Brittany Howard, John Prine Among Array of Nashville Grammy Honorees

Awards shows are generally overblown affairs, which is part of why we ask a seasoned cultural critic like Ashley Spurgeon to take a poke at the big ones when they come around. (Sadly, Spurgeon wasn’t available this weekend, so no Oh Balls™ recap this time.) But the messages they send get to a huge audience regardless. It’s good to see a focus on the work of women, Black people and other people of color among the slate of nominees and winners — just a couple of years after The Recording Academy’s then-leader responded to criticism by telling women they needed to “step up” if they wanted to be recognized.

Billie Eilish won Record of the Year for “Everything I Wanted,” Megan Thee Stallion took home a well-deserved Best New Artist trophy, H.E.R.’s “I Can’t Breathe” won Best Song and Taylor Swift’s Folklore won Album of the Year. Swift was only the tip of the iceberg as far as Grammy-feted talent coming straight out of Music City or with close Nashville ties.

Alabama Shakes leader Brittany Howard had six nominations coming into the ceremony in a wide range of categories, all tied to her phenomenal debut solo LP Jaime. She only took home one trophy: Best Rock Song for “Stay High.” But each of those categories had a very crowded field of talented individuals — including Beyoncé, who won Best R&B Performance (among a slate of four wins that cemented her a historic 28th trophy); Fiona Apple, who won Best Rock Performance and Best Alternative Music Album; and the late John Prine, whose final recording “I Remember Everything” won Best American Roots Performance. 

“I Remember Everything,” a co-write with Pat McLaughlin, also took home Best American Roots Song, and Brandi Carlile was tapped for a performance of the tune that aired during the ceremony. She’s also recorded a version for a forthcoming tribute LP called Broken Hearts and Dirty Windows Vol. 2, a follow-up to a comp released in 2010. A release date and complete track list for the new record are TBA (though a release mentions it’s slated for the fall), but you can preorder it from Prine’s label Oh Boy Records.

Carlile earned another trophy herself when The Highwomen’s “Crowded Table” took Best Country Song. Miranda Lambert’s Wildcard was named Best Country Album, as presented by the Station Inn’s owner J.T. Gray. He was among a group of representatives of independent venues invited to present awards, as part of a spotlight on this vital segment of the industry. Independent venues remain mostly shuttered and are still waiting for aid that is expected to finally arrive in April. Other reps included Billy Mitchell from the Apollo Theater in New York and Rachelle Erratchu from the Troubadour in Los Angeles.

Elsewhere in the country categories, there’s a major missed opportunity. Mickey Guyton, the first Black solo female artist to be nominated for a country Grammy, gave an incredible heartfelt performance of her single “Black Like Me” — a song that speaks directly to longstanding issues of racism in our country and in the country music business, which was nominated for Best Country Solo Performance. However, the award went to Vince Gill’s sweet but thoroughly anodyne “When My Amy Prays.” 

There's plenty more Nashville-centric Grammy news to note: The Fisk Jubilee Singers’ Celebrating Fisk! (The 150th Anniversary Album) was named Best Roots Gospel Album, while Daniel Tashian and Burt Bacharach’s Blue Umbrella was edged out in Best Traditional Pop Vocal album by James Taylor’s American Standard. Sturgill Simpson’s Sound & Fury didn’t take Best Rock Album; The Strokes’ The New Abnormal did. Williams’ Good Souls Better Angels, Marcus King’s El Dorado and Courtney Marie Andrews’ Old Flowers were all in the running for Best Americana Album, but Sarah Jarosz’s World on the Ground took the prize. Billy Strings’ Home won Best Bluegrass Album, a category in which The John Hartford Fiddle Tune Project, Vol. 1, was also a contender. Gillian Welch and David Rawlings’ All the Good Times took Best Folk Album, for which The Secret Sisters’ Saturn Return was also nominated.

Two other late legends with significant Nashville associations were also included in the memorial tributes. Lionel Richie sang Kenny Rogers’ “Lady,” while Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak (who performed together as Silk Sonic earlier in the program) did “Long Tall Sally” and “Good Golly, Miss Molly” in remembrance of Little Richard. Brittany Howard got the spotlight here, too, albeit in a bit of a head-scratching way: Accompanied by Coldplay’s Chris Martin on piano, she sang “You’ll Never Walk Alone” in memory of Gerry and the Pacemakers’ Gerry Marsden. Take a look at the complete list of winners and nominees via grammy.com.