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