Best Folk Album GRAMMY Nominees Announced

The nominees for the 61st GRAMMY Awards were announced today. This year’s show will be held on Sunday, February 10, 2019, in Los Angeles, California.

Congratulations to the artists nominated for Best Folk Album for the 2019 GRAMMY Awards!

Best Folk Album

• Whistle Down the Wind, Joan Baez
• Black Cowboys, Dom Flemons
• Rifles & Rosary Beads, Mary Gauthier
• Weed Garden, Iron & Wine
• All Ashore, Punch Brothers

Congratulations to all the artists nominated in the American Roots categories as well!

Best American Roots Performance

• “Kick Rocks,” Sean Ardoin
• “Saint James Infirmary Blues,” Jon Batiste
• “The Joke,” Brandi Carlile
• “All On My Mind,” Anderson East
• “Last Man Standing,” Willie Nelson

Best American Roots Song

• “All the Trouble,” Lee Ann Womack
• “Build a Bridge,” Mavis Staples
• “The Joke,”Brandi Carlile
• “Knockin’ On Your Screen Door,” John Prine
• “Summer’s End,” John Prine

Best Americana Album

• By the Way, I Forgive You, Brandi Carlile
• Things Have Changed, Bettye LaVette
• The Tree of Forgiveness, John Prine
• The Lonely, The Lonesome & The Gone, Lee Ann Womack
• One Drop of Truth, The Wood Brothers

Best Bluegrass Album

• Portraits in Fiddles, Mike Barnett
• Sister Sadie II, Sister Sadie
• Rivers and Roads, Special Consensus
• The Travelin’ McCourys, The Travelin’ McCourys
• North of Despair, Wood & Wire

Best Contemporary Blues Album

• Please Don’t Be Dead, Fantastic Negrito
• Here in Babylon, Teresa James and the Rhythm Tramps
• Cry No More, Danielle Nicole
• Out of the Blues, Boz Scaggs
• Victor Wainwright and the Train, Victor Wainwright and the Train

Best Traditional Blues Album

• Something Smells Funky ‘Round Here, Elvin Bishop’s Big Fun Trio
• Benton County Relic, Cedric Burnside
• The Blues Is Alive and Well, Buddy Guy
• No Mercy in This Land, Ben Harper and Charlie Musselwhite
• Don’t You Feel My Leg (The Naughty Bawdy Blues of Blue Lu Barker), Maria Muldaur

Best Regional Roots Music Album

• Kreole Rock and Soul, Sean Ardoin
• Spyboy, Cha Wa
• Aloha From Na Hoa, Na Hoa
• No ‘Ane’I, Kalani Pe’a
• Mewasinsational – Cree Round Dance Songs, Young Spirit

Additionally, we’d like to congratulate FAI alumni Los Texmaniacs and The Milk Carton Kids for their nominations in the categories of Best Regional Mexican Music Album and Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical, respectively.

Changes in the 61st Annual GRAMMY Awards

This year’s GRAMMY Awards has seen some rules changed and amended. These changes include some revised definitions of folk categories. The changes of these categories are as follows:

• Best Americana Album – For albums containing at least 51% playing time of new vocal or instrumental Americana recordings. Award to the artist(s), producer(s), and/or engineer(s) of over 51% playing time of the album.
• Best Folk Album – For albums containing at least 51% playing time of new vocal or instrumental folk recordings. Award to the artist(s), producer(s), and/or engineer(s) of over 51% playing time of the album.
• Best Contemporary Blues Album – For albums containing at least 51% playing time of new vocal or instrument contemporary blues recordings. Award to the artist(s), producer(s), and/or engineer(s) of over 51% playing time of the album.
• ƒBest Regional Roots Music Album – For albums containing at least 51% playing time of new vocal or instrumental regional roots music recordings. Award to the artist(s), producer(s), and/or engineer(s) of over 51% playing time of the album.

More details about each of these changes and others can be found here.