Between his trademark fishing shirts, heavyset physique and a bristling red beard, Luke Combs has long embraced his everyman aesthetic. Not that it's always worked in his favor: At one point, he auditioned for televised singing competition The Voice, but "I got turned away because my story wasn't interesting enough," he recently told the New York Times.

Over the course of his monolithic six-year career, the very thing that kept him from potential Voice stardom has become a massive asset. Since his major label debut and first single — 2016's breakup belter "Hurricane" — he's established himself as an authentic creative force, capitalizing on his man-of-the-people status to release music that resonates with wide swaths of listeners.

In more recent years, Combs' Average Joe-ishness has been higher profile — he's partnered with brands like Crocs and Miller Lite, for example — but long before he was enough of a star to warrant those kinds of partnerships, his formula for music-making was to be unabashedly, relatedly himself. That was the case on his first album, 2017's This One's For You, and that still rings true on his just-released third project, Growin' Up.

In some ways, little has changed in Combs' music since his mainstream debut. He's still a hard-partying, traditional-country-leaning, full-throated force of a performer, and his skills on stage have only grown — enough to even win him Entertainer of the Year at the 2021 CMA Awards. But in other ways, Combs' new project represents a mentality shift, and a harbinger of the singer's ascendency to country legend status. 

Read on for five key takeaways from Luke Combs' new album, Growin' Up.

His '90s and 2000s Influences Are Front And Center

By this point in his career, Combs' fans know that '90s and 2000s country music is a major influence on him as both a songwriter and a performer. Not only has he made that clear in the sounds of his solo work, but he also teamed up with '90s hitmakers Brooks & Dunn twice — once for their Reboot version of their hit "Brand New Man," and again for Combs' What You See Is What You Get cut, "1, 2 Many."

So while it's not a surprise that Growin' Up features a strong '90s vibe, the way that Combs goes about braiding in his influences is noteworthy. It feels more like Combs marinated the songs in throwback country before recording them. 

"On the Other Line" is a playful reply to Brad Paisley's "I'm Gonna Miss Her (The Fishin' Song)," updated with modern lyrics but still as quippy and humorous as ever. The hard-charging guitars and rapid-fire lyrics of "Ain't Far From It" would feel right at home on an early '90s Travis Tritt record, while "Any Given Friday Night" has some common DNA with Tim McGraw's "Truck Yeah."

Even some of the lyrics get specific about Combs' '90s fandom, with "Better Back When" name-checking Kenny Chesney in a line about listening to his 2007 hit "Never Wanted Nothing More." 

Importantly, none of these songs are copycat — the singer has found a way to synthesize his influences into original music that still calls its predecessors to listeners' minds. As '90s-leaning sounds infiltrate today's country radio market, Combs' innate throwback inspiration may just land him a few more radio hits.

Combs' Confidence As An Artist Is Growing

Since the beginning of his career, Combs has seemingly had a pretty firm grasp on his personal brand — but he's becoming surer of who he is with each hit single and new album. That means he's not afraid to mix things up: Strands of bluegrass play into his bread-and-butter country music on songs like "The Kind of Love We Make" and "Call Me," and he's nonchalant about incorporating steel guitar alongside hard-rocking arena anthems in the songs on Growin' Up. 

Even more notable are the aesthetics of the album rollout itself. Over the past couple of years, Combs has started hiding Easter eggs in his social media posts and music videos, a la Taylor Swift. The music video for his Growin' Up's lead single, "Doin' This," is filled with inside jokes and shout-outs; before dropping the music video for "The Kind of Love We Make," he dropped a digital "poster" for it on Twitter, featuring song lyrics and more details in tiny print.

Meanwhile, he's getting more confident about the songs themselves. "Crazy thing is, I've only ever posted about or played live 6 of the 12 songs on the new album, so y'all have never heard half the songs..." the singer wrote on Twitter a month before he dropped his album. That might not seem so remarkable for other artists, but Combs is notorious for posting acoustic or demo versions of unreleased songs and asking fans for their thoughts. This time around, though, he didn't need the gut check. He knew the songs were good.

He's An Expert At Making Super-Personal Songs Relatable

Combs has always written his life into his songs. When he was first starting out, that was easy: A blue-collar college drop-out who sang for tips at a downtown bar after he got off work, his life played easily into country songs about working hard, stretching a paycheck and hanging around in a small town. 

