning looking for Linda Chorney and came across this category. Figured that since we do call ourselves the Roots Music Authority we might want to add it to your list.

Best Regional Roots Music Album

Malama Ko Aloha (Keep Your Love)/Keola Beamer ['Ohe Records]
Shi Kéyah – Songs For The People/Radmilla Cody [Canyon Records]

Pilialoha/Weldon Kekauoha ['Ohelo Records]

Nothin' But The Best/Corey Ledet With Anthony Dopsie, Dwayne Dopsie And André Thierry [Corey Ledet]

The Band Courtbouillon/Wayne Toups, Steve Riley & Wilson Savoy [Valcour Records]

I was just watching a story on TV this morning about how this guy in Seattle is going to open a chain high end pot stores catering to baby boomers now that its legal and all in Washington. It looks like a swanky cigar shop. Applying a similar marketing concept, I'm thinking the same may work for box sets. Ram, Some Girls, Smile Sessions...I cannot believe there is a market for such things anymore, yet I imagine there must be or else why would there be a Grammy category for them?. Instead of the old "stack 'em high, watch 'em fly" theory of retail, it's got to be a targeted plan of small, limited pressings, priced way above value and marketed to geriatrics with disposable income. Both of them.

And something new that I learned: they have a category for Surround Sound Recordings. Didn't know they even made such things since most people listen to music with headphones these days. Thanks to Google Images for setting me straight.

Comment by Hal Bogerd on December 6, 2012 at 7:38am: Duke University has a pretty nice music library. I recently borrowed Buddy Holly's Not Fade Away: The complete Studio Recordings And More. I never would have bought it but I took the chance to check it out (no pun intended) for free. I never made it through the six discs losing interest on the fourth alternate overdubbed incomplete version with false start of "That'll Be The Day".

But I did learn from the beautiful hardcover book/carrying case that the Crickets' name was inspired by a band named The Spiders, so I guess The Beatles would not have existed without The Spiders?

Comment by Hal Bogerd on December 6, 2012 at 7:40am: Kim, sorry for the minor derailment but Easy Ed has that effect on me.

Comment by Jack on December 6, 2012 at 7:52am: Hal, Linda Chorney is working with Jesse Dayton on a CD of Donovan covers.

Comment by Jack Williams on December 6, 2012 at 9:46am: And the backing band is Glossary.

Comment by Chris Q. Murphy on December 6, 2012 at 10:15am: I will not make a snarky comment.
I will not make a snarky comment.
I will not make a snarky comment...

Comment by Jack Williams on December 6, 2012 at 11:53am: Somebody has to say it. John Fullbright has obviously figured out a way to game the system. Can a blistering missive from Bob Lefsetz be far behind?

Comment by Shawn Edward Cote on December 7, 2012 at 3:24am: I haven't heard most of the nominated albums, but there are conspicuous absences--e.g. Old Crow Medicine Show, Mary Karr and Rodney Crowell's Kin album, etc. But these days I'm not even sure it's a compliment to be nominated for a Grammy... For what its' worth, I am glad Bieber was shut out.

Comment by Jim Moulton on December 7, 2012 at 4:29am: I will not make smart comment, I will not make smart comment, well The Daileys managed to beat the Grascals Again.