The Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album is an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality works (songs or albums) in the bluegrass music genre. Honors in several categories are presented at the ceremony annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to "honor artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry, without regard to album sales or chart position".
Originally called the Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Recording (Vocal or Instrumental), the award was first presented in 1989. In 1990 and 1991, the category was renamed Best Bluegrass Recording, and in 1990, the award was reserved for singles rather than albums. In 1992 the category was renamed Best Bluegrass Album.
In 1995 and 1997, producers of compilation albums were the only award recipients.
The inaugural recipient of the award was Bill Monroe, widely considered to be the founder of the genre. Alison Krauss has the most wins in the category, with six, including five with her band Union Station who are tied with Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder for second most wins. Billy Strings has won three times. Jim Lauderdale, Nashville Bluegrass Band, and Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway are the only other acts to have won more than once, with two awards each. Del McCoury holds the record for most nominations, with ten, while Doyle Lawson, Noam Pickelny, Peter Rowan, and The Seldom Scene have the most nominations without a win, with four. In 2018, the first tie in the history of the category occurred, with the award being presented to both Rhonda Vincent and The Infamous Stringdusters. The current recipient of the award is Billy Strings, who won at the 67th Annual Grammy Awards.
Recipients
1980s Year Work Artist1989 Southern Flavor Bill Monroe Drive Béla Fleck 15th Anniversary Celebration The Seldom Scene Home Is Where the Heart Is David Grisman New Moon Rising Peter Rowan and the Nashville Bluegrass Band
1990s Year Work Artist1990 The Valley Road Bruce Hornsby and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band At the Old Schoolhouse Johnson Mountain Boys Heartbreak Hotel Doug Dillard Band Live at the Opry Bill Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys Two Highways Alison Krauss & Union Station1991 I've Got That Old Feeling Alison Krauss The Boys Are Back in Town Nashville Bluegrass Band Grassroots to Bluegrass Mac Wiseman Take It Home Hot Rize Darlin' Boys The Dillards1992 Spring Training Carl Jackson and John Starling Hillbilly Fever Osborne Brothers Home of the Blues Nashville Bluegrass Band Music Among Friends Jim & Jesse Simple Pleasures Alison Brown1993 Every Time You Say Goodbye Alison Krauss & Union Station Bluegrass Reunion David Grisman, Herb Pedersen, Red Allen, Jim Buchanan, James Kerwin and Jerry Garcia Larry Cordle, Glen Duncan & Lonesome Standard Time Larry Cordle, Glen Duncan and Lonesome Standard Time Scene 20: 20th Anniversary Concert The Seldom Scene Slide Rule Jerry Douglas1994 Waitin' for the Hard Times to Go Nashville Bluegrass Band Blue Diamond Johnson Mountain Boys Stuart Duncan Stuart Duncan Saturday Night & Sunday Morning Ralph Stanley Tony Rice Plays and Sings Bluegrass Tony Rice1995 The Great Dobro Sessions Various Artists A Deeper Shade of Blue Del McCoury Flashback J. D. Crowe and the New South Like We Used to Be The Seldom Scene When the Roses Bloom in Dixieland Osborne Brothers1996 Unleashed Nashville Bluegrass Band Beyond the City The Cox Family Fiddle and a Song Byron Berline Moonlighter Claire Lynch $35 and a Dream Rose Maddox1997 True Life Blues: The Songs of Bill Monroe Various Artists Bluegrass Boy Peter Rowan The Cold Hard Facts Del McCoury Band Red on Blonde Tim O'Brien The Stanley Tradition: Tribute to a Bluegrass Legacy Various Artists1998 So Long So Wrong Alison Krauss & Union Station Age of Innocence Kate MacKenzie Sales Tax Toddle Richard Greene and The Grass Is Greener Short Life of Trouble Ralph Stanley Silver and Gold Claire Lynch1999 Bluegrass Rules! and Kentucky Thunder American Beauty Nashville Bluegrass Band Clinch Mountain Country Ralph Stanley and Friends Home Sweet Home Doc Watson and Merle Watson Songs from the Homeplace Jim & Jesse
