New Best Traditional Country Album Grammy Boasts Strong Nominees
The nominees for the 2026 Grammy Awards were announced on Friday morning (11-7), with extra interest this year in country due to how the Grammys split the Best Country Album category into two categories: Best Traditional Country Album, and Best Contemporary Country Album.
Splitting the category was a smart move, resulting in five more artists receiving nominations, and finally allowing traditional/independent country artists a seat at the big table. But this would only be a positive development if the Best Traditional Country Album category actually represented traditional country artists and fans in the nominations as opposed to just being another avenue for popular, contemporary country artists. Luckily, most of the folks who deserved nominations got them.
It’s hard to argue against Charley Crockett receiving a nomination for his album Dollar A Day, which feels like a career effort. Same goes for Margo Price. It’s not a surprise the Grammy voters find favor with Margo since she previously received a Best New Artist nomination, but she happened to also release a career best effort with Hard Headed Woman.
Margo Price doesn’t just represent herself with this nomination. She represents a host of independent country women who all released career-level efforts over the last year, including Sunny Sweeney, Kelsey Waldon, Kristina Murray, Shawna Thompson, and others that could have received nominations themselves.
Zach Top has rewritten the rules and possibilities for a traditional country artist in the mainstream, and his nomination for Ain’t In It For My Health comes strongly deserved. If there was any shoo-in for a nomination, it was Zach. After all, it was his popularity that in part made it possible for this new category to come along. He didn’t land a Best New Artist nomination like he could have, but in previous years, an artist like Top might have been overlooked entirely.
Lukas Nelson also feels like a deserving nominee for his new album, and first solo album American Romance. However, being nominated right beside pops (Willie Nelson) for his latest album, Oh What A Beautiful World, you get the sense that name recognition played a big role in how these two nominations played out. Willie deserves all the praise in the world. But were there better albums in traditional country to be nominated this year? Yes there were.
The biggest and most obvious snub—and what could have taken Willie’s place—was The Price of Admission by the Turnpike Troubadours. Just like the albums from Charley Crockett, Margo Price, and Lukas Nelson, it was a career-level effort for the boys from Oklahoma, and arguably the greatest album released over the last year. Produced by Shooter Jennings who’s had Grammy success in the past, you really feel like Turnpike should be in this class. For all we know, they came in 6th.
Best Traditional Country Album Nominees:
• Dollar A Day – Charley Crockett
• American Romance – Lukas Nelson
• Oh What A Beautiful World – Willie Nelson
• Hard Headed Woman – Margo Price
• Ain’t In It For My Health – Zach Top
The other concern with splitting Best Country Album in two was how that might leave Best Contemporary Album to be overrun by the same type of pop-oriented interlopers that dominated the country Grammy nominations last year. The other possibility was the split would actually make Contemporary Country more country, and more critically-acclaimed too. Arguably, the latter is exactly what happened.
Not only do traditional/independent/critically-acclaimed country fans have folks to root for in Best Traditional Country Album. They have folks to root for in Contemporary as well. Sure, Jelly Roll’s Beautifully Broken is hard to even consider a “country” album, and he originated in rap. But Tyler Childers just might best him with Snipe Hunter, which despite some of the “contemporary” production that pulled it out of the traditional realm, is still an album filled with plenty of Appalachian-style songwriting and traditional country instrumentation.
Miranda Lambert and Eric Church, and specifically Postcards From Texas and Evangeline vs. The Machine are easy to root for, with both receiving strong critical acclaim. Even Kelsea Ballerini’s Patterns is an album that might not appeal to true country fans, but comes with quality songwriting that represents the good side of pop country.
Best Contemporary Country Album Nominees:
• Patterns – Kelsea Ballerini
• Snipe Hunter – Tyler Childers
• Evangeline Vs. The Machine – Eric Church
• Beautifully Broken – Jelly Roll
• Postcards From Texas – Miranda Lambert
Overall, you can’t complain how this went at all. Everyone will have their own opinion about who should have been nominated. But it’s hard to argue with who was.
Stay tuned for more coverage of Grammy song categories in country, as well as Americana/Bluegrass/Folk/All Genre categories.
