(l-r) Brothers Osborne, Alison Krauss, Zac Brown, Lady Antebellum, Taylor Swift, Chris Stapleton
2018 GRAMMYs: 7 Facts About The Country Field Nominees
The country genre and Music's Biggest Night go all the way back to the 1st GRAMMY Awards, when the Kingston Trio won Best Country & Western Performance for "Tom Dooley."
At the 7th GRAMMY Awards, the Country Field expanded category into six categories, including Best Country Album and Best Country Song, which continue to this day, along with Best Country Solo Performance and Best Country Duo/Group Performance.
With a history including GRAMMY winners such as Glen Campbell, Rodney Crowell, Larry Gatlin, Vince Gill, Alan Jackson, Naomi Judd, Kris Kristofferson, Kacey Musgraves, Willie Nelson, K.T. Oslin, Dolly Parton, Marty Robbins, Taylor Swift, and Shania Twain, among others, the Country Field has carried an esteemed legacy as long as the genre itself, which continues with the 60th GRAMMY Awards.
Learn more about this year's Country Field with seven interesting touchpoints about the nominees.
1. Chris Stapleton, Kenny Chesney Come Full Circle
The trajectory of this year's triple nominee Chris Stapleton proceeded from Kentucky coal roots to Nashville's Music Row where he shot a song up the charts in 2007 as a co-writer on Kenny Chesney's "Never Wanted Nothing More."
Flash forward 10 years, and the duo have each earned their own GRAMMY nomination in the same category. Both Stapleton and Chesney are up for Best Country Album — Stapleton for his From A Room: Volume 1 and Chesney for Cosmic Hallelujah.
2. Double Nominations For Songwriters Shane McAnally, Josh Osborne
The theme is "two" when it comes to Midland's "Drinkin' Problem" and Sam Hunt's "Body Like A Back Road." Both have Best Country Song nominations.
Behind the scenes, "two" singer/songwriter masters of country are among the co-writers for each hit tune: Shane McAnally and Josh Osborne, both with previous GRAMMY wins. As a result, they'll be competing head-to-head against themselves in the category.
3. Taylor Swift, Little Big Town And An Email
Little Big Town are nominated for Best Country Duo/Group Performance for their hit "Better Man," and the album it sprang from, The Breaker, is up for Best Country Album. "Better Man" is in the running for Best Country Song as well, which notches a Country Field nomination for its songwriter, Taylor Swift.
The band told Billboard that as they were finishing their album in the studio, an email from Swift arrived with "Better Man" attached and the message: "I love this song. It means a lot to me. What do you think?" The rest is history.
4. How Kenny Chesney Inspired Miranda Lambert
"This song sort of wrote itself," Miranda Lambert told The Tennessean about her song "Tin Man." "I felt the same emotion I feel when I hear that song … and the other two co-writers were feeling it as well."
"That song" would be fellow Country Field nominee Kenny Chesney's "The Tin Man" from his 1994 album, In My Wildest Dreams, which Lambert said was her favorite of his many hits. Along with co-writers Jack Ingram and Jon Randall, Lambert put her own spin on her tune, which earned a nomination for Best Country Song for "Tin Man." Lambert is also nominated for "Tin Man" for Best Country Solo Performance.
5. Alison Krauss: Closer To GRAMMY History?
Listeners appreciate why recordings featuring Alison Krauss singing and playing violin have won 27 GRAMMY Awards.
A top GRAMMY winner of all time, Krauss and Quincy Jones (tied with her at 27) are topped only by classical music conductor Georg Solti with 31 GRAMMYs.
Krauss' "Losing You" is nominated for Best Country Solo Performance this year, giving her a chance to move up the list of top GRAMMY winners. (She is also nominated for Best American Roots Performance.)
6. Thomas Rhett, Maren Morris Team For "Craving You"
Thomas Rhett's Life Changes is nominated for Best Country Album and features Maren Morris on its first track, "Craving You." The video is a vigilante featurette with the pair blasting and punching their way through what Rolling Stone thought was essentially a version of the game "Grand Theft Auto."
The GRAMMY Camp alumni Morris is also up for Best Country Solo Performance for "I Could Use A Love Song." A win would mark her second consecutive in the category.
7. Brothers Osborne's Third Pawn Shop Nomination
Brothers Osborne — T.J. and John Osborne — have been riding their gritty brand of country crossover into a trio of Best Country Duo/Group Performance GRAMMY nominations.
Brothers Osborne's first nomination was for "Stay A Little Longer," which preceded their 2016 album, Pawn Shop, as a single. The following year, at the 59th GRAMMY Awards, the single "21 Summer" was nominated.
This year, the last track on the album was released as a single and received a 60th GRAMMY nomination, marking their third in a row in the category.
The 60th GRAMMY Awards will take place at Madison Square Garden in New York on Jan. 28, 2018, airing live on CBS from 7:30–11 p.m. ET/4:30–8 p.m. PT.
