Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album
Grammy Award category
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The Grammy Award for Best Contemporary 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 Traditional 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 contemporary folk recordings.”[1] The category sits in the Country & American Roots field.
| Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album | |
|---|---|
| Awarded for | quality contemporary folk music albums |
| Country | United States |
| Presented by | National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences |
| First award | 1987 |
| Currently held by | I'm with Her – Wild and Clear and Blue (2026) |
| Most wins | Bob Dylan, Steve Earle (3) |
| Most nominations | Steve Earle (8) |
| Website | grammy.com |
The inaugural recipient of the award was a tribute album to Steve Goodman, which was awarded to its producers Al Bunetta, Dan Einstein, Hank Neuberger and was presented at the 29th Annual Grammy Awards. Goodman himself won the following year with Unfinished Business. Tracy Chapman was the first female winner of the category with her self-titled debut album in 1989. The most recent recipient is I'm with Her, whose album Wild and Clear and Blue won at the 68th Annual Grammy Awards in 2026. Bob Dylan and Steve Earle have the most wins in the category, with three each, with Earle also having the most nominations, with eight.
History
Prior to 1987, contemporary and traditional folk albums were combined as the Best Ethnic or Traditional Folk Recording. From 1987 to 1991, the category was presented as Best Contemporary Folk Recording. In 2007, the category was renamed Best Contemporary Folk/Americana Album. As of 2010 the category was split into two categories; Best Contemporary Folk Album and Best Americana Album.
Following the 2011 Grammy Award ceremony, the award was discontinued due to a major overhaul of Grammy categories. Beginning in 2012, this category merged with the Best Traditional Folk Album category to form the new Best Folk Album category. The Recording Academy decided to create this new category for 2012 upon stating there were "challenges in distinguishing between... Contemporary and Traditional Folk".[2] The inaugural recipients of the award were The Civil Wars, who won in 2012 for their album Barton Hollow, and the final recipients were I'm with Her, who won in 2026 for their album Wild and Clear and Blue.
On June 16, 2026, it was announced that the Best Traditional Folk Album category would be returning, and that the Best Folk Album category would be renamed Best Contemporary Folk Album.[3] Of the announcement, Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. stated, "2027 is going to be an amazing year for the Grammy Awards, and one that reflects the extraordinary growth we're seeing across music. The changes advanced by our Recording Academy members speak to the breadth of today's music industry and the many genres, crafts and creators shaping it. We're excited to see these updates come to life in the year ahead as we celebrate the music people who are driving music forward".[4] It was stated that the re-separation of the Best Folk Album category "provides more precise recognition across different forms of folk music and better reflects the breadth of that musical landscape".[5] The Folk Alliance International, a non-profit organization centred around the folk genre, petitioned the Recording Academy for the return of the Traditional and Contemporary Folk Album categories, and celebrated the announcement, stating that it was something their membership had "long called for" and which "addresses a significant representation and credibility gap in the genre" and challenges a "long-held stereotype that folk music is exclusively Eurocentric", as well as their hope that this would allow for more culturally diverse folk and traditional music to be honored moving forwards.[6]
Eligibility
According to the Recording Academy's rulebook for the 2027 ceremony, eligible albums for this category include recordings "that vary from traditional folk song and harmonic structures and may employ non-traditional folk song structures including composition and narrative expressions" and includes subgenres such as indie folk, ethnofolk, protest music, folk rock, and any others that differ from the folk-pop approach. Eligible albums can include both traditional and non-traditional folk instrumentation and incorporates contemporary production techniques.[7]
Winners and nominees
1987-2011
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Best Folk Album, 2012-2025
2026-present
| Year | Work | Artist |
|---|---|---|
| 2027 | ||
| TBA | TBA | |
^[I] Each year is linked to the article about the Grammy Awards held that year.
Artists with multiple wins
- 3 wins
- 2 wins
- Chris Thile (one as a member of the Punch Brothers)
- Emmylou Harris
- Gillian Welch
- David Rawlings
- John Prine
- Sarah Jarosz (one as a member of the I'm with Her)
Artists with multiple nominations
Includes nominations for Best Folk Album.
3 nominations
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