It's that time of year again, time for the music industry, as a whole, to pat itself on the back. While the nominations in the overall categories may be surprising, by and large the Country music categories were pretty spot-on and not lacking in anything, really. So, without further verbosity, here are Roughstock's Grammy predictions.
Best Country Album
• Jamey Johnson, That Lonesome Song
• Patty Loveless, Sleepless Nights
• George Strait, Troubadour
• Randy Travis, Around the Bend
• Trisha Yearwood, Heaven, Heartache and the Power of Love
This category features five strong albums and I wouldn’t be against any of them winning the award but I have to think that Yearwood and Travis stand the best chance of getting the nod from the Grammy voters. Randy’s won seven previous awards while Yearwood is a three-time winner. With that information in hand I suspect that Travis will get the award. Personally, I’d love to see Patty Loveless or Trisha Yearwood get the award as they both made great records.
Should Win: Trisha Yearwood or Patty Loveless.
Will win: Randy Travis
Best Female Country Vocal Performance
• Martina McBride, “For These Times”
• LeAnn Rimes, “What I Cannot Change”
• Carrie Underwood, “Last Name”
• Lee Ann Womack, “Last Call”
• Trisha Yearwood, “This Is Me You’re Talking To”
This is another strong category. Four of the five songs are very strong and I wouldn’t mind if any of those four won. “For These Times” is an underrated song and was also one of Martina’s most understated vocals in years. “Last Call” got Lee Ann back on the air and is a quality tune and vocal performance. LeAnn’s “What I Cannot Change” was one of my favorites of the year for 2008. I absolutely love “This Is Me You’re Talking To” and think it deserves to win. But Carrie Underwood is the current Grammy darling and her song, the weakest of the bunch, will win.
Should Win: Trisha Yearwood, “This Is Me You’re Talking To”
Will win: Carrie Underwood, “Last Name”
Best Male Country Vocal Performance
• Trace Adkins, “You’re Gonna Miss This”
• Jamey Johnson, “In Color”
• James Otto, “Just Got Started Lovin’ You”
• Brad Paisley, “Letter to Me”
• George Strait, “Troubadour”
This is another case of Grammy getting it right. It’s hard to argue with any of the choices here, as you have the most popular songs at radio and all of the guys here are talented vocally, especially when they’re tied to great material as all of these songs are. While some have been nominated before, only Paisley has actually won before and that was in 2007 for his performance on “throttleneck,” an instrumental song. So, for vocalist purposes, everyone here is a Grammy virgin. That makes it a fun category to call and my guess is this is where George Strait will win his first Grammy. That being said, I really, really want Jamey Johnson to win this award as I liked that song the most out of the nominees.
Should win: Jamey Johnson, “In Color”
Will win: George Strait, “Troubadour”
Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocals
• Brooks & Dunn, “God Must Be Busy”
• Lady Antebellum, “Love Don’t Live Here”
• Rascal Flatts, “Every Day”
• Steel Drivers, “Blue Side of the Mountain”
• Sugarland, “Stay”
This one’s an easy contest. Lady Antebellum has come out of nowhere and are up for the all-genre “Best New Artist” award while Brooks & Dunn have won this category twice in the past. Sugarland and Rascal Flatts are the two most popular duo/groups in country music these days while the Steel Drivers are absolutely stunning blues-leaning bluegrass artists. My gut tells me that either Sugarland, the Steel Drivers or Lady A will win this award with Sugarland really having the edge as their song is absolutely killer.
Should win: Sugarland, “Stay.”
Will win: Sugarland, “Stay.”
Best Country Vocal Collaboration
• Kenny Chesney & George Strait, “Shiftwork”
• Robert Plant & Alison Krauss, “Killing the Blues”
• George Strait & Patty Loveless, “House of Cash”
• Sugarland, Jake Owen & Little Big Town, “Life in a Northern Town”
• Trisha Yearwood & Keith Urban, “Let the Wind Chase You”
This is another interesting category and it’s interesting to note that it took George Strait for Kenny Chesney to get a Grammy nod and it was for a (pun intended) crappy song. This one’s easy to call as the dual Strait nominations mean that neither song will win while Plant’s and the Sugarland, Jake Owen and Little Big Town collaborations stand out as the front-runners with the Yearwood and Urban collaboration a dark horse. I think, in the end, Grammy will go with the Plant & Krauss collaboration, as Grammy LOVES Allison Krauss.
Should win: Sugarland, Jake Owen & Little Big Town, “Life In A Northern Town.”
Will Win: Plant & Krauss, “Killing The Blues.”
Best Country Song
• Ashley Gorley & Bob Regan, “Dig Two Graves”
• Rodney Clawson, Monty Criswell & Wade Kirby, “I Saw God Today”
• Jamey Johnson, Lee Thomas Miller & James Otto, “In Color”
• Jennifer Nettles, “Stay”
• Ashley Gorley & Lee Thomas Miller, “You’re Gonna Miss This”
A songwriter’s award, The best country song is designed to go to the strongest lyrical or melodic song. The main contenders this year are “Dig Two Graves, “In Color” and “Stay.” I have a feeling, though, that Grammy will reward “Dig Two Graves” because it’s sung by Randy Travis more than the fact that it’s a great song. “In Color” is a classic and so is “Stay” so I’d be happy if either of them won. The only one that seems outta place here is “I Saw God Today,” which is still a very good song.
Should win: Jamey Johnson, Lee Thomas Miller & James Otto, “In Color”
Will win: Ashley Gorley & Bob Regan, “Dig Two Graves”
Best New Artist
• Jazmine Sullivan
• Adele
• Lady Antebellum
• Duffy
• Jonas Brothers
Normally, we wouldn’t be handicapping this award but since there is a country element to the category with Lady Antebellum being nominated, It’s worth talking about. Both Adele and Duffy are the kind of female singer-songwriter types that Grammy typically loves while Jazmine Sullivan is a respected R&B artist. The Jonas Brothers can probably argue that they’re the one of the hottest bands in America right now while Lady A has come a long way in just one year. I’d love to see Lady A win this, as they are the most talented nominee and likely are going to be around for awile but in the end I don’t think they have a snowball’s chance in hell next to the pop acts competing against them.
Should Win: Lady Antebellum
Will win: Adele, Jonas Brothers or Duffy.
0 Comments