Biggest Snubs and Surprises of the 2018 Grammy Nominations
Nineteen of the 20 nominees in the four country Grammy Awards categories are major label artists, and the other is Alison Krauss, who's hardly an underdog. But the biggest country snubs from the 2018 Grammy nominations come in the all-genre categories.
Country was shut out from the all-genre Big Four (Record, Song, Album and Best New Artist), which is a huge disappointment for at least two country men. The bigger Grammy snub might be of independent artists as a whole. The Grammys tend to be a great equalizer — a place where marketing, fan base and levels of extroversion kindly step aside to let the true artists be honored. The Civil Wars and (more recently) Strurgill Simpson were Grammy darlings for good reason, and their wins gave hope to the neglected in Nashville.
You'll find Miranda Lambert and Sam Hunt on this list, as well as new country trio Midland and Alison Krauss. The biggest surprise? Maybe Kenny Chesney. Did you know the longtime country hitmaker has never won a Grammy Award? If that's to change in 2018 he'll need to knock out some very stiff competition in a category that is nothing like what we expected based on previous years.
The 2018 Grammy Awards will air live from Madison Square Garden in New York City on CBS on Jan. 28.
2018 Grammy Nominations Snubs and Surprises
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