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A visual history · Grammys

The winners who defined Bluegrass Album.

37 ceremonies, 1989–2025. 26 different winners. The longest run belongs to Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway, with 2 straight wins.

Who won most recently?
Billy Strings in 2025 for Live Vol. 1.
Who has won the most?
Alison Krauss & Union Station, 5 wins (1993, 1998, 2002, 2004, 2012).
  1. Live Vol. 1Billy Strings
  2. City of GoldMolly Tuttle & Golden Highway
  3. Crooked TreeMolly Tuttle & Golden Highway
  4. My Bluegrass HeartBéla Fleck
  5. HomeBilly Strings
  6. Tall FiddlerMichael Cleveland
Years explored
1989–2025
Different winners
26
Category leader
Alison Krauss & Union Station · 5
About this record

Best Bluegrass Album was first awarded in 1989, so it does not run the full 1959–2025 window.

The 2018 award was a tie, and both winning albums are listed.

2000–2025

26 ceremonies

19892025

01 / The reigns

Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway set the longest run.

The timeline turns the 2000–2025 record into a sequence of reigns. Longer bands reveal sustained runs; color shows the credited label.

  1. 01
    Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder4 wins
  2. 02
    Alison Krauss & Union Station3 wins
  3. 03
    Billy Strings2 wins
  4. 04
    Del McCoury Band2 wins
  5. 05
    Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway2 wins
Each band is one winner’s reign. Wider means a longer run. Colored by label; hover for details.
Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder'00
Dolly Parton'01
Alison Krauss & Union Station'02
Lost in the Lonesome Pines'03
Alison Krauss & Union Station'04
Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder'05
Del McCoury Band'06
Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder'07
Jim Lauderdale'08
Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder'09
Steve Martin'10
Patty Loveless'11
Alison Krauss & Union Station'12
Steep Canyon Rangers'13
Del McCoury Band'14
The Earls of Leicester'15
The SteelDrivers'16
O'Connor Band with Mark O'Connor'17
Rhonda Vincent and the Rage'18
The Travelin' McCourys'19
Michael Cleveland'20
Billy Strings'21
Béla Fleck'22
Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway'23–'24×2
Billy Strings'25

02 / The power map

Who stood behind the winners?

Independent leads the recorded label credits with 9 wins, 2000–2025. The full distribution shows whether power was concentrated or shared.

Independent9 wins
Skaggs Family4 wins
McCoury Music3 wins
Warner3 wins
Compass1 win
Dualtone1 win
Wins by label
  1. Independent935%
  2. Skaggs Family415%
  3. McCoury Music312%
  4. Warner312%
  5. Compass14%
  6. Dualtone14%
  7. Other519%

03 / The near misses

The names that kept coming back without the ending they wanted.

Counting nominations in this category only, 2000–2025. Excludes 3 nominations credited to Various Artists, which names a compilation rather than an act.

Most nominated, never won this award

  1. 01
    Rhonda Vincent
    5 noms
  2. 02
    Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver
    4 noms
  3. 03
    Cherryholmes
    3 noms
  4. 04
    Noam Pikelny
    3 noms
  5. 05
    The Grascals
    3 noms
  6. 06
    Blue Highway
    2 noms

Most losses in this category

  1. 01
    Del McCoury Band
    6L · 2W
  2. 02
    Rhonda Vincent
    5L · 0W
  3. 03
    Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver
    4L · 0W
  4. 04
    Cherryholmes
    3L · 0W
  5. 05
    Jim Lauderdale
    3L · 1W
  6. 06
    Noam Pikelny
    3L · 0W

04 / The archive

Every year.
Every winner.

The complete reference behind the story, showing 2000–2025. Open any year to see the rest of the field when nominee records are available.

