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Sierra Ferrell Wins The Afternoon; Cowboy Carter Caps The Night At The 67th Grammy Awards

Sierra Ferrell accepts one of her four Grammy Awards on Sunday, here with Melody Walker, who shared the Best American Roots Song for "American Dreaming."
Sierra Ferrell accepts one of her four Grammy Awards on Sunday, here with Melody Walker, who shared the award for Best American Roots Song for "American Dreaming."

With the recent arena-sized success of Billy Strings, Red Clay Strays, Jason Isbell and (coming soon) Alison Krauss, it’s been easy to make the case that roots and Americana music have been riding as high as ever - doing well by making hand-and-heart-crafted art. And I still think that’s true day-to-day. The Grammy Awards aren’t every day though, and in the 2025 edition of "music's biggest night," roots music didn’t get much of a chance to make an impression or tell its story.

Recall last year on this Monday morning, the country was basking in the glow of Tracy Chapman reviving “Fast Car” with Luke Combs and Joni Mitchell singing “Both Sides Now” from a throne with Brandi Carlile, Allison Russell and Sista Strings in support. This year, even with Bob Dylan on everybody’s mind and times a’ changin’ faster than many people feel good about, the simple song well-sung felt outshone by a parade of pop, including the charming, self-aware glitz of Sabrina Carpenter, the flamboyant and fiery Chappell Roan, and the wildly creative rapping of Doechii.

And yet. An ambitious remix and reimagining of country music’s long and complicated story - sounds like Americana - made the night’s banner headline, as Beyoncé won her first, long-sought, Album Of The Year Grammy Award for the brave and surprising, entertaining and challenging Cowboy Carter. The superstar seemed to cast off a weight when her name was called, and in her acceptance, she referenced the first Black woman to put a chink in the glass ceiling over artists like her in 1970s Nashville (and who makes a spoken word appearance on the album): "I want to dedicate this to Miss (Linda) Martell, and I hope we just keep pushing forward, opening doors. God bless you all. Thank you so much,"

Americana’s glam queen Sierra Ferrell didn’t get to perform on the broadcast where her larger-than-life image would have suited the show, but she did dominate the American Roots field with four wins (on her four first-ever nominations) at the afternoon Premiere Ceremony. They were: Best Americana Album for her visionary folk project Trail Of Flowers, Best American Roots Performance for “Lighthouse”, plus Best Americana Performance and Best American Roots Song for “American Dreaming.”

Ferrell shared that last Grammy with her co-writer, Nashville’s Melody Walker, who hosts the weekly Tuesday night guitar pull at Jane’s Hideaway on the East Side. Walker, also a first-time nominee, thanked Ferrell “for being so real and vulnerable when we wrote this song. And thanks for believing in my songwriting.”

Ferrell’s own remarks over her four trips to center stage were as low-key as her white, pearl-encrusted dress (with accessory scepter) was not. She thanked her mother and her dog and her road support team. “I honestly wasn’t expecting this because everybody in the category is so beautiful in their own way and they have their own essence,” she said, accepting her Americana Performance award. “We have a spiritual warfare going on and I love you.”

Billy Strings had racked up six nominations in the years since winning Best Bluegrass Album his first time out with Home at the 63rd awards. But the Nashville-based guitar star achieved another album win on Sunday with his trophy for Live Vol. 1, the first official release to capture his wildly successful stage show, which was released in July. Strings’s exceptional 2024 studio album Highway Prayers will be eligible next year. He was not available to accept the award. Nor were Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, who won Best Folk Album for their acclaimed Woodland.

Very much on hand and looking imperial in a purple suit and hat with his daughters on each arm was 82-year-old Taj Mahal, who won the Grammy for Best Traditional Blues Album, Swingin' Live At The Church In Tulsa by The Taj Mahal Sextet. “Wow!,” he said. “This is really wonderful. I’d like to give a shoutout to Teresa Knox at the Church in Tulsa and to Claudia Lennear who suggested me to come there and make this recording. And to you, who have always supported me through my trials making music.” The Church is the recently renovated studio that was built and used in the 1970s by Tulsa legend Leon Russell, and Lennear was a backup singer for Russell and Ike And Tina Turner.

Americana veteran Ruthie Foster not only won her first Grammy Award after multiple nominations, she secured the first-ever Grammy for the historic label Sun Records.

Beyoncé wasn’t the only artist breaking through with an album triumph after years of hopes. In a win for artist and label, the inspiring Austin folk and soul singer/songwriter Ruthie Foster, nominated for five prior albums, won the Best Contemporary Blues Album Grammy for her Nashville-recorded Mileage. Foster was signed last year by a revived Sun Records, working out of its new Nashville home, a story I covered recently. And remarkably, Sun, the label that virtually invented rock and roll out of Memphis, can now point to a Black woman from Texas as its first-ever Grammy Award winner.

In other wins touching the Americana community, Kacey Musgraves accepted the award for Best Country Song for “The Architect” from her nominated album Deeper Well. For that fascinating song, she shares trophies with co-writers Shane McAnally and Josh Osborne. Béla Fleck, who performed his demanding solo arrangement of George Gershwin’s Rhapsody In Blue on the Premiere Ceremony, won his 18th Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Jazz Album, which honored Remembrance, a collaboration with the late pianist Chick Corea.

Here is a complete list of winners and nominees at NPR. 

Craig Havighurst is WMOT's editorial director and host of The String, a weekly interview show airing Mondays at 8 pm, repeating Sundays at 7 am. He also co-hosts The Old Fashioned on Saturdays at 9 am and Tuesdays at 8 pm. Threads and Instagram: @chavighurst. Email: craig@wmot.org