The nominations for the 54th Grammy Awards were held last night. In Field 13 - American Roots, we find two favorite categories for our readers: Best Bluegrass Album and Best Americana Album.
Nominations for the 54th Annual GRAMMY Awards® (www.grammy.com) were announced last night by The Recording Academy® and reflected an eclectic mix of the best and brightest in music over the past year, as determined by the voting members of The Academy. For the fourth year, nominations for the annual GRAMMY Awards were announced on primetime television as part of "The GRAMMY® Nominations Concert Live!! — Countdown To Music's Biggest Night®," a one-hour special broadcast live on CBS from Nokia Theatre at L.A. LIVE. The 54th Annual GRAMMY Awards will be held on "GRAMMY Sunday," Feb. 12, 2012, at STAPLES Center in Los Angeles and once again will be broadcast live in high-definition TV and 5.1 surround sound on CBS from 8 – 11:30 p.m. (ET/PT). For updates and breaking news, please visit The Recording Academy's social networks on Twitter and Facebook: www.twitter.com/thegrammys, www.facebook.com/thegrammys. For a complete nominations list, please visit www.grammy.com.
The bluegrass category included 6 album nominations while the Americana only had 5.
In the Best Bluegrass Album category for albums containing at least 51% playing time of new vocal or instrumental bluegrass recordings the six nominations are:
- PAPER AIRPLANE
Alison Krauss & Union Station
[Rounder] - REASON AND RHYME: BLUEGRASS SONGS BY ROBERT HUNTER & JIM LAUDERDALE
Jim Lauderdale
[Sugar Hill Records] - RARE BIRD ALERT
Steve Martin And The Steep Canyon Rangers
[Rounder] - OLD MEMORIES: THE SONGS OF BILL MONROE
The Del McCoury Band
[McCoury Music] - A MOTHER'S PRAYER
Ralph Stanley
[Rebel Records] - SLEEP WITH ONE EYE OPEN
Chris Thile & Michael Daves
[Nonesuch]
For the Best Americana Album, the five nominations are:
- EMOTIONAL JUKEBOX
Linda Chorney
[Dance More Less War Records] - PULL UP SOME DUST AND SIT DOWN
Ry Cooder
[Perro Verde Records LLC/Nonesuch] - HARD BARGAIN
Emmylou Harris
[Nonesuch] - RAMBLE AT THE RYMAN
Levon Helm
[Vanguard/Dirt Farmer Music] - BLESSED
Lucinda Williams
[Lost Highway Records]
The entire list of categories and nominations can be found at Grammy.Com (PDF).
The Recording Academy®'s GRAMMY Recordings® and Universal Republic Records havejoined forces to release the 2012 GRAMMY® Nominees album on Jan. 24, 2012. The 18th edition of the best-selling series will showcase many of this year's GRAMMY-nominated artists and songs. A portion of the proceeds from sales of the album will help support the year-round efforts of the GRAMMY Foundation® and MusiCares® Foundation — two charitable organizations of The Recording Academy.
For the first time, fans can have the opportunity to attend the GRAMMY Awards by pre-ordering the album starting Nov. 30. To enter, log on to www.grammy.com/2012grammycd to pre-order the 2012 GRAMMY Nominees album where music fans can win a trip for two to the 54th Annual GRAMMY Awards® on Sunday, Feb. 12, 2012 in Los Angeles.
"We are delighted to partner with Universal Republic Records to once again bring together one of the most eclectic mix of tracks in one album," said Neil Portnow, President/CEO of The Recording Academy. "And this year we are extremely excited to offer GRAMMY and music fans the opportunity to experience Music's Biggest Night® firsthand through our pre-order enter-and-win sweepstakes. We look forward to another successful chart-topping year and to providing further support to the important work that MusiCares and the GRAMMY Foundation continue to do year-round."