2000s Year Work Artist2000 Ancient Tones Ricky Skaggs Bluegrass Mandolin Extravaganza David Grisman, Ricky Skaggs, Sam Bush, Jesse McReynolds, and Frank Wakefield The Bluegrass Sessions: Tales from the Acoustic Planet, Vol. 2 Béla Fleck I Feel Like Singing Today Jim Lauderdale, Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys The Mountain Steve Earle and the Del McCoury Band2001 The Grass Is Blue Dolly Parton Big Mon: The Songs of Bill Monroe Ricky Skaggs and Friends Fair Weather Alison Brown Murder on Music Row Larry Cordle and Lonesome Standard Time Nickel Creek Nickel Creek2002 New Favorite Alison Krauss & Union Station Clinch Mountain Sweethearts Ralph Stanley and Friends History of the Future Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder Little Sparrow Dolly Parton Mountain Soul Patty Loveless2003 Lost in the Lonesome Pines Clinch Mountain Boys, Jim Lauderdale, and Ralph Stanley The Hard Game of Love Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver Jelly on My Tofu Roland White Band Ralph Stanley Ralph Stanley Stanley Blues Ralph Stanley II2004 Live Alison Krauss & Union Station Christmas on the Mountain: A Bluegrass Christmas Various Artists It's Just the Night Del McCoury Band Live at the Charleston Music Hall Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder One Step Ahead Rhonda Vincent2005 Brand New Strings and Kentucky Thunder The Bluegrass Sessions Lynn Anderson Carrying On Ralph Stanley II A Tribute to Jimmy Martin: "The King of Bluegrass" Various Artists Twenty Year Blues Nashville Bluegrass Band2006 The Company We Keep Del McCoury Band Cherryholmes Cherryholmes The Grascals The Grascals Marbletown Blue Highway Ragin' Live Rhonda Vincent and The Rage2007 Instrumentals and Kentucky Thunder Long List of Heartaches The Grascals Bluegrass Jim Lauderdale Live at the Ryman Marty Stuart All American Bluegrass Girl Rhonda Vincent2008 The Bluegrass Diaries Jim Lauderdale Cherryholmes II Black and White Cherryholmes Lefty's Old Guitar and The New South Scenechronized Seldom Scene Double Banjo Bluegrass Spectacular Tony Trischka2009 Honoring the Fathers of Bluegrass: Tribute to 1946 and 1947 and Kentucky Thunder Cherryholmes III: Don't Believe Cherryholmes Del McCoury Band - Live At The 2008 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival Del McCoury Band The Ultimate Collection / Live At The Ryman Earl Scruggs Wheels Dan Tyminski
2010s Year Work Artist2010 The Crow: New Songs for the 5-String Banjo Almost Live Bryan Sutton and Friends Buckaroo Blue Grass Michael Martin Murphey Could We Get Any Closer? Jim Lauderdale Destination Life Rhonda Vincent2011 Mountain Soul II Circles Around Me Sam Bush Family Circle Del McCoury Band Legacy Peter Rowan Bluegrass Band Reckless The SteelDrivers2012 Paper Airplane Alison Krauss & Union Station A Mother's Prayer Ralph Stanley Old Memories: The Songs of Bill Monroe Del McCoury Band Rare Bird Alert and the Steep Canyon Rangers Reason and Rhyme: Bluegrass Songs by Robert Hunter and Jim Lauderdale Jim Lauderdale Sleep with One Eye Open Chris Thile and Michael Daves2013 List of 2013 nominees Nobody Knows You Steep Canyon Rangers Beat the Devil and Carry a Rail Noam Pikelny The Gospel Side of... Dailey & Vincent Life Finds a Way The Grascals Scratch Gravel Road The Special Consensus2014 The Streets of Baltimore Del McCoury Band Brothers of the Highway Dailey & Vincent It's Just a Road The Boxcars This World Oft Can Be Della Mae Three Chords and the Truth James King2015 The Earls of Leicester The Earls of Leicester Cold Spell Frank Solivan and Dirty Kitchen Into My Own Bryan Sutton Noam Pikelny Plays Kenny Baker Plays Bill Monroe Noam Pikelny Only