I wish. But since the Grammy committee failed at recognizing a lot of the great country music that’s come out over the last year, here’s my edited list of the 2018 Country Grammy Nominations.
First off, the Best Country Solo Peformance category was pretty solid, despite the obvious blunder. I replaced the hideous “Body Like A Back Road” with “Road Less Traveled” by Lauren Alaina. While traditionalists may argue that it’s no better than Hunt’s song in terms of sound, when it comes to vocal performance, Alaina hits it out of the park. Her voice is phenomenal, and this song had an important message of self worth and independence.
This set of nominees I found to be fairly acceptable. Brothers Osborne has never been my cup of tea, but it makes sense that they got nominated, and they deserve it. However, Lady Antebellum’s ‘comeback’ single was very disappointing. So even though Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit were nominated in the Americana category this year, I stuck “If We Were Vampires” on this list. One of my favorite country songs of the year, and it’s also one of the best.
”Body Like A Back Road” being nominated for a Grammy based on songwriting is baffling to me. I’ve read articles about how long it took to write the song, and how particularly the lyrics were chosen and while I appreciate the effort, Hunt still compares a woman to a road. Enough said. I replaced it with one of the most powerful tracks of the year, “Church Clothes.” This song has unfortunately not gotten the attention it deserves, but in my head it’s definitely Grammy worthy.
Forget Sam Hunt. Forget bad Lady A. Even forget the fact that the most mediocre country album to come out this year, Thomas Rhett’s Life Changes, was nominated for a Grammy. The real travesty is that The Weight of These Wings wasn’t. So it definitely deserves a place on this list, and also on the all-genre Album of the Year nominee list. Natalie Hemby and Joey Feek also released incredible records this year, and those replaced some thoroughly bad records that the Grammy Committee decided were good.
Can you tell I’m bitter? Hope it’s not too obvious! Let’s hope that the good eggs in this list of rotten ones end up winning the Grammys because if “Body Like A Back Road” wins a Grammy I think we’re all doomed.