Grammys 2020: Keb' Mo' takes home Best Americana Album award for 'Oklahoma'
This year's winner of the award for Best Americana Album goes to 'Oklahoma' by Keb' Mo'. 'Oklahoma' is the fourteenth studio album by the American musician. At the tail end of his acceptance speech after thanking an extensive list of people involved on the album (including thanks to his wife who sang a duet with him on the end of the album), Keb' Mo' was left at a loss for words as he trailed off saying: "This is amazing. I don't know what to say..." The award marks the fifth Grammy win for Keb' Mo'; the previous wins were for Best Contemporary Blues Album and his last win was for his 2017 album, 'TajMo'.
Keb' Mo' came into prominence by writing songs for artists such as Jefferson Airplane. The performer's solo career took off in 1994 when he released his self-titled debut, which reached No. 4 on Billboard's Blues Albums chart. The album featured 'Come On In My Kitchen' and 'Kind Hearted Woman Blues', both covers of legendary bluesman Robert Johnson.
A ceremony established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, the honorary Grammy Award for Best Americana Album is presented to recording artists for quality albums in the Americana music genre at the Grammy Awards.
In 2009, the Academy announced that the award for Best Contemporary Folk/Americana Album would be split into two individual categories, namely Best Contemporary Folk Album and Best Americana Album. The distinction between the two award categories is based on the use of acoustic instruments predominate in "contemporary folk" versus electric instruments in the style of Americana.
The nominees for Best Americana Album this year were:
'Years to Burn' - Calexico and Iron & Wine
'Who Are You Now' - Madison Cunningham
'Tales of America' - J.S. Ondara
'Walk Through Fire' Yola