Home » 2026 Grammy Awards Preview: Country Music Dads’ Picks, Snubs, & Surprises

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2026 Grammy Awards Preview: Country Music Dads’ Picks, Snubs, & Surprises

Awards Season is here, so the Country Music Dads must weigh in on what is most deserving, who was snubbed and how the Grammys may be the ultimate dad award show. It’s the 2026 Grammy Awards preview edition of Country Music Dads!

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Mentioned in This Episode:

And the Categories are…

[14:04] Best Country Song

  • Bitin’ List- Tyler Childers
  • Good News- Shaboozey
  • I Never Lie- Zach Top
  • Somewhere Over Laredo- Lainey Wilson
  • A Song to Sing- Miranda Lambert and Chris Stapleton

[20:58] Best Country Solo Performance

  • Nose on the Grindstone- Tyler Childers
  • Good News- Shaboozey
  • Bad As I Used to Be- Chris Stapleton
  • I Never Lie- Zach Top
  • Somewhere Over Lareo- Lainey Wilson

[27:38] Best Country Duo/Group Performance

  • A Song to Sing- Miranda Lambert and Chris Stapleton
  • Trailblazer- Reba McEntire, Miranda Lambert, Lainey Wilson
  • Love Me Like You Used to Do- Margo Price and Tyler Childers
  • Amen- Shaboozey and Jelly Roll
  • Honky Tonk Hall of Fame- George Strait and Chris Stapleton

[33:49] Best Traditional Country Album

  • 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

[42:51] Best Contemporary Country Album

  • Patterns- Kelsea Ballerini
  • Snipe Hunter- Tyler Childers
  • Evangeline Vs. The Machine- Eric Church
  • Beautifully Broken- Jelly Roll
  • Postcards From Texas- Miranda Lambert

References:

Transcript

This is Country Music Dads, the parenting podcast with a twang. We’re driving a highly subjective, comically contrarian, often irreverent conversation about fatherhood and country music, for people who have a passion for both.

My name is Donnie, and I’m a country music dad.

I’m Dave, and I’m also a country music dad. Award season is here, so it’s time we weigh in on what is most deserving this year of our ears and our attention. It’s the 2026 Grammy Awards Preview Edition of Country Music Dads.

Parents like us are spread thin coming out of the holidays, so let us be your guides as we predict who will win, who should win, and who got snubbed from the world of country music.

Donnie, this year especially, there’s a little bit of extra intrigue this year because there’s a brand new category.

Or two, I guess you could say.

Or two, yeah, so they split the best country album category. There is now a best traditional country album and a best contemporary country album. I think this was a direct result of Beyoncé and Cowboy Carter winning the best country album last year.

It drove a lot of ratings, a lot of social media traffic after last year’s awards in 2025. And now, the power of Beyoncé reverberates to 2026, and there are two categories.

I don’t think that’s the whole story. I think a little bit of what had been happening behind the scenes for a while was that people were pretty sick of highly influenced modern music impacting what was seen as country music.

I think it may have came to a head with Beyoncé, and there’s a lot of reasons for that, but I think what ended up happening was that the traditional category was established or was put into progress for years.

There was a couple of stories that came out in the aftermath of a lot of this saying that the folks at La Honda Records and a few other kind of influential, independent, traditional country music producers were out there saying like, hey, we don’t

have a shot here. We can’t get our guys a shot when you have Nashville Music Row dominating every aspect of this, what is arguably not a traditional view of what country music is.

Take it for what it is, Morgan Wallen doesn’t really make what you could consider the next evolution of country music. He makes the next evolution pop music influenced by a number of different genres, including country.

But he was nominated over the years for a number, wasn’t he?

At least the song, I think the Post Malone song.

The Post Malone song, but that’s a good example, right? Post Malone’s a good example of his music being closer to a more traditional country sound, at least what he likes to play.

This new stuff that he created was much more in line with the highly hip hop influenced, highly trap influenced, sample influenced, and it wasn’t an instrumentally based thing.

Over the years, it shifted, unfortunately, aligned with Beyoncé’s album, I think, for the perception that it was a reaction to it.

In many ways, it was a reaction to the type of music that Beyoncé ended up making and calling her country element, her Beyoncé album that was approaching the country space. Doesn’t matter, perception’s reality, right?

What ends up happening here is that there are two categories, one being traditional, one being contemporary, and we end up with, arguably, a pretty great list of albums, minus a few, that are in both categories. I think it was a good change.

What do you think? You think it was a good move?

Yeah, I was really excited by the change because, for one, it just expands the number of artists that get to be recognized. It’s almost like the college football playoff expanding to 12 teens.

You get more opportunity for somebody to get their name into the ring instead of five. You get 10 different albums that are up for different awards. And I like that.

I like that brings some more recognition to the artists out there. And definitely the more traditional ones that weren’t getting the kind of awards play as they were, as the others, the more the country radio type of acts we’re getting.

There are other categories that break it down like that too. I believe that rhythm and blues has it as well. And so there are a few kind of more traditional categories that have evolved from their more, from their historical place.

Country music has not had its hyphenated experience like many other genres of music. Like rock has its hyphenated experience, you know.

Rock and roll, you know, psychedelic rock, punk rock, new wave, you know, there were just a million different variations on what rock and roll music is and what it has become and how you can create that larger genre that way.

