Nominees for the 51st Annual Grammy Awards, to be presented by the Recording Academy next Feb. 8 in Los Angeles, were announced this week.  Among those who may be of particular interest to fans of folk and roots music are the following: 

Nominated for Best Bluegrass Album are Cherryholmes III: Don’t Believe, Cherryholmes; Del McCoury Band – Live at the 2008 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, Del McCoury Band; The Ultimate Collection Live at the Ryman, Earl Scruggs with Family and Friends; Honoring the Father of Bluegrass: Tribute to 1946 and 1947, Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder; and Wheels, Dan Tyminski.

Cherryholmes also is nominated in the Best Country Instrumental category for “Sumatra a track from Cherryholmes III.  Also nominated in that category are “Two Small Cars in Rom,” Jerry Douglas and Lloyd Green; “Sleigh Ride,” Bela Fleck the Flecktones; “Is This America (Katrina 2005,” Charlie Haden, Pat Metheny, Jerry Douglas and Bruce Hornsby; and “Cluster Pluck,” Brad Paisley, James Burton, Vince Gill, John Jorgenson, Albert Lee, Brent Mason, Redd Volkaert and Steve Wariner.

In the running for Best Traditional Blues Album are The Blues Rolls On, Elvin Bishop; Skin Deep, Buddy Guy; All Odds Against Me, John Lee Hooker; One Kind Favor, B.B. King; and Pinetop Perkins & Friends, Pinetop Perkins & Friends. Best Contemporary Blues Album nominees include Peace, Love & BBQ, Marcia Ball; Like a Fire, Solomon Burke; Cry That Care Forgot, Dr. John and The Lower 911; Maestro, Taj Mahal; and Simply Grand, Irma Thomas.

Among the nominees for Best Traditional Folk Album are Coal, Kathy Mattea; Comedians & Angels, Tom Paxton; Bring Me Home, Peggy Seeger; At 89, Pete Seeger; and Strangers in Another Country, Rosalie Sorrels.

In the Best Contemporary Folk/Americana Album category, the nominees are Day After Tomorrow, Joan Baez; I, Flathead, Ry Cooder; Sex & Gasoline, Rodney Crowell; All I Intended to Be, Emmylou Harris; and Raising Sand, Robert Plant & Allison Kraus.

(Note: Raising Sand also is among the five nominees for Album of the Year, while “Please Read the Letter,” a track from this album, is among the nominees for Record of the Year and two other tracks are in the running for Best Pop and Country Collaborations with Vocals.)

Nominees for Best Native American Music Album include Songs From the Black Hills, Bryan Akipa;  Spo’Mo’Kin’ Nan, Black Lodge; Red Rock, Northern Creek; Come To Me Great Mystery – Native American Healing Songs, various artists; and Faith, Kevin Yazzie.

Nominated in the Best Zydeco or Cajun Music Album category that was added last year are Live at the 2008 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, Beausoleil & Michael Doucet; From Now On, Michael Doucet; Homage Au Passe, Pine Leaf Boys;  Live at the 2008 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, Steve Riley & The Mamou Playboys; and Cedric Watson, Cedric Watson.

In the running for Best Traditional World Music Album are Calcutta Chronicles: Indian Slide Guitar Odyssey, Debashish Bhattacharya; The Mande Variations, Toumani Diabate; Ilembe: Honoring Shaka Zulu, Ladysmith Black Mambazo; and  Dancing to the Light, Kakshmi Shankar.  Best Contemporary World Music Album nominees include Shake Away, Lila Downs; Banda Larga Cordel, Gilberto Gil; Global Drum Project, Mickey Hart, Zakir Hussain, Sikiru Adepoju and Giovanni Hidalgo; Rokku Mi Rokka (Give and Take), Youssou N’Dour; and Live at the Nelson Mandela Theater, Soweto Gospel Choir.