Here are the 2021 Grammy Winners in the general, country, and country-adjacent categories.
PRE-TELECAST
COUNTRY
Best Country Solo Performance
Eric Church, “Stick That in Your Country Song”
Brandy Clark, “Who You Thought I Was”
Vince Gill, “When My Amy Prays”
Mickey Guyton, “Black Like Me”
Miranda Lambert, “Bluebird”
Best Country Duo/Group Performance
Brothers Osborne, “All Night”
Dan + Shay and Justin Bieber, “10,000 Hours”
Lady A, “Ocean”
Little Big Town, “Sugar Coat”
Old Dominion, “Some People Do”
Best Country Song
“Bluebird” – Luke Dick, Natalie Hemby & Miranda Lambert
“The Bones” – Maren Morris, Jimmy Robbins & Laura Veltz
“Crowded Table” – Brandi Carlile, Natalie Hemby & Lori McKenna
“More Hearts Than Mine” – Ingrid Andress, Sam Ellis & Derrick Southerland
“Some People Do” – Jesse Frasure, Shane McAnally, Matthew Ramsey & Thomas Rhett
AMERICAN ROOTS MUSIC
Best American Roots Performance
Black Pumas, “Colors”
Bonny Light Horseman, “Deep in Love”
Brittany Howard, “Short and Sweet”
Norah Jones & Mavis Staples, “I’ll Be Gone”
John Prine, “I Remember Everything”
Best American Roots Song
“Cabin” – Laura Rogers & Lydia Rogers
“Ceiling to the Floor” – Sierra Hull & Kai Welch
“Hometown” – Sarah Jarosz
“I Remember Everything” – Pat McLaughlin & John Prine
“Man Without a Soul” – Tom Overby & Lucinda Williams
Best Americana Album
Courtney Marie Andrews, Old Flowers
Hiss Golden Messenger, Terms of Surrender
Sarah Jarosz, World On the Ground
Marcus King, El Dorado
Lucinda Williams, Good Souls Better Angels
Best Bluegrass Album
Danny Barnes, Man On Fire
Thomm Jutz, To Live in Two Worlds, Vol. 1
Steep Canyon Rangers, North Carolina Songbook
Billy Strings, Home
Various Artists, The John Hartford Fiddle Tune Project, Vol. 1
Best Folk Album
Bonny Light Horseman, Bonny Light Horseman
Leonard Cohen, Thanks For the Dance
Laura Marling, Song For Our Daughter
The Secret Sisters, Saturn Return
Gillian Welch & David Rawlings, All the Good Times
Best Contemporary Christian Music Performance/Song
Zach Williams & Dolly Parton, “There Was Jesus”
Best Music Film
Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice
TELECAST
GENERAL FIELD
Record of the Year
Beyoncé, “Black Parade”
Black Pumas, “Colors”
DaBaby Featuring Roddy Ricch, “Rockstar”
Doja Cat, “Say So”
Billie Eilish, “Everything I Wanted”
Dua Lipa, “Don’t Start Now”
Post Malone, “Circles”
Megan Thee Stallion Featuring Beyoncé, “Savage”
Album of the Year
Jhené Aiko, Chilombo
Black Pumas, Black Pumas (Deluxe Edition)
Coldplay, Everyday Life
Jacob Collier, Djesse Vol. 3
HAIM, Women in Music Pt. III
Dua Lipa, Future Nostalgia
Post Malone, Hollywood’s Bleeding
Taylor Swift, folklore
Song of the Year
“Black Parade” – Denisia Andrews, Beyoncé, Stephen Bray, Shawn Carter, Brittany Coney, Derek James Dixie, Akil King, Kim “Kaydence” Krysiuk & Rickie “Caso” Tice, songwriters (Beyoncé)
“The Box” – Samuel Gloade & Rodrick Moore
“Cardigan” – Aaron Dessner & Taylor Swift
“Circles” – Louis Bell, Adam Feeney, Kaan Gunesberk, Austin Post & Billy Walsh
“Don’t Start Now” – Caroline Ailin, Ian Kirkpatrick, Dua Lipa & Emily Warren
“Everything I Wanted” – Billie Eilish O’Connell & Finneas O’Connell
“I Can’t Breathe” – Dernst Emile II, H.E.R. & Tiara Thomas
“If the World Was Ending” – Julia Michaels & JP Saxe
Best New Artist
Ingrid Andress
Phoebe Bridgers
Chika
Noah Cyrus
D Smoke
Doja Cat
Kaytranada
Megan Thee Stallion
COUNTRY
Best Country Album
Ingrid Andress, Lady Like
Brandy Clark, Your Life is a Record
Miranda Lambert, Wildcard
Little Big Town, Nightfall
Ashley McBryde, Never Will
Lol these wins are all over the place.
Given that it was up against Beyonce’s BLACK IS KING, I in no way thought THE SOUND OF MY VOICE would win for Best Music Film. I’m obviously overjoyed that it did, and that Linda herself is still very much alive to see it happen. Even though her career was cut short by Parkinson’s, the film shows that she had a wonderful and fulfilling life, and that she continues to have a huge impact with her fans and her peers.
In terms of Folklore–as I’ve said before, I don’t know that I can ever be totally sold on T-Swift; and I wish it hadn’t taken her this long, or a pandemic-induced lock down, to bring out what would seem to be the inner Joni Mitchell in this album. But I’m not too terribly surprised that Folklore won for Album Of The Year. It does show what Taylor is capable of, and her voice definitely showed mass improvement over all of her previous output (IMHO).
I think the academy generally whiffed in the Country categories, with the notable exception of Best Country Song. But overall, some nice surprises and some very worthy winners. Great to see Taylor Swift get her much deserved Album of the Year trophy for folklore, even if I was pulling just a little bit harder for Jacob Collier.
It’s so wild Taylor has won Album 3 times, while some legends haven’t even won once. The parallel of Taylor getting that win on the same night Beyonce got the most overall wins for a woman despite never winning Album is striking. (I actually find Beyonce over-rewarded, but she surely should have won Album at some point).
More so can we talk about how no Black woman has won Album or Record since Lauryn Hill all the way back in the late 90s?
Between the two of us, Kevin and I predicted 8 of the winners, and we picked up 2 additional winners out of our personal preferences. A good year for us on the prognostications front.
Some terrific wins across the overall ballot– the Ronstadt doc, Tiffany Haddish, Dolly Parton, Billy Strings, Megan Thee Stallion, Fiona Apple, Swift– but I’m with Kevin on the Country field winners. Gill’s performance and Lambert’s album are both *good*, but both would have been my 5th choice in their respective categories.
Everyone knows that I love Vince Gill and I’m happy for him, because he’s Vince Gill! But even I didn’t think it was the strongest song of the nominees. I feel the same about Lambert’s Wild Card album, which is probably my second least favorite album of hers.
Why is there a Producer of the Year category but not a Songwriter of the Year category?