Country music really doesn’t have that, right? You look at what Jelly Roll put out and you look at what Zach Top put out and they’re both played on country radio and it’s called country music.

But if you listen to those songs back to back, they are not the same genre. They just aren’t. They’re not the same type of music.

Sonically, they’re different. From the content of the stories, the approach to their music that’s in it, it’s different, but they’re both seen as country music. They need that hyphenation.

They need that traditional. They need that contemporary. And I think it’s a good move for all the reasons that we’re talking about.

I think it will end up helping redefine a little bit of how we categorize country music within our conversations, because neither is more real than the other.

I think that they just, it allows us to think about it differently without having to have it be some weird competition about what is or isn’t country, which is like my least favorite conversation of all time, because I think it’s silly.

I like Grammy season as a country music fan, because we get the opportunity to give the broader music community a taste of what’s out there.

And so I think the fact that the traditional category is available gives us more chance to show like really what the best of country music we have to offer to people that wouldn’t listen to country music.

Like you probably had the same experience that I have. You meet somebody, you meet a parent at the pickup line or something, and you start talking about music and you mention that you’re in the country music, and they are not.

Yes.

Maybe they’re even anti. And so they’ll throw in like the one country artist they’ve heard of because it was on the radio or it was on the New Year’s Eve special or something. And they’re trying to find common ground if they’re nice.

They’re trying to find common ground with you. But it’s hard in 20 seconds at the pickup line before you have to go to give them your own opinion.

And maybe try something else, try something a little bit different if you want a real taste of the country music that I like.

Yeah, that happened to me this weekend. We dropped off our oldest at his flag football game and we were early. I get there early and drop them off and if the coach isn’t there, I’ll warm up the kids and then get out of the way as quickly as possible.

And then I was talking to one of the other dads and he’s like, oh, you know, we were talking about going out, how we don’t go out as much anymore. He’s like, I go out a couple of times a month, you know, sometimes even a couple of times a week.

He goes, oh, really, where do you go? He’s like, you know, I go to some, I go to music shows and clubs and stuff like that. He’s like, what are you talking about?

And I went into that and he’s like, oh, I don’t like country music. And I was like, okay, cool, we’re done. It was one of those things.

Shut down, shut down, shut down. But I mean, I think it’s, it’s an interesting question, right?

How do you, as dads, who are super into the music, our award shows in general, and the Grammys specifically, relevant to the dad life, you know, I’m excited to watch them. I’m always excited to watch the Grammys.

I think that they’re the, usually the most exciting show, partly because, you know, I’m super into music, but you know, you don’t need to, you don’t need to know music. You don’t need to know all of the music to get the entertainment of the show.

Whereas, if you are watching the Tonys or the Oscars or the, any of the other awards shows, SAG, AFRA, all of those things, you need to have seen the movies, the TV shows, the Broadway shows, whatever it is, or at least have heard the soundtrack or

You gotta have someone to root for.

And you need some context.

You need some context for what those performances are. Like, a scene from a movie, you’re like, it’s kind of cool, a trailer. But, you know, otherwise, it gets hard to root for that.

Whereas the music, you might get exposed to someone you’ve never heard before and be like, oh, wow, I could dig into that. And the investment in time and energy to get into music these days is so low. And that’s a different conversation.

But you could easily just be like, oh, that’s a great song. I’m going to listen to it now. I’m going to put it on my playlist.

And I think it’s a good show. It’s an easy dad show. Because you don’t have to invest a ton of time ahead of time to be ready to enjoy it.

You can dip in a lot.

It’s a long show. It’s three or four hours.

Yeah, I’m going to be watching it on recording, I’m pretty sure.

Yeah, but it’s in the background. I use it for as an out of touch dad. I use it as a way to know what the kids are listening to these days.

Yeah, exactly. Until the country stuff comes on. And then I’m like, I’m dialed in.

I’ve got the back story in case anybody asks in the room. Yeah, I can tell them the significance. But for the other actors, there’s always like some act where I’m like, who is this person?

Yeah.

And then I feel a little old, but I also feel more in tune with culture.

I will say you look significantly younger without your moustache and a beard.

It’s intimidating.

Yeah. Shaving, grooming myself in general, watching award shows. That’s all in my quest for the fountain of youth.

Yes, well.

Here in my early, soon to be mid 40s.

Squarely in my mid 40s.

This is no longer salt and pepper. It’s just perhaps you should cut back on your salt. Anyhow.

We should all, you gotta limit the sodium.

You gotta drink more water and have less sodium.

Yeah.

It’s bad for the blood pressure.

10:40

Biggest Snub: Turnpike Troubadours’ The Price of Admission

Speaking of blood pressure, our picks and predictions for these categories will blow your mind folks. And we will do our level best to relate them back to dad issues in some cases and in other cases they do not.

However, we have to ask, and I have my pick and I might be your pick too, but Dave, what’s the biggest snub?

Speaking of blood pressure, I don’t know how you’ve kept yourself from expressing your opinion, screaming your opinion into the microphone about the snub. But I think we probably have the same answer.

I’ll let you go first.

As soon as the traditional country album category was out there, Turnpike Troubadours put out The Price of Admission, which was a great album.

Like top to bottom.

I thought it was a lock for being a nominee for traditional country album. First listen, first time through, I was like, this is really great.