But these days, Combs' average day doesn't look so average anymore. He is one of country music's biggest superstars, and has had 13 singles consecutively reach the No. 1 spot on Billboard's Country Airplay radio chart —  a feat none of his peers or predecessors have ever accomplished. He's now a jet-setting, world-touring, bona fide celebrity; if he continued to put out songs about working minimum-wage jobs and struggling to make ends meet, it wouldn't feel authentic.

So, for the lead single off of Growin' Up, he released "Doin' This," a ballad that explores where Combs might have ended up if he'd never made it as a country singer. The hook, of course, is that Combs would still be playing music whether or not he was being paid to do so: "At the Grand Ole Opry or a show in some no-name town/ I'd still be doin' this if I wasn't doin' this," he affirms in the final lines of the chorus. 

The song manages to acknowledge Combs' current reality without losing touch with his listeners' experiences — to impressive effect. "Doin' This" quickly became a smash hit, landing at the top of the country chart just 12 weeks after its release. 

If the singer struggled over his identity shift from working man to superstar, he didn't show it. His writing process for "Doin' This," he says, was organic: He co-wrote the song with the same couple of buddies that helped him pen an earlier chart-topper, "Forever After All," during a laidback co-write in his "man cave." The subject matter might be different, but the writing process was very similar to how he crafted his very first hits — and though not everyone can relate to being a country star, lots of listeners can relate to having a job they love so much that they'd be doing it even if they weren't getting paid. 

"Anybody that's really passionate about what they do and loves their job, and is doing the thing that they love to do and somehow found a way to get paid for it, this is that story," Combs pointed out to ABC Audio. Ever since the beginning of his career, Combs has demonstrated a seemingly innate knack for telling relatable truths, no matter the context, and "Doin' This" is just one more example of that talent.

Combs' Duet Choices Mirror The Country Legend He's Becoming Himself

The track list of What You See is What You Get, Combs' album from 2019, includes an Eric Church collaboration called "Does to Me." The two artists both hail from North Carolina, and Combs has long been a passionate and vocal fan of The Chief, so it made sense he'd jump at the chance to duet with one of country music's modern-day legends. 

But with the inclusion of a Miranda Lambert duet, "Outrunnin' Your Memory," on Growin' Up, Combs is starting to paint a larger picture with his collaboration choices. Duets are a fairly rare occurrence for Combs — he recorded "1, 2 Many" with Brooks & Dunn in 2019, featured on frequent co-writer Jameson Rodgers' 2021 hit "Cold Beer Calling My Name," and has shared the stage with Ed Sheeran — and he's especially selective about who he enlists on his own projects. But Church and Lambert may well represent something about the trajectory that Combs is creating for himself in the years ahead.

Neither Lambert nor Church are the country radio giant that Combs is — with 13 consecutive No. 1s, few artists are — but both are revered songwriters and performers within country music. What's more, both strike a balance between challenging the genre's limitations while simultaneously epitomizing its most cherished traditions. Combs is headed in a similar direction. He is a titan of country radio but never panders to it; he practices radical authenticity in his songwriting while never losing sight of how to relate to his audience.

For Combs, choosing collaborators could well be an exercise in surrounding himself with people who've already carved out a path similar to his own. After all, there's no faster way to turn your mentor into your peer than to spend as much time learning from them as you possibly can.

He Can Still Rock Without A Big, Marquee Beer Song

Growin' Up is the first of Combs' three albums to date that doesn't have the word "Beer" in any of its song titles. His debut, This One's For You, had the should've-been-a-single "Beer Can"; What You See is What You Get had the mega-hit "Beer Never Broke My Heart." 

While there are lyrics about beer and partying throughout Growin' Up, there is no big beer song this time around. Good-timing tracks like "Ain't Far From It" and "Any Given Friday Night" are the barnburners of the album, but beer isn't the main character of either — small-town life is. Combs also transfers the oomph of a party song into this album's ballads, such as "Middle of Somewhere," which has every bit of the sing-a-long value of "Beer Never Broke My Heart" — and enough emotional mileage to lend its name to Combs' upcoming tour. 

That shift was definitely intentional: Combs told Billboard that though he never wants to completely change the musical brand his fans know and love, this album does represent some newfound maturity. 

