Sturgill Simpson, Sarah Jarosz, & Lori McKenna Are Big Winners in Grammy Pre-Telecast Awards
Ahead of the telecast portion of the 59th Annual Grammy Awards Sunday night (2-12), pre-telecast awards were handed out in a host of categories covering country, Americana, bluegrass, and roots, including big awards like Best Country Song, Best Country Album, and Best Americana Album. Sturgill Simpson won Best Country Album, which in previous year was a telecast award, while Lori McKenna took home Best Country Song for “Humble & Kind.”
A special moment ensued on the stage when Rory Feek of Joey + Rory accepted the Grammy for Best Roots Gospel Album for Hymns. Rory has said that his wife Joey Feek wanted him to be there whether they won or not, but that she would know before he did. Joey passed away in 2016 due to Cancer.
In the roots categories, Rounder Records and Sarah Jarosz were the big winners, with Sarah walking away with both Best Americana Roots Performance, and Best Folk Album. The Time Jumpers who won for Best American Roots Song are also on Rounder.
It other country-related pre-telecast news, Reckless Kelley’s Sunset Motel, which was up for Best Recording Package, did not win. Hillary Scott and the Scott Family (singer for Lady Antebellum) did win for Best Contemporary Christian Music Performance (song) for “Thy Will,” and for Contemporary Christian Music Album for Love Remains that was produced by Ricky Skaggs. Bobby Rush also won for Best Traditional Blues album for “Porcupine Meat.”
The Mark O’Connor Family band performed the bluegrass standard “Ruby” on the pre-telecast to represent the Grammy’s roots categories, and Sarah Jarosz was also featured as one of the presenters.
A more detailed list of roots music winners:
Best Country Duo/Group Performance:
“Different For Girls” — Dierks Bentley Featuring Elle King
“21 Summer” — Brothers Osborne
“Setting The World On Fire” — Kenny Chesney & P!nk
WINNER – “Jolene” — Pentatonix Featuring Dolly Parton
“Think Of You” — Chris Young With Cassadee Pope
Best Country Song:
“Blue Ain’t Your Color” — Clint Lagerberg, Hillary Lindsey & Steven Lee Olsen, songwriters (Keith Urban)
“Die A Happy Man” — Sean Douglas, Thomas Rhett & Joe Spargur, songwriters (Thomas Rhett)
WINNER – “Humble And Kind” — Lori McKenna, songwriter (Tim McGraw)
“My Church” — busbee & Maren Morris, songwriters (Maren Morris)
“Vice” — Miranda Lambert, Shane McAnally & Josh Osborne, songwriters (Miranda Lambert)
Best Americana Roots Performance:
“Ain’t No Man” — The Avett Brothers
“Mother’s Children Have A Hard Time” — Blind Boys Of Alabama
“Factory Girl” — Rhiannon Giddens
WINNER – “House Of Mercy” — Sarah Jarosz
“Wreck You” — Lori McKenna
Best American Roots Song:
“Alabama At Night” — Robbie Fulks
“City Lights” — Jack White
“Gulfstream” — Roddie Romero And The Hub City All-Stars
WINNER – “Kid Sister” — The Time Jumpers
“Wreck You” — Lori McKenna
Best Americana Album:
True Sadness — The Avett Brothers
WINNER – This Is Where I Live — William Bell
The Cedar Creek Sessions — Kris Kristofferson
The Bird & The Rifle — Lori McKenna
Kid Sister — The Time Jumpers
Best Bluegrass Album:
Original Traditional — Blue Highway
Burden Bearer — Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver
The Hazel And Alice Sessions — Laurie Lewis & The Right Hands
North By South — Claire Lynch
WINNER – Coming Home — O’Connor Band With Mark O’Connor
Best Folk Album:
Judy Collins & Ari Hest — Silver Skies Blue
Robbie Fulks — Upland Stories
Rhiannon Giddens — Factory Girl
Sierra Hull — Weighted Mind
WINNER – Sarah Jarosz — Undercurrent
Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album:
Cinema — Andrea Bocelli
Fallen Angels — Bob Dylan
Stages Live — Josh Groban
WINNER – Summertime: Willie Nelson Sings Gershwin — Willie Nelson
Encore: Movie Partners Sing Broadway
February 12, 2017 @ 4:59 pm
So far, so good… 🙂
February 12, 2017 @ 5:04 pm
Interesting to see Willie won in the Traditional Pop category… Hope he gets better.
February 12, 2017 @ 5:33 pm
That was a fair category seeing that it was a covers album of traditional pop songs. Willie got another Grammy! It’s been a good day so far.
February 13, 2017 @ 10:29 am
I agree, though Willie’s cover of such songs was more country-oriented… Nevertheless I agree that he deserved to win (nothing against Josh or Andrea but we haven’t seen this side of Willie in a while).
Can’t speak for the Bob Dylan album.
February 12, 2017 @ 5:24 pm
So apparently Maren is performing “once”, which is a) not what I expected and b) cool (she’s performing with Alicia so it’ll be a mash-up)
February 12, 2017 @ 5:35 pm
Congratulations to all the winners. I have been a fan of Mark O’Connor for a very long time, so that one is especially cool to me.
February 12, 2017 @ 5:54 pm
Stoked about William Bell winning for Best Americana Album. It really is a fantastic album. His first Grammy at age 77. Great story.
February 12, 2017 @ 6:20 pm
I agree. It also puts a dent in the idea that Americana is somehow racist.
February 12, 2017 @ 6:25 pm
Southern soul is a mix of R&B, country and gospel. Smells like Americana to me. I agree, though. The thing with Americana is that African American music in recent decades hasn’t gone in that direction.
February 13, 2017 @ 8:24 am
The thing with Americana is that African American music in recent decades hasn’t gone in that direction.
True. I’ve seen neither live yet, but from comments on the site, I take it that the audiences for Barrence Whitfield and Black Joe Lewis are predominantly white. And both of them play hard soul music. I know that’s pretty much the case for Robert Cray, whose music is a mix of blues and southern soul.
February 12, 2017 @ 7:05 pm
Good to know that Willie still wins Grammys, and that Sarah Jarosz won a pair of statuettes herself.
To my knowledge, the Grammys have (praise be!) never given anything to the Bromeisters, which is just as well. Let the ACMs and CMAs make themselves out to be sight gags by handing out THEIR hardware (IMHO).
February 13, 2017 @ 8:04 am
I was hoping Robbie Fulks was going to win in at least one of the categories in which he was nominated. Love Upland Stories.
February 13, 2017 @ 9:56 am
Apparently you had to be on Rounder/Concord to win a Grammy in 2017 in the roots bloc.
February 13, 2017 @ 9:37 am
Any year Dolly Parton and Willie Nelson both win Grammys is a good year for country music!
February 13, 2017 @ 3:23 pm
I have to say that i have honestly been part of the minority though I am not too vocal that was not pleased with Sturgill’s new album, as I mean without trying to bring it up for the 100000000th time it’s not that country sounding in a conventional sense. It was not until i saw his Grammy performance that I finally switched my view on his album. I saw in his performance how though it was not anything spectacular, it just seemed right. I realized that as long as he is making music that means something to him that he can sing passionately about then country music is winning every time he gets up on stage, especially the Grammy stage. I mean that is what I know we have been fighting for for so long; is to finally have real quality music like his get the recognition it deserves.
February 13, 2017 @ 3:55 pm
The Bro-Country bimbos were locked out! LOL!!!!