It’s the best Turnpike album there’s been. I know that’s saying a lot and I could change my mind, I could debate myself on that. But it shows such restraint and such creativity and such a dedication of craft and the production is incredible.

The songwriting, so the addition and the growth of the band to do its own backing vocals and how clean and smart it was, I can’t believe it didn’t get nominated. I have my theories on it.

I think it has to do with how they put the album out without any sort of pre-game or slow drip of singles or anything like that, but I still don’t get it. I think it’s flawless and it should have been nominated.

It’s a shame. Maybe this will just go into the further fuel, the Turnpike war. They’re always getting snubbed, not to keep on doing better and better work.

And eventually, this category sticks around. They’ll get their recognition. We can hope for that.

Yeah, that was somewhat shocking.

But I do think it was a product of their approach and less anything else. They put together a campaign for it to be nominated.

They were out there doing interviews around the time the nominations were happening, but not in the concerted effort that they did for Cat in the Rain, not the concerted effort that, say, Charley Crockett was out there, or Zach Top, or Lainey Wilson,

which is an unfair comparison because she has such a machine behind her. But like those folks really were out there making their case and it was not the same.

For Turnpike, that’s part of the allure and I think the value and probably the dad angle that I find the most compelling. Also, there were so many good songs about growing up, becoming a father, having a father, having it be complicated.

It’s like that album we could go deep on, but that’s another time. Perhaps we do that for the Grammys. Maybe we go song by song after the Grammys and be like, this is why this sucker deserved it.

Yeah, but they aren’t on the list.

If the Recording Academy won’t give them their due, then the Country Music Dads will do it. We’ll make up for it.

The Country Music Dads podcast goes to Turnpike Troubadours. Evan, if you’re listening, you’re always welcome.

That’s right.

Okay, best country song we have.

14:04

Best Country Song

Byton List by Tyler Childers, Good News by Shibuzy, I Never Lie by Zach Top, Somewhere Over Laredo by Lainey Wilson, and finally, A Song to Sing by Miranda Lambert and Chris Stapleton. Let’s do this thing. Who’s your pick?

Who do you think is going to win?

I like this list. I like the nominees. I do.

I enjoyed all these songs. And we both are Tyler Childers stans on the show.

A little bit, yeah.

So, like, I mean, Biting List is so good, and it kind of went viral. Not a thing about the way you is. It was on, it’s very meme-able, especially in this climate.

There’s a lot of just vitriol out there on social media. So to like talk about having a bitin list for the people that you despise most. And just the way he talks about it, he’s like kind of nice about it.

So it just, it was such a clever song. It’s a weird song. So I was happy to see it on the list of nominees because it’s just, it’s so, it’s out there.

It made me laugh. It’s very country and had like the barking sounds.

They made that.

Yeah. The singers were barking on the track. Yeah.

So I would love for this one to win, but I’m afraid it’s, it’s maybe too weird.

Yeah. I can see that. I’m going to give some love to some of the other songs that I don’t necessarily like that much.

I think Good News by Shibuzy is surprisingly well-constructed. I think that he’s a very good songwriter. I think he’s an incredibly cool performer.

I like his music. It’s not my usual type of music, but I definitely don’t turn off his stuff when it comes on the radio. I like it a lot.

I think it’s fun. I think it’s exactly what it should be. But it’s like four steps above mindless.

There are good turns of phrases. There’s smart lyricism. It’s interesting musically.

It’s everything I want in a song like that. Somewhere Over Laredo is well-constructed, but I have a real hard time picturing it in any other context besides her on her private plane. So it just like, I don’t really feel that vibe.

You know, like, it’s hard for me to associate her without the fame, and it’s hard for me not to see her as this massive, huge star, something that she worked for decades to achieve and has.

It’s hard to be like, oh, she’s like, sitting in the back of a Southwest flight, sad about, you know, window seat. Yeah, you took the window seat facing backwards this time, as opposed to the one facing forward.

You know, like, eh, I’m not really feeling this song.

Yeah, but it’s your champagne to drown out your sorrows.

Not feeling it.

That one, I had a visceral reaction to that one, because it’s clearly a play on Somewhere Over the Rainbow. And like, that’s like, that’s clever.

Oh, it’s well-written.

It’s a great song. My reaction was more that I love Somewhere Over the Rainbow, especially the is version. The Hawaiian ukulele player and singer.

And so just hearing this like, this perversion of that perfect song was, it just bothered me a little bit. So I don’t want this one to win.

I hear that. I don’t think it will.

Lainey has had her time?

No, I just don’t think this is the one where she wins it. Honestly, I think that she also has a pretty good chance in different categories below. But I think a song over performance, honestly, she probably wins it here if she wins it for this song.

I think the lock on this one, I gotta say, is I Never Lie, by Zack Talbot. Because not only…

I didn’t think you were going to say that because that’s the one that I hope wins.

Oh, I don’t hope it wins. I think it does win though. I love that song.

I think Biting List is a much more creative song, and I Never Lie has been written in every generation of country music. And it’s a well-crafted song. It’s clever, but like Eric Church wrote a song like that, and George Jones sang a song like that.

And there are countless other examples of quick witty turns of phrases of I don’t miss you anymore. She thinks I Still Care is the same song. I love that song.

And like it’s a great song. Don’t get me wrong, but it’s the same song. It’s the same concept.

