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NEW YORK<\/strong> \u2013 Flashback to February. It’s the 2025 Grammys, and Beyonc\u00e9<\/a> has made history. Not only was she finally awarded the top prize of album of the year, but she also became the first Black woman to win best country album<\/a>, for \u201cCowboy Carter.\u201d<\/a> Recent changes by the Recording Academy have made it even more monumental: She might be the last person to ever win the award.<\/p>\n In June, the Academy announced that the Grammys’<\/a> country album title was splitting into two<\/a> categories. A new award was created, traditional country album. The preexisting country album category has been redefined and is now contemporary country album, reflecting the genre’s ongoing sonic evolutions. <\/p>\n The decision was divisive: Some viewed it as backlash to Beyonc\u00e9’s win.<\/a> Others welcomed the addition of a new award and the creative doors it might open. Some questioned how the categories would be defined in a genre where the word \u201ctraditional\u201d is loaded.<\/a><\/p>\n Here’s everything you need to know about the change \u2014 and what it could signify in the future. <\/p>\n From \u201cCowboy Carter\u201d to now<\/p>\n Charles L. Hughes, Rhodes College professor and author of \u201cCountry Soul,\u201d says Beyonc\u00e9’s victory was a welcomed surprise, despite being obviously worthy. That’s because her album inspired a larger conversation about reclamation, standing in opposition to the music industry’s rigid power structures<\/a> and \u201cindicated how significant this historical question remains of whether or not Black folks have equal access to success in a genre of music that bears such strong Black influences and has from the very beginning,\u201d Hughes said.<\/p>\n He believes the decision to alter the country album categories was not in direct response to her win \u2014 \u201cI think it is a more complicated story,\u201d he says \u2014 but the timing might’ve been less than ideal, emboldening fans to view it as reactionary. He hopes the changes will open the category to more diversity of sounds and \u201cwhether this leads to a broader opening and opportunity for Black artists, especially Black women in country music,\u201d he posits.<\/p>\n Francesca T. Royster, a DePaul University professor and author of \u201cBlack Country Music: Listening for Revolutions,\u201d views Beyonc\u00e9\u2019s victory as positively connected to this change. She wonders if artists \u2014 particularly artists of color, who never had their music recognized in country music categories, think of artists like \u201cMillie Jackson or Candi Staton, Bobby Womack\u201d \u2014 would now see their work recognized. \u201cHaving these two categories just allows for more experimentation and maybe less of a double standard,\u201d she says, \u201cin terms of artists who are often held to higher standards to conform to, or be recognizable as, meeting an idea about what country music is.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt makes sense that the Grammy categories for country would become a little bit more expansive,\u201d she says, \u201cbecause I think the music is more expansive and the audience is also more expansive than it\u2019s ever been.\u201d<\/p>\n Traditional vs. contemporary<\/p>\n According to the Recording Academy’s rule book, the traditional country category is defined by \u201ccountry recordings that adhere to the more traditional sound structures of the country genre, including rhythm and singing style, lyrical content, as well as traditional country instrumentation.\u201d <\/p>\n Those are: acoustic guitar, steel guitar, fiddle, banjo, mandolin, piano, electric guitar and live drums. This is also where subgenres like outlaw country,<\/a> Western and Western swing would fit.<\/p>\n The contemporary country category description is a bit more conceptual. The rule book states that albums eligible in this category \u201cutilize a stylistic intention, song structure, lyrical content, and\/or musical presentation to create a sensibility that reflects the broad spectrum of contemporary country style and culture.\u201d <\/p>\n The hope is that those titles are \u201crelevant to the legacy of country music\u2019s culture, while also engaging in more contemporary music forms.\u201d<\/p>\n The questions Hughes poses: \u201cWhose tradition are we talking about?