Phish? Grace? Anais? Neko? Nope. Vermont still has Grammy ties, though.
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Vermont’s best-known musical names aren’t on the list for Grammy Award nominations this year. Phish, Grace Potter, Anais Mitchell and Neko Case are among Vermonters who have received nods in the past; Mitchell, in fact, won a Grammy in 2020 for Best Musical Theater Album for her Tony Award-winning production “Hadestown.”
For a small state, though, Vermont’s creative tendencies have a long and wide reach. These musicians who have ties to the state are nominated this year for Grammy Awards, which, after COVID-19-related delays, will be given out in a ceremony Sunday.
Sylvan Esso
The pop-rock duo based in North Carolina is nominated this year for Best Dance/Electronic Music Album for its record “Free Love.” Sylvan Esso, which played two sold-out shows in November at Higher Ground in South Burlington, includes vocalist Amelia Meath, a 2010 graduate of Bennington College in southern Vermont. She and band mate Nick Sanborn will compete against Black Coffee, Illenium, Major Lazer, Marshmello and Ten City.
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Will Ackerman
Ackerman, founder of Windham Hill Records and past Grammy winner, is nominated for Best New Age Album. He, Jeff Oster and Tom Eaton were selected for “Brothers” and are up against Stewart Copeland & Ricky Kej, Wouter Kellerman & David Arkenstone, Opium Moon and Laura Sullivan. “Windham Hill Records was a wonderful dream, but it was time for me to simplify my life,” Ackerman writes on the website for Imaginary Road Studios. “I returned to Windham County, Vermont, and built my dream studio in a forest.”
Nico Muhly
The Randolph-born composer Nico Muhly is one of five musicians nominated in the category of Best Orchestral Performance. Muhly, conducting the San Francisco Symphony, is nominated for the composition “Throughline.” He is competing for the award with conductors Giancarlo Guerrero, Manfred Honeck, Yannick Nezet-Seguin and Thomas Dausgaard.
Contact Brent Hallenbeck at bhallenbeck@freepressmedia.com. Follow Brent on Twitter at www.twitter.com/BrentHallenbeck.
This article originally appeared on Burlington Free Press: Grammy Awards: Musicians with Vermont ties in contention this weekend
