# Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album

The Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album was awarded from 1987 to 2011. Until 1991 the award was known as the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Recording. In 2007, this category was renamed Best Contemporary Folk/Americana Album. As of 2010 the category was split into two categories; Best Contemporary Folk Album and Best Americana Album.
An award for Best Traditional Folk Album was also presented. Prior to 1987 contemporary and traditional folk were combined as the Best Ethnic or Traditional Folk Recording.
Following the 2011 Grammy Award ceremony, the award was discontinued due to a major overhaul of Grammy categories. Beginning in 2012, this category merged with the Best Traditional Folk Album category to form the new Best Folk Album category.
Years reflect the year in which the Grammy Awards were presented, for works released in the previous year.
At three wins each, Bob Dylan and Steve Earle are the category's biggest winners.

## Winners and nominees

| Year | Winner(s) | Title | Nominees |
| 1987 | Al Bunetta, Dan Einstein, Hank Neuberger (producer), various artists | Tribute to Steve Goodman | John Prine for German Afternoons Loudon Wainwright III for I'm Alright Nanci Griffith for Last of the True Believers Peter, Paul & Mary for No Easy Walk to Freedom |
| 1988 | Steve Goodman | Unfinished Business | Joan Baez for Asimbonanga John Hartford for Annual Waltz Loudon Wainwright III for More Love Songs Washington Squares for The Washington Squares |
| 1989 | Tracy Chapman | Tracy Chapman | John Prine for John Prine Live Michelle Shocked for Short Sharp Shocked Sweet Honey in the Rock for "Emergency" Clive Risko, Various Artists for Homeland - A Collection of Black South African Music |
| 1990 | Indigo Girls | Indigo Girls | Gipsy Kings for "Bamboleo" BeauSoleil for Bayou Cadillac Tracy Chapman for Crossroads Guy Clark for Old Friends |
| 1991 | Shawn Colvin | Steady On | Suzanne Vega for Days of Open Hand Indigo Girls for "Hammer and a Nail" Maura O'Connell for Helpless Heart |
| 1992 | John Prine | The Missing Years | Indigo Girls for Live - Back On the Bus Y'all BeauSoleil for Cajun Conja Rosanne Cash for Interiors Jerry Garcia, David Grisman for Jerry Garcia & David Grisman |
| 1993 | The Chieftains | Another Country | Joan Baez for Play Me Backwards T-Bone Burnett for The Criminal Under My Own Hat Indigo Girls for Rites of Passage Michelle Shocked for Arkansas Traveler |
| 1994 | Nanci Griffith | Other Voices, Other Rooms | BeauSoleil for La Danse de la Vie Shawn Colvin for Fat City Bob Dylan for Good As I Been to You Jimmie Dale Gilmore for Spinning Around the Sun Janis Ian for Breaking Silence |
| 1995 | Johnny Cash | American Recordings | Shawn Colvin for Cover Girl Iris DeMent for My Life Nanci Griffith for Flyer Indigo Girls for Swamp Ophelia |
| 1996 | Emmylou Harris | Wrecking Ball | The Chieftains for The Long Black Veil Bob Dylan for MTV Unplugged Steve Earle for Train a Comin' John Prine for Lost Dogs and Mixed Blessings |
| 1997 | Bruce Springsteen | The Ghost of Tom Joad | Jerry Douglas, Peter Rowan for Yonder Jimmie Dale Gilmore for Braver New World Richard Thompson for You? Me? Us? Gillian Welch for Revival |
| 1998 | Bob Dylan | Time Out of Mind | Guy Clark for Keepers - A Live Recording Iris DeMent for The Way I Should Indigo Girls for Shaming of the Sun John Prine for Live on Tour |
| 1999 | Lucinda Williams | Car Wheels on a Gravel Road | Billy Bragg, Wilco for Mermaid Avenue Steve Earle for El Corazon Emmylou Harris for Spyboy Lyle Lovett for Step Inside This House |
| 2000 | Tom Waits | Mule Variations | BeauSoleil for Cajunization Ani DiFranco, Utah Phillips for Fellow Workers John Prine for In Spite of Ourselves Linda Ronstadt, Emmylou Harris for Western Wall - The Tucson Sessions |
| 2001 | Emmylou Harris | Red Dirt Girl | Billy Bragg, Wilco for Mermaid Avenue Vol. II Johnny Cash for American III: Solitary Man Steve Earle for Transcendental Blues John Hiatt for Crossing Muddy Waters |
| 2002 | Bob Dylan | Love and Theft | Buddy and Julie Miller for Buddy & Julie Miller Various Artists for Poet: A Tribute to Townes van Zandt Gillian Welch for Time (The Revelator) Lucinda Williams for Essence |
| 2003 | Nickel Creek | This Side | Johnny Cash for American IV: The Man Comes Around The Chieftains for Down the Old Plank Road: The Nashville Sessions Steve Earle for Jerusalem Patty Griffin for 1000 Kisses |
| 2004 | Warren Zevon | The Wind | Rosanne Cash for Rules of Travel Emmylou Harris for Stumble into Grace Tom Paxton for Looking for the Moon Lucinda Williams for World Without Tears |
| 2005 | Steve Earle | The Revolution Starts... Now | Ani DiFranco for Educated Guess Eliza Gilkyson for Land of Milk and Honey Patty Griffin for Impossible Dream John Carter Cash, Various Artists for The Unbroken Circle - The Musical Heritage of the Carter Family |
| 2006 | John Prine | Fair & Square | Ry Cooder for Chávez Ravine Rodney Crowell for The Outsider Nickel Creek for Why Should the Fire Die? Bruce Springsteen for Devils & Dust |
| 2007 | Bob Dylan | Modern Times | Jackson Browne for Solo Acoustic, Vol. 1 Rosanne Cash for Black Cadillac Guy Clark for Workbench Songs Mark Knopfler, Emmylou Harris for All the Roadrunning |
| 2008 | Steve Earle | Washington Square Serenade | Mary Chapin Carpenter for The Calling Ry Cooder for My Name Is Buddy Patty Griffin for Children Running Through Tom Waits for Orphans |
| 2009 | Robert Plant, Alison Krauss | Raising Sand | Joan Baez for Day After Tomorrow Ry Cooder for I, Flathead Rodney Crowell for Sex & Gasoline Emmylou Harris for All I Intended to Be |
| 2010 | Steve Earle | Townes | Neko Case for Middle Cyclone Tracy Chapman for Our Bright Future Shawn Colvin for Live Elvis Costello for Secret, Profane & Sugarcane |
| 2011 | Ray LaMontagne, The Pariah Dogs | God Willin' and the Creek Don't Rise | Jackson Browne, David Lindley for Love Is Strange: En Vivo Con Tino Mary Chapin Carpenter for The Age of Miracles Guy Clark for Somedays the Song Writes You Richard Thompson for Dream Attic |