The nominations for the 58th Annual GRAMMY Awards were announced Monday morning (December 7th) and country music is well-represented.
Chris Stapleton, Little Big Town and Sam Hunt led the list of country nominees, with Chris and LBT each picking up four, while Sam earned two.
Little Big Town are nominated for overall Song of the Year for “Girl Crush,” as well as Best Country Duo/Group Performance, Best Country Album for Pain Killer and Best Country Song. The group tweeted, “WOW! 4 nominations? We are thrilled to be representing country music w/ @TheGRAMMYs, esp. ‘Song Of The Year.’”
Chris, who picked up three CMA Awards last month, is nominated in four categories at the Grammy Awards, including overall/all-genre Album of the Year. He says that he hopes fans enjoy his album, Traveller, as a whole. “Music to me is meant to be enjoyed in that way and you’re really supposed to dive into it. And I hope some folks can find it in their hearts to do that with this record, because I think it’s how it was meant to be used. And somewhere in there if they’re compelled to come and watch me live, that’d be great.” Chris is also nominated for Best Country Album, Best Country Solo Performance and Best Country Song.
Sam Hunt has a pair of nods, including the overall Best New Artist, as well as Best Country Album for his debut album, Montevallo, which has spawned three No. 1 hits, and another song making its way up the country charts. “I am beyond humbled with these nominations,” says Sam. “I am so grateful to the fans, the Nashville music community and the Recording Academy for their appreciation and recognition. This has been just the most amazing year.”
John and TJ Osborne, aka Brothers Osborne, are excited to earn their very first Grammy nomination for Best Country Duo/Group Performance for their Top 10 single, “Stay a Little Longer.” The two were asleep when news of their nomination was announced. ““My wife woke me up, just like screaming, ‘Wake up! Wake up!’ I woke up in a panic. I thought the damn house was on fire,” laughs John. “But, yeah, we hear most big news while we’re asleep.”
Charles Kelley earned his first-ever GRAMMY nomination as a solo artist in the Best Country Duo/Group Performance category for his “soaring new single” (Entertainment Weekly) “The Driver” featuring Dierks Bentley and Eric Paslay. This year’s recognition serves as Kelley’s 12th career nomination from The Recording Academy. “I’m still in shock from waking up this morning to a GRAMMY nomination for ‘The Driver,” says Charles. “I feel like I’m just getting started on this journey, so to get honored in this way and share it with Dierks and Eric is incredible. I’m so thankful to my producer Paul Worley who encouraged me to chase this record down.”
Keith Urban has a nomination for Best Country Solo Performance for his recent chart-topping hit, “John Cougar, John Deere, John 3:16,” while Kacey Musgraves picks up a nod for Best Country Album for Pageant Material.
The 58th Annual GRAMMY Awards will be handed out February 15th.
ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Sound & Color – Alabama Shakes
To Pimp A Butterfly – Kendrick Lamar
Traveller – Chris Stapleton
1989 – Taylor Swift
Beauty Behind The Madness – The Weeknd
SONG OF THE YEAR
“Alright” – Kendrick Duckworth, Mark Anthony Spears, Pharrell Williams (Kendrick Lamar)
“Blank Space” – Max Martin, Shellback, Taylor Swift (Taylor Swift)
“Girl Crush” – Hillary Lindsey, Lori McKenna, Liz Rose (Little Big Town)
“See You Again” – Andrew Cedar, Justin Franks, Charles Puth, Cameron Thomaz (Wiz Khalifa featuring Charlie Puth)
BEST NEW ARTIST
Courtney Barnett
James Bay
Sam Hunt
Tori Kelly
Meghan Trainor
BEST COUNTRY SOLO PERFORMANCE
“Burning House” – Cam
“Traveller” – Chris Stapleton
“Little Toy Guns” – Carrie Underwood
“John Cougar, John Deere, John 3:16” – Keith Urban
“Chances Are” – Lee Ann Womack
BEST COUNTRY DUO/GROUP PERFORMANCE
“Stay A Little Longer” – Brothers Osborne
“If I Needed You” – Joey+Rory
“The Driver” – Charles Kelley, Dierks Bentley, Eric Paslay
“Girl Crush” – Little Big Town
“Lonely Tonight” – Blake Shelton featuring Ashley Monroe
BEST COUNTRY SONG
“Chances Are” – Hayes Carll (Lee Ann Womack)
“Diamond Rings and Old Barstools” – Barry Dean, Luke Laird, Jonathan Singleton (Tim McGraw)
“Girl Crush” – Hillary Lindsey, Lori McKenna, Liz Rose (Little Big Town)
“Hold My Hand” – Brandy Clark, Mark Stephen Jones (Brandy Clark)
“Traveller” – Chris Stapleton (Chris Stapleton)
BEST COUNTRY ALBUM
Montevallo – Sam Hunt
Pain Killer – Little Big Town
The Blade – Ashley Monroe
Pageant Material – Kacey Musgraves
Traveller – Chris Stapleton
Chris Stapleton (album) OC: …that’d be great. :47
“I grew up on records as a piece of work. I didn’t grow up in an age where we necessarily bought singles or just one piece of an album. I grew up on things that were albums. I hope that people go ahead and get the whole album and listen to it, take the time to listen it, and not as a passive thing, as like I’m watching television or Youtube, all these things that we have as distractions. Music to me is meant to be enjoyed in that way and you’re really supposed to dive into it. And I hope some folks can find it in their hearts to do that with this record, because I think it’s how it was meant to be used. And somewhere in there if they’re compelled to come and watch me live, that’d be great.”