It’s the same construct. It’s the, oh, I bumped into my ex or my ex heard I was talking. I don’t really care.

Maybe I’m biased because that’s one of my favorite types of country songs.

So even though it’s been done over and over again, whenever I hear one, like Hayes Carl does one, she’ll come back to me. I can’t get enough of them.

So when Zach Top seemingly brought it back to the mainstream, and that’s his whole thing is that he’s Mr. Bring Back the 90s. He had a lot to do with the popularization of that sound coming back to the mainstream.

So I feel like this is like the cherry on top. All right, Zach, nice job. Here’s your award and…

But that’s why he should get it for performance, in my opinion.

So the song is about the writing and the creativity of the actual song. The performance is the recording, the actual performance of it. I don’t think it’s that creative.

And when you take a look at the other songs that are in here, Biting List is so creative. And I think that that’s part of its lore. I think it’s so different and it’s so over the top.

And it’s really great. I Never Lie I think wins for all the reasons that you are outlining it. It’s responsible.

It has had extreme exposure on pop country radio. It’s a good song too. And it’s pretty.

It’s well done. And Somewhere Over the Radio has also been highly exposed. And Good News too.

And I think Good News is also a really well constructed song. My pick that I’d love to see obviously is Childers for a number of different reasons, because chief among them is the creativity of it. I think it’s so much different.

No argument for me there.

For sure.

All right. So we’ve already started it.

20:58

Best Country Solo Performance

We’ve got best country solo performance. We got Nose to the Grindstone by Tyler Childers. Good News again by our good friend Shibuzy.

Bad as I Used to Be by Chris Stapleton. I Never Lie by Mr. Zach Top.

And Somewhere Over Laredo by Lainey. Where are you picking here?

So I get your argument about I Never Lie for Zach Top. That maybe this is the more appropriate category. Nose on the Grindstone blew me away when I heard this rendition.

I think it was the first single that he put out off of Snipe Hunter. And I was anticipating a lot because Rick Rubin was producing the album. And so this is the first taste of what Rick Rubin was going to do for Childers.

And it just made me think immediately of like the Johnny Cash American recordings that Rubin produced. It was just haunting. And it gave me a new appreciation of the song because it’s been around for a while.

I think he did, he recorded like an acoustic version of it. He’s played it and it’s out there on YouTube. This is just, it took it to the next level, I think.

It was just, it sounded different. Sounded like a different song than I’d heard before. And also, it’s got a dad’s message too.

It’s like he’s getting dad advice, he’s having a conversation with his dad about how tough life is. And he’s gone through the classic dad platitudes.

I think you could make that argument for bad as I used to be too, Chris Stapleton. Like, oh, I used to go out, but my back hurts. And he has what, like 75 children at this point?

He does, yeah, more than Tyler does so far.

Yes.

And I think more than you, which is really quite impressive. That’s correct. Like, he has a basketball team.

Yeah, Chris Stapleton, he’s making the Chris and Morgan are setting the tone.

I’m just trying to catch up.

I’m done.

When that one was nominated, I thought, for sure, this is the one I’m rooting for. This one, I think, should win. And the other is just, I don’t know, I just like forgot about the other ones.

Like, they’re not even here.

Yeah, yeah. I really love Nose to the Grindstone. I’m a little surprised they chose that one off of the album to push for solo performance.

I don’t know if that’s exactly how it works. You do nominate yourself or you have someone nominate you.

You submit or you apply.

Yeah. I think it’s probably the best performance because it’s the solo performance. There’s an argument to be made for many songs on that album to have been considered for that.

Getting to the Bottom, I think, is possibly, I think honestly getting to the bottom may have been a better country song, may have been a better performance. I think that’s my favorite song on the album.

I think there are great references and callbacks and allusions to previous work about him and drug use in that song. Also it has the best description of hot weather I’ve ever heard. It is outstanding.

And for those of you who don’t know, I highly recommend you looking up the lyrics to that one.

Perhaps. One of the many times when I just burst out laughing in the car when the song came on. I couldn’t believe what he said.

Yeah.

I was listening to it unbeknownst to me. I was like, oh, Tyler Childers, maybe he’ll drop an F-bomb or two. And he did in the early end.

The play’s like, okay, well, that’s no big deal.

F-bombs are dropped.

And then that description came on and my oldest son looked at me and went, I was like, damn it.

That didn’t even get an E for explicit. I know. It’s just he describes it in a very-

Such a vivid detail.

And in a clean way somehow.

Not quite.

Anyway, if you don’t know the lyrics to that one, I recommend you go listen to those, perhaps with earphones and not your children, or with your children if you’re into that sort of thing.

Speaking of listening to these songs with children in the car, I Never Lie, another reason that I was a fan of the song and I would be happy to see it when I’m in either one of these.

Because of the irony that is the crux of that song and that type of song, I had a great conversation with my son about irony in the car because he realized that these were all lies and the song was called I Never Lie. Yeah.

It’s cool when they catch on to that stuff.

So it has that kind of memory attached to it for me. Like I experienced it with my kid and he understood it. So maybe it’s at the level in my mind because of that moment.

My pick for this one, actually surprisingly, I’m between who I want to win on this.

I would be completely happy with anybody but Chris Stapleton in this category. I’d love to see Childers sweep. That’d be awesome.

