From Jazz to Electronica: Local Artists Score Grammy Noms

The 2022 Grammy Award nominations came out on Tuesday – and this year, Triangle-area musicians were well represented.

Leading the way is Rhiannon Giddens, already a Grammy winner for her work with the Carolina Chocolate Drops. Giddens and Italian musician Francesco Turrisi were honored for their album “They’re Calling Me Home,” which earned a nomination for Best Folk Album. Giddens, Turrisi, and fellow Chocolate Drop Justin Robinson were also nominated for co-writing the song “Avalon,” which is up for Best American Roots Song.

Also earning nominations are a famed mother and son, jazz vocalist Nnenna Freelon and hip-hop artist (and Durham City Council member) Pierce Freelon. Nnenna Freelon is up for Best Jazz Vocal Album for “Time Traveler,” an album of standards and new originals recorded as a meditation on the loss of her husband Phil. (Earlier this year we recognized her song “Just You” as one of the 20 best local songs of the first half of 2021.) Pierce Freelon, meanwhile, was nominated for Best Children’s Music Album for “Black to the Future,” one of two children’s albums he’s released in the last two years.

Finally, Sylvan Esso, the Durham-based electronica duo of Amelia Meath and Nick Sanborn, earned a nomination for their album “Free Love.” They’re up for Best Dance/Electronic Album – their second nomination in that category, after 2017’s “What Now.”

Read the entire list of Grammy nominations here.

The 2022 Grammy Awards will take place in Los Angeles on January 31.

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From Jazz to Electronica: Local Artists Score Grammy Noms

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