Welcome, Beyoncé, to the Americana movement. Among the R&B superstar’s personal record of 11 Grammy Award nominations announced on Friday is her song “Yaya”, a wild, finger-snapping, drum-line pounding, explicit track from the album Cowboy Carter. The innovative, country-inspired concept opus is up for Album of the Year overall and Best Country album too. The rest of the Americana and American roots fields look more conventional, with strong showings by Sierra Ferrell, Shemekia Copeland, and Aoife O’Donovan.
Ferrell rounds out a big year (she won Americana Artist and Album of the Year in September) with four Grammy nominations: Best Americana Album (Trail of Flowers), Best American Roots Song (“American Dreaming” co-written with Melody Walker), Best Americana Performance for the same song, and Best American Roots Performance (for “Lighthouse”). The West Virginia born songwriter worked through a hardscrabble upbringing and years of busking and living rough to emerge in the last few years with one of the most distinctive sounds and looks in authentic country music.
Fellow Rounder Records artist Sarah Jarosz took a poppier direction on her 2024 album Polaroid Lovers and landed nods for Best Americana Album and Best Americana Performance for the song “Runaway Train.” The rest of the album field is rich with the genre’s most intriguing talents and one veteran making a comeback: T Bone Burnett’s brooding The Other Side, Maggie Rose’s soul/pop opus No One Gets Out Alive, Charley Crockett’s bluesy $10 Cowboy, and Tiger’s Blood by Alabama gothic folk artist Waxahatchee.
Blues/Americana songwriter and singer Shemekia Copeland, a five time nominee, is still seeking her first win, but has a good chance with three fresh nods: Best Contemporary Blues Album for Blame It On Eve, plus Best American Roots Song and Performance for the title track. Other notable nominations the 2025 Grammys include Rhiannon Giddens’s “Ballad of Sally Anne” (Best American Roots Performance), Gillian Welch and David Rawlings’s Woodland (Best Folk Album and Best Americana Performance), and Aoife O’Donovan’s All My Friends (Best Folk Album and Best American Roots Song).
In the Bluegrass Album category, Nashville’s Bronwyn Keith-Hynes landed a surprise first nomination for her May release I Built A World. Other nominations went to more established acts: the Del McCoury Band, Billy Strings, Sister Sadie, Tony Trischka, and Dan Tyminski.
The 67th GRAMMY Awards will take place Sunday, Feb. 2 at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, broadcast live on CBS and on demand on Paramount+.
A list of roots music nominees follows.
Best American Roots Performance
The Fabulous Thunderbirds Featuring Bonnie Raitt, Keb’ Mo’, Taj Mahal & Mick Fleetwood - Nothing in Rambling
Rhiannon Giddens - The Ballad of Sally Anne
Shemekia Copeland - Blame It on Eve
Sierra Ferrell - Lighthouse
Best Americana Performance
Beyoncé - Ya Ya
Gillian Welch & David Rawlings - Empty Trainload of Sky
Madi Diaz & Kacey Musgraves - Don’t Do Me Good
Madison Cunningham - Subtitles
Sarah Jarosz - Runaway Train
Sierra Ferrell - American Dreaming
Best American Roots Song
Aoife O’Donovan - All My Friends
Iron & Wine & Fiona Apple - All in Good Time
Mark Knopfler - Ahead of the Game
Shemekia Copeland - Blame It on Eve
Sierra Ferrell - American Dreaming
Best Americana Album
Charley Crockett - $10 Cowboy
Maggie Rose - No One Gets Out Alive
Sarah Jarosz - Polaroid Lovers
Sierra Ferrell - Trail of Flowers
T Bone Burnett - The Other Side
Waxahatchee - Tigers Blood
Best Bluegrass Album
Billy Strings - Live Vol. 1
Bronwyn Keith-Hynes - I Built a World
Dan Tyminski - Dan Tyminski: Live From the Ryman
The Del McCoury Band - Songs of Love and Life
Sister Sadie - No Fear
Tony Trischka - Earl Jam
Best Traditional Blues Album
Cedric Burnside - Hill Country Love
The Fabulous Thunderbirds - Struck Down
Little Feat - Sam’s Place
Sue Foley - One Guitar Woman
Taj Mahal - Swingin’: Live at the Church in Tulsa
Best Contemporary Blues Album
Antonio Vergara - The Fury
Joe Bonamassa - Blues Deluxe Vol. 2
Ruthie Foster - Mileage
Shemekia Copeland - Blame It on Eve
Steve Cropper & The Midnight Hour - Friendlytown
Best Folk Album
Adrianne Lenker - Bright Future
American Patchwork Quartet - American Patchwork Quartet
Aoife O’Donovan - All My Friends
Gillian Welch & David Rawlings - Woodland
Madi Diaz - Weird Faith
Best Regional Roots Music Album
Big Chief Monk Featuring J’wan Boudreaux - Live at the 2024 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival
Kalani Pe'a - Kuini
New Breed Brass Band Featuring Trombone Shorty - Live at the 2024 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival
The Rumble - Stories From the Battlefield
Sean Ardoin & Kreole Rock and Soul - 25 Back to My Roots