I think that he deserves it. I think this album is seminal work, arguably top five most important albums, period, made last year. It’s so different and so important to Roots music and to Country music and to modern American music.

I think it is a phenomenal record. I’m actually a little surprised it didn’t get a big boy category also, like the best album of the year, because it was masterfully put together.

Because looking back, sometimes the Sturgill Simpson album from way back, that got nominated and was in the best album category, a really important piece of Country music that was put out, that influenced a decade of music.

Going forward, this is going to influence a decade, if not more, of Roots and Americana and Country music.

Every song on it is brilliant, every song on it is fun, and that’s what makes it so great, is that it’s not painfully serious, it doesn’t take itself seriously, but it is important, it is serious in some places. It’s a real interesting piece of work.

So yeah, I’m good with any of them except for Chris. Chris, buddy, apologies. Also, you’re always invited on the pod anytime you want to come on.

Dad, you’re totally welcome here, but I don’t think you should win this category.

Yeah, I was so worried that he will, because he seems to always win.

Yes.

27:38

Best Country Duo/Group Performance

Dave here.

I hope you’re enjoying the show so far. I wanted to let you know that Donny and I are planning Season 3, and as part of that, we want to hear from you, dear listener. Through February 28th, we are running a listener survey on our website.

You can find it at countrymusictads.com/feedback. It’s also linked in the show notes. It’ll take about two minutes to fill out, and I hope you do, because we are curious what you want to hear from us in Season 3.

What’s working, what isn’t, and what kinds of country music and parenting content are you looking for in 2026? Can’t wait to hear from you, and again, you’ll find the survey at countrymusictads.com/feedback until February 28th.

And now, back to the show.

That’s a good transition into best country duos and group performances, because he has two chances in this one.

So we have this lovely category, A Song to Sing by Miranda Lambert and our boy, Chris Stapleton, Trailblazer by Ariba, Miranda, and Lainey. So again, Miranda’s got a double go here.

Love Me Like You Used to Do, Margo Price and Tyler Childers, very interesting song. Amen by Shibuzy and Jelly Roll, and then Honky Tonk Hall of Fame by no other than George Strait and Mr. Chris Stapleton.

What are your thoughts?

So I want to hear what you thought first for this group.

This is an interesting group of people. This one feels very much like some of these songs were created so that they could be in a category for awards.

I’m with you there.

Trailblazer and Honky Tonk Hall of Fame, and maybe even a song to sing, feel like they were developed to be like, who could we get on this to make sure we get a Grammy nom? That’s how they feel to me.

They’re not bad songs, they’re not bad performances. I just, I’m like, really? Did we need a George Strait, Chris Stapleton?

I like that song, the song is really fun.

It’s a Honky Tonk song, and I also like that they have that kind of a song that’ll be showcased at the Grammys. I think that’s cool. All-time great, George Strait, and Chris Stapleton, the perennial winner.

It does seem like it was just kind of, let’s get the All-Star team together. Same with the Trailblazer song, which I like, because it’s interesting, it’s like multiple generations of female singers. It’s like checking all the boxes.

So I could see that one winning for that reason. And not to be too much of a Childers stan, but again, I really like that song, Love Me Like You Used To Do. It sounds different than all the other ones.

It also speaks to love that has aged, and we both have very long-term committed relationships with our-

We are aging.

We are aging.

Along with our relationships.

Yeah, exactly.

We’ve been together for a long time with our wives, and there are parts of that song that speak to me loudly. I mean, you know, like, there’s an entire- There’s a whole vibe of that.

It’s like, you need to do more than sit on the couch and watch reruns. You know, there’s- And that, I think, is what makes it an interesting song.

It just is, it’s a very pretty performance. I don’t think it wins. I think Amen by Shibuzy and Jelly Roll wins.

And I think honestly, that’s a great performance. It’s a lot of fun. I don’t know if I love the message.

I don’t know if I’m really pleased with the utilization of monochromatic religious expression as part of something that should be central to Country Music.

Whether or not it always has been or not, the use of it in this context feels different to me as an observer and an outsider to that religion than say gospel albums of the past like a George Jones gospel album or you know, the gospel that made its

way into different parts of it. This feels much more intentional of like, hey, look, this is us. This is what we do. And I don’t love that.

I think that that’s a somewhat strange place to be a fan of if that’s not your, your expression, but that’s a good song and that’s a good performance. And I think they’ll want to award both of those guys.

And I think that people heard them both all over the place for the past year and a half, and not only did they, you know, do their time and get their due, that it’s a good song, it’s a good, good performance, a great recording of it, too.

And so there’s, there’s a lot going for Amen. I think that one wins.

And really, I think we hope the Margo Price, Tyler Childers song wins.

I think so, too.

The depth of the message there.

It speaks to me. It’s much more personal to me. But I think that Amen wins because it’s of the moment.

I think that that’s the one that takes it. And I think that that’s an, we can get into this as we get to the real exciting categories here.

But I think that the reason why Margo Price’s album is in traditional and Tyler’s is in contemporary is a testament to approach and concept. And I think that this song, it is on Margo Price’s album.

It is a great song and placed in such an interesting place on her album. It’s such a traditional song in a modern context. It is a wildly powerful duet.

Not a featured artist. It is a duet. It is a classic Tammy and George type of song.