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November 7, 2025 @ 10:22 am
I am genuinely a bit shocked and heartbroken turnpike didn’t get nominated.
November 7, 2025 @ 11:49 am
The simple truth is Willie Nelson took Turnpike’s spot. One flaw in the Grammy system is with the wide voter base, name recognition can give artists extra advantage. We all love Willie, and it’s not that he hasn’t released Grammy-level albums in recent years. “Oh What A Beautiful World” was not one of them though, and “Last Leaf On The Tree” also got nominated in Americana, once again because it’s Willie Nelson. He just released his Merle Haggard tribute today, and I can almost guarantee it gets nominated next year in Traditional Country, because it’s from Willie.
November 7, 2025 @ 2:04 pm
Honestly tho, rather too much attention for Willie than not enough. It’s really hard for me to get frustrated with a 90+ year old absolute LEGEND getting recognized for anything he does right now.
November 7, 2025 @ 2:22 pm
All love to Willie obviously, but we’re not nominating names here, were nominating albums. And though Willie’s put out some really great albums over the last few years, “Oh What a Beautiful World” was a covers album, and frankly, not an especially compelling one. Another nomination and win does little for Willie’s legacy. For a band like the Turnpike Troubadours, it would be a massive, career-making achievement. As it stands, Willie could walk away with two wins this year, and Turnpike doesn’t even get a nomination.
There has to be an avenue where if an artist or band releases their magnum opus, the seas part and the Grammys recognize that. They failed with Sturgill’s “Metamodern Sounds.” They failed with Jason Isbell’s “Southeastern.” And I think they’ve failed here.
November 7, 2025 @ 3:17 pm
Strong agree on /Oh What a Beautiful World/. Everything about it was pretty lackluster IMO. It sounded like a Rodney Crowell album with Willie on lead vocals. I would have had a hard time seeing it for Traditional Country Album of the year in almost any given year, but in 2025 there are like a dozen better albums that could have been nominated.
As you said elsewhere, some of Willie’s recent stuff has been really top-notch. /The Border/ is a great album.
November 7, 2025 @ 10:48 am
For my money, /American Romance/ has it by a mile on the Traditional side. So many good songs on that album, and no skips. I agree that Turnpike Troubadours were snubbed.
Have a father and a son (or parent/child) ever been nominated for the same category in the same year for different works? ChatGPT says this is the first time, but I wouldn’t call that a final ruling.
November 7, 2025 @ 3:46 pm
I didn’t come here to argue with you, but as a long time Lukas fan American Romance just didn’t do it for me. I really didn’t even love any of the songs, although it might just not be my particular niche of country/americana. For me their last album, Sticks and Stones, is the no skips, absolute banger of a record. Damn, I was excited to see those songs on 2-3 tour cycles but then the band went on hiatus.
And for the record, its a shame TT didn’t get the nod.
November 9, 2025 @ 3:13 am
100% agree with you. He’s put out some of my favorite music of the last decade from the 2017 self titled all the way through Sticks and Stones, with Turn off the News probably being my favorite. I’m not sure if it was not having POTR or something else, but American Romance is just lacking something for me. Curious to see what comes next for him though.
November 9, 2025 @ 11:43 am
It happened once before in a different category- in 1998 father and son Julio and Enrique lglesias were both nominated for Best Latin Pop Performance for different albums.
November 9, 2025 @ 11:56 am
Just posted an article after delving into this:
https://savingcountrymusic.com/willie-nelson-son-lukas-compete-in-same-new-grammy-category/
November 7, 2025 @ 10:51 am
Outrageous that Turnpike wasn’t nominated. I’m not even the biggest Turnpike fan, but that record this year is the clear leader in this category.
.
November 7, 2025 @ 10:59 am
Staggered that Turnpike not nominated. So far, it is by far my album of the year. Somewhat surprised to see Willie’s album nominated. The contemporary country album’s nominees seem weak to me. Jelly Roll?
November 7, 2025 @ 11:09 am
Jinks out a great album in 2025.
November 7, 2025 @ 11:50 am
Cody Jinks is another I was hoping could add “Grammy nominated” to his resume. It was a super strong year though.
November 7, 2025 @ 11:21 am
I really thought King George would get a nomination for Cowboys and Dreamers.
