Nominations were announced yesterday (12/2) for the 52nd annual Grammy Awards.

Omitted from the breathless news coverage of all the shiny pop stars was the real news that matters to readers of The Bluegrass Blog.

Nominees for Best Bluegrass Album (Vocal or Instrumental):

• Could We Get Any Closer?, Jim Lauderdale (Sky Crunch Records)
• The Crow – New Songs For The Five-String Banjo, Steve Martin (Rounder)
• Buckaroo Blue Grass, Michael Martin Murphey (Rural Rhythm Records)
• Almost Live – Bryan Sutton And Friends (Sugar Hill Records)
• Destination Life, Rhonda Vincent (Rounder)

Another category that features artists from the acoustic and bluegrass world is Best Country Instrumental Performance:

• Under The (Five) Wire, Alison Brown. Track from: The Company You Keep (Compass Records)
• The Crystal Merchant, The Greencards. Track from: Fascination (Sugar Hill Records)
• Mansinneedof, Sarah Jarosz. Track from: Song Up In Her Head (Sugar Hill Records)

Béla Fleck is also nominated in the Best Contemporary World Music Album category for Throw Down Your Heart: Tales From The Acoustic Planet, Vol. 3 — Africa Sessions (on Rounder), and Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer received one in the Best Musical Album For Children category for Banjo To Beatbox (Community Music).

Congratulations and best of luck to them all!

The awards will be presented during the Grammy televison special on CBS (January 31, 2010), and these “special awards” are distributed during a luncheon event earlier that day. It is not televised, but is usually available for live viewing online.

UPDATE 10:00 a.m. – Oops… We neglected to list the nomination that Barry Scott garnered in the Best Southern, Country, Or Bluegrass Gospel Album category. It is for his In God’s Time project on Rebel.