Grammy Award for Best Americana Album

Grammy Award for Best Americana Album
Country	United States
Presented by	National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences
First awarded	2010
Last awarded	present
Currently held by	Sarah Jarosz, World on the Ground (2021)
Official website	grammy.com

The Grammy Award for Best Americana Album is an honor presented to recording artists for quality albums in the Americana music genre at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards. Honors in several categories are presented at the ceremony annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to "honor artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry, without regard to album sales or chart position".

In 2009, the Academy announced that the award for Best Contemporary Folk/Americana Album would be split into two separate categories: Best Contemporary Folk Album and Best Americana Album. The distinction between the two award categories is based on the use of acoustic versus electric instruments; acoustic instruments predominate in "contemporary folk" and electric instruments are characteristic of Americana. Jed Hilly, executive director of the Americana Music Association, called the new category's inclusion "a huge acknowledgment" of the music genre. Hilly admitted to working hard at convincing the Academy to include Americana as its own category. The music industry had been using the term "Americana music" for about 15 years before the new award was created. Following is the award's purpose, according to the category description guide from the 2018 Grammy Awards:

Americana is contemporary music that incorporates elements of various American roots music and vocal styles, including country, roots-rock, folk, bluegrass, R&B and blues, resulting in a distinctive roots-oriented sound that lives in a world apart from the pure forms of the genres upon which it may draw. While acoustic instruments are often present and vital, Americana also often uses a full electric band.

The award was first presented in 2010 to Levon Helm at the 52nd Grammy Awards for the album Electric Dirt. Emmylou Harris and Lucinda Williams have been nominated most times (three).

Recipients

2010 and 2012 award recipient Levon Helm performing in 2004

Mavis Staples received the award in 2011

2013 recipient Bonnie Raitt

2015 honoree Rosanne Cash

Keb' Mo' received the award in 2020

Year	Performing artist(s)	Work	Nominees	Ref.
2010	Levon Helm	Electric Dirt	Bob Dylan – Together Through Life Willie Nelson and Asleep at the Wheel – Willie and the Wheel Wilco – Wilco (The Album) Lucinda Williams – Little Honey
2011	Mavis Staples	You Are Not Alone	Rosanne Cash – The List Los Lobos – Tin Can Trust Willie Nelson – Country Music Robert Plant – Band of Joy
2012	Levon Helm	Ramble at the Ryman	Linda Chorney – Emotional Jukebox Ry Cooder – Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down Emmylou Harris – Hard Bargain Lucinda Williams – Blessed
2013	Bonnie Raitt	Slipstream	The Avett Brothers – The Carpenter John Fullbright – From the Ground Up The Lumineers – The Lumineers Mumford & Sons – Babel
2014	Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell	Old Yellow Moon	Steve Martin and Edie Brickell – Love Has Come for You Buddy Miller and Jim Lauderdale – Buddy and Jim Mavis Staples – One True Vine Allen Toussaint – Songbook
2015	Rosanne Cash	The River & the Thread	John Hiatt – Terms of My Surrender Keb' Mo' – BLUESAmericana Nickel Creek – A Dotted Line Sturgill Simpson – Metamodern Sounds in Country Music
2016	Jason Isbell	Something More Than Free	Brandi Carlile – The Firewatcher's Daughter Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell – The Traveling Kind The Mavericks – Mono Punch Brothers – The Phosphorescent Blues
2017	William Bell	This Is Where I Live	The Avett Brothers – True Sadness Kris Kristofferson – The Cedar Creek Sessions Lori McKenna – The Bird and the Rifle The Time Jumpers – Kid Sister
2018	Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit	The Nashville Sound	Gregg Allman – Southern Blood Brent Cobb – Shine on Rainy Day Iron & Wine – Beast Epic The Mavericks – Brand New Day
2019	Brandi Carlile	By the Way, I Forgive You	Bettye LaVette – Things Have Changed John Prine – The Tree of Forgiveness Lee Ann Womack – The Lonely, the Lonesome & the Gone The Wood Brothers – One Drop of Truth

2020s

Year	Performing artist(s)	Work	Nominees	Ref.
2020	Keb' Mo'	Oklahoma	J.S. Ondara – Tales of America Yola – Walk Through Fire Madison Cunningham – Who Are You Now Calexico & Iron & Wine – Years to Burn
2021	Sarah Jarosz	World on the Ground	Courtney Marie Andrews - Old Flowers Hiss Golden Messenger - Terms of Surrender Marcus King - El Dorado Lucinda Williams - Good Souls Better Angels

Artists with multiple wins

2 wins

• Levon Helm
• Jason Isbell

Artists with multiple nominations

3 nominations

• Emmylou Harris
• Lucinda Williams

2 nominations

• The Avett Brothers
• Brandi Carlile
• Rosanne Cash
• Rodney Crowell
• Levon Helm
• Iron & Wine
• Jason Isbell
• Keb' Mo'
• The Mavericks
• Willie Nelson
• Mavis Staples

See also

• Americana Music Association
• Heartland rock
• List of Grammy Award categories
• Roots rock

References

General

• Note: User must select the "American Roots" category as the genre under the search feature.

Specific