And you could hear them singing that song. You could hear any of these groups, any of those duets from that time period. It could be Loretta Lynn and Conway Twitty could have sung this one.

It would have been a little bit funnier, but I think they could have done it. I think that Tammy and George could have done it. And I think a number of other big-name duets could have covered this song.

But, you know, it’s all the more powerful that Margo wrote it with her husband, Jeremy Ivy. And, like, there’s just a lot in it that I think is really quite impressive. Then again, I don’t think it’s, but that’s just me.

34:33

Best Traditional Country Album

Moving along to the albums, the big headers.

So we’ll start with Best Traditional Country Album. There was Dollar a Day by Charley Crockett, American Romance by Lukas Nelson, Oh, What a Beautiful World by Willie Nelson, Hard-Headed Woman by Margo Price, and Ain’t It for My Health, Zach Top.

Again, I’m so happy that they had this whole list. Just makes me happy because they had the opportunity, the traditional country album category is here, and we get to celebrate these albums.

Albums that I feel like in years past wouldn’t have been on the list. Something like Dollar a Day by Crockett. That’s the kind of person I want to bring forward to my non-country music appreciating friends and say, give this one a try.

Doesn’t this vibe appeal to you? It’s a great album. Charlie’s put out so many albums, but this one’s gotten a lot more listens from me.

It’s a great album.

Than those other ones because it just sticks with you.

It’s got a lot of variety.

The writing is good.

The production is great, too. It’s great. His voice is great.

His voice is addictive. That’s why I want non-country music fans to hear this guy and know who he is, and give him a try and then maybe give other traditional country music artists a try too.

I agree with that 100 percent.

I think that this, as opposed to the negative storyline of Beyonce winning the category last year, I think the positive of Charley Crockett for what was a wildly country music album and Ciara Farrell with a wildly country music album both being

nominated in Americana last year, those two albums had no place in an Americana space. Those were country music albums. I think part of that is why he took a look at a lot of the Americana over the years.

It was very much traditional country music done with a little bit more, I don’t know, attitude or something. I’m really happy that Crockett is up for this.

I think that his trilogy of albums that he’s working on with Shooter has elevated him to a new level. I think his record deal and his management has elevated him to a new level, and it’s great to see that he’s here. It’s fantastic.

I have no interest in him winning this cap. That’s my statement.

Okay.

I don’t think he will because I just don’t. But I also, this is not my pick for this one. American Romance by Lukas Nelson is just so low.

And again, speaks to people who are aging a little bit, who have different expectations and dreams. And I like this album a lot. It’s really spectacular.

Top to bottom, top to bottom. It’s spectacular. It’s beautiful.

It’s a beautiful album.

That was another one that struck me just on the first time through. There’s just certain songs that I would be doing something else and just have to sit there and restart it. And yeah, there’s a great album.

Very cool. He’s nominated in the same category as his dad. And I mean, does anyone beat Willie Nelson in this category?

He’s another one like Stapleton. I feel like he’s always winning this kind of thing, especially like when it’s something like the Grammys.

It would be unfortunate. I’ll say it. I think that you can’t say enough about Willie Nelson.

The guy’s 90 years old. He’s been doing this for 70 years. He has some of the most important written songs in any genre.

He has written probably more than anybody in any recorded place in large part because he’s been doing it for 70 years. But this album is not as good as the other ones that are in this category. It just isn’t.

And I think the fact that the album’s good, don’t get me wrong, there’s some great songs on it. There’s some great performances on it. It’s well constructed.

It’s well produced. It’s the order is smart. There’s nothing wrong with this.

It’s a good, it’s a good country music album. His son’s album is better. Without question, Charley Crockett’s album is better.

Zach Top’s album’s fine. But Margo Price has the best album in this category. The best constructed, best thought out, best laid out, best written, best produced album right here.

And maybe not best produced. I don’t know enough to know that it’s the best produced. But the song order, the approach, the song choice, the way she wrote it, the songs she chose that she didn’t write, there’s nothing wrong with the album.

And it’s artistic and smart and creative, and exactly a Critics Darling type of album. And it 100% deserves to win this category. It’s the best album that’s on this list.

And you know, there’s no one here who doesn’t deserve to be here.

That’s why I worry about the Willie Nelson album because like when I listened through, I was preparing myself to not like it because again, it’s like we’ve heard Willie for so many years. I think I know what this is going to sound like.

There’s just a reason that he’s a legend. So I was like, you know what? I like this.

This is good. He doesn’t make bad stuff.

No, he doesn’t.

So it’s almost unfair when he comes into a category like this. All right.

Let’s talk about Zach Top for a second. Okay.

I’m a little confused. This is not the same album with I Never Lie On It. The timing seems off to me.

Yeah.

I think you’re right.

Yeah. The singles off this one were like Splitsville and South of Sanity. Yeah.

My favorite song on this one was definitely the one about swerving and crashing your car.

Between the Ditches.

Thank you.

Between the Ditches. That’s my favorite song on that album. I also think this is not his best album.

I agree.

I agree.

Country Music is a better album.

Yeah. The one with I Never Lie On It. That was the Zach Top album right there.

Yeah. I was surprised to see it on the list actually.

Yeah. It’s well constructed. Songs flow together.

