AUSTIN, Texas — This Sunday at the 62nd annual Grammy Awards, Lil Nas X will perform with Billy Ray Cyrus as he finds out whether he's been awarded "record of the year" for the album that featured the song of the summer: "Old Town Road."
Meanwhile, here at home, Austin will cheer on some hometown bands up for awards at the Grammy Awards.
The Austin-based band Black Pumas is up for 2020 "best new artist." The psychedelic soul group released their debut album this year and recently performed on Jimmy Kimmel Live!. Bandmembers said it's been streamed on Spotify more than 10 million times.
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Other Austinites up for awards Sunday are Gary Clark Jr., Willie Nelson, Patty Griffin and Jimmie Vaughan.
Members of the Austin-based group Conspirae also attended the awards. They were up for Best Choral Performance for "The Hope of Loving: Choral Music of Jake Runestad."
“Just being nominated for this award is a gift,” said Artistic Director Craig Hella Johnson. “We are delighted that the nomination brings an opportunity to widely share the talent and dedication of the extraordinary singers and instrumentalists in their performance of Jake Runestad’s masterful compositions.”
Conspirae won the 2014 Grammy for Best Choral Performance. They've been nominated seven times.
We are heading into the Grammy weekend with a scandal.
Former CEO of the National Academy of Recording Arts Deborah Dugan said she was pushed out after exposing sexual harassment and exposing that nominations are rigged. In a 46-page lawsuit against the Recording Academy, she alleged the voting process is "ripe with corruption" involving "secret committees" that she claimed push forward artists with whom they have relationships.
The recording academy fired back, claiming she created a toxic and intolerable work environment.
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