"I still wanna be the guy that goes out and has fun and puts on a great show, and that stuff is important to me, but there are also the things that have become more important, that I wasn't aware of or able to understand until they started to happen," he explained. (His personal life likely has something to do with that: Right before Growin' Up was released, Combs became a first-time father, welcoming son Tex Lawrence Combs with his wife Nicole on June 19.) 

As much as Combs wants his music to continue to adhere to his personal brand, he also recognizes that his brand is authenticity. As his life changes, so will the kind of music that comes authentically to him. Combs navigates those changes elegantly on Growin' Up, shifting his songwriting choices and musical voice to a more reflective, balanced perspective —  proving that, as an artist, he's making his biggest strides yet. 

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Charles Wesley Godwin never intended to play for audiences when he picked up a guitar for the first time in college. Now, the 30-year-old Godwin is a full-blown country star, playing stadium shows and prestigious music festivals as one of the genre's fastest rising talents.

Godwin's musical power and allure lie in the ability to inhabit both a superstar persona and family-man image. He's equally comfortable belting his raucous, anthemic "Cue Country Roads," and serenading his baby daughter in "Dance in Rain," a touching song about his vision for her future. Tapping into his West Virginia roots and family history, Godwin's authentic, raw storytelling hasn't just widely resonated — it's helped the singer realize his calling.

Known for his deep, piercing voice and intimate portraits of human experiences, Godwin first endeared himself to audiences with songs like "Hardwood Floors," a sweet love song to his wife, and "Seneca Creek," a ballad from his first album, 2019's Seneca. Across three studio albums thus far, Godwin mixes powerful vocals and relatable, heartfelt lyrics, aligning him with the likes of Zach Bryan, Tyler Childers, and Sturgill Simpson.

The son of a coal miner and a teacher, Godwin dreamed of playing professional football and attended West Virginia University to study finance. After moving on from college football dreams, he taught himself guitar, learning country classics to fill the football void.

But while studying abroad in Estonia, one of Godwin's roommates took his guitar to a club show and coaxed Godwin up on stage after the set. His cover of John Denver's "Take Me Home Country Roads" — Godwin's college theme song and current show closer — earned him his second gig, performing at a fashion show. He was hooked.

After college, Godwin spent most of a decade touring relentlessly, crisscrossing the country to play bars and coffee houses. As he transitioned from covering favorite songs to writing his own, Godwin honed his writing chops and musical voice, intent on figuring out who he would be as a musician.

His latest studio album, 2023's aptly titled Family Ties, showcases the versatility and emotional depth that continues to make his songs resonate intensely. It includes upbeat country bangers like "Two Weeks Gone" and "Family Ties"; ruminations on deep generational connections to family, including his journey to understand his dad in "Miner Imperfections" and recounting his mother's heart-wrenching experience in "The Flood"; and raw, personal reflections on his love for his children, from "Gabriel" to "Tell the Babies I Love Them."

After signing his first major record label deal and opening for Zach Bryan in 2023, Godwin will spend 2024 headlining shows around the United States, also supporting Luke Combs on several dates and playing festivals like Stagecoach, Bonnaroo and Under the Big Sky.

Ahead of his tour launch on April 4, Godwin spoke with GRAMMY.com about his inspiration and writing, chasing his musical dreams, and his favorite career "pinch me" moments — so far.

How did you get started in music?

I watched the Avett Brothers in the 2011 GRAMMYs and was wowed by it, and thought maybe picking a guitar up would be a productive hobby to have. And then over time I began to realize I actually had the talent.

That hobby worked out okay.

I've always joked — even though people are like "Oh man, that's crazy, you didn't find it until you were in your 20s" — I'm like, "Well, at least I found my thing." I feel very fortunate. I feel like things could have easily gone a different way.

Was music of interest to you? What kind of music did your parents play when you were growing up?

My dad listened to oldies radio, a lot of pop music from the '60s and the '70s. I had a lot of the Beatles songs and CCR songs stuck in my head as a little kid.

I would casually consume whatever was put right in front of me, but I wasn't big into music. I was worried about sports. I wanted to be good at football.

What was it like for you picking up a guitar the first time?

It was frustrating. My fingers wouldn't go where I wanted them to. And it seemed very difficult. But I would just bite it off in 15-minute chunks each day. I wouldn't quit.

It wasn't until about a year into it that I could actually start stringing chords together. My dad had gotten a mining engineering degree, and to do some pretty high-level calculus, he always told me when I was growing up, "Math, it just clicks one day, as long as you don't give up on it."

