Here are the 2020 Grammy nominees in the general, country, and country-adjacent categories.
GENERAL FIELD
Record of the Year
- Bon Iver, “Hey Ma”
- Billie Eilish, “Bad Guy”
- Ariana Grande, “7 Rings”
- H.E.R., “Hard Place”
- Khalid, “Talk”
- Lil Nas X featuring Billy Ray Cyrus, “Old Town Road”
- Lizzo, “Truth Hurts”
- Post Malone & Swae Lee, “Sunflower”
Album of the Year
- Bon Iver – i,i
- Lana Del Rey – Norman Fucking Rockwell!
- Billie Eilish – When We All Fall Asleep Where Do We Go
- Ariana Grande, Thank U, Next
- H.E.R. – I Used to Know Her
- Lil Nas X – 7
- Lizzo – Cuz I Love You
- Vampire Weekend – Father of the Bride
Song of the Year
- “Always Remember Us This Way” – Natalie Hemby, Lady Gaga, Hillary Lindsey, and Lori McKenna
- “Bad Guy” – Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell
- “Bring My Flowers Now” – Brandi Carlile, Phil Hanseroth, Tim Hanseroth, and Tanya Tucker
- “Hard Place” – Ruby Amanfu, Sam Ashworth, D, Arcelious Harris, H.E.R., and Rodney Jerkins
- “Lover”- Taylor Swift
- “Norman Fucking Rockwell” – Jack Antonoff and Lana Del Rey
- “Someone You Loved” – Tom Barnes, Lewis Capaldi, Pete Kelleher, Benjamin Kohn, and Sam Roman
- “Truth Hurts” – Steven Cheung, Eric Frederic, Melissa Jefferson, and Jesse Saint John
Best New Artist
- Black Pumas
- Billie Eilish
- Lil Nas X
- Lizzo
- Maggie Rogers
- Rosalía
- Tank and the Bangas
- Yola
COUNTRY
Best Country Solo Performance
- Tyler Childers, “All Your’n”
- Ashley McBryde, “Girl Goin’ Nowhere”
- Willie Nelson, “Ride Me Back Home”
- Blake Shelton, “God’s Country”
- Tanya Tucker, “Bring My Flowers Now”
Best Country Duo/Group Performance
- Brooks & Dunn with Luke Combs, “Brand New Man”
- Brothers Osborne, “I Don’t Remember Me (Before You)”
- Dan + Shay, “Speechless”
- Little Big Town, “The Daughters”
- Maren Morris featuring Brandi Carlile, “Common”
Best Country Song
- “Bring My Flowers Now” – Brandi Carlile, Phil Hanseroth, Tim Hanseroth, and Tanya Tucker
- “Girl Goin’ Nowhere” – Jeremy Bussey and Ashley McBryde
- “It All Comes Out in the Wash” – Miranda Lambert, Hillary Lindsey, Lori McKenna, and Liz Rose
- “Some of It” – Eric Church, Clint Daniels, Jeff Hyde, and Bobby Pinson
- “Speechless” – Shay Mooney, Jordan Reynolds, Dan Smyers, and Laura Veltz
Best Country Album
- Eric Church, Desperate Man
- Reba McEntire, Stronger Than the Truth
- Pistol Annies, Insterstate Gospel
- Thomas Rhett, Center Point Road
- Tanya Tucker, While I’m Livin’
AMERICAN ROOTS MUSIC
Best American Roots Performance
- Sara Bareilles, “Saint Honesty”
- Calexico and Iron & Wine, “Father Mountain”
- Rhiannon Giddens with Francesco Turrisi, “I’m On My Way”
- I’m With Her, “Call My Name”
- Yola, “Faraway Look”
Best American Roots Song
- “Black Myself” – Amythyst Kiah
- “Call My Name” – Sarah Jarosz, Aoife O’Donovan, and Sara Watkins
- “Crossing to Jerusalem” – Rosanne Cash and John Leventhal
- “Faraway Look” – Dan Auerbach, Yola, and Pat McLaughlin
- “I Don’t Wanna Ride the Rails No More” – Vince Gill
Best Americana Album
- Calexico and Iron & Wine, Years to Burn
- Madison Cunningham, Who Are You Now
- Keb’ Mo’, Oklahoma
- J.S. Ondara, Tales of America
- Yola, Walk Through Fire
Best Bluegrass Album
- Michael Cleveland, Tall Fiddler
- Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver, Live in Prague, Czech Republic
- The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys, Toil, Tears & Trouble
- Missy Raines, Royal Traveller
- Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen, If You Can’t Stand the Heat
Best Folk Album
- Andrew Bird, My Finest Work Yet
- Che Apalache, Rearrange My Heart
- Patty Griffin, Patty Griffin
- Gregory Alan Isakov, Evening Machines
- Joy Williams, Front Porch
Ouch! Look at the Grammys getting the country album category better than the CMAs
This is a solid set of nominees, at least in the country and country-adjacent categories. I’m *thrilled* for the Tyler Childers nomination– he’s been vocal about considering himself a country artist, rather than an Americans artist, and good on him– and “All Your’n” is one of my absolute favorite singles of the year. The recognition for “Girl Goin’ Nowhere,” Reba’s album, Tanya Tucker, and Brothers Osborne are all well-deserved. And the Pistol Annies *finally* get a proper award nomination, and it’s for their best album. That’s huge.
Disappointed that, other than the (deserved) nod for “Black Myself,” Our Native Daughters didn’t earn more recognition. I thought The Highwomen would land a couple of nominations for one of their singles– the album wasn’t eligible for this year– but here’s hoping they show up on next year’s ballot.
Happy to see that I’m With Her (to wit, Sarah Jarosz, Sara Watkins, and Aoife O’Donovan) are up for two awards (Performance and Song) in the American Roots field for “Call My Name”.
I would admit to a bit of disappointment that the Linda Ronstadt documentary film THE SOUND OF MY VOICE wasn’t nominated for Best Music Film (yes, there is such a category, folks). It really is an extremely worthy valedictory film about one of the truly great female singers of any genre of the last 50 years (IMHO).
So pleased about Tanya Tucker’s nominations. I loved Reba’s album too and it deserves to be recognised. I find it disappointing that George Strait is not nominated best country album.
Not sure where to post this comment, but just curious if anyone else has been listening to the Dolly Parton’s America podcast and what your thoughts on it are.
I was thrilled that the Bobbie Gentry box set The Girl from Chickasaw Country: The Complete Capitol Masters received a grammy nomination for best historical album. Ironically, the box set was not eligible for the best limited edition box set category because it sailed past 15,000 units sold(8 cd’s per unit at 100 bucks a pop). Nothing “limited edition” about that! The L.A, London and New York Times all named it top re-issue of last year. Over 60 tracks were also released for the first time ever. This marks Bobbie Gentry’s 11th grammy nomination. She has won three in her career and also has received a grammy H.O.F award for Ode to Billie Joe.
Not sure the Linda Ronstadt film was eligible. It had its proper, non-festival release in September, and the cutoff was August 31.
@KJC:
I had a feeling that that is what it was re. THE SOUND OF MY VOICE. In any case, it’ll be out on DVD on December 10th.