Here are the Texans to watch at this weekend’s Grammys

Is this the year Beyoncé finally takes home the top award?

By Rhonda FanningJanuary 31, 2025 12:13 pm, ,

The 67th annual Grammy Awards are set to take place Sunday night, and as the saying goes, everything is bigger in Texas – including the number of nominees that call the Lone Star State home.

For more on who those artists are and what awards they’re up for, Taylor Wallace, a host at KUTX in Austin, joined the show. Listen to the interview above or read the transcript below.

This transcript has been edited lightly for clarity:

Texas Standard: So we’ve got to start with Beyoncé. She’s certainly the biggest Texas artist to earn nominations this year with her cowboy turn in “Cowboy Carter.” This will be the Houston native’s fifth shot at the Album of the Year award. How are you feeling about her chances of finally taking the top trophy home?

Taylor Wallace: She has my personal vote and my most emotional vote.

I think really what’s going to overshadow anything else happening in the Grammys this year is Taylor Swift versus Beyoncé. And so I root for Beyoncé to win everything… and “the end.” That’s all I’ll say there.

But I do think that it’s hard to say. I want Beyoncé to win. I think that with “Cowboy Carter,” it would certainly say a lot, especially given her huge snub at the CMAs. The Grammys came back in full force. She got nominated for pretty much every country category she qualified for.

But, you know, I think it’s going to be really tough between Taylor and Beyoncé. My gut tells me that the Grammys might award Taylor a whole lot this weekend.

So what are some of the categories that you’re watching that you think Texas artists besides Beyoncé have a good shot at?

Well, I think that the country album category is pretty good for Texas artists. They’ve got three of the five nominations with “Cowboy Carter,” also Post Malone’s “F-1 Trillion” and Kacey Musgraves’ “Deeper Well.”

I think Robert Glasper is a Grammy Award winner and he has a new Best Alt Jazz album that’s really, really good. I’d like to see that win. However, it is competing with that Andre 3000 album – his jazz flute album. So we’ll see what happens there.

But then overall, I think Post Malone and Beyoncé have a very, very good chance of taking something home. They’re both nominated across multiple categories, and I think that’s a good sign.

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You didn’t mention one of my other favorites, Charley Crockett. What do you think about his chances?

I am very much in favor of Charley Crockett winning. That’s another emotional heart vote there – “$10 Cowboy.”

And what’s funny – there are, by my count, about 14 Texas artists nominated, almost all of which we play on KUTX, which is pretty cool. So Charley Crockett, I love the fresh take on an old tried and true sound that really strikes nostalgia for a lot of people, but who can bring it forward for a new generation. So I’m hopeful there.

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Another one: Houston’s Khruangbin nabbed a Best New Artist nomination this year, which is always sort of funny, right? Because, like, what do we mean by “new”? Texans have known about them for a really long time.

But what do you think about that – and the new album, “A La Sala,” that really got them onto the Grammy radar?

If I’m being generous with the Grammys, I really think that their 2020 album, “Mordecai,” should have gotten them on the Grammy stage. And even then, that was still five years and four albums into their discography.

It’s very interesting. I wouldn’t say the Grammys are the best at having their ear to the ground.

However, the other nominees for Best New Artist are fairly new, at least. You know, Chappell Roan has been making music for a long, long time, but she hasn’t really been performing big stages for a long time. Whereas Khruangbin, I saw Khruangbin in Barcelona perform to thousands and thousands and thousands of people in 2021. So I don’t know what this is.

Hello, Grammys. We’ve been calling.

And there’s one more Texas artist very near and dear to my heart, who is all over the rock category this year. And that’s St. Vincent.

Of course. How could we forget?

“Broken Man” is up for best rock performance and best rock song. And I’m really, really rooting for her in those categories.

She’s basically competing with idols and a lot of legacy acts like Pearl Jam and Green Day. Hers is, hands down, the best.

Keep up with everything Texas music at the Texas Music Experience online stream.

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