November 7, 2025 @ 11:51 am
He got a song nomination for “Honky Tonk Hall of Fame” which is killer, so he wasn’t completely snubbed.
November 7, 2025 @ 11:21 am
Called it on the Willie Nelson one! 🙂 (I’m a little bummed that Trisha Yearwood didn’t get in, but I can’t really argue with any of these picks…)
November 7, 2025 @ 11:29 am
I beg to differ regarding Turnpike. I can understand why many people like them, but they are definitely not the most traditional sounding group.
November 7, 2025 @ 1:17 pm
Previous Turnpike Troubadours albums I wouldn’t consider “traditional” country with the amount of rock in their sound. But their latest was their most traditional country album to date.
That said, maybe some voters said, “Hey, they’re more Red Dirt, and I don’t consider them traditional country.” But I think this has more to do with name recognition. If you’re not dialed into Texas/Red Dirt/Independent country, maybe you’ve heard the name Turnpike Troubadours, but you’re not dialed into how well the new album is being received. So you pull the lever for Willie. Because hey, everyone loves Willie!
November 7, 2025 @ 11:15 pm
“Previous Turnpike Troubadours albums I wouldn’t consider “traditional” country with the amount of rock in their sound.”
This is precisely why I like “The Price Of Admission” less than any of the previous Turnpike Troubadours albums and why I don’t share the enthusiastic opinions about the album. Somehow the tension that the exactly right mix of styles that made their music so unique and outstanding is missing on this album in my opinion. A Grammy worthing album neither the less.
November 8, 2025 @ 7:23 am
Thank you, you were able to articulate exactly how I feel about “Price of Admission”. I’m a 62yo who grew up listening to rock music and still consider it my favorite genre. Unfortunately, not much new rock music appeals to me but fortunately I found this website that led to to incredible artists who include a lot of rock music in their songs and have great lyrics. Jinks, Whiskey Myers and Turnpike became some of my favorite artists. For me this album is a snoozefest. Also, my least favorite turnpike album. There is very little electric guitar which contributes to the subdued sound on this recording.
November 7, 2025 @ 11:42 am
Embarrassing to have Charley and Lukas in over Turnpike. I am a fan of Charley, I think Lukas is more Americana and also overrated. This was one of the weaker Charley albums with him peaking at man from Waco. Also ain’t it for my health isn’t even a top 10 album, you talk to any Zach Top fan, they all say it was a bit of a let down.
You find me a song on either album better than Heaven Passing Through or On the red river.
Oh well, Grammys have always been about back room deals and promotion over quality.
November 7, 2025 @ 11:54 am
I personally think “Dollar A Day” is one of Charley’s strongest albums yet, but to each their own.
Interesting note: Crockett was competing against himself an his other album “Lonesome Drifter.” So he beat himself out to get the nomination. In my opinion, the best album won.
November 7, 2025 @ 11:51 am
Big bummer on the Turnpike snub.
For the Contemporary album, I’m amazed how many versions of the same song that he can release. And because country radio is so starved for anything real or thoughtful, they eat up his Disneyfied, faux Gospel, family friendly songs as if it is something deep and meaningul.
Want something real? Go back and listen to “Deadmans Blues” by Matt Woods or “King of Oklahoma” by Jason Isbell, or the countless of other great music posted on this site.
November 7, 2025 @ 4:41 pm
*I was referring to Jelly Roll in my comment.
Should have proofread.
November 7, 2025 @ 12:07 pm
Why is the industry still pushing Kelsea Ballerini – stop trying to make her happen! She’s just not the next big thing. She’s fine, she’s adequate. But she’s not special and she hasn’t lit fire to the charts or to touring numbers. She gets outsized attention by award shows, very very odd.
November 7, 2025 @ 12:57 pm
I agree about her latest album but the previous EP and “Subject to Change” were great country pop albums that got overlooked.
November 7, 2025 @ 12:21 pm
I would love to know how if Nashville has such a strong community within the Grammy voting block, how do so many worthy stars not get any nominations at a time when Rap/Hip-hop is being seen as having an off year? I am not debating, I sincerely don’t know.
