DOMi & JD Beck’s first stop of tour was a sold-out homecoming show in Dallas, where Beck grew up and the two began collaborating in 2018. Photo: Jessica Waffles
The 65th annual Grammy Awards will take over the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on Sunday, and there will be numerous Texans in attendance.
The Lone Star contingent will be led this year by the Houston-born Beyoncé, who goes into the Grammys with nine total nominations, including nods in the “big three” categories: Album, record and song of the year for the LP Renaissance.
She’ll be joined by other multiple nominee Texans like Lizzo, Miranda Lambert, Willie Nelson, Maren Morris and Kirk Franklin. Here’s a closer look at four more Texas-bred musicians who will be vying for Grammy gold this weekend.
Domi and JD Beck
Nominated for: Best new artist; Best contemporary instrumental album
One-half of this fast-rising jazz duo — JD Beck — came of age in Deep Ellum’s club circuit, learning at the feet of local titans like Robert “Sput” Searight and Cleon Edwards, and now finds itself competing for a high-profile prize scarcely a year after dropping a critically acclaimed debut, Not Tight. Will Beck and his bandmate DOMi (aka Domitille Degalle) move from making noise on the margins to making a splash in the mainstream?
Spoon
Nominated for: Best rock album
Somehow, incredibly, the Austin-based rock band Spoon is on the receiving end of its first-ever Grammy nomination this year. For an act that has reliably turned out angular, sophisticated songs over the course of two decades, including 2022’s superb Lucifer on the Sofa, it feels a bit like the music industry rectifying a grievous error. Still, as front man Britt Daniel told us last year, the song’s the thing: “When you have a good sturdy song, it’s hard to go wrong with everything else.”
Gayle
Nominated for: Song of the year
It’s been a heady rise for 18-year-old Plano native Taylor Gayle Rutherfurd, who performs as Gayle. Her crunchy pop-rock kiss-off “abcdefu” launched her from the Dallas suburbs to the front ranks of pop music in what seemed like an instant. The multi-platinum, viral hit single, taken from her major label debut EP A Study of the Human Experience Volume One, earned her a nomination for one of the “big three” Grammy categories — not bad for her freshman outing.
T Bone Burnett and Robert Plant
Nominated for: Best American roots song
The alchemy of rock god Robert Plant, bluegrass queen Alison Krauss and Fort Worth-raised producer-songwriter T Bone Burnett, first captured on the 2007 LP Raising Sand, yielded quite the Grammy haul in 2009, taking home five prizes, including album of the year. Fourteen years later, the trio reunited for Raise the Roof, which, as evidenced by cuts like the nominated “High & Lonesome,” effectively picks up where its predecessor left off, and may have a similar tendency to attract industry acclaim.
Preston Jones is a North Texas freelance writer and regular contributor to KXT. Email him at [email protected] or find him on Twitter (@prestonjones). Our work is made possible by our generous, music-loving members. If you like how we lift up local music, consider becoming a KXT sustaining member right here.
