And the 2024 (Roots Music) Grammy Nominees Are …

Unsurprisingly, Taylor Swift’s name comes up a lot in the 2024 Grammy nominations, announced this morning in Los Angeles. You can read all about that, well, anywhere. But here at No Depression, we want to take you right to the really good stuff — nominees you’ve been reading about in our pages (in print and online) for years.

The awards will be given out in a televised show on Sunday, Feb. 4. The main event will air at 8 p.m. ET on CBS and stream on Paramount+, with the American Roots categories awarded in the daytime Premiere Ceremony starting at 3:30 p.m. ET. The Premiere Ceremony can be livestreamed at live.grammy.com or the Recording Academy’s YouTube channel.

There are three new categories this year: Best African Music Performance, Best Alternative Jazz Album, and Best Pop Dance Recording.

We’ll catch you up on the main categories at the end of this list, but here are quick headlines for the roots music fan: The War and Treaty and Noah Kahan are among the nominees for Best New Artist, and boygenius are nominated for both Record (“Not Strong Enough”) and Album of the Year (the record). You can find the full list of nominees in all 94 categories here.

Courtesy of the Recording Academy

Best American Roots Performance

“Butterfly,” Jon Batiste
“Heaven Help Us All,” The Blind Boys of Alabama
“Inventing The Wheel,” Madison Cunningham
“You Louisiana Man,” Rhiannon Giddens
“Eve Was Black,” Allison Russell

Best Americana Performance

“Friendship,” The Blind Boys of Alabama
“Help Me Make It Through the Night,” Tyler Childers
“Dear Insecurity,” Brandy Clark Featuring Brandi Carlile
“King of Oklahoma,” Jason Isbell And The 400 Unit
“The Returner,” Allison Russell

Best American Roots Song

“Blank Page,” Michael Trotter Jr. & Tanya Trotter, songwriters (The War and Treaty)
“California Sober,” Aaron Allen, William Apostol & Jon Weisberger, songwriters (Billy Strings feat. Willie Nelson)
“Cast Iron Skillet,” Jason Isbell, songwriter (Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit)
“Dear Insecurity,” Brandy Clark & Michael Pollack, songwriters (Brandy Clark feat. Brandi Carlile)
“The Returner,” Drew Lindsay, JT Nero & Allison Russell, songwriters (Allison Russell)

Best Americana Album

Brandy Clark, Brandy Clark
The Chicago Sessions, Rodney Crowell
You’re the One, Rhiannon Giddens
Weathervanes, Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit
The Returner, Allison Russell

Best Bluegrass Album

Radio John: Songs of John Hartford, Sam Bush
Lovin’ of the Game, Michael Cleveland
Mighty Poplar, Mighty Poplar
Bluegrass, Willie Nelson
Me/And/Dad, Billy Strings
City of Gold, Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway

Best Traditional Blues Album

Ridin’, Eric Bibb
The Soul Side of Sipp, Mr. Sipp
Life Don’t Miss Nobody, Tracy Nelson
Teardrops For Magic Slim Live at Rosa’s Lounge, John Primer
All My Love for You, Bobby Rush

Best Contemporary Blues Album

Death Wish Blues, Samantha Fish and Jesse Dayton
Healing Time, Ruthie Foster
Live in London, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram
Blood Harmony, Larkin Poe
LaVette!, Bettye LaVette

Best Folk Album

Traveling Wildfire, Dom Flemons
I Only See the Moon, The Milk Carton Kids
Joni Mitchell at Newport [Live], Joni Mitchell
Celebrants, Nickel Creek
Jubilee, Old Crow Medicine Show
Seven Psalms, Paul Simon
Folkocracy, Rufus Wainwright

Best Regional Roots Music Album

New Beginnings, Buckwheat Zydeco Jr. & The Legendary Ils Sont Partis Band
Live at the 2023 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, Dwayne Dopsie & The Zydeco Hellraisers
Live: Orpheum Theater Nola, Lost Bayou Ramblers & Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra
Made in New Orleans, New Breed Brass Band
Too Much to Hold, New Orleans Nightcrawlers
Live at the Maple Leaf, The Rumble feat. Chief Joseph Boudreaux Jr.