\u201d And how is \u201ccountry music’s culture\u201d defined? <\/p>\n \u201cIt’s almost tautology. \u2018Well, it\u2019s traditional country if it sounds like traditional country,’\u201d he says. <\/p>\n In that reading, contemporary country could simply account for everything else.<\/p>\n Royster says both categories seem to \u201cspeak to an aesthetic as well as political agenda, many agendas.\u201d To her, the traditional category would appeal to artists who believe that \u201cthis is a past form that needs to … continue to be recognized and respected.\u201d Similarly, the contemporary category is \u201clinked to the culture of country but is also expansive.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIn both cases, there\u2019s a kind of story behind the story.\u201d<\/p>\n A historical precedent<\/p>\n Adding a new genre category is not unique to country music. Consider a sister genre, R&B. In 1999, the Recording Academy also introduced a traditional category to the R&B field to spotlight artists who chose to hybridize the genre as well as those who prefer nostalgic structures. <\/p>\n It didn’t stay stagnant from there: In 2021, the Academy changed the best urban contemporary album category to best progressive R&B album, to spotlight those records that weave R&B with other genres. <\/p>\n The 2026 nominees<\/p>\n In the contemporary country album category,<\/a> Kelsea Ballerini’s \u201cPatterns\u201d<\/a> faces off against Tyler Childers’ \u201cSnipe Hunter,\u201d<\/a> Eric Church’s \u201cEvangeline vs. the Machine,\u201d Jelly Roll’s \u201cBeautifully Broken,\u201d and Miranda Lambert’s \u201cPostcards from Texas.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n In the traditional category, it is Charley Crockett’s \u201cDollar a Day,\u201d Lukas Nelson’s \u201cAmerican Romance,\u201d Willie Nelson’s \u201cOh What a Beautiful World,\u201d<\/a> Margo Price’s \u201cHard Headed Woman,\u201d and Zach Top’s \u201cAin\u2019t In It For My Health.\u201d<\/p>\n Royster wonders if with this first year of nominees, \u201cthere’s less risk in terms of recognizing the kind of \u2018country-ness\u2019 of these artists.\u201d Royster views the lineup as \u201cartists (whose) country creds would still be recognized even if they\u2019re also bringing in other elements. I would hope in the future there might be more room in the category.\u201d<\/p>\n For Hughes, the nominees further confuse the distinctions. Consider this example: Zach Top’s album borrows heavily from George Strait’s sound,<\/a> which emerged in the \u201870s as a mesh of honky-tonk traditions and contemporary country. Hip-hop also emerged in the \u201970s. They were simultaneous. \u201cBut I have a feeling we won\u2019t be seeing a lot of hip-hop-inspired artists in the traditional category,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n But that doesn’t mean it might not evolve in the future. \u201cIf the Grammys fundamentally exist to give people recognition,\u201d he says, \u201cThe more, the merrier.\u201d<\/p>\n What country musicians say<\/p>\n \u201cAnytime the pipe widens, more water gets through. And this was the pipe widening, baby,\u201d Jelly Roll, who is nominated in the inaugural best contemporary country album category, told The Associated Press.<\/a> \u201cI love it. I’m happy. I\u2019m a fan of both sides. It encourages me to maybe make a traditional country album one day, you know? So, this is cool.\u201d<\/p>\n Three-time Grammy award winner Brad Paisley<\/a> has a similar stance: There’s a benefit to having more country music recognitions.<\/p>\n \u201cAwards are really tools to sort of get awareness for something that you made, you know?\u201d he said.<\/a> \u201cThey\u2019re never the goal. It\u2019s always more like, \u2018Oh, cool, this might make more people listen to it.\u2019 \u2026 If this means they got to make more little gold gramophone statues to give out, and two people get them versus one, great.\u201d <\/p>\n That said: Paisley’s not sure which category he would fall into, or if the division could color an artist’s creative decisions. \u201cI\u2019d almost have to think it through like, \u2018No, no, we\u2019re going for the Grammy on this. I better not do this on this record or something.\u2019 But hopefully that doesn\u2019t ever enter into it,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Hopefully, it’s just a panel decided who belongs in which category, \u201cand then two people get to go home happy versus one. And that\u2019s good in my book,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n