YearWinnerLabel
2025Billy Strings (Live Vol. 1)
beat 5 others
  • Tony Trischka (Earl Jam)
  • Bronwyn Keith-Hynes (I Built a World)
  • Dan Tyminski (Live from the Ryman)
  • Sister Sadie (No Fear)
  • Del McCoury Band (Songs of Love and Life)
Reprise
2024Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway (City of Gold)repeat
beat 5 others
  • Willie Nelson (Bluegrass)
  • Michael Cleveland (Lovin' of the Game)
  • Billy Strings (Me/And/Dad)
  • Mighty Poplar (Mighty Poplar)
  • Sam Bush (Radio John: Songs of John Hartford)
Nonesuch
2023Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway (Crooked Tree)
beat 4 others
  • Del McCoury Band (Almost Proud)
  • Peter Rowan (Calling You from My Mountain)
  • Yonder Mountain String Band (Get Yourself Outside)
  • The Infamous Stringdusters (Toward the Fray)
Nonesuch
2022Béla Fleck (My Bluegrass Heart)
beat 4 others
  • Sturgill Simpson (Cuttin' Grass Vol. 1 (Butcher Shoppe Sessions))
  • Rhonda Vincent (Music Is What I See)
  • Billy Strings (Renewal)
  • The Infamous Stringdusters (A Tribute To Bill Monroe)
Renew
2021Billy Strings (Home)
beat 4 others
  • Various Artists (The John Hartford Fiddle Tune Project, Vol. 1)
  • Danny Barnes (Man on Fire)
  • Steep Canyon Rangers (North Carolina Songbook)
  • Thomm Jutz (To Live In Two Worlds, Vol. 1)
Rounder
2020Michael Cleveland (Tall Fiddler)
beat 4 others
  • Frank Solivan and Dirty Kitchen (If You Can't Stand the Heat)
  • Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver (Live in Prague, Czech Republic)
  • Missy Raines (Royal Traveller)
  • The Po'Ramblin' Boys (Toil, Tears & Trouble)
Compass
2019The Travelin' McCourys (The Travelin' McCourys)
beat 4 others
  • Sister Sadie (II)
  • Wood & Wire (North of Despair)
  • Mike Barnett (Portraits in Fiddles)
  • The Special Consensus (Rivers and Roads)
McCoury Music
2018Rhonda Vincent and the Rage (All the Rage)tieThe Infamous Stringdusters (Laws of Gravity)
beat 3 others
  • Michael Cleveland (Fiddler's Dream)
  • Bobby Osborne (Original)
  • Noam Pikelny (Universal Favorite)
Upper Management
2017O'Connor Band with Mark O'Connor (Coming Home)
beat 4 others
  • Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver (Burden Bearer)
  • Laurie Lewis & The Right Hands (The Hazel and Alice Sessions)
  • Claire Lynch (North by South)
  • Blue Highway (Original Traditional)
Rounder
2016The SteelDrivers (The Muscle Shoals Recordings)
beat 4 others
  • Rob Ickes and Trey Hensley (Before the Sun Goes Down)
  • Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver (In Session)
  • Ralph Stanley and Friends (Man of Constant Sorrow)
  • Dale Ann Bradley (Pocket Full of Keys)
Rounder
2015The Earls of Leicester (The Earls of Leicester)
beat 4 others
  • Frank Solivan and Dirty Kitchen (Cold Spell)
  • Bryan Sutton (Into My Own)
  • Noam Pikelny (Noam Pikelny Plays Kenny Baker Plays Bill Monroe)
  • Rhonda Vincent (Only Me)
Rounder
2014Del McCoury Band (The Streets of Baltimore)
beat 4 others
  • Dailey & Vincent (Brothers of the Highway)
  • The Boxcars (It's Just a Road)
  • Della Mae (This World Oft Can Be)
  • James King (Three Chords and the Truth)
McCoury Music
2013Steep Canyon Rangers (Nobody Knows You)
beat 4 others
  • Noam Pikelny (Beat the Devil and Carry a Rail)
  • Dailey & Vincent (The Gospel Side of...)
  • The Grascals (Life Finds a Way)
  • The Special Consensus (Scratch Gravel Road)
Rounder
2012Alison Krauss & Union Station (Paper Airplane)
beat 5 others
  • Ralph Stanley (A Mother's Prayer)
  • Del McCoury Band (Old Memories: The Songs of Bill Monroe)
  • Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers (Rare Bird Alert)
  • Jim Lauderdale (Reason and Rhyme: Bluegrass Songs by Robert Hunter and Jim Lauderdale)