Tell me more about your dad, for whom you wrote "Miner Imperfections." It sounds like you got your work ethic from him.

When he grew up, most of his friends were getting drafted to Vietnam. He had applied for the mines and he gave himself a timeline. He said, If the mines don't call within two weeks, I'm going to join the Air Force, because if I'm gonna get sent to Vietnam, I might as well join on my own terms. He ended up getting called by the mines and went underground in his early 20s. And worked his ass off.

He'd met my mom, and they created a better life for themselves. [They] were able to elevate themselves economically and give my brother and I a great life growing up, and the ability to chase our dreams.

He didn't love the mines, but he was good at it. And it was a way for him to make a good living. My dad had an amazing work ethic. He was very, very hard-nosed, independent, principled. And he taught me a lot of that.

As I've gotten older, I've grown to appreciate him more and more. And [my parents] gave me the mental tools I needed to be able to go through that whole crucible of going all across the country for a decade and sleeping in my car and playing in bars and restaurants and cafes, basically living well below the poverty line for many years, to make this dream of mine come true.

I think the very first song of yours I heard was "Seneca Creek." What's the story behind that song?

That's about my grandparents, on my mother's side. My mom's side of the family is from Seneca Rocks, West Virginia. They're part of the hillbilly highway, they moved up to Canton, Ohio. My granddad was working for Ford Motor Company. And he got drafted to go fight in Korea. So he went off and was a tank commander and fought in Korea for two years and went back to the Ford Motor Company when he got back.

They started a family and started building a life. They ended up moving back to West Virginia in the early '60s, and took over my great grandfather's General Store and farmed cattle. My grandmother was the postmaster.

They had a remarkable life, full of highs and lows and it was a very, very human story. And I thought it translated well into song.

What experiences in your life have colored the kinds of stories you want to tell in your music?

I draw on my family, my wife and my kids. That's really some of the most profound experiences I've had.

My dad, when he was my age, was crawling in less than three feet of coal. So I don't want to write too much about "playing on the road was hard."

One strong point of mine is I can observe somebody else and find the little nuggets of humanity to put into song that can still seem very personal and moving to people.

But you've also got these deeper generational connections and stories, too.

I have a lot of interesting family members in the family tree that I've been able to pull from. My mom's side came over in the potato famine in the mid-1800s. My dad's side, a lot of them were even here before the United States was the United States.

There's a lot of interesting and rich family history to draw from — moonshiners on my mother's side, there's been soldiers, drunkards, teachers and miners. My great grandfather on my dad's side, he used to eat a raw potato in the mines every day for lunch until Italians came over and showed the Irish guys how to eat better.

You've talked about your music sounding like it's from West Virginia. What does that mean? What is West Virginia music to you?

Before I put my first record out, I understood that I needed to find what my natural voice was. And make sure that I wasn't just trying to mimic somebody else.

I would not be able to pull off sounding like I'm trying to sing rodeo country. But I can sound like I'm from West Virginia, because that is the truth.

I think it has to have some bluegrass, if we're talking country music. Because you [also] got [late West Virginia native] Bill Withers, who is one of the best soul singers ever.

Stories about rural places and working class people often get tokenized and stereotyped. When you're writing songs, how do you honor the people you're writing about instead of making them stereotypes?

I just try my best. There's been a lot of lines that when I'm working on songs over the years, I've been like, "that's not it," and then put a line through it and try to come up with something better or more positive or more honest.

I'd rather shine a light on the more admirable character traits, either people in my family that I'm writing about or made up characters. I also try not to make it too unrealistic. I have a lot of songs about regret, which is something that [is] very human. But I definitely don't want to go around glorifying things that aren't really good for society or community.

You've talked about how you felt stuck when you wrote your latest album, Family Ties.  What was that feeling? And how did you get out of that rut?

I had a bunch of people on payroll for the first time in my life. Labels had come into the picture; my wife was just about to have our second child; we had a house we just bought the year prior. I had all these things around me that I'd never had around me before. I was putting pressure on myself, because I wasn't just this broke guy anymore that only needed enough to fill up his gas tank.

I let that affect my mind and my creativity, and my productivity with the notebook. The way I got out of it was just realizing — this sounds so cliche, but it's true, and it's true with music, and so many other things in life — that you can only control the things that you can control.