November 7, 2025 @ 1:20 pm
Country got snubbed from the big, all genre categories, even though it’s arguably the most popular genre at the moment. There was an article in Billboard last week about how there are zero hip-hop songs in the Top 40 at the moment. But country always gets depreciated in all-genre discussions.
And don’t give the “Yeah, but ‘Cowboy Carter’ won last year!”
November 7, 2025 @ 12:55 pm
I would have liked to see Sunny Sweeney nominated, simply because she has earned it and her latest album is so much fun. Ok, Margo Price is fierce competition and also deserves her nomination. Why not have two women in that category…
November 7, 2025 @ 1:23 pm
Margo Price, Kelsey Waldon, and Sunny Sweeny all had top, landmark traditional country albums this year. I would have loved to see all three get nominated, but then who do you take out? That’s the problem. It was a very strong year. My worry was all three of these women would compete with each other, and cancel each other out.
November 7, 2025 @ 1:29 pm
You’d take out Lucas Nelson
November 7, 2025 @ 2:31 pm
I mean, he’s great. This album was great. but it’s not the best example of today’s traditional country, and it’s not better than some of the other nominees.
November 7, 2025 @ 2:44 pm
Hmmm…no offense, but we are talking Grammys here. How many Grammy voters do you suppose have even heard of Kelsey Waldon or Sunny Sweeney? Really. Im not knocking either of them, in fact I enjoy Sweeneys music, but neither of them could fill a 500 seat facility in my area. Let alone a 1000 seat venue. They play SMALL venues. That’s reality. They are pretty known in Sirius XM Outlaw radio and on the Outlaw Cruise, but they haven’t blown up to Crocketts numbers yet. Margo Price is a little more known but she really struggles to fill big stages unless she’s an opener.
My point isn’t to be a wet blanket, but as long as I’ve been around, The Grammys are about the BIGGEST names, the MOST POPULAR. Not saying indie Country isn’t great, it is, but how many Grammy voters know anything about our music at all? Is it realistic to expect these gals can win a Grammy? I know Sierra did last year and that was monumental. But that’s Sierra Ferrell. Shes really blown up big time. She is filling the 500 seat and up venues, no problem. Shes at the higher echelon at this point. I know you are VERY passionate on this Grammy thing, so what is making you think this is realistic?
November 8, 2025 @ 5:44 pm
“My point isn’t to be a wet blanket, but as long as I’ve been around, The Grammys are about the BIGGEST names, the MOST POPULAR.”
I somewhat disagree with this. Yes, all awards are popularity contests. But if the nominees were simply the biggest, most popular names, the nominees here would have been George Strait, Parker McCollum, Trisha Yearwood, Willie Nelson, and maybe Zach Top.
More importantly though, if there was not a “Best Traditional Country Album” category, and we only had “Best Country Album,” none of the artists that got nominated would have been nominated at all, except for maybe Willie.
We’ve added a new tier here. Yes, Charley Crockett, Margo Price, Lukas Nelson etc. are some of the bigger names in independent country. But they’re still independent country artists, not featured on the radio that the CMAs and ACMs would never dream of nominating.
That’s the point here. Open a new lane.
And over the years, the Grammys have surprised us on a fairly regular basis by doling out nominations to people totally under the radar like Robbie Fulks, Wood & Wire, John Fullbright, and others. When Sturgill Simpson won, NOBODY knew who he was outside of small, independent circles.
November 7, 2025 @ 1:00 pm
Turnpike, Kelsey Waldon and Sunny Sweeney for sure had unbelievably great traditional country records. I’m honestly baffled. Need to include more nominees of something. Like WTF I would’ve moved both Nelson’s and personally I put Zach in the contemporary side of things and have him take over Jelly Roll who just shouldn’t be nominated like ever.
November 7, 2025 @ 1:36 pm
Kelsey Waldon has never gotten the acclaim she deserves, and her latest album is one of her best. I get the impression that the Grammy nominating committee has a fairly shallow understanding of the current country roots scene, so they fell back on name recognition.
November 7, 2025 @ 1:37 pm
Trigger, I was impressed by how prominently you and SCM were featured in NPR’s coverage of this topic. Kudos!
