Grammy gold
Okie-tied Reba McEntire, MercyMe, Miranda Lambert and Elvin Bishop competing Sunday for golden gramophones
Reba McEntire, MercyMe, Miranda Lambert and Elvin Bishop are among the recording artists with Oklahoma ties who will be competing for Grammy glory Sunday night.
Hosted by James Corden, the 60th Grammy
Awards will be broadcast live from Madison Square
Garden in New York from
6:30 to 10 p.m. Sunday on CBS.
McEntire, an Oklahoma native and Country Music Hall of Famer who hails from Chockie, is nominated for Best Roots Gospel Album for her first gospel release, “Sing It Now: Songs of Faith & Hope,” a double album with the first disc consisting of 10 traditional hymns of “faith,” while the second features 10 contemporary Christian songs of “hope.”
Dallas-based Christian rock band MercyMe, which was formed in Edmond in the ‘90s, received two nominations: for Best Contemporary Christian Music Album for “Lifer” and for Best Contemporary Christian Music Performance/Song for “Even If.”
A former Tishomingo resident, Lambert earned two nods, both her for her emotional ballad “Tin Man,” from her acclaimed 2016 double album “The Weight of These Wings.” As a recording artist, she is nominated for Best Country Solo Performance, and as a songwriter, she shares her Best Country Song nod with her co-writers, Jack Ingram and Jon Randall.
Rock and Roll Hall of Famer and Oklahoma Music Hall of Famer Elvin Bishop, who grew up in Tulsa, is nominated with his Big Fun Trio for Best Traditional Blues Album for their eponymous effort, “Elvin Bishop’s Big Fun Trio.”
Already a 21-time Grammy winner, Jay-Z leads this year’s Grammys field with eight nominations, followed by Kendrick Lamar with seven nods, Bruno Mars with six, and Childish Gambino, Khalid, No I.D. and SZA, who each earned five nominations.
Selected from more than 22,000 submissions, the Grammys will showcase some of the most gifted music makers of the past awards cycle, from Oct. 1 2016, to Sept. 30, 2017.
Along with spotlighting the winners in key categories, Sunday night’s Grammys telecast will feature performances by Sting, Emmylou Harris, Chris Stapleton, Jon Batiste, Gary Clark Jr., Zuleyka Rivera, Alessia Cara, Cardi B, Childish Gambino, Miley Cyrus, Daddy Yankee, DJ Khaled, Luis Fonsi, Elton John, Kesha, Khalid, Lady Gaga, Kendrick Lamar, Little Big Town, Logic, Patti LuPone, Bruno Mars, P!nk, Ben Platt, Rihanna, Sam Smith, SZA, Bryson Tiller and U2.
In addition, country music stars Eric Church, Maren Morris and Brothers Osborne, three of the artists who participated in last October’s Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas, will perform a special Grammys tribute to “the victims lost to gun violence and terrorism at various live music events over the course of the past year.”
On the third and final night of the fall festival in Las Vegas, 58 people were killed in the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history. The shooting followed a bombing last May outside an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England, where 22 people were killed.
“Live music events have always provided a safe space for fans to gather in a shared celebration of music. Sadly, that wasn’t always the case this past year,” said Neil Portnow, president and CEO of the Recording Academy, in a statement.
“We believe it’s incredibly important to pay tribute to those who lost their lives in these senseless tragedies and to remind musicians and music lovers alike that live music will continue to be a powerful force that unites us all.”
As usual, most of the golden gramophones will be handed at out at the Grammy Awards Premiere Ceremony, which will take place from 2 to 5 p.m. Sunday at The Theater at Madison Square Garden and streamed live internationally via www.Grammy.com and www. CBS.com.
The pre-telecast ceremony will feature performances by current Grammy nominees Body Count, India.Arie, Jazzmeia Horn, Taj Mahal & Keb’ Mo’ and Stile Antico. Singer, composer and instrumentalist Paul Shaffer will host the ceremony. Zac Brown, Natalie Grant and Bernie Herms, Ledisi, Lisa Loeb, Neil deGrasse Tyson and former Recording Academy Chairman Jimmy Jam will present the first Grammy Awards of the day in about 70 categories.