It’s fine. But I really don’t think it’s that good. But I don’t think it’s as good as Cold Beer and Country Music.

But I don’t think we were ready to nominate Cold Beer and Country Music last year because we had too many major kind of contemporary albums to do. That said, it’s not as good as the other. It just isn’t.

But he does, he, Zach Top and his machine, deserved to be at the Grammys for what they’ve done, what they’ve made, but for what they’ve done. Come at me, Zach. If I see you out there in the street, I will be very nice to you.

You seem like a nice kid. But dude, find your voice. We don’t need another one of whoever you’re making an image of.

That’s the thing that I think is just really frustrating about this album. His first one, fine. Try to sound like the kings of the early 90s.

I think that’s a totally normal thing to do. Everybody did it. George Jones did it.

Johnny Cash did it. George Strait did it. All of those guys tried to sound like somebody else, and then they found their voice.

I was hoping that he would on this album. I don’t think he did yet. Maybe the next one he will.

I don’t know. He’s not going anywhere. He’s a major star of the genre, and he’s making a lot of music.

Yeah, let’s see the next pivot from Zach Top.

Yeah, I don’t even need him to pivot.

I just need him to find his voice. I want it to sound like Zach Top. I don’t need it to sound like any of the other dudes who have already done this.

And it’s unfortunate it wasn’t Cold Beer and Country Music because that’s a much better album. Just hands down. That said, Margo Price doesn’t win this one.

I’m renouncing my Grammy membership. I’m not a Grammy member, so.

Are you a member at the museum or something?

No, I always go with my library card.

It’s a great museum.

It’s a lot of fun.

It is. It is. Yeah, and I feel like that album, too, for our time.

She’s edgy and she has some social commentary in there. This would be a really good win for sure.

I’d love to see what she has to say, giving a mic on national television.

Oh, yeah.

The sensors better be quick on the button.

43:35

Best Contemporary Country Album

Okay, still the last one.

You don’t sound excited to talk about the best contemporary country album, but you already said your piece about Snipe Hunter by Tyler Childers. The other albums that you care to hear, there’s Patterns by Kelsey Ballerini, Evangelion Vs.

The Machine, Eric Church, Beautifully Broken by Jelly Roll, Postcards from Texas, Miranda Lambert.

Couple of edits I’d like to make to this category. Number one, Postcards from Texas belongs in the traditional country album.

You can come fight me on that, but Miranda Lambert has always made what could be considered modernized traditional Texas country music.

That’s true. That one didn’t seem to fit.

That doesn’t fit there.

It’s fun, but yeah, it would have been a better match up to put it against the others.

Yep. And I think with due respect to the younger Nelson, who is in the traditional album, American Romance could have been in another category. It could have been Americana.

It could have even been contemporary country music. Because it is definitely a country album. There’s no two ways about it.

But it leans a little bit more towards the Americana side of that Venn diagram. It’s squarely in country. But it could have been elsewhere.

And it deserves to be nominated. Don’t get me wrong. It is fabulous.

But postcards from Texas, I think-

Because those two switched, Miranda and that.

It could have been. Yeah. I think Texas country music is always modern.

And that’s a big statement. However you want to take it, go back all the way to Western Swing and Bob Wills and all that. That’s modern.

It’s incorporating other different things, other different genres to create something that is exciting for the modern times, for the dance hall, for what’s going on.

And you know, fast forward all the way to like the early 90s and mid 90s and late 90s, you have like Pat Green and Robert Earl Keene a little bit earlier.

And like those guys are making Texas country music, which is modern and different, but it’s still deeply rooted in acoustic guitar, electric guitar, fiddle, drums, that sound. And you can kind of see, and they’re different.

The influences are different. And Miranda Lambert is not different in my mind. Like she’s always said, GTFO, I’m going to do what I want.

And I’m going to create the music that I want to be making all the way back to her first album in the mid 90s. So like I think there may be a misconception. I think it’s a good album.

I really do. I liked it when it came out. I thought the singles were smart and fun.

I thought they were great.

I’m a big Miranda Lambert.

I saw her in Vegas. Her show in Vegas was fun. I think she puts on a great show.

I think it was a very great Vegas experience. I like her. I think this is a good album.

It has a chance to win, but I don’t think it will. I obviously would love to see Snipe Hunter win for all the reasons I outlined before. Jelly Roll can take a back seat.

I don’t need to talk about him. I congratulate him on his health journey.

You have to cover Men’s Health.

I have no interest in him. I think he seems like a real nice guy. He’s going to try to sell me on something.

I feel like it’s either some like a multi-marketing scheme or like he wants me to come to church for the supper. It’s just for the food, man. Don’t worry about it.

We’ll just talk about Jesus. I get it. You do you, buddy.

I’m going to do me. I don’t like him. I don’t like his music.

I get a weird vibe from him. And I don’t think the answer.

Are you afraid he’s going to win this category though?

Yeah, I am afraid of it.

This is contemporary. This is like the direction that Radio Country is going in. He’s one of the biggest superstars over there now.

I think that here’s the question.

I don’t think a lot of the songs are bad either.

No, I think they’re perfectly fine. The songs are good. I don’t really like to listen to his voice personally.

I actually wish he would rap more because I think he’s better at rapping than he is at singing. As a former country rapper, the way he delivers the verses can sound good, but I didn’t enjoy the album that was very long.