November 7, 2025 @ 2:07 pm
Thanks!
Folks can listen here if they wish:
https://www.npr.org/2025/11/06/nx-s1-5596419/grammy-nominations-country-music-traditional-contemporary
November 8, 2025 @ 7:16 am
Thanks for the heads up!
November 7, 2025 @ 2:08 pm
Next year all 5 slots in Traditional might just be filled by Colter Wall’s Memories and Empties.
November 7, 2025 @ 2:12 pm
Yeah, I think sometimes we forget how broad the voting base is and much name recognition plays into that. Even with the level of popularity he’s at now, even Childers only just started to get a look in. And I think this is the first time Turnpike have submitted for the Grammys (might be wrong). But now they’ve got their name out there with the Grammy voters and have sowed the first seeds. If they keep to the same level of quality, I reckon they’ll get there with their next release
November 7, 2025 @ 2:24 pm
The Grammys do have a pretty lengthy history of nominating /awarding the NEXT album after a big magnum opus. They did that with Sturgill Simpson and Jason Isbell. But that was very early in their careers. I hope Turnpike has another “The Price of Admission” in them. But that’s not guaranteed.
November 7, 2025 @ 6:52 pm
At least they might finally win AOTY on SCM 😉
November 7, 2025 @ 2:29 pm
This list kind of reminds me of what people who aren’t super deep into independent country/traditionalist country would nominate. I know that’s probably NOT actually the case, but these are super popular albums with the Americana “I do’nt like to call it country” crowd. Margo Price’s album is good but GODDAMN there are so many phenomenal albums released in that time period that I’m disappointed that it was more of the ‘person who’s on the old lists” rather than a more recent or less-famous artist.
The main issue for me is that independent country has been getting better and better and better over the last few years- there are simply more producers, session players, bands with years of shows under their belt, and it’s all been showing in the phenomenal albums in the past year or two. These folks are good but I just don’t see why someone would think these are the best albums other than name recognition.
November 7, 2025 @ 2:43 pm
It is disappointing to see some projects that were commercial and artistic meh get nominated. And it was based on name recognition and label promotion. So much good music doesn’t get the recognition.
November 7, 2025 @ 2:55 pm
I cannot stand Margo Price. I thought she ‘left country music behind’ and remember being glad at the time hearing she turned her back on the genre. I was hopeful she would stay away, but here we are. I had to go back and re-read your post ‘On Margo Price Leaving Country Music Behind’ to refresh my memory.
“Margo Price doesn’t just represent herself with this nomination. She represents a host of independent country women who all released career-level efforts over the last year, including Sunny Sweeney, Kelsey Waldon, Kristina Murray, Shawna Thompson, and others that could have received nominations themselves.” I wish it would have been Sunny instead…or literally any other woman in country music who met the qualifications to be nominated. Margo is a country music caricature I thought we got rid of, but apparently she has come back to (yet again) take the space of more talented, deserving females in the genre. She is the (perpetually half-dressed) squeaky wheel that always gets the grease. She will give half of country music fans the finger and then (for once in her life) put on some clothes and parade around the Opry stage in Loretta Lynn’s dress acting like she has the utmost respect for the genre and its fans. She will no doubt win this category and country music will be forced to have her lifted up as it’s female face from here on out. They’ll mark it as a pivotal moment in country music history. All awards across the board are abysmal. It also disappoints me to no end that older country artists like Willie and Kristofferson have given her a stamp of approval. But when you dress like a stripper and can out smoke the outlaws, I guess there are benefits that come with that territory.
November 7, 2025 @ 7:40 pm
Perhaps nobody took more grenades lobbed from the Margo Price camp over the years than myself, in part because I was consistently saying she was overrated and siphoning attention from more deserving artists. I completely understand why some folks have soured on her, and may not care to try and give her a second chance. But “Hard Headed Woman” is a great album, and a career work from Price.
November 7, 2025 @ 3:34 pm
If I missed it, correct me please, but I did not see Red Clay Strays on the list. Maybe they didn’t submit? Not even really sure where they would slot in – they’re not country, not rock, maybe Americana as a default? Anyway those boys have blown the hell up – headlining MSG next year is insane.
