Six North Texans earn nominations for 2024 Grammy Awards

DALLAS — Editor’s note: The above profile of Shane McAnally originally aired on November 9, 2022.

Grammy Award nomination day is always a special one around Dallas-Fort Worth.

It’s an annual reminder of the sheer volume of musical talent that exists around North Texas, and of just how embedded into North Texas’ DNA music really is given the blues history of Deep Ellum, the jazz bona fides of Denton’s University of North Texas and the mind-boggling number of stars churned out by the fame factory that is Dallas’ arts magnet Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts.

More than that, these award nomination reveals annually serve as an acknowledgment that those outside of the region see the local music scene’s appeal, too — that it’s not just homerism that has us astounded by the value local music provides our culture.

Because it really does happen every year: When Grammy Award nominations are released, as they were Friday for the upcoming 2024 ceremony in February, North Texas is always represented well.

Granted, some years are better-represented than others. For the 2019 awards, for instance, 12 different North Texas-tied musicians accounted for a total of 30 combined nominations — perhaps the largest single-year representation ever seen for the region at the Grammys.

Comparatively, this year’s crop isn’t as vast. By our count, six North Texas-connected acts account for seven nominations in the 2024 list. That bunch includes Mineral Wells-raised country songwriter Shane McAnally, Burleson’s own reality-show-winner-turned-pop-star-turned-talk-show-host Kelly Clarkson, the Arlington-bred vocal acrobats in Pentatonix, Mineola alt-pop-country powerhouse Kacey Musgraves, Plano-raised Christian rapper Lecrae and Arlington-based gospel legend Kirk Franklin.

Only Musgraves earned more than one nod, being twice-nominated for her collaboration with rising Oklahoma country performer Zach Bryan on the song “I Remember Everything.”

Thought not nominated this year, Dallas-raised art-rock heroine St. Vincent was among the presenters on this year’s livestreamed announcement of nominees. 

Disregarding local ties, this year’s list of top nominees is female-dominated.

At nine nominations, R&B singer-songwriter SZA leads the pack, followed by pop-R&B breakout performer Victoria Monet’s seven noms.

Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo, Billie Eilish, Miley Cyrus, boygenius and Brandy Clark each picked up six nominations apiece. 

Only two men — Jack Antonoff and Jon Batiste — achieved six-nomination status.

The winners of the 2024 Grammys — aka the 66th Grammy Awards — will be announced Sunday, Feb, 4, at Los Angeles’ Crypto.com Arena. The presentation will be broadcast starting at 7 p.m. that night on CBS.

• Shane McAnally (Songwriter of the Year, Non-Classical)
• Kelly Clarkson (Best Pop Vocal Album – “Chemistry”)
• Pentatonix (Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album – “Holidays Around the World”)
• Kacey Musgraves (Best Country Duo/Group Performance – “I Remember Everything” with Zach Bryan; Best Country Song – “I Remember Everything” with Zach Bryan)
• Kirk Franklin (Best Gospel Performance/Song – “All Things”)
• Lecrae (Best Contemporary Christian Music Album – “Church Clothes 4”)