Meet North Carolina’s 2021 Grammy Award Nominees!
North Carolina will be well represented at the 2021 Grammy Awards! Whether it’s pop, rap, folk, or bluegrass, the old north state has a big sound! But you knew that already, right? The Grammy Awards show is scheduled to air on January 31, 2021 on CBS with comedian Trevor Noah as the host. How many of our nominees do you know?
Best Bluegrass Album
Steep Canyon Rangers — North Carolina Songbook
The group’s deep skill puts them squarely in the canon of North Carolina bluegrass. With ties to the western part of the state, the Rangers give back and have benefited from community partners like the North Carolina Arts Council program Come Hear NC.
When it came time for Come Hear NC to select a North Carolina-based band talented enough to perform the works of diverse artists from the past 100-plus years, they chose the Steep Canyon Rangers. The album is a live recording of an afternoon show at Merlefest.
Best Songwriting, Best Record of the Year, Best Melodic Rap Performance, and Best Rap Performance
DaBaby — Rockstar, and “BOP”
The Charlotte artist is building on last year’s success when he received two Grammy nominations for the song “Suge.” The 28-year old’s single “Rockstar” has over 96 million listens on Spotify and has spent seven non-consecutive weeks at number one on Spotify. His melodic approach and story-telling skills are a complete package, equally evocative of his own life story as a Hollywood blockbuster.
Best Country Solo Performance
Eric Church — “Stick That in Your Country Song”
Hailing from Granite Falls, NC, Church’s work has everything you can expect from big, boot-stompin', country sound, but his nominated single is also an anthem for quieter stories of struggle across the country. Turn it up and listen close.
Best Pop Group Performance
Bon Iver — “Exile”
Bon Iver’s founder Justin Vernon has roots in the Triangle, having lived in Raleigh and played in Durham. The group has branched out from its traditional indie-folk genre and was nominated for this award after being featured on Taylor Swift’s song “Exile.” On the single, the group lends its classic brooding sound to Swift’s pop grooves.
Best Americana Album
Hiss Golden Messenger — Terms of Surrender
Hiss Golden Messenger was born in Durham, a standby at local music joints like the Cat’s Cradle and Pinhook. Their latest album continues in folk music tradition, echoing groups like The Byrds, and features big names like “The National’s” Aaron Dessner and Jenny Lewis.
Best Arrangement, Instrumental and Vocals
Becca Stevens — “Slow Burn”
In 2015 the New York Times noted of this Winston-Salem native; “Ms. Stevens has a wizardly proficiency on an array of stringed instruments, and her singing is luxurious: pliable and hale but often foreshadowing a sob.”
Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album
James Taylor — American Standard
James Taylor is one of our NC greats. Thinking of the rolling Piedmont, he described his North Carolina coming of age as “more of a matter of landscape and climate than people.” American Standard rolls along like those hills, the latest sound in Taylor’s long career.
