Grammys Provides New Nation Class For 2026 Present After Beyoncé’s Win

The nation music classes on the upcoming Grammy Awards in 2026 will look totally different than earlier than.

Months after Beyoncé took residence the awards for “Greatest Nation Album” and “Album of the Yr” for her genre-bending eighth studio album, “Cowboy Carter,” which options the No. 1 nation single “Texas Maintain ‘Em,” the Recording Academy’s CEO revealed that nation musicians approached the board with a proposal for a big change.

Shifting ahead, the Grammy Awards will now honor two distinct varieties of nation albums: one that includes a extra conventional type of nation music, and the opposite celebrating artists with a extra modern sound, which frequently incorporates R&B, pop, and blues.

In the course of the 2025 Grammy Awards, there have been 10 nation classes within the nation and roots discipline, with one particularly for Greatest Nation Album.

For the upcoming ceremony, which can happen someday in the course of the first quarter of 2026, that class will likely be cut up into two: Greatest Conventional Nation Album and Greatest Up to date Nation Album.

Different classes, which give attention to Americana, bluegrass, people, and extra, will stay.

The Recording Academy’s CEO, Harvey Mason Jr., elaborated on the change in an interview with Billboard, including that nation performers approached the academy with their issues.

“They stated, we predict we’d like extra space for our music to be celebrated and honored,” he advised the publication, including that the proposal had been submitted a number of instances prior to now earlier than being handed this 12 months.

“It makes nation parallel with what’s taking place in different genres,” Mason stated, “However it’s also creating area for the place this style goes.”

In line with Billboard, the Grammys’ new Greatest Conventional Album class will acknowledge “excellence in albums of conventional nation music, each vocal and instrumental.”

“Conventional nation consists of nation recordings that adhere to the extra conventional sound buildings of the nation style, together with rhythm and singing type, lyrical content material, in addition to conventional nation instrumentation akin to acoustic guitar, metal guitar, fiddle, banjo, mandolin, piano, electrical guitar, and stay drums. It additionally consists of sub-genres akin to Western, Western Swing, and Outlaw nation.”

As Mason continued talking in regards to the Academy’s determination to replace the nation classes on the Grammys, he additionally urged that the change will present extra alternatives for artists to be celebrated amongst their friends.

“The problems have been, historically, lots of people that weren’t certain whether or not [an album] was Americana or roots or people or nation have been simply jamming every part into one class,” he stated. “There are clearly nuances between the totally different genres. These specialists in these genres perceive these nuances, and I’m fairly sure now you’re going to see the appropriate individuals going into Americana versus people versus conventional nation. [The change] offers us a chance to place issues in additional particular classes.”

Mason defined that making adjustments to the way in which nation music is honored on the Grammys permits the Recording Academy to remain present with the style’s evolution.

“I’m hopeful that that neighborhood understands that the academy is doing what it at all times does, which is keep in tune with what’s taking place of their style,” he completed.

In early 2025, after profitable a number of Grammys for her nation album, “Cowboy Carter,” Beyoncé confronted criticism from on-line customers who believed she wasn’t deserving of the consideration.

Nevertheless, throughout her acceptance speech, the previous Future’s Little one member used her platform to share phrases of encouragement for these watching.