Yes, and that’s another thing that I think is problematic with the new radio approach, this 30, 28 song, 50 song, 120 song album thing. It’s a flex on a number of different levels, but it just shows a lack of editing and construction of an album.

I think that’s an important element of this. It’s not an enjoyable listening experience after the first hour. Like enough already, dude.

I will say Evangeline Versus The Machine blew my socks off when I heard it the first time. I listened to it 10 times that weekend. It’s high on my list of songs and albums that I loved last year.

I didn’t write about it in my year-end review because Eric Church doesn’t need any love from me. I thought it was really good and I think it also shows his progression and maturity. Like he’s gotten more.

There’s more of Eric Church than there was. The thing-

I also, in spite of myself, I really like that album because-

Are you not an Eric Church fan? I’m not a big Eric Church guy and then- Why not?

Those are the wrong kind.

I know what I’m hearing. I’ve got the aviators near the front. But yeah, I don’t feel like he’s genuine.

He doesn’t convince me. Then he tries different things as an artist and I can appreciate that. But I also feel like he expects his fans to love everything that he puts out there, even when it’s a little confusing.

Counterpoint, Snipehunter.

Yeah, so I’m checking myself a little bit because I did, again, in spite of myself, I’m not a big church guy, but eventually for Slusheen, I think that worked.

That really worked. It was really good and it’s different.

But it’s still truly country. There’s a real vibe to it.

Yeah.

I think the sleeper in this category is Patterns by Kelsey Ballerini because that sucker is good. That is a great artistic country album. That is modern and progressive in the musical sense and in the content sense.

I thought I don’t like Kelsey Ballerini all that much. She doesn’t make music for me. I’m not a younger woman, but that doesn’t mean I can’t like what they’re making.

It just doesn’t speak to me as clearly as these old guys with white beards. There’s something to it. Or older women who have experience in life.

You know, like Margo, she’s our age and she’s seen some s**t. And I don’t know Kelsey’s story. I don’t know what her deal is.

I don’t know what she’s been through. That album, that’s a sleeper in this category. And I think it very much could easily take it.

And it would be well deserved. I mean, my bias against Jelly Roll aside, all of these albums are well placed in this category and could win it.

I think the weaknesses of Jelly Roll’s singing, the length of the album and the boring quality of the songs, because they get a little repetitive. Any one of these albums could win because they are very interesting and different.

Postcards from Texas is a departure for Miranda Lambert too. It is a trek back to what she wanted to be making all along. Eric Church’s album is great.

Tyler Childers’ album is mind-blowing. There’s nothing in this category that doesn’t deserve to be here. Obviously, I’m rooting for Tyler Childers.

I would be fine with anybody winning it.

Jelly Roll. You called Kelsey Ballerini’s album a sleeper. It actually put me to sleep.

Very good.

So that one didn’t stick out to me.

None of the songs really caught my attention. It kind of sounds like a lot of different pop artists.

I did check myself a little bit with the love for Snipe Hunter because I’m so invested in Tyler Childers’ journey from drugs to being sober and maintaining his talent and his artistry and his songwriting through all that.

I was looking forward to this album and then it delivered for me. My judgment is skewed because I’m a fan already. I think maybe it might get too weird.

I hope it’s not.

I think that’s why it’s not in the album of the year. But it also has a dad song on it. So you got Watch Out.

That’s pure dad music right there. It’s telling your kid what you should and shouldn’t do while walking in the woods. It’s universal.

I got to say it’s a really great album. I’ve talked myself out of it a bit.

And Rick Rubin is like a kingmaker too. So his names on the album, that alone should give it a leg up. Although I think that my official prediction is that Eric Church Chief takes it home.

Revenge Lane Wrist Machine.

I do too. I could be convinced to say Jelly Roll takes this category.

You just don’t want to say that. But now it’s on.

It’s been recorded. I think that it does.

Part of this is, and this goes to the whole country genre, is that you only get to vote in so many categories, as I think, because I read the rules of the voting for the Grammys, and they are wildly complicated.

You don’t get to vote in every single category. And if you don’t know people that well, or you don’t know the music that well, or you don’t know the genre very well, you may skip it.

Country music, while wildly popular right now, doesn’t have the same respect as some of the other even roots-based genres that are in the Grammy nomination categories. And sometimes that leads to people skipping it.

So if they’re going to go into it, and they are not wildly invested in the range of country music, and they don’t want to listen to ten full albums to get caught up, they may go through this and say, you know what, that Jelly Roll character has been

everywhere, and he’s been doing great work, and he has been popular on the radio, and he clearly has the ear of critics who care about this, he gets my vote, or they just skip it altogether. And I think that a little bit of this is the history is

made by the people who show up aspect. I think that could flip both ways for him, but I do think that the casual listener who finds all of those albums to be interesting and good has no kind of back story or bias against him may say this guy deserves

it because of the work he did. I think that’s why Zach Top is here. I think people said, oh, this guy deserves it. And there’s something to that.

But yeah, I hope he doesn’t win it because I don’t think his album is as good as the others that are in this list.

There you have it. Tune in on Sunday alongside us as we find out who actually takes home the prize. Thank you for listening as we previewed the Grammy Awards for you.

I hope you enjoyed it. If you agreed, disagreed, were triggered by anything that we said, let us know in the comments on Instagram.

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