I felt like writing about my family is what I wanted to do. Just because there's so much love and guilt that I was feeling at that time. The birth my children — my daughter just being born, my son was still really young, with my wife and, being gone for hundreds of days [in] years prior, but then I was home that whole pandemic year, which was this super special time, but also just so weird after all those years of being gone all the time, and then going back to being gone all the time.

Now that all of that hard work has started paying off, what have been some of your biggest "pinch me, I can't believe this is happening" moments?

Recently, I opened for Jason Isbell and for Turnpike Troubadours. Those were folks that I was listening to a decade ago, in the middle of the night, trying to drive home from some gig far away.

And throughout our tour this year, we're doing these Luke Combs dates, and the Avett Brothers are on two of them. The whole reason I picked up a guitar, here we are over a decade later, and I'm going to be shaking their hands before we play a stadium. And this whole thing started with me just sitting on a couch in college watching them at the GRAMMYs. So that's gonna be a "pinch me" moment, for sure.

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We may have known about Toby Keith's stomach cancer diagnosis for nearly two years, but that didn't keep the news of his Feb. 5 death from hitting hard. The oftentimes outspoken country music star enjoyed a three-decade career as one of the genre's beloved hitmakers, courtesy of unabashed hits like "Who's Your Daddy?," "Made In America" and "I Wanna Talk About Me."

Occasionally his in-your-face persona clashed with folks, particularly when it came to his political views in recent years. But for the most part, it was Keith's blue-collar upbringing and work ethic that shined through and resonated with his legion of listeners. 

It wasn't until his thirties that the future Songwriters Hall of Famer landed his first record deal in 1993, following years grinding away as a rodeo hand, in oil fields and as a semi-professional football player to make ends meet. The Oklahoma-born crooner would go on to record 20 No.1 hits, sell over 40 million records across 26 albums, and gross nearly $400 million touring — cementing himself as one of country music's most successful artists in the process.

As we look back on Keith's life and legacy, here are five essential cuts from the seven-time GRAMMY nominee, whose memory will live on in the hearts of country music artists and fans alike.

"Should've Been A Cowboy" (1993)

Few artists strike gold with their maiden release, but Keith did just that when his song "Should've Been A Cowboy" launched in February 1993. The upbeat track received widespread acclaim, eventually reaching No. 1 on the Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart a few months later.

"Should've Been A Cowboy" takes on a distinctly traditional tone as Keith romanticizes cowboy culture by referencing classic westerns like Gunsmoke with nods to Marshall Dillon and Miss Kitty in addition to six-shooters, cattle drives and Texas Rangers abound. The tune also reinforces the notion that cowboys just have more fun, whether its "stealin' the young girls' hearts, just like Gene [Autry] and Roy [Rogers]" or "runnin' wild through the hills chasin' Jesse James." 

By the looks of Keith's career, he certainly had his fair share of fun, and it may not have come if it weren't for "Should've Been A Cowboy."

"How Do You Like Me Now?!" (1999)

After a successful '90s run (which included two more No. 1s in "Who's That Man" and "Me Too"), Keith kicked off the 2000s with his fourth No. 1 hit, "How Do You Like Me Now?!" In signature Toby Keith fashion, he confronts his haters by asking the titular, rhetorical question, posed to his high school's valedictorian — who was also his crush. "I couldn't make you love me but I always dreamed about livin' in your radio," he sings on the brazen chorus.

The song is a stern reminder to never let anyone keep you from chasing your dreams; it's also a lesson of standing strong on your convictions. Its message also proved fitting for Keith's career: After Mercury Records Nashville rejected the song (and its namesake album) in the late '90s, Keith got out of his deal with them in favor of signing with DreamWorks Records, with whom he released the project a year later. Not only did the single go on to spend five weeks at No. 1 on the Hot Country Songs chart, but it became the singer's first major crossover hit.

"Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American)" (2002)

Keith was never afraid to share his opinion in public or in song, especially when it came to displaying his patriotism and appreciation for those who protect the United States. While the Okie approached this from a softer side on 2003's "American Soldier," his most renowned musings on the subject without a doubt came a year earlier with "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American)."

On the angsty ballad — which was written in the wake of his father's March 2001 death and the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks — Keith channels a universal feeling of American hurt and pride. "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American)" inspired an equal outpouring of support and outrage that, for better or worse depending on where you stand, helped cement the song into the annals of country music lore.

