Since 2012, the Grammy Awards’ category for Best Folk Album has combined the awards show’s previous categories of Best Contemporary Folk Album and Best Traditional Folk Album. Sarah Jarosz, who currently makes up one-third of the band I’m With Her, won the category with her album Undercurrent at the 2017 Grammy Awards, and this year, the competition is fierce, with some legends as well as some newer names in the running.
Mental Illness is Aimee Mann’s ninth studio album in a storied career that spans genres (new wave, alternative) and decades. Mann admits that her goal from the beginning was to create the “saddest, slowest” album that she had ever made, and with songs such as “Patient Zero” and “You Never Loved Me,” she might just have accomplished her mission — although the melancholy is also a bit catchy.
Laura Marling used her album Semper Femina (“always a woman”) to push the intricate complexities of womanhood and all that it entails; her sixth studio album, the record is rich with allegory and soothing acoustic sounds. Offa Rex, meanwhile, are the folk offshoot band featuring Decemberists frontman Colin Meloy and British singer Olivia Chaney; their album The Queen of Hearts reaches back to capture the sounds of Celtic ballads and some traditional Irish dance music.
You Don’t Own Me Anymore is the third album from the Secret Sisters, Laura and Lydia Rogers; the record, produced by Brandi Carlile, is a triumphant comeback after a tumultuous professional period for the powerhouse vocal duo. And finally, Yusuf / Cat Stevens is in the running once again with The Laughing Apple, his fourth pop-folk album in recent years and a return to his catchy, sing-a-long roots.
Which album deserves to be crowned Best Folk Album at the 2018 Grammy Awards? Vote for your pick in the poll below as often as once per hour through 11:59PM ET on Jan. 25; after the poll closes, The Boot will tally the results and reveal them as part of our readers vs. staff predictions for Music’s Biggest Night.
The 60th annual Grammy Awards will take place at Madison Square Garden in New York City on Jan. 28. The televised ceremony will begin at 7:30PM ET on CBS; the pre-telecast Premiere Ceremony will be available to stream online earlier in the evening.
The Boot will be staying up late covering the most buzzed-about country winners, fashion and moments at the 2018 Grammy Awards. Readers can watch along with us by checking back to TheBoot.com for the latest Grammys headlines, liking The Boot on Facebook and following The Boot on Twitter.
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