Tanya Tucker, Brittany Howard and More Nominated for 62nd Grammys

The nominations are out for the 62nd annual Grammy Awards, and the slate represents a determined effort to do a better job of recognizing women. (Not that there isn't still room for improvement.) Among other nominations, Lizzo and Billie Eilish are both up for Record of the Year, Album of the Year, Song of the Year and Best New Artist, while Taylor Swift is up for Song of the Year, Best Pop Solo Performance and Best Pop Vocal Album. 

The ubiquitous remix of Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” featuring Billy Ray Cyrus, which recently won a CMA Award (a key win, though important to note not the first by an openly gay man), is up for Record of the Year, Best Pop Duo/Group Performance and Best Music Video. Though Lil Nas X isn’t up for any awards in the Grammys' country categories, those are where you’ll find some of the most exciting news. 

In the wake of Tanya Tucker's While I’m Livin’, her first record since 2002 and a powerful collaboration with Brandi Carlile, Tim and Phil Hanseroth and Shooter Jennings, Tucker has received a slew of nominations. She co-wrote the poignant closing track “Bring My Flowers Now,” which is up for Song of the Year, Best Country Song and Best Country Solo Performance, while the album is up for Best Country Album. 

Also in the country realm, Ashley McBryde’s “Girl Goin’ Nowhere” is nominated for Best Country Song and Best Country Solo Performance. Kentuckian Tyler Childers’ “All Your’n” (from Country Squire, his second album co-produced by Sturgill Simpson and David Ferguson) is one of McBryde’s competitors in the latter category. Pistol Annies’ Interstate Gospel has a well-deserved Best Country Album nom, too. 

Work considered for this year’s Grammys had to be released between Oct. 1, 2018, and Aug. 31, 2019, so The Highwomen (released Sept. 6) wasn’t eligible. Highwomen member Maren Morris’ outstanding solo record Girl was out in March, so it’s disappointing that it was ignored aside from the song “Common,” featuring her Highwomen bandmate Brandi Carlile, which is up for Best Country Duo/Group Performance.

Speaking of The Highwomen, one more core member — ace songsmith Natalie Hemby — also has some nominations for her non-Highwomen work. Along with Lady Gaga, Lori McKenna and Hillary Lindsey, Hemby co-wrote “Always Remember Us This Way” from the A Star Is Born soundtrack, which is up for Song of the Year. “I’ll Never Love Again,” another Hemby co-write from that soundtrack, is up for Best Song Written for Visual Media. It competes with Chris Stapleton’s “The Ballad of the Lonesome Cowboy,” sung by Randy Newman in Toy Story 4, and Dolly Parton and Linda Perry’s “Girl in the Movies,” sung by Parton in Dumplin’.

Shifting gears a bit, Gloria Gaynor’s gospel album Testimony, recorded here at RCA Studio A and featuring a slew of Nashville soul and R&B champions, has earned two nominations. The LP is up for Best Gospel Album and the track “Talkin’ ’Bout Jesus” is up for Best Gospel Performance/Song.

Nashville was well-represented in rock ’n’ roll, too. Alabama Shakes’ Brittany Howard’s Jaime, which we crowned Best Debut Solo LP in our Best of Nashville issue, features the song “History Repeats,” nominated for Best Rock Song and Best Rock Performance. California band Rival Sons is also nominated for “Too Bad” from Feral Roots, produced by Dave Cobb. That album is up for Best Rock Album, and competition there includes Cage the Elephant’s Social Cues. 

Yola, who perplexingly lost out on both the categories she was nominated in at the Americana Honors and Awards, has a raft of well-deserved Grammy nominations: Best New Artist; Best American Roots Song and Best American Roots Performance for “Faraway Look”; and Best Americana Album for Walk Through Fire, which she co-produced and co-wrote with Dan Auerbach and recorded at his Easy Eye Studio. The Black Keys frontman is also nominated for Producer of the Year.

There are heaps more nominations — check out the full list here, and mark your calendar for the awards show, which airs Sunday, Jan. 26, on CBS stations.