The Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album is an award presented by the Recording Academy to honor quality folk music albums in any given year. The award was originally presented from 1987 to 2011, before being merged with Best Traditional Folk Album to form the Grammy Award for Best Folk Album. The category was revived in 2026 and was re-presented at the 69th Annual Grammy Awards in 2027, with the Academy stating that the award honors “excellence in albums of contemporary folk recordings.” The category sits in the Country & American Roots field.
The inaugural recipient of the award was a tribute album to Steve Goodman, which was awarded to its producers Al Bunetta, Dan Einstein, Hank Neuberger and was presented at the 29th Annual Grammy Awards. Goodman himself won the following year with Unfinished Business. Tracy Chapman was the first female winner of the category with her self-titled debut album in 1989. The most recent recipient is I'm with Her, whose album Wild and Clear and Blue won at the 68th Annual Grammy Awards in 2026. Bob Dylan and Steve Earle have the most wins in the category, with three each, with Earle also having the most nominations, with eight.
History Prior to 1987, contemporary and traditional folk albums were combined as the Best Ethnic or Traditional Folk Recording. From 1987 to 1991, the category was presented as Best Contemporary Folk Recording. In 2007, the category was renamed Best Contemporary Folk/Americana Album. As of 2010 the category was split into two categories; Best Contemporary Folk Album and Best Americana Album.
Following the 2011 Grammy Award ceremony, the award was discontinued due to a major overhaul of Grammy categories. Beginning in 2012, this category merged with the Best Traditional Folk Album category to form the new Best Folk Album category. The Recording Academy decided to create this new category for 2012 upon stating there were "challenges in distinguishing between... Contemporary and Traditional Folk". The inaugural recipients of the award were The Civil Wars, who won in 2012 for their album Barton Hollow, and the final recipients were I'm with Her, who won in 2026 for their album Wild and Clear and Blue.
On June 16, 2026, it was announced that the Best Traditional Folk Album category would be returning, and that the Best Folk Album category would be renamed Best Contemporary Folk Album. Of the announcement, Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. stated, "2027 is going to be an amazing year for the Grammy Awards, and one that reflects the extraordinary growth we're seeing across music. The changes advanced by our Recording Academy members speak to the breadth of today's music industry and the many genres, crafts and creators shaping it. We're excited to see these updates come to life in the year ahead as we celebrate the music people who are driving music forward". It was stated that the re-separation of the Best Folk Album category "provides more precise recognition across different forms of folk music and better reflects the breadth of that musical landscape". The Folk Alliance International, a non-profit organization centred around the folk genre, petitioned the Recording Academy for the return of the Traditional and Contemporary Folk Album categories, and celebrated the announcement, stating that it was something their membership had "long called for" and which "addresses a significant representation and credibility gap in the genre" and challenges a "long-held stereotype that folk music is exclusively Eurocentric", as well as their hope that this would allow for more culturally diverse folk and traditional music to be honored moving forwards.
Eligibility According to the Recording Academy's rulebook for the 2027 ceremony, eligible albums for this category include recordings "that vary from traditional folk song and harmonic structures and may employ non-traditional folk song structures including composition and narrative expressions" and includes subgenres such as indie folk, ethnofolk, protest music, folk rock, and any others that differ from the folk-pop approach. Eligible albums can include both traditional and non-traditional folk instrumentation and incorporates contemporary production techniques.
