Well, it’s unlikely there’s a provision in the Record Academy’s bylaws that allows Grammy nominations to be swapped like a “Get Out Jail Free” card or Marvin Gardens property in Monopoly to pay your debt from landing on Boardwalk. But this does pose an interest wrinkle to this year’s awards.
When the Grammy Awards announced the nominees for the inaugural Best Traditional Country Album category on November 7th and The Price of Admission by the Turnpike Troubadours was not among them, many traditional country fans cried foul. It felt like the selection should be a consensus pick for a nomination, if not the front runner to win the trophy.
The actual nominees were Hard Headed Woman – Margo Price, Ain’t In It For My Health – Zach Top, American Romance – Lukas Nelson, Oh What A Beautiful World – Willie Nelson, and Dollar A Day – Charley Crockett. That’s not a bad field all things considered, but the biggest quibble the public took was far and away the Turnpike Troubadours exclusion.
Well lo and behold, on Sunday afternoon (11-16), Charley Crockett took to social media to offer up his Grammy nomination to the Turnpike Troubadours.
“Volunteering to give up my nomination with the Recording Academy to the Turnpike Troubadours who not only earned the right with Price Of Admission, but for which without Evan Felker, I might not have ever even shown up on the map to be nominated in the first place,” Crockett said. “And besides, Evan Felker’s the best damn songwriter of all of us. See, Texas and Oklahoma can get along.”
Along with this caption, Charley Crockett also included his own quote, “I was standing out at Gruene Hall handing out CDs on a street corner ’cause I couldn’t get into the show. Handed a guy a CD, his name was Evan Felker. I didn’t know who he was at the time, but he was the frontman for the Turnpike Troubadours. He took it home and listened to it with his then girlfriend, now wife. Lo and behold, his agent Jon Folk called me up and started booking me.”
Can Charley Crockett really hand off his nomination? Of course not. The situation feels somewhat reminiscent of Dolly Parton being nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame before withdrawing her name from consideration—and being inducted anyway because the ballot had already been sent out, and folks voted for her anyway.
But it’s a classy move by Charley, and perhaps a vote for Charley can be seen as a vote for Turnpike as well, especially since as he rightly points out, it was Evan Felker and the Troubadours who seeded his career. Crockett very much got his legs underneath him opening shows for the Turnpike Troubadours. That’s one of the many reason that it felt like a tragedy the band was not nominated for a career effort.
UPDATE: Evan Felker has since responded to Crockett, “Any good thing in your world feels like a win for us my friend. Thanks for the kind words but y’all earned every bit of this. It didn’t happen overnight and nobody did it for you … the only thing I ask I’ll ask is that you enjoy it. Love and Luck. EF.”
Voting for the Grammy Awards is open from December 12th through January 5th. The 2026 Grammy Awards are on February 1st.
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