"I Love This Bar" (2003)

We've all got our favorite watering hole full of its own quirks and characters, from winners to losers, chain-smokers and boozers. Keith taps into that feel-good, hometown hang feeling with "I Love This Bar," a lighthearted tale from 2003's Shock'n Y'all that makes dingy dive bars feel like the prime party destination.

The midtempo track — Keith's 12th No. 1 — further plays into country music drinking tropes as Keith proclaims, "I like my girlfriend, I like to take her out to dinner, I like a movie now and then" before making a hard pivot, adding "but I love this bar." 

All joking aside, the song, and all of the unique individuals described within it, have a harmony to them inside those hallowed walls. It's a kinship that seems more and more difficult to find in today's world, and a sentiment best captured at the song's conclusion: "come as you are."

"As Good As I Once Was" (2005)

Your best days may be behind you, but that doesn't mean you can't still live your best life and thrive in the present — even if you don't get over hangovers as quickly as you used to.

That youthful wisdom is distilled into every lyric of "As Good As I Once Was," a reminiscent story in which a then-44-year-old Keith recounts his prime as a lover, drinker and fighter humbly. That being said, his pride is still quick to take charge with convictions like "I still throw a few back, talk a little smack, when I'm feelin' bullet proof."

Lasting six weeks at No. 1, "As Good As I Once Was" was the biggest of the 15 chart-toppers Keith tallied in the 2000s. And though he scored one more in the following decade (along with several other hits, including the playful drinking song "Red Solo Cup"), "As Good As I Once Was" will live on as one of Keith's quintessential messages of fun-loving confidence: "I ain't as good as I once was, but I'm as good once, as I ever was."

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The 2024 GRAMMYs were marked by record-breaking wins, moving speeches and viral moments both on- and offstage. But what truly tied together Music's Biggest Night — beyond artistic excellence — was its slate of stunning and emotional performances.

From Dua Lipa's opening act and new song, to Joni Mitchell's first-ever performance on the GRAMMY stage and the tearjerking-yet-thrilling tribute to lost icons, the 66th GRAMMY Awards were a showcase of the best of the business. 

Press play on the videos below and relive the most exciting performances from the 66th GRAMMY Awards

Dua Lipa opened the 66th GRAMMY Awards with a medley of the first two singles from her upcoming album. Tracks "Houdini" and "Training Season" are the first two singles off Dua Lipa’s forthcoming third studio record, which follows her GRAMMY-winning 2020 LP Future Nostalgia. The 2024 GRAMMYs were a sneak peek of "Training Season," as the track officially arrives Feb. 15.

In a full-circle moment, Luke Combs perform his GRAMMY-nominated cover of "Fast Car" — with a suprise appearance from Tracy Chapman. "Fast Car" earned Chapman a GRAMMY for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance in 1989, when she took home the trophy. On the GRAMMY stage, the otherwise reclusive Chapman beamed as she strummed an acoustic guitar and duetted with Combs.

"Tracy is such an icon and, I mean, one of the best songwriters that I think any of us will ever be around to see," Combs said in the video introducing his performance.

Miley Cyrus had only performed "Flowers" twice before taking the GRAMMY-winning song to stage on Music’s Biggest Night. And while the hit track off Endless Summer Vacation was sure to be a showstopper, Cyrus’ performance was made even more special by winning her first GRAMMY moments before. After  eight nominations and many years in the industry, the singer’s exclamations of excitment were felt by everyone watching.

After winning the GRAMMY Award for Best Song Written For Visual Media at the Premiere Ceremony, Billie Eilish and brother FINNEAS performed the existential pop ballad from Barbie on the GRAMMY stage. "What Was I Made For?" would go on to win Song Of The Year, showing the world that Eilish certainly knows what she was made for.

Eighty-year-old icon ad 2022 MusiCares Person Of The Year Joni Mitchell performed for the first time at the GRAMMY Awrds — and there wasn’t a dry eye in the house. Seated in an elegant chair and surrounded by chandeliers, Mitchell offered an emotional performance of her 1969 hit "Both Sides Now." The legened was backed by Brandi Carlile, Allison Russell, Sistastrings, Lucius, Jacob Collier, and Blake Mills; earlier in the day, "Both Sides" took home the golden gramophone for Best Folk Album.

SZA went into the 2024 GRAMMYs as the most-nominated artist and took home awards for  Best Pop Duo/Group Performance and Best R&B Song. She then gave back to the audience, performing the GRAMMY-winning "Snooze," clad in a leather duster and wide-brimmed hat.