Winners and nominees 1987-2011
Year Work Artist1987 Tribute to Steve Goodman Al Bunetta, Dan Einstein, Hank Neuberger (producer), various artists German Afternoons John Prine I'm Alright Loudon Wainwright III Last of the True Believers Nanci Griffith No Easy Walk to Freedom Peter, Paul and Mary1988 Unfinished Business Steve Goodman Asimbonanga Joan Baez Annual Waltz John Hartford More Love Songs Loudon Wainwright III The Washington Squares Washington Squares1989 Tracy Chapman Tracy Chapman John Prine Live John Prine Short Sharp Shocked Michelle Shocked Emergency Sweet Honey in the Rock Homeland - A Collection of Black South African Music Clive Risko, Various Artists1990 Indigo Girls Indigo Girls Bamboleo Gipsy Kings Bayou Cadillac BeauSoleil Crossroads Tracy Chapman Old Friends Guy Clark1991 Steady On Shawn Colvin Days of Open Hand Suzanne Vega "Hammer and a Nail" Indigo Girls Helpless Heart Maura O'Connell1992 The Missing Years John Prine Live - Back On the Bus Y'all Indigo Girls Cajun Conja BeauSoleil Interiors Rosanne Cash Jerry Garcia & David Grisman Jerry Garcia, David Grisman1993 Another Country The Chieftains Play Me Backwards Joan Baez The Criminal Under My Own Hat T-Bone Burnett Rites of Passage Indigo Girls Arkansas Traveler Michelle Shocked1994 Other Voices, Other Rooms Nanci Griffith La Danse de la Vie BeauSoleil Fat City Shawn Colvin Good As I Been to You Bob Dylan Spinning Around the Sun Jimmie Dale Gilmore Breaking Silence Janis Ian1995 American Recordings Johnny Cash Cover Girl Shawn Colvin My Life Iris DeMent Flyer Nanci Griffith Swamp Ophelia Indigo Girls1996 Wrecking Ball Emmylou Harris The Long Black Veil The Chieftains MTV Unplugged Bob Dylan Train a Comin' Steve Earle Lost Dogs and Mixed Blessings John Prine1997 The Ghost of Tom Joad Bruce Springsteen Yonder Jerry Douglas, Peter Rowan Braver New World Jimmie Dale Gilmore You? Me? Us? Richard Thompson Revival Gillian Welch1998 Time Out of Mind Bob Dylan Keepers Guy Clark The Way I Should Iris DeMent Shaming of the Sun Indigo Girls Live on Tour John Prine1999 Car Wheels on a Gravel Road Lucinda Williams Mermaid Avenue Billy Bragg & Wilco El Corazon Steve Earle Spyboy Emmylou Harris Step Inside This House Lyle Lovett2000 Mule Variations Tom Waits Cajunization BeauSoleil Fellow Workers Ani DiFranco & Utah Phillips In Spite of Ourselves John Prine Western Wall: The Tucson Sessions Linda Ronstadt & Emmylou Harris2001 Red Dirt Girl Emmylou Harris Mermaid Avenue Vol. II Billy Bragg & Wilco American III: Solitary Man Johnny Cash Transcendental Blues Steve Earle Crossing Muddy Waters John Hiatt2002 Love and Theft Bob Dylan Buddy & Julie Miller Buddy Miller & Julie Miller Poet: A Tribute to Townes van Zandt Various Artists Time (The Revelator) Gillian Welch Essence Lucinda Williams2003 This Side Nickel Creek American IV: The Man Comes Around Johnny Cash Down the Old Plank Road: The Nashville Sessions The Chieftains Jerusalem Steve Earle 1000 Kisses Patty Griffin2004 The Wind Warren Zevon Rules of Travel Rosanne Cash Stumble into Grace Emmylou Harris Looking for the Moon Tom Paxton World Without Tears Lucinda Williams2005 The Revolution Starts... Now Steve Earle Educated Guess Ani DiFranco Land of Milk and Honey Eliza Gilkyson Impossible Dream Patty Griffin The Unbroken Circle - The Musical Heritage of the Carter Family John Carter Cash, Various Artists2006 Fair & Square John Prine Chávez Ravine Ry Cooder The Outsider Rodney Crowell Why Should the Fire Die? Nickel Creek Devils & Dust Bruce Springsteen2007 Modern Times Bob Dylan Solo Acoustic, Vol. 1 Jackson Browne Black Cadillac Rosanne Cash Workbench Songs Guy Clark All the Roadrunning Mark Knopfler & Emmylou Harris2008 Washington Square Serenade Steve Earle The Calling Mary Chapin Carpenter My Name Is Buddy Ry Cooder Children Running Through Patty Griffin Orphans Tom Waits2009 Raising Sand Robert Plant & Alison Krauss Day After Tomorrow Joan Baez I, Flathead Ry Cooder Sex & Gasoline Rodney Crowell All I Intended to Be Emmylou Harris2010 Townes Steve Earle Middle Cyclone Neko Case Our Bright Future Tracy Chapman Live Shawn Colvin Secret, Profane & Sugarcane Elvis Costello2011 God Willin' and the Creek Don't Rise Ray LaMontagne Love Is Strange: En Vivo Con Tino Jackson Browne & David Lindley The Age of Miracles Mary Chapin Carpenter Somedays the Song Writes You Guy Clark Dream Attic Richard Thompson
