Grammy Award for Best Folk Album
Awarded forquality vocal or instrumental folk music albums
CountryUnited States
Presented byNational Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences
First awarded2012
Currently held byMadison Cunningham, Revealer (2023)
Websitegrammy.com

The Grammy Award for Best Folk Album is an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards,[1] to recording artists for releasing albums in the folk genre. 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".[2]

According to the 54th Grammy Awards guideline the Best Folk Album category includes authentic folk material in both traditional vocal and instrumental styles, as well as contemporary material by artists who use traditional folk elements, sounds and instrumental techniques as the basis for their recordings. Folk music is primarily but not exclusively acoustic, often using contemporary arrangements with production and sensibilities distinctly different from a pop approach.[3]

This award combines the previous categories for Best Contemporary Folk Album and Traditional Folk Album. The Recording Academy decided to create this new category for 2012 upon stating there were "challenges in distinguishing between... Contemporary and Traditional Folk".[4]

Recipients

The Civil Wars are the inaugural winners of the award.
Husband and wife Béla Fleck and Abigail Washburn won the award in 2016.
2020 recipient Patty Griffin.
Musical partners David Rawlings and Gillian Welch won the award in 2021.
2022 winner and four-time nominee Rhiannon Giddens.
Year[I] Performing artist(s) Work Nominees Ref.
2012 The Civil Wars Barton Hollow [5]
2013 Yo-Yo Ma, Stuart Duncan, Edgar Meyer & Chris Thile The Goat Rodeo Sessions
[6]
2014 Guy Clark My Favorite Picture of You
[7]
2015 Old Crow Medicine Show Remedy
[8]
2016 Béla Fleck & Abigail Washburn Béla Fleck & Abigail Washburn [9]
2017 Sarah Jarosz Undercurrent [10]
2018 Aimee Mann Mental Illness [11]
2019 Punch Brothers All Ashore
[12]
2020
 Patty Griffin Patty Griffin [13]
2021
 Gillian Welch & David Rawlings All the Good Times [14]
2022 Rhiannon Giddens with Francesco Turrisi They're Calling Me Home [15]
2023 Madison Cunningham Revealer [16]
2024 Winner TBA on 4 February 2024 [17]

^[I] Each year is linked to the article about the Grammy Awards held that year.

Artists with multiple wins

2 wins

Artists with multiple nominations

4 nominations

3 nominations

2 nominations

See also

References

  1. ^ "Grammy Awards at a Glance". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on March 9, 2012. Retrieved April 24, 2010.
  2. ^ "Overview". National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on January 3, 2011. Retrieved November 11, 2010.
  3. ^ "Category Mapper". National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Retrieved November 25, 2011.[permanent dead link]
  4. ^ "Explanation For Category Restructuring". National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on December 3, 2011. Retrieved November 25, 2011.
  5. ^ "2011 – 54th Annual GRAMMY Awards Nominees And Winners: American Roots Field". The Recording Academy. November 30, 2011. Archived from the original on October 27, 2012. Retrieved January 8, 2012.
  6. ^ List of 2013 nominees Archived February 1, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
  7. ^ "56th GRAMMY Awards: Full Winners List". Billboard. Archived from the original on October 23, 2017. Retrieved May 7, 2017.
  8. ^ "List of Nominees 2015" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on February 11, 2015. Retrieved December 7, 2014.
  9. ^ "Grammy Awards 2016: See the Full Winners List". Billboard. Archived from the original on March 18, 2017. Retrieved May 7, 2017.
  10. ^ "59th Annual GRAMMY Awards Winners & Nominees". GRAMMY.com. Archived from the original on February 13, 2017. Retrieved May 7, 2017.
  11. ^ Lynch, Joe (November 28, 2017). "Grammys 2018: See the Complete List of Nominees". Billboard. Archived from the original on December 7, 2017. Retrieved November 29, 2017.
  12. ^ Grammy.com, 7 December 2018 Archived December 7, 2018, at the Wayback Machine}
  13. ^ "Grammy Awards Nominations: The Complete List". Variety. November 20, 2019. Archived from the original on September 4, 2019. Retrieved November 20, 2019.
  14. ^ "2021 Nominations List". Archived from the original on November 26, 2020. Retrieved November 26, 2020.
  15. ^ "2022 GRAMMYs Awards: Complete Nominations List". GRAMMY.com. November 23, 2021. Retrieved November 26, 2021.
  16. ^ "2023 GRAMMY Nominations: See The Complete Nominees List". www.grammy.com. Retrieved November 20, 2022.
  17. ^ "2024 GRAMMY Nominations: See The Full Nominees List | GRAMMY.com". www.grammy.com. Retrieved November 12, 2023.

External links

Grammy Awards
Grammy Award categories
Categories