Country music legend Willie Nelson hasn’t fully passed the torch for iconic twangy tunes — not even within his immediate family.
Nelson and his son, Lukas, will share the spotlight at the 2026 Grammy Awards. They are both nominated for Best Traditional Country Album, a new category introduced this year.
The new category aims to honor both evolving, pop-edged country music and the timeless, “ever-resilient, blue-collar ethos” of traditional country, a representative for the Grammy’s wrote in a November news release. Now, instead of only Best Country Album up for grabs, artists will compete for both Best Traditional Country Album and Best Contemporary Country Album.
Lukas snatched the nomination with his debut solo album “American Romance,” a 12-track work released in June. A RIFF Magazine country music critic said the work shows Lukas’ comfortability “forging his own lane” in traditional country music.
He’s already taken home a Grammy for Best Compilation for Visual Media for his work on the film “A Star is Born”, which itself was nominated for eight Academy Awards in 2018.
Nelson, who is 92 years old and a 12-time Grammy winner, paid tribute to fellow Texas-based artist Rodney Crowell for his nominated piece, “Oh What A Beautiful World.” The Grammy’s release described his 12 tracks as “vivid tunes (that) splash out like landscape paintings.”
The younger Nelson shared his gratitude for the nomination in an Instagram post on Dec. 8, specifically mentioning being on the same bill as his father.
“(It) gives me such a great sense of cosmic purpose and I’m in awe of the way God works,” Lukas wrote in the post.
