In 2016 when Chime desperately needed cash, over 100 VCs said no. One seed VC, took a chance and saved the company, co-founder Ryan King recalls.

Snapchat is introducing a suite of new tools and features to make it easier for creators to post and share content on its platform.

At WWDC 2025, Apple announced several AI features, such as a workout coach, live translation, and more.

The Grammy’s are adding a new category to the country genre called “Best Traditional Country Album,” which is the only new music category being added for the 68th annual Grammy Awards in 2026. Of course, there is already an existing category called “Best Country Album,” which will now be called “Best Contemporary Country Album,” (AKA best pop country album) so there will be two “best” country albums category going forward, and more trophies to go around. There’s also “Best Americana Album,” which artists like Charley Crockett and Sierra Ferrell were nominated for last year… so… more like traditional country? There are 13 other categories for the country genre which is called Field 5, with four that are solely for country artists, and the others include music from American roots, Americana, bluegrass, blues, folk and regional roots music. In order to create a new category, “ideas must be submitted to the Recording Academy’s Awards & Nominations committee, which are then voted on by the Academy’s board of trustees.” Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. says that the country community wanted a way to honor all different types of subgenres that exist within country, so this seemed like a fair way to do it considering how much country has exploded within the mainstream over the last several years. It’s not the first time this category was submitted, but it finally passed this year: “Country music has evolved in a major way over the past decade, with traditional country experiencing a massive resurgence, growing in popularity and volume. Traditional country has a timeless, distinct sound that’s inspired generations of musicians throughout the years. It’s an important part of the country music story and deserves to be celebrated and recognized with intention. This action by our members now opens the door for us to celebrate more artists and a wider range of music. By adding this new category and renaming the Country Album Category, we’re creating more space for all the diverse artists who are shaping the future of country music.”  Other genres already have separate categories for “Traditional” and “Contemporary” albums and songs, and Mason added that they want to create “space for where the genre is going” Criteria for the new category is described as: “This category recognizes excellence in albums of traditional country music, both vocal and instrumental. Traditional country includes country recordings that adhere to the more traditional sound structures of the country genre, including rhythm and singing style, lyrical content, as well as traditional country instrumentation such as acoustic guitar, steel guitar, fiddle, banjo, mandolin, piano, electric guitar, and live drums. It also includes sub-genres such as Western, Western Swing, and Outlaw country.” With this new category, you should see some extremely deserving artists like Charley Crockett and Sierra Ferrell, who have typically been nominated in the “Roots” and “Americana” categories, get put in the country categories (at least this one), though I’ll be honest, I’m torn in my thinking about what this really does for anything. Then again, when your Best Country Album nominees are Beyonce, Kacey Musgraves, Post Malone… and overall, the country categories were dominated by Beyonce, Musgraves, and Shaboozey, it’s time to rethink some things. Traditional country artists have been begging for this for a while, and I’m sure they’re happy about it, but it does feel a bit like a cop out to me. Mason went onto say that even the Grammy academy has had confusion about where to put people like the aforementioned Ferrell, so this is a way to expand the “The issues have been, traditionally, a lot of people that weren’t sure whether [an album] was Americana or roots or folk or country were just jamming everything into one category. There are obviously nuances between the different genres. Those experts in those genres understand those nuances, and I’m quite certain now you’re going to see the right people going into Americana versus folk versus traditional country. [The change] gives us an opportunity to put things in more specific categories. People from that community are making more music, it’s more varied, there’s different styles of writing and performing. I’m hopeful that that community understands that the academy is doing what it always does, which is stay in tune with what’s happening in their genre.” All of that is well and good, and I do agree with some of his sentiments, though I can’t help but point out the fact that many of these artists are simply not making country music. Beyonce, Kacey Musgraves, Maren Morris, Kelsea Ballerini, Dan + Shay, Shaboozey, and even Post Malone and Morgan Wallen in some instances. We’re now adding a category so the people actually making country music can get nominated too? I suppose I shouldn’t complain, this is what we’ve been lobbying for, but the news immediately made me think of Tyler Childers’ 2018 acceptance speech at the Americana Awards, where he gave everyone a piece of his mind, letting them know that he is not an “Americana” artist, but a country artist, then proceeded to walk offstage and drop the figurative mic on everybody: “It crawls up my spine… my name is Tyler Childers. I am an Appalachian artist from the foothills of East Kentucky and I play country music. As a man who identifies as a country music singer, I feel Americana ain’t no part of nothin’. It is a distraction from the issues that we are facing on a bigger level as country music singers. It kind of feels like ‘Purgatory’.”   Sturgill Simpson also once famously said he never played a note of Americana music in his life, and responding to a comment on Instagram about his bluegrass albums, he said: “The last thing music or musicians need is another ‘genre,’ especially one defined by empty semantics that throws us in an industry gutter appropriating any and everything with the slightest amount of steam for its own self-promotion/membership fees all while simultaneously placing a glass ceiling on our careers. I love all types of music, and I mostly sing and play country, bluegrass, & rock n’ roll music… but I have never played a note of Americana in my entire life.” I think that is the perfect way to explain what’s happening here. To be fair, Sturgill did win the Best Country album award in 2017 for A Sailor’s Guide to Earth, and was nominated in the all-genre category as well, but that’s the exception to the rule in the last 10 to 15 years. I guess that will change now, but adding this “traditional” category sort of just feels like a new name for “Americana,” and I think a lot of those artists will just get pushed over there. So what does that really do, other than the fact that there will simply be more trophies to go around? I feel like that kind of defeats the purpose and meaning of winning what used to be a distinguished, highly coveted and sought-after award in a Grammy. Where do we draw the line between traditional country and Americana now? Americana has more rock and blues influence? Where does Zach Top go? He’s a contemporary artist making traditional country music. Luke Combs seems to straddle the line between contemporary and traditional by these definitions. Lainey Wilson, too? I will say though, the fact that they added “Contemporary” is somewhat validating… vs just going with “Country” and “Traditional Country.” On the one hand, I love that we’re recognizing traditional country, that should’ve been happening all along, and I imagine it could be great for the careers of some of these more traditional artists. And Grammy’s being an independent outfit are traditionally much better about nominating, and actually awarding, people like Simpson, Childers and Ferrell as opposed to the CMAs and ACMs, which exclusively rely on major labels and radio play for consideration. But at the same time, it sort of feels like a participation trophy of sorts… maybe I’m just jaded by the entire awards show process and splitting hairs. I suppose we can wait to see how it shakes out next year. The people who care about this stuff will still care, the people who don’t won’t, but I am praying that we get to see Tyler get up there and reference this Americana Awards speech if he ever wins in the “Best Traditional Country Album” category. With his new album Snipe Hunter set to be released next month on July 25th, it’s entirely possible, The post The Grammys Add “Best Traditional Country Album” Category Following Beyoncé’s Win For “Best Country Album” first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

Sad but true: Your pet can die in a shockingly short amount of time.

Scientists captured the elusive Antarctic gonate squid on camera for the first time during a National Geographic expedition.

Tampa’s mayor wanted Peter Benchley’s bestseller off store shelves. The cover had been deemed obscene by authorities.

Host Bright Learn discusses the EPA's controversial classification of Berkey water filters as pesticides—targeting their ability to remove viruses like COVID—while exempting similar products, prompting a federal lawsuit and raising concerns about regulatory overreach and access to clean water. For more videos, visit BrightLearn.ai Full length interview on Brighteon.com: https://www.brighteon.com/1ee1fbf0-1ef4-4be7-9bea-e4b080b4f0ba