Olivia Rodrigo may not have taken home a golden gramophone, but she still left her all on the GRAMMYs stage. Donning an appropriately hued dress and just a dash of "blood" on her face, Rodrigo performed "vampire" as red liquid seeped from the walls behind her.

Billy Joel performed twice at the 66th GRAMMY Awards, treating audiences to one familiar tune and one brand-new track. Joel shared his newest offering, "Turn the Lights Back On," just before Album Of The Year was announced. His first release since 2007, "Turn the Lights Back On" marked his first time playing on the GRAMMYs stage in more than 20 years.

Burna Boy brought a piece of his homeland to the GRAMMYs, dancing among throngs of colorfully-dressed performers and equally colorful buildings. The Nigerian Afrobeats star performed "On Form," "City Boys" and "Sitting On Top Of The World," iwth special appearances by Brandy and 21 Savage.

U2 took the GRAMMY audience on a quick trip to Las Vegas, performing "Atomic City" live from the Sphere. The swirling, psychedelic and high-tech performance was the first live broadcast from Sin City venue, which the 22-time GRAMMY winners are currently doing a residency.

During the moving In Memoriam segment of the 2024 GRAMMYs, Eurythmics singer Annie Lennox was joined by Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman to pay tribute to Sinead O'Connor. Together, they offered an emotional cover of the late Irish pioneer's "Nothing Compares 2 U."

Further honoring the lives of incredible individuals that the music world lost in 2023, Fantasia Barrino made Tina Turner proud with a high-energy performance of "Proud Mary." The performance and tribute were introduced by Oprah Winfrey, who called Turner "a towering figure. She is our forever goddess of rock and roll who inspired millions, a moving symbol of grace and grit, soul and power…And as those big wheels of time keep on turnin’, Tina’s voice continues to speak to all of us." 

Continuing the In Memoriam tribute, Global Impact Award honoree Lenny Kravitz paid respect to Clarence Avant as the "Godfather of Black Music" with a tribute that included a performance of "Ain't No Sunshine" and "Lean on Me" by Album Of The Year nominee Jon Batiste.

During the Premiere Ceremony, Gaby Moreno & El David Aguilar performed a harmonious and haunting “Luna de Xelaju.” Their take on the popular Guatemalan waltz composed by Paco Pérez was set against a video of falling rose petals, highlighting the romanticism of the duo’s voices.

The Premiere Ceremony kicked off the 2024 GRAMMYs with an exciting performance from Pentatonix, Jordin Sparks, Larkin Poe, J. Ivy, and Sheila E., who welcomed audiences to a day-long celebration of musical excellence.

10 Acceptance Speeches That Made Us Laugh, Cry, & Smile At The 2024 GRAMMYs

Luke Combs took the 2024 GRAMMYs stage to perform his GRAMMY-nominated rendition of "Fast Car" — with a little help from none other than Tracy Chapman.

As the song's indelible melody kicked in, the camera panned out to reveal Chapman elegantly strumming her guitar as she traded stanzas with the country singer. "You got a fast car/ Is it fast enough so we can fly away?/ We gotta make a decision/ Leave tonight or live and die this way," Combs crooned before launching into the chorus, which Taylor Swift sang adoringly along to in the audience. 

Combs' cover of Chapman's single from her 1988 debut became a surprise hit after he released it as the second single off his 2023 studio album, Gettin' Old. While the original version became a top 10 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 for Chapman at the start of her career, Combs' countrified take peaked even higher at No. 2 and also reached the top of the Country Airplay chart.

"Fast Car" earned Chapman her own GRAMMY in 1989, when she took home the trophy for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. The song was also nominated for Record Of The Year and Song Of The Year at the ceremony. 

Nearly 35 years later, Combs' cover was also nominated — this time for Best Country Solo Performance. (At the Premiere Ceremony, Chris Stapleton's "White Horse" won the golden gramophone in the Category.)

"It was my favorite song before I even knew what a 'favorite song' was," Combs said of "Fast Car" in the video introducing his performance, later adding, " It can be felt and related to by all kinds of people around the world. Tracy is such an icon and, I mean, one of the best songwriters that I think any of us will ever be around to see. It's just such a cool full-circle moment for me, just to be associated with her, in any way, is super humbling for me."

2024 GRAMMY Nominations: See The Full Winners & Nominees List