The Grammy Award for Best Blues Album was an award presented at the
Grammy Award
The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...
s, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards,
to recording artists for releasing albums in the
blues
Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...
genre. Honors in several categories are presented at the ceremony annually by the
National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences
The Recording Academy (formally the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences; abbreviated NARAS) is an American Learned society, learned academy of musicians, producers, recording engineers, and other musical professionals. It is famous f ...
of the United States to "honor artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry, without regard to album sales or chart position".
According to the 54th Grammy Awards guideline the category was "for albums containing at least 51% playing time of new vocal or instrumental blues recordings".
This award combined the previous categories for
Best Contemporary Blues Album
The Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album was awarded from 1988 to 2011 and from 2017 onwards. Until 1992 the award was known as Best Contemporary Blues Performance and in 1989 was awarded to a song rather than to an album.
The award was ...
and
Best Traditional Blues Album
The Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Album was awarded from 1983 to 2011 and from 2017 onwards. Until 1992 the award was known as Best Traditional Blues Performance and was twice awarded to individual tracks rather than albums.
The award w ...
, which both existed between 1983 and 2011. The Recording Academy decided to create this new category for 2012 upon stating there were "challenges in distinguishing between... Contemporary and Traditional Blues".
In
2017
File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...
the distinction between contemporary and traditional blues albums was reinstated. Both categories returned, while the Best Blues Album category was discontinued.
Recipients
Each year is linked to the article about the Grammy Awards held that year.
See also
*
List of Grammy Award categories
The Grammy Awards are awarded in a series of categories, each of which isolate a specific contribution to the recording industry. The standard awards list nominees in each category from which a winner is selected. Twenty-eight Grammys were awarded ...
References
External links
Official Site of the Grammy Awards
{{Grammy Award categories
Blues Album
Blues music awards
Album awards