Brothers Osborne (Grammys) OC: (John) …we’re asleep. [laughs] :28
TJ: “We found out that we were nominated almost the same exact way we found out we were nominated for an ACM. I woke up to like 60 text messages, and I was like, ‘Who the hell is texting me at this time of the day.’ And I looked at the phone, and everyone’s like, ‘Wake up! You were nominated for the Grammys.’” JOHN: “My wife woke me up, just like screaming, ‘Wake up! Wake up!’ I woke up in a panic. I thought the damn house was on fire. But, yeah, we hear most big news while we’re asleep.” [laughs]
Brothers Osborne (Grammys) 2 OC: (John) …by our peers. :39
TJ: “I mean, it’s crazy to be nominated for a Grammy, For the rest of our lives, we’ll always be Grammy nominated artists, you know. And hopefully, we win the category, but just simply being nominated, it’s something that a lot of musicians and songwriters and entertainers never, ever get to achieve, and so it’s, to say it’s an honor is an understatement.” JOHN: “Yeah, we’ve always taken kind of a different approach when it comes to music. And our music is not necessarily 100% conventional all the time, so the mountain for us has been a bit steeper, and this is an amazing achievement because we’re nominated and we’re being acknowledged by our peers.”
Keith Urban (J3 #1 party) OC: …does everything. :30
“For me, it was just a great song. It kinda didn’t matter how it was done, it was a great song. It was solid, great melody. Even from a singer’s standpoint, there’s certain things about rhythmic qualities of consonants and vowels and where they fall in a melody and where they fall in the rhythm that matter to me; maybe not even just matter, but they resonate with me that way. So, you can have a song that’s really well-written lyrically, but it’s not great to sing. It doesn’t sing well. It reads well, but it doesn’t sing well, and this is one of those songs that does everything.”
Charles Kelley (Grammys) OC: …this record. :57
“I actually found out about the nominations this morning. My wife woke me up. I had a whole bunch of text messages from friends and family congratulating me. I, of course, like most musicians, don’t wake up before nine o’clock. But just honestly, I have not been able to get this smile off my face today. I’m so fired up. I’m so ready for fans to hear this project. ‘The Driver’ is a song, it’s probably one of the most honest songs I’ve written in a long time, and to be able to share this moment with my buddies Dierks Bentley and Eric Paslay, means the world to me. Every time I go on social media and see the reaction and fans specifically talking about this song and how it’s speaking to them, that reminds me of why I wanted to pursue this project. I don’t know. It just means the world to me, and it means the world to me that Hillary and Dave are so supportive. They were one of my first texts this morning congratulating me. And I cannot wait for everybody to hear the rest of this record.”
Kacey Musgraves (Pageant Material) OC: …for the record. :55
“For this record, Pageant Material, it’s funny how that was one of the later songs we wrote, and I don’t go into a record, or I haven’t yet, with a theme in mind. I just like let the songs come, and somewhere along the way, they take shape on their own. That’s kind of what happened here. We gotten ‘Pageant Material,’ and at that point, I think that was the last one we wrote, that one or ‘Dime Store [Cowgirl].’ So, we had most of the songs in the batch, and I hadn’t really, I was kind of feeling a little weird ‘cause I was like I didn’t really know what it was going to be called. Same thing happened with Same Trailer…, it just kind of popped out of nowhere and late in the game. So, I was just messing around with the titles, and I just thought, ‘Pageant Material – that would be an awesome statement for the record, I think.’ It’s just kind of saying, ‘I’m not pageant material. I’m not a robot. I kind of am what I am.’ And it also has a humorous touch to it too, which I really like. And of course, I love big hair and retro styles, so I thought it was a good fit for the record.”