The GRAMMY Awards are set to broadcast live tonight from Los Angeles’ famous Staples Center at 7 PM Central, 8 PM Eastern, and 5 PM Pacific via your local CBS station.
LL Cool J will be hosting the main event, but the pre-telecast is streaming at Grammy.com starting at 2 PM Central.
Not all awards will be presented on the big stage tonight, catch the pre-telecast awards presentation for announcements related to bluegrass, Americana, roots, blues, and other musical styles under the traditional music umbrella.
Country music stars will be out in full-force tonight. The GRAMMY nominations have been very kind to the country genre this time around, Chris Stapleton is up for ‘Album of the Year,’ Little Big Town up for ‘Song of the Year,’ Sam Hunt up for ‘Best New Artist’, and other major nominations are in the spotlight. Country music is poised to make a huge splash during this year’s ceremony.
Be sure to catch Chris Stapleton performing a B.B. King tribute along with Gary Clark Jr. and Bonnie Raitt. As we’ve noted previously, Carrie Underwood and Sam Hunt will perform their duet “Heartbeat.” Luke Bryan will join John Legend, Demi Lovato, and Meghan Trainor in a special tribute to Lionel Richie. “Burning House” songbird Cam will take to the microphone, not to perform, but to present an award.
Here’s a quick cheat sheet of categories relevant to country music fanatics.
Album of the Year
Sound & Color — Alabama Shakes
To Pimp A Butterfly — Kendrick Lamar
Traveller — Chris Stapleton
1989 — Taylor Swift
Beauty Behind The Madness — The Weeknd
Best New Artist
Courtney Barnett
James Bay
Sam Hunt
Tori Kelly
Meghan Trainor
Song of the Year
“Alright” — Kendrick Duckworth, Mark Anthony Spears & Pharrell Williams, songwriters (Kendrick Lamar)
“Blank Space” — Max Martin, Shellback & Taylor Swift, songwriters (Taylor Swift)
“Girl Crush” — Hillary Lindsey, Lori McKenna & Liz Rose, songwriters (Little Big Town)
“See You Again” — Andrew Cedar, Justin Franks, Charles Puth & Cameron Thomaz, songwriters (Wiz Khalifa Featuring Charlie Puth)
“Thinking Out Loud” — Ed Sheeran & Amy Wadge, songwriters (Ed Sheeran)
Best Country Album
Montevallo — Sam Hunt
Pain Killer — Little Big Town
The Blade — Ashley Monroe
Pageant Material — Kacey Musgraves
Traveller — Chris Stapleton
Best Country Song
“Chances Are” – Lee Ann Womack, writer Hayes Carll
“Diamond Rings and Old Barstools” – Tim McGraw, Barry Dean, Luke Laird & Jonathan Singleton, songwriters
“Girl Crush” – Little Big Town, Hillary Lindsey, Lori McKenna & Liz Rose, songwriters
“Hold My Hand” – Brandy Clark, Brandy Clark & Mark Stephen Jones songwriters
“Traveller” – Chris Stapleton, Chris Stapleton songwriter
Best Country Solo Performance
Lee Ann Womack – “Chances Are”
Cam – “Burning House”
Chris Stapleton – “Traveller”
Carrie Underwood – “Little Toy Guns”
Keith Urban – ” John Cougar, John Deere, John 3:16″
Best Country Duo/Group Performance
Brothers Osborne – “Stay A Little Longer”
Joey + Rory – “If I Needed You”
Charles Kelley (with Eric Paslay & Dierks Bentley)- “The Driver”
Little Big Town – “Girl Crush”
Blake Shelton with Ashley Monroe – “Lonely Tonight”
We can’t wait to celebrate along with the big winners of the night. Stay tuned!