Best Country Solo Performance

“In Your Love,” Tyler Childers
“Buried,” Brandy Clark
“Fast Car,” Luke Combs
“The Last Thing on My Mind,” Dolly Parton
“White Horse,” Chris Stapleton

Best Country Duo/Group Performance

“High Note,” Dierks Bentley Featuring Billy Strings
“Nobody’s Nobody,” Brothers Osborne
“I Remember Everything,” Zach Bryan Featuring Kacey Musgraves
“Kissing Your Picture (Is So Cold),” Vince Gill & Paul Franklin
“Save Me,” Jelly Roll with Lainey Wilson
“We Don’t Fight Anymore,” Carly Pearce feat. Chris Stapleton

Best Country Song

“Buried,” Brandy Clark and Jessie Jo Dillon, songwriters (Brandy Clark)
“I Remember Everything,” Zach Bryan and Kacey Musgraves, songwriters (Zach Bryan feat. Kacey Musgraves)
“In Your Love,” Tyler Childers and Geno Seale, songwriters (Tyler Childers)
“Last Night,” John Byron, Ashley Gorley, Jacob Kasher Hindlin and Ryan Vojtesak, songwriters (Morgan Wallen)
“White Horse,” Chris Stapleton and Dan Wilson, songwriters (Chris Stapleton)

Best Country Album

Rolling Up the Welcome Mat, Kelsea Ballerini
Brothers Osborne, Brothers Osborne
Zach Bryan, Zach Bryan
Rustin’ in the Rain, Tyler Childers
Bell Bottom Country, Lainey Wilson

THE BIG ONES

For your reference, here are the nominees in the Big Three Grammy categories —Album, Song, and Record of the Year — plus Best New Artist, where you’ll spot some familiar names.

Best New Artist

Gracie Abrams
Fred again..
Ice Spice
Jelly Roll
Coco Jones
Noah Kahan
Victoria Monét
The War and Treaty

Album of the Year

World Music Radio, Jon Batiste
the record, boygenius
Endless Summer Vacation, Miley Cyrus
Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd, Lana Del Rey
The Age of Pleasure, Janelle Monáe
GUTS, Olivia Rodrigo
Midnights, Taylor Swift
SOS, SZA

Song of the Year

“A&W,” Jack Antonoff, Lana Del Rey & Sam Dew, songwriters (Lana Del Rey)
“Anti-Hero,” Jack Antonoff & Taylor Swift, songwriters (Taylor Swift)
“Butterfly,” Jon Batiste & Dan Wilson, songwriters (Jon Batiste)
“Dance The Night” (from Barbie the Album), Caroline Ailin, Dua Lipa, Mark Ronson & Andrew Wyatt, songwriters (Dua Lipa)
“Flowers,” Miley Cyrus, Gregory Aldae Hein & Michael Pollack, songwriters (Miley Cyrus)
“Kill Bill,” Rob Bisel, Carter Lang & Solána Rowe, songwriters (SZA)
“Vampire,” Daniel Nigro & Olivia Rodrigo, songwriters (Olivia Rodrigo)
“What Was I Made For?” (from the motion picture Barbie), Billie Eilish O’Connell & Finneas O’Connell, songwriters (Billie Eilish)

Record of the Year

“Worship,” Jon Batiste
“Not Strong Enough,” boygenius
“Flowers,” Miley Cyrus
“What Was I Made For?” (from the motion picture Barbie), Billie Eilish
“On My Mama,” Victoria Monét
“Vampire,” Olivia Rodrigo
“Anti-Hero,” Taylor Swift
“Kill Bill,” SZA

OF (ROOTS MUSIC) NOTE FROM OTHER CATEGORIES

— The video for Tyler Childers’ “In Your Love” is nominated for Best Music Video.

— Jeff Place and John Troutman are nominated for Best Album Notes for Playing for the Man at the Door: Field Recordings from the Collection of Mack McCormick (ND review). The album itself is nominated for Best Historical Album, as is Written in Their Soul: The Stax Songwriter Demos (ND review).

—  Black Pumas (“More Than a Love Song”) are nominated for Best Rock Performance. boygenius’ “Not Strong Enough” is also a nominee in that category, as well as for Best Rock Song.

— Béla Fleck, Zakir Hussain, Edgar Meyer, feat. Rakesh Chaurasia (As We Speak) and Julian Lage (The Layers) are nominated for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album. “Pashto,” a song from As We Speak, is also nominated in the Best Global Music Performance category, and “Motion” from the same album, is nominated for Best Instrumental Composition for composer Edgar Meyer.

— Shucked, the Broadway musical written by Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally, is nominated for Best Musical Theater Album. (Read more about Shucked in our Fall 2023 journal.)

— The Blind Boys of Alabama are nominated for Best Roots Gospel Album for Echoes of the South.

— Flor De Toloache is nominated for Best Música Mexicana Album for Motherflower. (Read more about Flor De Toloache in our Fall-Winter 2018 journal.)