\t\tThe Nominees\t<\/p>\n
\n\tKelsea Ballerini<\/a> \u2013 Patterns \t\tThe Lowdown\t<\/p>\n \n\tFor the first time in Grammy history, country albums will be separated into two categories: Contemporary and Traditional. The change comes just a year after Beyonc\u00e9\u2019s country music foray with Cowboy Carter earned her a nod and win last year \u2014 and at a time when Nashville seems to be opening its doors to new crossovers.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cThe table just keeps getting bigger, and it\u2019s really exciting for the genre for there to be more space,\u201d says Claire Heinichen, a Senior Editor for Country at Spotify. \u201cI feel stars of the magnitude of Beyonc\u00e9 and Post Malone coming in really was that moment for a lot of people to realize how big this genre has gotten.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThe Grammys\u2019 decision to split \u201ccontemporary\u201d and \u201ctraditional\u201d country into two categories may not have been a direct reaction to Beyonc\u00e9 and Malone stepping into the genre\u2019s insulated world, but Heinichen sees Bey\u2019s win as a \u201cwake-up call that the genre deserved more than just one spot.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tKelsea Ballerini, who released a likely contender at next year\u2019s Grammys with the song \u201cI Sit in Parks,\u201d carried on her legacy of blending pop and country while staying true to the storytelling roots of Nashville on Patterns. \u201cIt\u2019s fun, shiny, and emotional,\u201d says Heinichen. \u201cShe embodies what it means to blend genres while staying authentic as a country storyteller but still resonating with a pop fan.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tJelly Roll has that pop crossover appeal too. The rapper-turned-singer connected with audiences far beyond country, thanks to his preacher-meets-artist persona, and Beautifully Broken feels like a pep-talk extension of that brand. \u201cHis superpower is how he connects with people,\u201d says Heinichen. \u201cHe\u2019s managed to make a mark across generations, which makes him an obvious winner to me. The Grammy voting body already knows his name and has been exposed to his music in a meaningful way.\u201d<\/p>\n \t\tEditor\u2019s picks<\/p>\n \n\tBut the race will likely come down Tyler Childers\u2019 Snipe Hunter and Eric Church\u2019s Evangeline vs. the Machine, both of which approach the idea of \u201cwhat is country music\u201d in different ways.<\/p>\n \t\tTrending Stories<\/p>\n \t\tWho Should Win\t<\/p>\n \n\tTyler Childers \u2013 Snipe Hunter \t\tWho Will Win\t<\/p>\n \n\tEric Church \u2013 Evangeline vs. the Machine
Tyler Childers<\/a> \u2013 Snipe Hunter
Eric Church<\/a> \u2013 Evangeline vs. the Machine
Jelly Roll<\/a> \u2013 Beautifully Broken
Miranda Lambert<\/a> \u2013 Postcards From Texas<\/p>\n
The Kentucky songwriter delivered a knockout of an album that brought fans back to his Purgatory-era grit, pairing biting songwriting with a more expansive sound. From start to finish, it\u2019s a stunner, and captures an artist unafraid to take chances. In one song, \u201cBitin\u2019 List,\u201d he sings about contracting rabies and spreading it to those he dislikes. In another, \u201cOneida,\u201d he pines vulnerably for an older woman. Snipe Hunter catches its prey.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Church has always been one of mainstream Nashville\u2019s most courageous risk-takers but he outdoes himself on Evangeline, a record that is every bit country as it is Seventies rock. Callbacks to Charlie Daniels exist alongside musical allusions to Pink Floyd, and Church leans hard into immersive sonics: horns, strings, and a rousing choir make this a headphones listen. Church is an 11-time Grammy nominee but has never won. He\u2019ll break the streak this year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Nominees Kelsea Ballerini \u2013 PatternsTyler Childers \u2013 Snipe HunterEric Church \u2013 Evangeline vs. the MachineJelly Roll \u2013…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":174098,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[102609,146,46052,38161,85,46,84526,7950,40639,46053],"class_list":["post-174097","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-contemporary-country-grammy","tag-entertainment","tag-eric-church","tag-grammys-2026","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-jelly-roll","tag-kelsea-ballerini","tag-miranda-lambert","tag-tyler-childers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174097","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=174097"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174097\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/174098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=174097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=174097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=174097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}