2017 Grammy Awards: Sturgill Simpson Nominated for Album of the Year

Nominations for the 2017 Grammy Awards have arrived with surprises in tow. Country troubadour and Waylon Jennings reincarnation, Sturgill Simpson, has nabbed a nom for Album of the Year alongside Drake, Justin Bieber, Beyonce, and Adele. I’m sure he’ll enjoy said company at the top. Simpson’s latest record, A Sailor’s Guide to Earth, took on a heavier, druggier rock feel than its psychedelic country predecessor, Metamodern Sounds in Country Music.

Other surprising nominations include Bob Dylan’s Fallen Angels for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album, Robbie Fulks’s Upland Stories for Best Folk Album, and Loretta Lynn’s Full Circle for Best County Album.

Records from Aoife O’Donovan, Sara Watkins, and case/lang/veirs are among the snubs this year, each of their records earning critical acclaim yet no recognition from the recording academy. 

So how did the Grammys do this year? What did they miss? Let us in know the comments.

Scroll down to find all nominations related to roots music, country, Americana, and folk.

Best Country Solo Performance:

Brandy Clark — “Love Can Go to Hell”
Miranda Lambert  — “Vice”
Maren Morris  — “My Church”
Carrie Underwood — “Church Bells”
Keith Urban — “Blue Ain’t Your Color”

Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album:

Andrea Bocelli — Cinema 
Bob Dylan — Fallen Angels
Josh Groban — Stages Live
Willie Nelson — Summertime: Willie Nelson Sings Gershwin
Barbra Streisand — Encore: Movie Partners Sing Broadway

Best Roots Gospel Album:

Gaither Vocal Band — Better Together
The Isaacs — Nature’s Symphony In 432
Joey+Rory — Hymns 
Gordon Mote — Hymns and Songs of Inspiration
(Various Artists) — God Don’t Never Change: The Songs of Blind Willie Johnson

Best Country Duo/Group Performance:

Dierks Bentley Featuring Elle King — “Different for Girls” 
Brothers Osborne — “21 Summer”
“Setting The World On Fire” — Kenny Chesney & P!nk
Pentatonix Featuring Dolly Parton — “Jolene”
Chris Young With Cassadee Pope — “Think Of You”

Best Country Song:

Clint Lagerberg, Hillary Lindsey & Steven Lee Olsen, songwriters (Keith Urban) — “Blue Ain’t Your Color” 
Sean Douglas, Thomas Rhett & Joe Spargur, songwriters (Thomas Rhett) — “Die A Happy Man”
Lori McKenna, songwriter (Tim McGraw) — “Humble and Kind”
busbee & Maren Morris, songwriters (Maren Morris) — “My Church”
Miranda Lambert, Shane McAnally & Josh Osborne, songwriters (Miranda Lambert) — “Vice”

Best Country Album:

Brandy Clark — Big Day In A Small Town
Loretta Lynn — Full Circle
Maren Morris — Hero
Sturgill Simpson — A Sailor’s Guide To Earth
Keith Urban — Ripcord

Best American Roots Performance:

The Avett Brothers — “Ain’t No Man”
Blind Boys Of Alabama — “Mother’s Children Have A Hard Time”
Rhiannon Giddens — “Factory Girl”
Sarah Jarosz — “House Of Mercy”
Lori McKenna — “Wreck You”

Best American Roots Song:

Robbie Fulks, songwriter (Robbie Fulks) — “Alabama At Night”
Jack White, songwriter (Jack White) — “City Lights”
Eric Adcock & Roddie Romero, songwriters (Roddie Romero And The Hub City All-Stars) — “Gulfstream”
Vince Gill, songwriter (The Time Jumpers) — “Kid Sister”
Lori McKenna & Felix McTeigue, songwriters (Lori McKenna) — “Wreck You”

Best Americana Album:

The Avett Brothers — True Sadness
William Bell — This Is Where I Live
Kris Kristofferson — The Cedar Creek Sessions
Lori McKenna — The Bird & The Rifle
The Time Jumpers — Kid Sister

Best Bluegrass Album:

Blue Highway — Original Traditional
Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver — Burden Bearer
Laurie Lewis & The Right Hands — The Hazel Sessions
Claire Lynch — North And South
O’Connor Band With Mark O’Connor — Coming Home

Best Traditional Blues Album:

Lurrie Bell — Can’t Shake The Feeling
Joe Bonamassa — Live At The Greek Theatre
Luther Dickinson — Blues & Ballads (A Folksinger’s Songbook: Volumes I & II)
Vasti Jackson — The Soul of Jimmie Rodgers
Bobby Rush — Porcupine Meat

Best Contemporary Blues Album:

Fantastic Negrito — The Last Days Of Oakland
Janiva Magness — Love Wins Again
Kenny Neal — Bloodline
The Record Company — Give It Back To You
Joe Louis Walker — Everybody Wants A Piece

Best Folk Album:

Judy Collins & Ari Hest — Silver Skies Blue
Robbie Fulks — Upland Stories
Rhiannon Giddens — Factory Girl
Sierra Hull — Weighted Mind
Sarah Jarosz — Undercurrent

Best Regional Roots Music Album:

Barry Jean Ancelet & Sam Broussard — Broken Promised Land
Northern Cree — It’s A Cree Thing
Kalani Pe’a — E  Walea
Roddie Romero And The Hub City All-Stars — Gulfstream
(Various Artists) — I Wanna Sing Right: Rediscovering Lomax In The Evangeline Country

Best Historical Album:

Steve Berkowitz & Jeff Rosen, compilation producers; Mark Wilder, mastering engineer (Bob Dylan) — The Cutting Edge 1965-1966: The Bootleg Series, Vol. 12 (Collector’s Edition)
April G. Ledbetter, Steven Lance Ledbetter, Bill Nowlin & Philip D. Schuyler, compilation producers; Rick Fisher & Michael Graves, mastering engineers (Various Artists) — Music Of Morocco From The Library Of Congress: Recorded By Paul Bowles, 1959
Rob Sevier & Ken Shipley, compilation producers; Jeff Lipton & Maria Rice, mastering engineers (Various Artists) — Ork Records: New York, New York
Bernard Horowitz, Andreas K. Meyer & Robert Russ, compilation producers; Andreas K. Meyer & Jeanne Montalvo, mastering engineers (Vladimir Horowitz) — Vladimir Horowitz: The Unreleased Live Recordings 1966-1983
Michael Devecka, Meagan Hennessey & Richard Martin, compilation producers; Michael Devecka, David Giovannoni, Michael Khanchalian & Richard Martin, mastering engineers (Various Artists) — Waxing The Gospel: Mass Evangelism & The Phonograph, 1890 – 1900

The 59th Annual Grammy Awards air Sunday, Feb. 12, 2017, on CBS.