Grammys: Who Wins For Best Contemporary Country Album?
The Grammy Award for Best Country Album has existed since 1965, when it was founded as the Award for Best Country & Western Album. It was taken out of the Grammys after only two years, then returned in 1995 as the Award for Best Country Album. The 68th ceremony will be the first one in which it is known as the Award for Best Contemporary Country Album – a change made to distinguish its lineup from that of the newly created category Best Traditional Country Album (e.g., country songs and albums that incorporate more old-fashioned influences). The five albums in line for the former award are distinct from their (neo)traditionalist counterparts.
Kelsea Ballerini – Patterns
Patterns, released in October of 2024, is the fifth studio album by country-pop artist Kelsea Ballerini, who has received two previous Best Country Music nominations and six Grammy nominations in total, including Best New Artist in 2017. She has yet to win in any category.
Tyler Childers – Snipe Hunter
Snipe Hunter, released in July of 2025 as the seventh studio album of Tyler Childers, may have the most sumptuous cover of any album on this list, thanks to the classical aesthetic and abundant zoological intrigue of the image. The album’s music has also been lauded for its daring blend of influences, with Holler calling it “an album that feels both like a continuation and a bold departure” in the scheme of Childers’s oeuvre.
In a career of 15 years, Childers has been nominated by the Grammys 11 times, including once before in this same category and four times (counting Best Contemporary Country Album) this year. However, he’s yet to win anything. Will Snipe Hunter be groundbreaking enough to change that?
Eric Church – Evangeline vs. the Machine
Evangeline vs. the Machine, released in May of 2025, is Eric Church’s eighth studio album. Church is yet another artist on this list who is both much-nominated and win-free to date. To be specific, he has garnered 11 Grammy nominations so far, including three previous nods for Best Country Album. This year’s Contemporary Country Album nod is his only one in any category this year.
Jelly Roll – Beautifully Broken
Here’s a close runner-up for the title of this list’s most arresting album cover, showcasing a crown-clad skull that does indeed appear to be broken beautifully. Released in October of 2024, Beautifully Broken is the tenth studio album by Jelly Roll, who started out as a hip-hop artist in the 2000s but moved his focus to the country music genre in the early 2020s. Although he’s been making studio albums since 2012, he was Grammy-nominated for Best New Artist in 2024. A seven-time Grammy nominee all told, Jelly Roll is also nominated this year for Best Country Duo/Group Performance (for “Amen” alongside Shaboozey) and Best Contemporary Christian Music Performance/Song (for “Hard Fought Hallelujah” alongside Brandon Lake).
Miranda Lambert – Postcards from Texas
The final artist on this list is also the most seasoned Grammy veteran: Miranda Lambert has been nominated a total of 31 times, going back to 2007 (her career began in 2000), and won thrice. One of these wins was for Best Female Country Vocal Performance (for 2010’s “The House That Built Me”), while the other two were both in the category of Best Country Album (for 2014’s Platinum and 2019’s Wildcard). She’s in the running for three other Grammys this year, including Best Country Song on account of her blandly titled single “A Song to Sing” (which she shares with Chris Stapleton). Postcards from Texas, released in September 2024, is her ninth solo studio album.
When and Where to Watch the 68th Grammys
The 68th Grammys will air live on CBS at 5:00 PM (PST) on Sunday, Feb. 1, and will have a scheduled duration of three-and-a-half hours. They will also be streamed on Paramount+. They will take place in Los Angeles’s Crypto.com Arena and be hosted for the sixth time in a row by Trevor Noah.
