NEW YORK — Flashback of February. It's the 2025 Grammys, and Beyoncé went down in history. Not only did she finally win the top prize for album of the year, but she also became the first black woman to win the award. best country albumFor “Cowboy Carter” Recent changes made by the Recording Academy have made her even more monumental: She may be the last person to ever receive the award.
In June, the Academy announced that Grammy the title of the country album was division into two parts categories. A new award was created, the traditional country album. The previously existing country album category has been redefined to represent the modern country album, reflecting the genre's ongoing sonic evolution.
The decision was controversial, with some considering it negative reaction to Beyoncé's victory. Others welcomed the introduction of the new award and the creative doors it could open. Some wondered how categories would be determined in a genre where the word “traditional” loaded.
Here's everything you need to know about this change and what it could mean in the future.
Charles L. Hughes, a Rhodes College professor and author of “Country Soul,” says Beyoncé's win was a welcome surprise, although it was clearly deserving. That's because her album inspired a larger conversation about recovery, pitting herself against the music industry. rigid power structures and “showed how important this historical question remains of whether black people have equal access to success in a genre of music that carries such a strong black influence and has had it from the very beginning,” Hughes said.
He believes the decision to change country album categories wasn't a direct response to her win—”I think it's a more complex story,” he says—but the timing may not have been ideal, which encourages fans to view it as reactionary. He hopes the changes will open the category to more diversity of sounds and “will that lead to greater exposure and opportunity for black artists, especially black women in country music,” he argues.
Francesca T. Royster, a professor at DePaul University and author of Black Country Music: Listening to Revolutions, believes Beyoncé's victory is positively tied to those changes. She wonders if artists—especially artists of color whose music has never been recognized in country music categories, artists like “Millie Jackson or Candy Staton, Bobby Womack”—will now see their work recognized. “Having those two categories just allows for more experimentation and maybe less double standards,” she says, “in terms of artists who are often held to a higher standard in order to fit in or be recognized for the idea of what country music is.”
“It makes sense that the country Grammy categories would become a little more expansive,” she says, “because I think the music is more expansive and the audience is more expansive than ever.”
According to the Recording Academy's rulebook, the traditional country category is defined by “country recordings that adhere to the more traditional sound structures of the country genre, including rhythm and singing style, lyrical content, and traditional country instrumentation.”
These are: acoustic guitar, steel guitar, violin, banjo, mandolin, piano, electric guitar and live drums. There are also subgenres such as outlaw country Western and western swing will do.
The description of the modern category of countries is somewhat more conceptual. The rulebook states that albums that fall under this category “use stylistic intent, song structure, lyrical content and/or musical presentation to create a sensibility that reflects the broad spectrum of contemporary country style and culture.”
The hope is that the titles “relate to the heritage of country music culture while also incorporating more contemporary musical forms.”
The questions Hughes asks are: “Whose tradition are we talking about?” How is “country culture” defined?
“It's almost a tautology. 'Well, it's a traditional country if it sounds like a traditional country,'” he says.
On this reading, the modern country could simply explain the rest.
Royster says both categories seem to “belong to both an aesthetic and a political agenda, many agendas.” She believes the traditional category will appeal to artists who believe “it's a past form that needs to…continue to be recognized and respected.” Likewise, the modern category is “associated with the culture of the country, but is also broad.”
“In both cases, there is some history behind the story.”
The addition of a new genre category isn't unique to country music. Consider a related genre, R&B. In 1999, the Recording Academy also introduced a traditional category for R.&Field B to highlight artists who choose to cross genres, as well as those who prefer nostalgic structures.
From there, things didn't stand still: in 2021, the Academy changed the Best Urban Contemporary Album category to Best Progressive R.&Album B to highlight those records that contain R.&B with other genres.
IN contemporary country albums category, Kelsea Ballerini “Patterns” resist “Snipe Hunter” by Tyler Childers. “Evangeline vs. the Machine” by Eric Church, “Beautiful Broken” by Jelly Roll, and “Beautiful Broken” by Miranda Lambert. “Postcards from Texas.”
In the traditional category, these are “A Dollar a Day” by Charlie Crockett, “An American Romance” by Lukas Nelson, “An American Romance” by Willie Nelson. “Oh, what a wonderful world” “Headheaded Woman” by Margo Price and “It's Not for My Health” by Zach Tope.
Royster wonders if this first year of nominations has taken “less of a risk in terms of recognizing the 'hillbilly' identity of these artists.” Royster sees this lineup as “artists (whose) country will still be recognized even if they also bring other elements. I hope there may be more room in this category in the future.”
Hughes said the candidates are further confusing the differences. Consider this example: Zack Tope's album borrows heavily from The sound of George Strait which emerged in the 70s as a blend of honky-tonk traditions and modern country music. Hip-hop also appeared in the 70s. They were simultaneous. “But I have a feeling we won’t see many hip-hop-inspired artists in the traditional category,” he says.
But this does not mean that it cannot develop in the future. “If the Grammys exist primarily to give people recognition,” he says, “then the more the merrier.”
“Every time a pipe expands, more water comes through it. And that was pipe expansion, baby,” Jelly Roll, nominated in the inaugural category of Best Contemporary Country Album, told the Associated Press. “I love it. I'm happy. I'm a fan of both sides. It gets me excited to maybe do a traditional country record someday, you know? So that's cool.”
Three-time Grammy Award winner Brad Paisley has a similar position: there is benefit to more recognition of country music.
“Awards are really a tool to bring attention to what you've done, you know?” – he said. “They are never the target. It's always more like, “Oh cool, this might get more people to listen to it.” … If that means they have to make more little gold gramophone statues and give them away, and two people get them instead of one, great.”
However, Paisley is unsure which category he falls into and whether this division might influence the artist's creative decisions. “I almost had to wrap my head around it like, 'No, no, we're going to get a Grammy for this. I better not do that on this record or anything.” But I hope that never happens,” he says.
Hopefully, it'll just be a commission deciding who belongs in which category, “and then two people will go home happy, not just one. And that's a good thing, in my opinion,” he said.
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The 68th Grammy Awards will take place on February 1, 2026 at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. The show will air on CBS and Paramount+. For more information visit https://apnews.com/hub/grammy-awards.
