After the annual Grammy Awards ceremony in February, the music world in general and the Country music world in particular were in an uproar after Beyonce won the award for Best Country Album for “Cowboy Carter”. She was the first woman of colour to win the award.
In June the Recording Academy decided that the Country music album award should be divided into two categories – Best Contemporary and Best Traditional Album awards.
In recent years, the field of Country music has seen a great influx of country-pop and country-rock artists; along with those who hold to the traditions of artists like Conway Twitty, Hank Williams, Keith Whitley, Loretta Lynn, and Dolly Parton.
According to the Recording Academy rule book, traditional country is “country 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 – acoustic guitar, steel guitar, fiddle, banjo, mandolin, piano, electric guitar and live drums.” Outlaw, Western, and Western swing are also considered in the traditional category.
The Academy rule book classifies contemporary country music as one that “utilizes a stylistic intention, song structure, lyrical content, and/or musical to create a sensibility that reflects the broad spectrum of contemporary country style and culture.” The Academy also hopes that the music is, “relevant to the legacy of country music’s culture, while also engaging in more contemporary music forms.”
Breaking a category into traditional and contemporary is not new to the Recording Academy. Both R&B and pop categories have been divided to reflect a change in the times.
The 2026 Grammy Award ceremony is set for February 1 just before the beginning of the Cortina-Milan Winter Olympics and the NFL Super Bowl.