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// Workers AI · dad joke modeWhy did the Grammy Award for Best Traditional Folk Album go to therapy? It was feeling a little flat.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Best Traditional Folk Album)
Grammy Award for Best Traditional Folk Album
Awarded forquality traditional folk music albums
CountryUnited States
Presented byNational Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences
First award1987
Currently held byCarolina Chocolate Drops – Genuine Negro Jig (2011)
Websitegrammy.com

The Grammy Award for Best Traditional Folk Album is an award presented by the Recording Academy to honor quality folk music albums in any given year. The award was originally presented from 1987 to 2011, before being merged with Best Contemporary Folk Album to form the Grammy Award for Best Folk Album. The category was revived in 2026 and was re-presented at the 69th Annual Grammy Awards in 2027, with the Academy stating that the award honors “excellence in albums of traditional folk recordings.”[1] The category sits in the Country & American Roots field.

The inaugural recipient of the award was Doc Watson, who won for his album Riding the Midnight Train at the 29th Annual Grammy Awards. June Carter Cash was the first and, to date, only female solo artist to win the award, first winning at the 42nd Annual Grammy Awards in 2000 for her album Press On. Watson and The Chieftains are tied for the most wins, with three, while Cash and Pete Seeger are the only other artists to win more than once. Norman Blake has the record for most nominations, with seven, as well as the most nominations without a win. The most recent recipients of the award are the Carolina Chocolate Drops, who won at the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards in 2011 for Genuine Negro Jig.

Background

[edit]

Prior to 1987, folk music was honored in the Best Ethnic or Traditional Folk Recording category. From 1987 to 1993 the award was known as the Grammy Award for Best Traditional Folk Recording and was presented under its current name from 1994. The category and it's Best Contemporary Folk Album counterpart were discontinued after 53rd Annual Grammy Awards the in 2011 during a major overhaul of Grammy categories, with the Recording Academy citing "challenges in distinguishing between traditional and contemporary folk".[2] From 2012 to 2025, all folk music was honored with the Best Folk Album category.

The revival of the Best Traditional Folk Album category was announced on June 16, 2026 alongside Best Asian Pop Music Performance, Best R&B Collaboration or Duo/Group Performance, Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance, and Best Latin Song.[3] Of the announcement, Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. stated, "2027 is going to be an amazing year for the Grammy Awards, and one that reflects the extraordinary growth we're seeing across music. The changes advanced by our Recording Academy members speak to the breadth of today's music industry and the many genres, crafts and creators shaping it. We're excited to see these updates come to life in the year ahead as we celebrate the music people who are driving music forward".[4] It was stated that the re-separation of the Best Folk Album category "provides more precise recognition across different forms of folk music and better reflects the breadth of that musical landscape".[5] The Folk Alliance International, a non-profit organization centred around the folk genre, petitioned the Recording Academy for the return of the Traditional and Contemporary Folk Album categories, and celebrated the announcement, stating that it was something their membership had "long called for" and which "addresses a significant representation and credibility gap in the genre" and challenges a "long-held stereotype that folk music is exclusively Eurocentric", as well as their hope that this would allow for more culturally diverse folk and traditional music to be honored moving forwards.[6]

Eligibility

[edit]

According to the Recording Academy's rulebook for the 2027 ceremony, eligible albums for this category include recordings "with folk song structures, harmonic structures, and rhythms" and traditional folk instrumentation such as piano, harmonica, strings, percussion, and woodwind from around the world. Song types including sea shanties, old-time music, a capella, work songs, ballads, and call and response songs are all considered eligible as long as they are sonically distinct from regional roots music recoridngs, which are honored in the Best Regional Roots Music Album category.[7]

Recipients

[edit]
Inaugural recipient and three-time winner Doc Watson.
Three-time winner June Carter Cash.

1987-2011

[edit]
Year Winner(s) Title Nominees Ref.
1987 Doc Watson Riding the Midnight Train
[8]
1988 Ladysmith Black Mambazo Shaka Zulu
[9]
1989 various artists Folkways: A Vision Shared [10]
1990 Bulgarian State Television Female Vocal Choir Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares, Volume II
[11]
1991 Doc Watson On Praying Ground
  • Toinho de Alagoas, Duda da Passira, Jose Orlando, Heleno Dos Oito Baixos for Brazil Forro: Music for Maids and Taxi Drivers
  • Ladysmith Black Mambazo for Classic Tracks
  • Basin Brothers for Let's Get Cajun
  • The Whitstein Brothers for Old Time Duets
  • Various Artists for Partisans of Vilna: Songs of World War II Jewish Resistance
 [12]
1992 Various Artists The Civil War
-
1993 The Chieftains An Irish Evening
[13]
1994 The Chieftains The Celtic Harp
[14]
1995 Bob Dylan World Gone Wrong
[15]
1996 Ramblin' Jack Elliott South Coast
[16]
1997 Pete Seeger Pete [17]
1998 BeauSoleil L'Amour Ou La Folie
[18]
1999 The Chieftains Long Journey Home [19]
2000 June Carter Cash Press On
[20]
2001 Dave Alvin Public Domain [21]
2002 Various Artists Down from the Mountain
[22]
2003 Doc Watson Legacy
[23]
2004 June Carter Cash Wildwood Flower
[24]
2005 Various Artists Beautiful Dreamer
[25]
2006 Tim O'Brien Fiddler's Green
[26]
2007 Bruce Springsteen We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions [27]
2008 Levon Helm Dirt Farmer
[28]
2009 Pete Seeger At 89 [29]
2010 Loudon Wainwright III High Wide & Handsome: The Charlie Poole Project
[30]
2011 Carolina Chocolate Drops Genuine Negro Jig
  • Luther Dickinson & the Sons of Mudboy for Onward and Upward
  • The John Hartford Stringband for Memories of John
  • Maria Muldaur for Maria Muldaur & Her Garden of Joy
  • Ricky Skaggs for Ricky Skaggs Solo: Songs My Dad Loved
 [31]

