The nominations for the 2022 Grammy Awards have officially rolled in and – though the Justin Biebers and Ed Sheerans of the world got their fair share of nods as one would expect – there's plenty of other guitar greatness that's been recognized across the board.
Notably, H.E.R. – who earlier this year scooped up the Grammy for 2021 Song of the Year with I Can't Breathe – has been nominated for the Album of the Year award for Back of My Mind and Song of the Year again for Fight for You (a song that, mind you, already won H.E.R. an Oscar back in April).
The signature Stratocaster-toting guitarist and singer/songwriter was also nominated for half-a-dozen other Grammys – Best R&B Performance and Best R&B Song for the Damage, Best R&B Album for Back of My Mind, Best Traditional R&B Performance and Best Song Written for Visual Media for Fight for You, and last but not least, Best Contemporary Christian Music Performance/Song for Hold Us Together (Hope Mix), her collaboration with Tauren Wells.
Back in March, we cited H.E.R. high in our list of 12 guitarists who changed the game over the previous 12 months, and we're certainly glad the Grammys feel the same way.
Elsewhere, the nominees in the rock, metal and alternative categories were an intriguing mix of the old guard and the new.
Reliable stadium-fillers Foo Fighters, AC/DC and Paul McCartney all picked up multiple nominations – the Foos for Best Rock Performance, Song and Album, AC/DC for Best Rock Album and Performance, and Macca for Best Rock Song and Album.
Posthumously, Chris Cornell received a pair of nominations, for Best Rock Album (No One Sings Like You Anymore Vol. 1) and Best Rock Performance for his cover of Nothing Compares 2 U.
Weezer, Kings of Leon and Wolfgang Van Halen's Mammoth WVH also received Best Rock Song nominations, while Black Pumas were recognized in the Best Rock Album and Best Rock Performance categories. The latter category was also rounded out by a nomination for Deftones, for the nine-string-driven Ohms.
Deftones were also nominated for Best Metal Performance, a category that was rounded out by nods to Dream Theater, Gojira, Mastodon and Rob Zombie.
Guitar-heavy LPs from Fleet Foxes, Halsey, Japanese Breakfast, Arlo Parks and St. Vincent made up the nominations for Best Alternative Music Album, while Snarky Puppy's Mark Lettieri – rounding out a year that saw the release of his PRS signature guitar, the Fiore – received a nomination for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album, for his Deep: The Baritone Sessions, Vol. 2 album.
Some top-tier guitar-slingers also made it into the country, roots and bluegrass categories. Billy Strings received nods for Best American Roots Performance (for Love and Regret) and Best Bluegrass Album (Renewal) and Jason Isbell (speaking of folks who got a signature guitar in 2021) was nominated for Best Country Solo Performance, for All I Do Is Drive.
Modern country superstar Chris Stapleton cleaned up as well, with nods for Best Country Song and Album, and Best Country Solo Performance for You Should Probably Leave. We assume though, that this isn't the recent You Should Probably Leave performance that Jimmy Fallon sat in on.
We haven't even gotten to blues yet, either. Between the two of them, the Best Traditional and Contemporary Blues Album awards saw nominations for blues artists both established (Joe Bonamassa, The Black Keys and Steve Cropper) and up-and-coming (Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, Cedric Burnside and Shemekia Copeland).
Finally, as we've noted, there's plenty of engrossing guitar work on the Billie Eilish and Taylor Swift albums that between them received a number of marquee nominations.
Let's face it, the Grammys don't ever please everyone with their nominations (we would've loved to see some recognition in the jazz categories for Julian Lage and his 2021 masterpiece, Squint, for instance), but if you come looking for the guitar in this year's categories – in any and all forms – you won't be disappointed.
For a full list of all 2022 Grammy nominees, head on over to the Grammys website.
