Best Traditional Country Album Nominees

Leading up to the Grammy nominations on Nov. 7, Rolling Stone is breaking down 10 different categories. For each, we’re predicting the nominees, as well as who will (and who should) win on Grammy night. 

The addition of two new country categories — Best Traditional Country Album and Best Contemporary Country Album — opens the door for 10 albums to now earn nominations. And that’s a great thing for country. The move is a reflection of a genre that’s both digging deeper into its roots and stretching higher than ever.

“Storytelling is the key for all of these albums, regardless of the sonics,” says Claire Heinichen, Senior Editor for Country at Spotify. “The main difference between the categories is what instruments you’re using to tell the same kinds of stories.”

The Traditional category gives room to country artists who’ve previously been edged out by more contemporary acts or shifted into Americana, where they don’t quite fit. For Best Traditional, expect fiddles, pedal steel, banjo, and mandolin on many of the albums — and both newcomers and country legends alike nominated for awards.

Best Traditional Country Album – Our Predictions

Eric Church, Evangeline vs. the Machine
Parker McCollum, Parker McCollum
Zach Top, Ain’t in It for My Health
Turnpike Troubadours, The Price of Admission
Hailey Whitters, Corn Queen

Who Will Win?

Zach Top, Ain’t in It for My Health
In many ways, Top made traditional country music cool again. “He deserves it. Zach Top is the unofficial spokesperson for the return of the Nineties country sound to a generation of kids who probably grew up hearing their parents play it and then forgot about country music entirely,” says Heinichen. “That sound isn’t trapped in the Nineties anymore, and the record is so fun because of it.”

Who Should Win?

Turnpike Troubadours, The Price of Admission
The Tahlequah, Oklahoma, band might be a left-field choice to win the category, but their album The Price of Admission, overseen by Grammy-winning producer Shooter Jennings, deserves to be celebrated in a category like this one. “The album stopped me in my tracks. It is stunning,” says Heinichen. “And for a band around for a long time, this is their moment. I would love to see them win it.”

Forecasting the Field

There’s no doubt a few country legends who dropped albums this year could end up in the mix: 21-time Grammy nominee Dwight Yoakam’s Brighter Days, George Strait’s Cowboys and Dreamers, and Willie Nelson’s Oh What a Beautiful World all feel like strong contenders when it comes to honoring icons of the genre.

Miranda Lambert’s Postcards from Texas could serve as a wild card — she’s a Grammy favorite and has a solid shot at sneaking into the nominations. It’d also be wrong to overlook Dylan Gossett’s Westward as a possible nominee. “He self-wrote and self-produced it,” says Heinichen. “And it’s such a beautiful body of work.”

Even with just eight songs, Church built a whole musical world on Evangeline vs. the Machine. “He’s a masterclass in storytelling,” Heinichen adds. “With a concept record like this one, he proved that all over again. You have to listen top to bottom.” And definitely don’t count out Whitters’ Corn Queen as a contender: Few album sound so naturally, authentically country.