Grammy Award for Best Americana Album

The Grammy Award for Best Americana Album is an honor presented to recording artists for quality albums in the Americana music genre at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards.^[1] Honors in several categories are presented at the ceremony annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to "honor artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry, without regard to album sales or chart position".^[2]

Grammy Award for Best Americana Album
Awarded for	quality Americana albums
Country	United States
Presented by	National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences
First awarded	2010
Last awarded	present
Currently held by	Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit, Weathervanes (2024)
Website	grammy.com

In 2009, the Academy announced that the award for Best Contemporary Folk/Americana Album would be split into two separate categories: Best Contemporary Folk Album and Best Americana Album.^[3][4] The distinction between the two award categories is based on the use of acoustic versus electric instruments; acoustic instruments predominate in "contemporary folk" and electric instruments are characteristic of Americana.^[4] Jed Hilly, executive director of the Americana Music Association, called the new category's inclusion "a huge acknowledgment" of the music genre.^[5] Hilly admitted to working hard at convincing the Academy to include Americana as its own category.^[6][7] The music industry had been using the term "Americana music" for about 15 years before the new award was created.^[4] Following is the award's purpose, according to the category description guide from the 2018 Grammy Awards:

Americana is contemporary music that incorporates elements of various American roots music and vocal styles, including country, roots-rock, folk, bluegrass, R&B and blues, resulting in a distinctive roots-oriented sound that lives in a world apart from the pure forms of the genres upon which it may draw. While acoustic instruments are often present and vital, Americana also often uses a full electric band.^[8]

The award was first presented in 2010 to Levon Helm at the 52nd Grammy Awards for the album Electric Dirt.^[9] Lucinda Williams is the artist with most nominations (three) without a win (see below for a table with artists with most wins and nominations).

Recipients

 

2010 and 2012 award recipient Levon Helm performing in 2004

 

Mavis Staples received the award in 2011

 

2013 recipient Bonnie Raitt

 

2015 honoree Rosanne Cash

 

Keb' Mo' received the award in 2020

 

Two-time winner Brandi Carlile

Year^[I]	Performing artist(s)	Work	Nominees	Ref.
2010	Levon Helm	Electric Dirt	Bob Dylan – Together Through Life Willie Nelson and Asleep at the Wheel – Willie and the Wheel Wilco – Wilco (The Album) Lucinda Williams – Little Honey	^[6]
2011	Mavis Staples	You Are Not Alone	Rosanne Cash – The List Los Lobos – Tin Can Trust Willie Nelson – Country Music Robert Plant – Band of Joy	^[10]
2012	Levon Helm	Ramble at the Ryman	Linda Chorney – Emotional Jukebox Ry Cooder – Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down Emmylou Harris – Hard Bargain Lucinda Williams – Blessed	^[11]
2013	Bonnie Raitt	Slipstream	The Avett Brothers – The Carpenter John Fullbright – From the Ground Up The Lumineers – The Lumineers Mumford & Sons – Babel	^[12] ^[13]
2014	Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell	Old Yellow Moon	Steve Martin and Edie Brickell – Love Has Come for You Buddy Miller and Jim Lauderdale – Buddy and Jim Mavis Staples – One True Vine Allen Toussaint – Songbook	^[14]
2015	Rosanne Cash	The River & the Thread	John Hiatt – Terms of My Surrender Keb' Mo' – BLUESAmericana Nickel Creek – A Dotted Line Sturgill Simpson – Metamodern Sounds in Country Music	^[15]
2016	Jason Isbell	Something More Than Free	Brandi Carlile – The Firewatcher's Daughter Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell – The Traveling Kind The Mavericks – Mono Punch Brothers – The Phosphorescent Blues	^[16]
2017	William Bell	This Is Where I Live	The Avett Brothers – True Sadness Kris Kristofferson – The Cedar Creek Sessions Lori McKenna – The Bird and the Rifle The Time Jumpers – Kid Sister	^[17]
2018	Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit	The Nashville Sound	Gregg Allman – Southern Blood Brent Cobb – Shine on Rainy Day Iron & Wine – Beast Epic The Mavericks – Brand New Day	^[18]
2019	Brandi Carlile	By the Way, I Forgive You	Bettye LaVette – Things Have Changed John Prine – The Tree of Forgiveness Lee Ann Womack – The Lonely, the Lonesome & the Gone The Wood Brothers – One Drop of Truth	^[19]
2020	Keb' Mo'	Oklahoma	J.S. Ondara – Tales of America Yola – Walk Through Fire Madison Cunningham – Who Are You Now Calexico & Iron & Wine – Years to Burn	^[20]
2021	Sarah Jarosz	World on the Ground	Courtney Marie Andrews – Old Flowers Hiss Golden Messenger – Terms of Surrender Marcus King – El Dorado Lucinda Williams – Good Souls Better Angels	^[21]
2022	Los Lobos	Native Sons	Jackson Browne – Downhill From Everywhere John Hiatt & the Jerry Douglas Band – Leftover Feelings Allison Russell – Outside Child Yola – Stand For Myself	^[22]
2023	Brandi Carlile	In These Silent Days	Dr. John – Things Happen That Way Keb' Mo' – Good to Be... Robert Plant & Alison Krauss – Raise the Roof Bonnie Raitt – Just Like That...	^[23]
2024	Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit	Weathervanes	Brandy Clark – Brandy Clark Rodney Crowell – The Chicago Sessions Rhiannon Giddens – You're The One Allison Russell – The Returner	^[24]

