Americana Grammy nominations for 2011
I don’t have too much time to opine about these here this morning, and my contract with the NYT Company doesn’t permit me to cross-post what I’ve written for About.com already (you can read that here). But I thought it important to share the nominees in the Americana category for the 2011 Grammy Awards with the ND Community, in hopes that it might engender some discussion about the category; predictions, complaints about who got snubbed, etc.
The Grammys, of course, will air on CBS Feb 12, 2012. I’d put money on Mumford & Sons performing but, obviously, I’d rather see Steve Earle. You never know. Stranger things have happened on that show.
Anyhow, here are the American Roots category nominees:
BEST AMERICANA ALBUM
Linda Chorney – Emotional Jukebox
Ry Cooder – Pull Up Some Dust And Sit Down
Emmylou Harris – Hard Bargain
Levon Helm – Ramble At The Ryman
Lucinda Williams – Blessed
BEST BLUEGRASS ALBUM
Alison Krauss & Union Station – Paper Airplane
Jim Lauderdale – Reason And Rhyme: Bluegrass Songs By Robert Hunter & Jim Lauderdale
Steve Martin & the Steep Canyon Rangers – Rare Bird Alert
The Del McCoury Band – Old Memories: The Songs Of Bill Monroe
Ralph Stanley – A Mother’s Prayer
Chris Thile & Michael Daves – Sleep With One Eye Open
BEST FOLK ALBUM
The Civil Wars – Barton Hollow
Steve Earle – I’ll Never Get Out Of This World Alive
Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues
Eddie Vedder – Ukulele Songs
Gillian Welch – The Harrow & The Harvest
It should be noted Mumford & Sons – darlings of the Americana and mainstream world alike – scored four nominations for their song “The Cave,” and the Decemberists scored in rock categories for “Down by the Water”. Three of the nominees for the Best Engineered Album were Americana artists (Sarah Jarosz’s unfortunate only nomination, as well as AKUS and Gillian Welch in that category). And Reckless Kelly got nominated in the Best Recording Package category.
So, go forth and discuss. Who will win? Who should have been nominated? Do you even care? Did you watch the nominating special? (I did not.)