Best Folk Album, 2012-2025
Year Work Artist 2012 Barton Hollow The Civil Wars The Harrow & the Harvest Gillian Welch Helplessness Blues Fleet Foxes I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive Steve Earle Ukulele Songs Eddie Vedder 2013List of 2013 nominees The Goat Rodeo Sessions Yo-Yo Ma, Stuart Duncan, Edgar Meyer and Chris Thile Election Special Ry Cooder Leaving Eden Carolina Chocolate Drops Hambone's Meditations Luther Dickinson This One's to Him: A Tribute to Guy Clark Shawn Camp and Tamara Saviano 2014 My Favorite Picture of You Guy Clark The Ash & Clay The Milk Carton Kids Build Me Up From Bones Sarah Jarosz Sweetheart of the Sun The Greencards They All Played for Us: Arhoolie Records 50th Anniversary Celebration Various Artists / Chris Strachwitz 2015 Remedy Old Crow Medicine Show Follow the Music Alice Gerrard The Nocturne Diaries Eliza Gilkyson A Reasonable Amount of Trouble Jesse Winchester Three Bells Mike Auldridge, Jerry Douglas and Rob Ickes 2016 Béla Fleck & Abigail Washburn Béla Fleck and Abigail Washburn Didn't He Ramble Glen Hansard Servant of Love Patty Griffin Tomorrow Is My Turn Rhiannon Giddens Wood, Wire & Words Norman Blake 2017 Undercurrent Sarah Jarosz Factory Girl Rhiannon Giddens Silver Skies Blue Judy Collins and Ari Hest Upland Stories Robbie Fulks Weighted Mind Sierra Hull 2018 Mental Illness Aimee Mann The Laughing Apple Yusuf / Cat Stevens The Queen of Hearts Offa Rex Semper Femina Laura Marling You Don't Own Me Anymore The Secret Sisters 2019Grammy.com, 7 December 2018 All Ashore Punch Brothers Black Cowboys Dom Flemons Rifles & Rosary Beads Mary Gauthier Weed Garden Iron & Wine Whistle Down the Wind Joan Baez 2020 Patty Griffin Patty Griffin Evening Machines Gregory Alan Isakov Front Porch Joy Williams My Finest Work Yet Andrew Bird Rearrange My Heart Che Apalache 2021 All the Good Times (Are Past & Gone) Gillian Welch and David Rawlings Bonny Light Horseman Bonny Light Horseman Song for Our Daughter Laura Marling Saturn Return The Secret Sisters Thanks for the Dance Leonard Cohen 2022 They're Calling Me Home Rhiannon Giddens with Francesco Turrisi Blue Heron Suite Sarah Jarosz Long Violent History Tyler Childers One Night Lonely (Live) Mary Chapin Carpenter Wednesday (Extended Version) Madison Cunningham 2023 Revealer Madison Cunningham Age of Apathy Aoife O'Donovan Hell on Church Street Punch Brothers The Light at the End of the Line Janis Ian Spellbound Judy Collins 2024 At Newport (Live) Joni Mitchell Celebrants Nickel Creek Folkocracy Rufus Wainwright I Only See the Moon The Milk Carton Kids Jubilee Old Crow Medicine Show Seven Psalms Paul Simon Traveling Wildfire Dom Flemons 2025 Woodland Gillian Welch and David Rawlings All My Friends Aoife O'Donovan American Patchwork Quartet American Patchwork Quartet Bright Future Adrianne Lenker Weird Faith Madi Diaz 2026 Wild and Clear and Blue I'm with Her Crown of Roses Patty Griffin Foxes in the Snow Jason Isbell Under the Powerlines (April 24 – September 24) Jesse Welles What Did the Blackbird Say to the Crow Rhiannon Giddens and Justin Robinson
2026-present Year Work Artist 2027 TBA TBA
Each year is linked to the article about the Grammy Awards held that year.
Artists with multiple wins 3 wins Bob Dylan Steve Earle 2 wins Chris Thile (one as a member of the Punch Brothers) Emmylou Harris Gillian Welch