2027-present

[edit]
Year Work Artist
2027
TBA TBA

Artists with multiple wins

[edit]
3 wins
2 wins

Artists with multiple nominations

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ↑ Zelmer, Emily (June 16, 2026). "Grammys Announce Five New Categories, Including Best R&B Collaboration and Best Latin Song". Rolling Stone.
  2. ↑ "Explanation For Category Restructuring". National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on December 3, 2011. Retrieved November 25, 2011.
  3. ↑ Errico, Marcus (June 16, 2026). "Major Grammy rule changes: Best New Artist, Best Album eligibility expanded, Asian Pop Music one of 5 categories added". Gold Derby.
  4. ↑ "Five New Categories And Rule Updates Take Effect For 2027 Grammys". NARAS. June 16, 2026. Archived from the original on June 16, 2026. Retrieved June 17, 2026.
  5. ↑ "Grammys CEO Harvey Mason jr. Talks New Grammy Categories Debuting At The 2027 Grammys: "The Grammys Have Evolved"". NARAS. June 16, 2026.
  6. ↑ "GRAMMY Folk Category Announcement: Best Traditional Folk Album & Best Contemporary Folk Album". Folk Alliance International. Retrieved June 19, 2026.
  7. ↑ "69TH GRAMMY AWARDS RULES & GUIDELINES" (PDF). NARAS. June 16, 2026.
  8. ↑ "Grammy Awards 1987". AwardsandShows. Archived from the original on October 21, 2013. Retrieved December 18, 2020.
  9. ↑ "Grammy Awards 1988". AwardsandShows. Archived from the original on October 15, 2017. Retrieved December 18, 2020.
  10. ↑ "Grammy Awards 1989". AwardsandShows. Archived from the original on December 13, 2011. Retrieved December 18, 2020.
  11. ↑ "A List of 32nd Annual Grammy Nominees". APNews. Archived from the original on March 11, 2022. Retrieved December 18, 2020.
  12. ↑ "Annual Grammy Nominations". UPI. Archived from the original on December 1, 2017. Retrieved December 19, 2020.
  13. ↑ "List of 35th Annual Grammy Nominations With PM-Grammys". APNews. Archived from the original on October 28, 2020. Retrieved December 19, 2020.
  14. ↑ "Nominees for 36th annual Grammy Awards". UPI. Archived from the original on October 17, 2020. Retrieved December 19, 2020.
  15. ↑ "The 37th Grammy Nominations". Los Angeles Times. January 6, 1995. p. 7. Archived from the original on November 4, 2012. Retrieved December 19, 2020.
  16. ↑ "Nominees for 38th annual Grammy Awards". UPI. Archived from the original on December 31, 2020. Retrieved December 20, 2020.
  17. ↑ "Nominees for 39th Annual Grammy Awards". UPI. Archived from the original on October 17, 2020. Retrieved December 20, 2020.
  18. ↑ "40th Annual Grammy Award Nominations". DigitalHit. Archived from the original on January 25, 2021. Retrieved December 21, 2020.
  19. ↑ "41st Annual Grammy® Award Nominations". DigitalHit. Archived from the original on December 6, 2020. Retrieved December 21, 2020.
  20. ↑ "42nd Annual Grammy® Award Nominations (2000)". DigitalHit. Archived from the original on August 1, 2020. Retrieved December 21, 2020.
  21. ↑ "43rd Annual Grammy Awards Nominations". DigitalHit. Archived from the original on January 31, 2021. Retrieved December 21, 2020.
  22. ↑ "Complete List Of Grammy Nominees". CBS. 4 January 2002. Archived from the original on 23 August 2017. Retrieved December 21, 2020.
  23. ↑ "45th Grammy® Awards Nominations Coverage". DigitalHit. Archived from the original on February 6, 2021. Retrieved December 21, 2020.
  24. ↑ "46th Grammy® Awards Nominees Coverage". DigitalHit. Archived from the original on December 1, 2020. Retrieved December 21, 2020.
  25. ↑ "47th Grammy® Awards Nominees Coverage". DigitalHit. Archived from the original on October 27, 2020. Retrieved December 21, 2020.
  26. ↑ "48th Grammy® Awards Nominees Coverage". DigitalHit. Archived from the original on May 13, 2021. Retrieved December 21, 2020.
  27. ↑ "49th Grammy® Awards Nominees Coverage (2007)". DigitalHit. Archived from the original on October 27, 2020. Retrieved December 21, 2020.
  28. ↑ "50th Grammy® Awards Nominees Coverage". DigitalHit. Archived from the original on October 27, 2020. Retrieved December 21, 2020.
  29. ↑ "51st Grammy® Awards Nominations Coverage". DigitalHit. Archived from the original on October 27, 2020. Retrieved December 21, 2020.
  30. ↑ "52nd Grammy® Awards Nominations Coverage". DigitalHit. Archived from the original on October 28, 2020. Retrieved December 21, 2020.
  31. ↑ "53rd Grammy® Awards Nominations Coverage". DigitalHit. Archived from the original on October 28, 2020. Retrieved December 21, 2020.
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