Glad to see “Postcards from Texas” get a nod. Sad it will lose to Relly Joll but Miranda made a really good album and deserves to be up there.
November 7, 2025 @ 3:51 pm
The Last Red Clay Strays album was released in July, meaning it was eligible for last year’s Grammys, not this year. Otherwise, I wouldn’t call them traditional country. They’re pretty textbook Americana for how the Grammys define things.
November 7, 2025 @ 5:32 pm
We’ll see how the Grummy”s virtue signal this one.
November 7, 2025 @ 6:50 pm
I didn’t realize til today that there’s no more “best country album”. It wasn’t just adding a new category, it also kinda got rid of one.
But as I say every year, the CMAs what matters to me, even if they also often stink.
November 7, 2025 @ 8:18 pm
I was really hoping to see that Jesse Lovelock album on this list. That album is on a different level when it comes to the traditional take. Didn’t get to enough ears
November 7, 2025 @ 8:34 pm
I love Zack & Strait made the cut! I hoped Sunny would have made it vs Margo. She lost me a few years back.
November 8, 2025 @ 7:44 am
…”Margo Price doesn’t just represent herself with this nomination. She represents a host of independent country women who all released career-level efforts over the last year, including Sunny Sweeney, Kelsey Waldon, Kristina Murray, Shawna Thompson, and others that could have received nominations themselves” – and there’s even more deserving women, who could have been considered.
same goes with the men and the bands – it’s simply been an excellent year for albums. hard luck for the turnpike troubadours, not only in the album category. too little recognition perhaps – but what treat to listen to. childers’ and lambert’s albums could have been nominated in either category really. to nominate stapleton’s “bad as I used to be” among the best country solo performances is plainly wrong – it’s a rock song. the newly introduced/envisaged distinction between contemporary and classic country obviously didn’t exactly trickle trough to the voting body fully.
another complete blunder is the nomination of “a song to sing” in each of the categories it is put forward. it’s a soul number and a delightful at that, which just underlines how great and versatile artists miranda lambert and chris stapleton are. never mind and better ears next time.
November 8, 2025 @ 12:30 pm
Glad to see charley get his due. Dollar a day is a great album and def better than drifter. I dont think its better than visions of dallas far as his best album but its great. Really i think its a fine list. Im not big into willie so i cant say anything far as whether his album deserved it cause i havent listened to it. Turnpike isnt really my thing either but i know they have lots of fans. Prob deserved a nod. Good write up trigger
November 8, 2025 @ 8:21 pm
Just wanted to stop by here to say I despise Jelly Roll. That’s all…carry on and have a great night 🤘
November 10, 2025 @ 7:09 am
If you’re wanting to do this music thing… Lick your chops. this is the best time because the talent level is crazy low. Put in the work on your voice and songwriting. If you get a benefactor to fund the marketing and promotion and you can actually sing and write something tasteful you can blow these people out of the water. The money behind each and every one of these artists is far greater than talent. Back in the day those two things were at the same level. Write an article on that Trigger.
November 10, 2025 @ 7:47 am
I really couldn’t disagree more. The reason you’re seeing so many artists, including many talented ones complaining about not being able to get enough attention to launch a sustainable career is because the marketplace has never been more glutted with talent, and it’s difficult to impossible for listeners to find the music that will most appeal to them. This will only be dramatically exacerbated in the coming months with the accelerated introduction of AI in the marketplace. Music has never made more money overall. But the pie piece has never been smaller for entry level artists.
November 10, 2025 @ 11:59 am
IMHO SCM AOTY is a better honor than the manufactured awards/opinions of people who probably wouldn’t spin an Ellis Bullard tune if it came with a free reach around…TT Price of Admission and SS Rhinestone Requiem will finish 1-2 in the SCM AOTY race by a mile. Been spinning both since release. As for Margo Price, all the following are true: that’s a damn good album, but it’s far behind Sunny’s release, and, Margo will continue to “back stop” herself with a country-sound until she can spin herself back up enough to jump back into the NPR/Alt-Pop art form she really wants to be in – ’cause country is filled with disgusting hicks.
November 10, 2025 @ 3:46 pm
In a fair world Jesse Daniel and Sunny Sweeney would have been nominated