  • Chris Thile and Michael Daves (Sleep with One Eye Open)
Rounder
2011Patty Loveless (Mountain Soul II)
beat 4 others
  • Sam Bush (Circles Around Me)
  • Del McCoury Band (Family Circle)
  • Peter Rowan Bluegrass Band (Legacy)
  • The SteelDrivers (Reckless)
Saguaro Road
2010Steve Martin (The Crow: New Songs for the 5-String Banjo)
beat 4 others
  • Bryan Sutton and Friends (Almost Live)
  • Michael Martin Murphey (Buckaroo Blue Grass)
  • Jim Lauderdale (Could We Get Any Closer?)
  • Rhonda Vincent (Destination Life)
Rounder
2009Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder (Honoring the Fathers of Bluegrass: Tribute to 1946 and 1947)unverified
beat 4 others
  • Cherryholmes (Cherryholmes III: Don't Believe)
  • Del McCoury Band (Del McCoury Band: Live at the 2008 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival)
  • Earl Scruggs (The Ultimate Collection / Live at the Ryman)
  • Dan Tyminski (Wheels)
Skaggs Family
2008Jim Lauderdale (The Bluegrass Diaries)unverified
beat 4 others
  • Cherryholmes (Cherryholmes II: Black and White)
  • J. D. Crowe and The New South (Lefty's Old Guitar)
  • The Seldom Scene (Scenechronized)
  • Tony Trischka (Double Banjo Bluegrass Spectacular)
Yep Roc
2007Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder (Instrumentals)unverified
beat 4 others
  • The Grascals (Long List of Heartaches)
  • Jim Lauderdale (Bluegrass)
  • Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives (Live at the Ryman)
  • Rhonda Vincent (All American Bluegrass Girl)
Skaggs Family
2006Del McCoury Band (The Company We Keep)
beat 4 others
  • Cherryholmes (Cherryholmes)
  • The Grascals (The Grascals)
  • Blue Highway (Marbletown)
  • Rhonda Vincent and the Rage (Ragin' Live)
McCoury Music
2005Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder (Brand New Strings)
beat 4 others
  • Lynn Anderson (The Bluegrass Sessions)
  • Ralph Stanley II (Carrying On)
  • Various Artists (A Tribute to Jimmy Martin: "The King of Bluegrass")
  • Nashville Bluegrass Band (Twenty Year Blues)
Skaggs Family
2004Alison Krauss & Union Station (Live)
beat 4 others
  • Various Artists (Christmas on the Mountain: A Bluegrass Christmas)
  • Del McCoury Band (It's Just the Night)
  • Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder (Live at the Charleston Music Hall)
  • Rhonda Vincent (One Step Ahead)
Rounder
2003Clinch Mountain Boys, Jim Lauderdale, and Ralph Stanley (Lost in the Lonesome Pines)
beat 4 others
  • Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver (The Hard Game of Love)
  • Roland White Band (Jelly on My Tofu)
  • Ralph Stanley (Ralph Stanley)
  • Ralph Stanley II (Stanley Blues)
Dualtone
2002Alison Krauss & Union Station (New Favorite)
beat 4 others
  • Ralph Stanley and Friends (Clinch Mountain Sweethearts)
  • Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder (History of the Future)
  • Dolly Parton (Little Sparrow)
  • Patty Loveless (Mountain Soul)
Rounder
2001Dolly Parton (The Grass Is Blue)
beat 4 others
  • Ricky Skaggs and Friends (Big Mon: The Songs of Bill Monroe)
  • Alison Brown (Fair Weather)
  • Larry Cordle and Lonesome Standard Time (Murder on Music Row)
  • Nickel Creek (Nickel Creek)
Sugar Hill/Blue Eye
2000Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder (Ancient Tones)unverified
beat 4 others
  • David Grisman, Ricky Skaggs, Sam Bush, Jesse McReynolds, and Frank Wakefield (Bluegrass Mandolin Extravaganza)
  • Béla Fleck (The Bluegrass Sessions)
  • Jim Lauderdale, Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys (I Feel Like Singing Today)
  • Steve Earle and the Del McCoury Band (The Mountain)
Skaggs Family