Two Americana Double Grammy Winners

Mavis Staples wins two Grammys at the age of 86

Gospel/R&B legend Mavis Staples accentuated her ageless status with two wins at the 2026 Grammy Awards in Los Angeles. The 86-year-old star now has a total of five Grammys as a solo artist, plus a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award she won in 2005 as a member of The Staple Singers.

Staples won the Best Americana Performance for “Godspeed” and collected another in the Best American Roots Performance category for ”Beautiful Strangers.” Both songs were singles off her 14^th solo studio album Sad and Beautiful World, released last November. It received critical acclaim and commercial success, debuting in multiple top-50 charts internationally.

Sad and Beautiful World was largely a collection of covers by such big-name artists as Frank Ocean, Leonard Cohen, Kevin Morby and Tom Waits. Rolling Stone said it again underscored her reputation as an exceptional interpreter of song and it was listed in the magazine’s 100 Best Albums of 2025. But despite all the accolades, the album itself did not get a Grammy nomination.

Staples - considered an historical figure in the music industry - is the sole survivor of the famous Staples Singers, founded by her father Roebuck (Pops) Staples when Mavis was only eight. Two-and-a-half years ago - at the age of 84 and after 76 years on the road - she told her manager she was finished with music. But, for her, retirement wasn’t all it was cracked up to be and along came Sad and Beautiful World.

“My voice is my gift from God,” she told The New York Times. “If I don’t use it, I’m abusing my gift.”

There was another double winner in Americana/Roots at the 68th Recording Academy Awards. The folk supergroup  I’m With Her – Sarah Jarosz, Aoife O’Donovan & Sara Watkins – picked up Grammys for Best American Roots Song (“Ancient Light”) and Best Folk Album (Wild and Clear and Blue).  The multi-instrumentalist trio now has three Grammys after winning Best American Roots song for “Call My Name” in 2020.

Jarosz, O’Donovan and Watkins have been playing and writing together for more than a decade, but Wild and Clear and Blue is only their second album. “Every time we make something together, I leave with the enthusiasm for what can be done when we work as a team and the delight of getting to be involved in it,” Watkins told grammy.com. “There’s also this feeling that my friends help to bring out of me things that would not have come out otherwise, which is the beauty of collaboration when it’s wholeheartedly encouraged and loved by all in the band. It’s left me very prideful of where we’ve grown to be as a band and the diligence we pursued in bring this second album to life.”

And a life truly appreciated by The Recording Academy.

Grammy winners – Americana/Roots

Best American Roots performance

“Beautiful Strangers” – Mavis Staples

Best Americana Performance

“Godspeed” – Mavis Staples

Best American Roots Song

“Ancient Light” – Sarah Jarosz, Aofie O’Donovan & Sara Watkins (I’m With Her)

Best Americana Album

“Big Money “- Jon Batiste

Best Bluegrass Album

“Highway Prayers” – Billy Strings

Best Traditional Blues Album

“Ain’t Done With the Blues” – Buddy Guy

Best Contemporary Blues Album

“Preacher Kids” – Robert Randolph

Best Folk Album

"Wild and Clear and Blue "- I’m With Her (Sarah Jarosz, Aofie O”Donovan & Sara Watkins)