Nominations for 2013 Grammy awards

The US Compass Records label is justly proud that its recording artists have had two nominations in the category of 'Best Bluegrass Album' for the 2013 Grammy awards, which will be made on 10 February. As it happens, both the Compass albums nominated are by frequent visitors to Ireland: banjo virtuoso Noam Pikelny's Beat the Devil and carry a rail and the Special Consensus's Scratch Gravel Road. Pikelny was here last month with the Punch Brothers, and the Special Consensus will be touring here next month. The full release issued by Compass Records can be read here. Rounder Records have four nominations, including one each for Dailey & Vincent and the Steep Canyon Rangers, who have all appeared at the Omagh festival.

Other nominees for Best Bluegrass Album, together with bluegrass-related nominees for other categories in the 2013 Grammy awards, can be seen on Bluegrass Today. In addition to those mentioned on Bluegrass Today, it can be noted that Leaving Eden by the Carolina Chocolate Drops has been nominated for Best Folk Album, and Old-time Smoky Mountain music: 34 historic songs, ballads, and instrumentals recorded in the Great Smoky Mountains by 'Song Catcher' Joseph S. Hall has been nominated for Best Historical Album.

Thanks also to Kevin Parme of Smithsonian Folkways Recordings for the news that Banjo diary: lessons from tradition by Stephen Wade has received a Grammy nomination for Best Album Notes; the notes were written by Stephen Wade himself. This is Stephen's first nomination, and one of five nominations for Smithsonian Folkways this year.