Grammy Award for Best Traditional Folk Album

The Grammy Award for Best Traditional Folk Album is an award presented by the Recording Academy to honor quality folk music albums in any given year. The award was originally presented from 1987 to 2011, before being merged with Best Contemporary Folk Album to form the Grammy Award for Best Folk Album. The category was revived in 2026 and was re-presented at the 69th Annual Grammy Awards in 2027, with the Academy stating that the award honors “excellence in albums of traditional folk recordings.” The category sits in the Country & American Roots field.

The inaugural recipient of the award was Doc Watson, who won for his album Riding the Midnight Train at the 29th Annual Grammy Awards. June Carter Cash was the first and, to date, only female solo artist to win the award, first winning at the 42nd Annual Grammy Awards in 2000 for her album Press On. Watson and The Chieftains are tied for the most wins, with three, while Cash and Pete Seeger are the only other artists to win more than once. Norman Blake has the record for most nominations, with seven, as well as the most nominations without a win. The most recent recipients of the award are the Carolina Chocolate Drops, who won at the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards in 2011 for Genuine Negro Jig.