This is part of a series of features from All Things Considered on first-time Grammy nominees, ahead of the February 5 awards.
While public health restrictions kept it dormant during the pandemic, the Station Inn still got a shout-out from the Grammy Awards. In March 2021, the Grammy telecast aired a pre-produced segment about the celebrated bluegrass venue in Nashville, Tenn. – one of several independently run clubs profiled that year. In that feature, owner J.T. Gray promised a national audience that the club would reopen: "That's going to be a celebration like never before," he said. "It's going to be a big party." Gray died at age 75 the following week, and did not live to see his club reopen. But the Station Inn once again features music seven days a week.

Rhiannon Giddens has had a lifelong mission of shining light on previously under-recognized voices and overhauling our understanding of the history of American music to make it reflect the real impact people of all colors have made. In a stunning collaboration of global instrumentation and strings, Giddens leads women and non-binary members of the Silkroad Ensemble and Tuscarora/Taino singer-songwriter Pura Fé on a musical journey that connects the music of indigenous North America to the world.

The singer and expert flatpicker is one of the last of the ’50s era folk music revivalists still on the road today. At a friend’s rustic home in a tiny village about an hour north of San Francisco, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott was trying to decide what to eat for breakfast. But he couldn’t resist telling a story.

Guitarist Nina Gerber has made a career out of backing up other musicians. But she got so good at it that the spotlight found her anyway.
“I don’t write lyrics, and I don’t sing. That’s not my thing,” Gerber said. “I’m working on being a really good guitarist. I wanted to be good at one thing instead of mediocre at a bunch of things.”

Méndez is one of four musicians to be awarded the $25,000 grant for the 2022–2023 season.

Berklee alumna Fabiola M. Méndez(Opens in a new window) B.M. ’18 is one of four musicians that were awarded a Whippoorwill Arts Fellowship for the 2022–2023 season. A native of Caguas, Puerto Rico, Méndez was the first student to graduate from Berklee specializing in the cuatro, a string instrument that functions like a guitar but is closer in shape to a violin.

For their newest project, Place of Growth, the members of Hawktail set out to create a seamless listening experience rather than a compilation of potential singles. What started as a “tune-swap” challenge from Swedish folk fiddler Lena Jonsson, who composed the tune “Antilopen” that appears on the album, became a full instrumental musical experience meant to be heard as a whole.

Taking creativity and passion to the next level, multi-faceted artist Kamara Thomas incorporates vivid storytelling and dark history with her debut album, Tularosa: An American Dreamtime, which hits the market this Friday, May 13th. The 11-song opus is Thomas’ depiction of select voices of indigenous people throughout history; those whose voices haven’t been heard quite as loudly.