Me Rhonda Vincent2016 The Muscle Shoals Recordings The SteelDrivers Before the Sun Goes Down Rob Ickes and Trey Hensley In Session Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver Man of Constant Sorrow Ralph Stanley and Friends Pocket Full of Keys Dale Ann Bradley2017 Coming Home O'Connor Band with Mark O'Connor Burden Bearer Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver The Hazel and Alice Sessions Laurie Lewis & The Right Hands North by South Claire Lynch Original Traditional Blue Highway2018 All the Rage Rhonda Vincent and the Rage Fiddler's Dream Michael Cleveland Laws of Gravity The Infamous Stringdusters Original Bobby Osborne Universal Favorite Noam Pikelny2019 The Travelin' McCourys The Travelin' McCourys II Sister Sadie North of Despair Wood & Wire Portraits in Fiddles Mike Barnett Rivers and Roads The Special Consensus
2020s Year Work Artist2020 Tall Fiddler Michael Cleveland If You Can't Stand the Heat Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen Live in Prague, Czech Republic Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver Royal Traveller Missy Raines Toil, Tears & Trouble The Po'Ramblin' Boys2021 Home Billy Strings The John Hartford Fiddle Tune Project, Vol. 1 Various Artists Man on Fire Danny Barnes North Carolina Songbook Steep Canyon Rangers To Live In Two Worlds, Vol. 1 Thomm Jutz2022 My Bluegrass Heart Béla Fleck Cuttin' Grass Vol. 1 (Butcher Shoppe Sessions) Sturgill Simpson Music Is What I See Rhonda Vincent Renewal Billy Strings A Tribute To Bill Monroe The Infamous Stringdusters2023 Crooked Tree Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway Almost Proud Del McCoury Band Calling You from My Mountain Peter Rowan Get Yourself Outside Yonder Mountain String Band Toward the Fray The Infamous Stringdusters2024 City of Gold Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway Bluegrass Willie Nelson Lovin' of the Game Michael Cleveland Me/And/Dad Billy Strings Mighty Poplar Mighty Poplar Radio John: Songs of John Hartford Sam Bush2025 Live Vol. 1 Billy Strings Earl Jam Tony Trischka I Built a World Bronwyn Keith-Hynes Live from the Ryman Dan Tyminski No Fear Sister Sadie Songs of Love and Life The Del McCoury Band2026 Highway Prayers Billy Strings Arcadia Alison Krauss & Union Station Carter & Cleveland Michael Cleveland and Jason Carter Outrun The SteelDrivers A Tip Toe High Wire Sierra Hull
Each year is linked to the article about the Grammy Awards held that year. Awards were presented to Jerry Douglas and Tut Taylor as the producers of the album. An award was presented to Todd Phillips as the producer of the album.
Artists with multiple wins
6 wins Alison Krauss
5 wins Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder Union Station
3 wins Billy Strings 2 wins Jim Lauderdale Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway Nashville Bluegrass Band
Artists with multiple nominations
10 nominations Del McCoury Del McCoury Band
9 nominations Ralph Stanley Ricky Skaggs
8 nominations Dan Tyminski 7 nominations
6 nominations Jim Lauderdale Union Station
5 nominations Jerry Douglas Billy Strings
4 nominations Doyle Lawson Noam Pikelny Peter Rowan The Seldom Scene
3 nominations Béla Fleck Bobby Osborne Cherryholmes Claire Lynch David Grisman Jesse McReynolds Michael Cleveland Sam Bush Steep Canyon Rangers The Grascals The Infamous Stringdusters
2 nominations Alison Brown Bill Monroe Blue Highway Bryan Sutton Clinch Mountain Boys Dailey & Vincent Dolly Parton Frank Solivan and Dirty Kitchen J. D. Crowe and the New South Jim & Jesse Johnson Mountain Boys Larry Cordle and Lonesome Standard Time Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway Osborne Brothers Patty Loveless Steve Martin The Special Consensus The SteelDrivers Tony Trischka
Notes
See also International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame List of Grammy Award categories
References
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Specific