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North Texas musicians Post Malone, Kacey Musgraves, Leon Bridges among Grammy nominees

UPDATE at 12:30 p.m. on Dec. 9 to include the local nominations in classical music.

Hip-hop crooner Post Malone, country darling Kacey Musgraves and R&B singer Leon Bridges were just a few of the North Texas names announced in the class of nominees for the 61st annual Grammy Awards, announced Friday on CBS This Morning.

Post Malone snagged four nominations, including an impressive album of the year nom for his sophomore effort, Beerbongs and Bentleys. He is also acknowledged in the record of the year and best rap/sung performance categories for "Rockstar," and in the best pop solo performance category for "Better Now."

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East Texas native Kacey Musgraves also landed four nominations for her 2018 release, Golden Hour, which is also up for album of the year. Musgraves' song "Space Cowboy" is nominated for best country song; "Butterflies" is nominated for best country solo performance; and Golden Hour is also up for best country album.

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Leon Bridges' sophomore effort, Good Thing, is up for two Grammys: best R&B album of the year, and the single "Bet Ain't Worth the Hand" is competing for best traditional R&B performance.

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"The Middle," a track by electronic producer Zedd featuring North Texas native Maren Morris, is up for three awards, including record of the year, song of the year and best pop duo performance. Dallas-raised singer Demi Lovato also earned a nod in the latter category for her appearance on Christina Aguilera's "Fall in Line."

Additionally, Morris snagged nominations for best country solo performance for "Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters," and best country song and country duo performance for "Dear Hate" featuring Vince Gill. Dallas' Annie Clark, a.k.a. St. Vincent, earned noms for Masseduction as best alternative music album and the title track as best rock song, and Kelly Clarkson got a nod in the best pop vocal album for her latest effort, Meaning of Life.

"Never Alone," by Tori Kelly featuring local gospel singer Kirk Franklin, is up for best gospel performance/song.

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Lee Ann Womack, who is from East Texas, is up for best Americana album for The Lonely, the Lonesome and the Gone. The one and only Willie Nelson is nominated for best traditional pop album for My Way, which came out in September, and for best Americana roots performance for "Last Man Standing." Nelson has been nominated 51 times, according to the Grammys.

Nominations in the classical music categories include conductor Jerry Junkin and the Dallas Winds, which are up for best engineered classical album and best classical compendium for their piece "John Williams Goes to the Movies." And the Dallas Opera received a mention for its contributions to "Heggie: Great Scott," which is nominated for best contemporary classical composition.

Though they made an impressive showing in the nominations, our local musicians are up against stiff competition, especially since the number of artists recognized in each category expanded to eight from five.

The album of the year category is loaded with heavy hitters, including:

  • Cardi B, Invasion of Privacy
  • Drake, Scorpion
  • Brandi Carlile, By the Way, I Forgive You
  • Janelle Monae, Dirty Computer
  • H.E.R., H.E.R.
  • Post Malone, Beerbongs and Bentleys
  • Kacey Musgraves, Golden Hour
  • The Black Panther soundtrack, which has Kendrick Lamar's finger prints all over it.

The record of the year nominees are also stacked:

  • "I Like It" by Cardi B
  • "The Joke" by Brandi Carlile
  • "This is America" by Childish Gambino
  • "God's Plan" by Drake
  • "Shallow" by Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper
  • "Rockstar" by Post Malone
  • "The Middle" by Zedd, Maren Morris and Grey

Who's up for best new artist?

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  • Chloe x Halle
  • Luke Combs
  • Dua Lipa
  • Greta Van Fleet
  • H.E.R.
  • Jorja Smith
  • Bebe Rexha

Other interesting tidbits:

  • Late Soundgarden singer Chris Cornell was nominated posthumous for "When Good Goes Bad" for best rock performance.
  • Houston's Travis Scott is up for best rap performance and best rap song for his single, "Sicko Mode," as well as best rap album for Astroworld.
  • Sting and Shaggy's unlikely partnership earned a nomination in the best reggae album category for 44/867.

The 61st Grammy Awards airs Feb. 10, 2019 on CBS. To be eligible, an artist must have released an album between Oct. 1, 2017, and Sept. 30, 2018.

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See the full list of 2018 Grammy nominees here.