The Current

Great Music Lives Here ®
Listener-Supported Music
Donate Now

Kendrick Lamar, Jason Isbell, The War on Drugs, Alabama Shakes among many winners at afternoon Grammy ceremony

Recording artist Paul Shaffer performs onstage at the Premiere Ceremony during the 60th Annual GRAMMY Awards at Madison Square Garden on January 28, 2018 in New York City.
Recording artist Paul Shaffer performs onstage at the Premiere Ceremony during the 60th Annual GRAMMY Awards at Madison Square Garden on January 28, 2018 in New York City.Theo Wargo/Getty Images

by Luke Taylor

January 29, 2018

The afternoon was anything but humbling for hip-hop artist Kendrick Lamar, who collected three Grammy Awards for his song "HUMBLE." during the Premiere Ceremony of the 60th Grammy Awards, hosted by Paul Shaffer at Madison Square Garden in New York.

The Premiere Ceremony sees trophies awarded for 70 of the 84 Grammy categories. The remaining 14 categories are awarded during the evening telecast, which is hosted by James Corden and airs nationally on CBS.

During the busy afternoon proceedings, Lamar's song took home trophies for Best Rap Performance, Best Rap Song and Best Music Video. DAMN., the album on which "HUMBLE." appears, is also up for Album of the Year and Record of the Year, to be presented later Sunday evening during the televised portion of the Grammy Awards. Meanwhile, producer Greg Kurstin, who worked on the song "LOVE." on Lamar's album, DAMN., won the award for Best Producer, Non-Classical; alongside his contribution to Lamar, Kurstin was honored for his production work on Foo Fighters' Concrete & Gold, Beck's Colors and Liam Gallagher's As You Were, among other albums.

Another artist to take home more than one award was Jason Isbell, who won Best American Roots Song for "If We Were Vampires" and Best Americana Album for The Nashville Sound.

The afternoon proved productive for several other artists heard on The Current, with hardware going to The War On Drugs (Best Rock Album, A Deeper Understanding), The National (Best Alternative Music Album, Sleep Well Beast), Alabama Shakes (Best American Roots Performance, "Killer Diller Blues"), Portugal. The Man (Best Pop Duo/Group Performance, "Feel It Still") and Childish Gambino (Best Traditional R&B Performance, "Redbone").

Rock the Garden headliner Father John Misty won a shared award for Best Recording Package — recognizing album art direction — for the design of his Pure Comedy release. The other recipient of the same award was Magín Díaz's El Orisha De La Rosa.

In an interesting local note, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja won Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance for their rendering of Franz Schubert's "Death and the Maiden." And in the Country categories, Chris Stapleton won Best Country Solo Performance for "Either Way" and Best Country Song for "Broken Halos," songs that Stapleton performed at the Palace Theatre last October at the season premiere of the Chris Thile-hosted program now titled Live From Here.

The afternoon also saw a couple of posthumous awards given: the late Leonard Cohen won Best Rock Performance for his "You Want It Darker," and the late Carrie Fisher won Best Spoken Word Album for the audiobook version of her The Princess Diarist.

Here is a summary of notable awards given on Sunday afternoon:

Best Music Video


Kendrick Lamar - "HUMBLE."

Best Rap Performance


Kendrick Lamar - "HUMBLE."

Best Rap Song


Kendrick Lamar - "HUMBLE."

Best Americana Album


Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit - The Nashville Sound

Best Rock Album


The War on Drugs - A Deeper Understanding

Best Alternative Music Album


The National - Sleep Well Beast

Best Dance/Electronic Album


Kraftwerk - 3D - The Catalogue

Best Rock Song


Foo Fighters - "Run"

Best Dance Recording


LCD Soundsystem - "Tonite"

Best American Roots Song


Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit - "If We Were Vampires"

Best Rock Performance


Leonard Cohen - "You Want It Darker"

Best Pop Duo/Group Performance


Portugal. The Man - "Feel It Still"

Best American Roots Performance


Alabama Shakes - "Killer Diller Blues"

Best Traditional R&B Performance


Childish Gambino - "Redbone"

Best Country Solo Performance


Chris Stapleton - "Either Way"

Best Country Song


Chris Stapleton - "Broken Halos"

Best Traditional Blues Album


The Rolling Stones - Blue & Lonesome

Best Folk Album


Aimee Mann - Mental Illness

Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance


Patricia Kopatchinskaja, violin; Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra - "Death and the Maiden"

Best Recording Package


Father John Misty - Pure Comedy
(Shared with Magín Díaz - El Orisha De La Rosa)

Best Children's Album


Lisa Loeb - Feel What U Feel

Best Album Notes


Lynell George - Otis Redding, Live at Whisky A Go Go; The Complete Recordings (Stax Records)

Best Music Film


Allen Hughes - The Defiant Ones

Best Remixed Recording


Latroit - Depeche Mode, "You Move"

Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media


Various Artists - La La Land

Best Score for Visual Media


Justin Hurwitz - La La Land

Best Song Written for Visual Media


Lin-Manuel Miranda - "How Far I'll Go" (Moana)

Best Spoken Word Album


Carrie Fisher - The Princess Diarist

Best Producer, Non-Classical


Greg Kurstin - Foo Fighters, Concrete & Gold; Beck, Colors; Liam Gallagher, As You Were; Kendrick Lamar, DAMN. and others

For a list of all the Premiere Ceremony award-winners, visit grammy.com.

Resources

60th Annual Grammy Awards - official site