Artists with multiple wins

3 wins Jason Isbell

2 wins Brandi Carlile Levon Helm

Artists with multiple nominations

3 nominations Brandi Carlile Emmylou Harris Keb' Mo' Lucinda Williams Rodney Crowell Jason Isbell

2 nominations Allison Russell Bonnie Raitt The Avett Brothers Rosanne Cash Levon Helm Iron & Wine The Mavericks Willie Nelson Robert Plant Mavis Staples Yola

See also

• Americana Music Association
• Heartland rock
• List of Grammy Award categories
• Roots rock

References

General

• "Grammy Award Winners". National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Retrieved March 4, 2011. Note: User must select the "American Roots" category as the genre under the search feature.

Specific

1. "Grammy Awards at a Glance". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 29, 2010.
2. . National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on January 3, 2011. Retrieved April 29, 2010.
3. Sisario, Ben (June 4, 2009). "Polka Music Is Eliminated as Grammy Award Category". The New York Times. Retrieved February 20, 2011.
4. Shriver, Jerry (August 31, 2009). "Grammys will be putting Americana on the map". USA Today. Gannett Company. Retrieved February 20, 2011.
5. Rodman, Sarah (January 29, 2010). "Grammys get a new category: Best Americana Album". The Boston Globe. The New York Times. Retrieved February 20, 2011.
6. Fusilli, Jim (December 5, 2009). "Grammy Awards: Americana, the Not-So Beautiful". The Wall Street Journal. News Corporation. Retrieved February 20, 2011.
7. Purdy, Nick (July 24, 2009). "Industry Chat: Jed Hilly of the Americana Music Association". Paste. Paste Media Group. Retrieved February 20, 2011.
8. "2011 OEP Category Description Guide" (PDF). National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. p. 3. Retrieved December 17, 2012.
9. "Grammy Award Winners". National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Retrieved February 20, 2011.
10. "2011 Grammy Nominations: Eminem Leads The Pack". MTV. December 2, 2010. Retrieved February 20, 2011.
11. "Best Americana Album". Grammy.com. Retrieved December 9, 2011.
12. . Archived from the original on February 1, 2012. Retrieved May 22, 2023.
13. "Diversity And Talent Fill The American Roots Nominations". Grammy.com. Retrieved May 22, 2023.
14. "56th GRAMMY Awards: Full Winners List". Billboard. Retrieved April 26, 2017.
15. "List of Nominees 2015" (PDF). Grammy.com. Retrieved May 22, 2023.
16. . Grammy. Archived from the original on February 1, 2012. Retrieved April 26, 2017.
17. "Here is the Complete List of Nominees for the 2017 Grammys". Billboard. December 6, 2016.
18. Lynch, Joe (November 28, 2017). "Grammys 2018: See the Complete List of Nominees". Billboard. Retrieved November 29, 2017.
19. [1]^{[dead link]}
20. "2020 Grammy Awards nominations list". Grammy.com. Retrieved May 22, 2023.
21. "2021 Nominations List". Grammy.com. Retrieved May 22, 2023.
22. "2022 GRAMMYs Awards: Complete Nominations List". GRAMMY.com. November 23, 2021. Retrieved November 27, 2021.
23. Lee, Taila (November 15, 2022). "2023 Grammy Nominations: See The Complete Nominees List". grammy.com. Recording Academy. Retrieved November 24, 2022.
24. "2024 GRAMMY Nominations: See The Full Nominees List | GRAMMY.com". www.grammy.com. Retrieved November 12, 2023.