The Recording Academy announced the nominations for the 49th Annual Grammy Awards today in Santa Monica, California. Topping the list in the Best Bluegrass Album category is Nashville stalwart Jim Lauderdale for his aptly- titled Yep Roc Records release Bluegrass.

Glenn Dicker, co-founder of Yep Roc Records offered this glowing endorsement upon receiving the news, "We are downright ecstatic about Jim Lauderdale's Grammy nomination. It's our first nomination as a label and it's amazing to be recognized in this way. It couldn't have happened for a more talented, authentic artist and we just feel lucky to get to be along for the ride and bask in Jim's special glow. It's an honor to get to work with a true American treasure like Jim Lauderdale." The ten-year-old label focuses on roots, rock and country music and acts as home to artists such as The Apples in stereo, Paul Weller, Dave Alvin, Reverend Horton Heat, Southern Culture on the Skids and many more.

Jim Lauderdale is a true country chameleon, balancing careers as a commanding solo performer and as a "songwriter's songwriter" penning hit songs for superstars including the Dixie Chicks, George Strait, George Jones, Vince Gill and Patti Loveless. In addition to his role as a seemingly never ending font of material for Nashville's brightest stars, Lauderdale has garnered more than his fair share of critical acclaim as a solo artist. In the 1990's he released several albums spanning the whole of the American canon including explorations in pop, bluegrass, country, roots rock, folk, blues and R&B. As a result, Lauderdale deserves much of the credit for the groundswell of interest enjoyed by the Americana genre during the past two decades. The culmination of his work supplying songs to the popular face of country music and making satisfying and genre-jumping records of his own was Lauderdale's first Grammy win for his 2002 collaboration with Ralph Stanley, Lost in the Lonesome Pines.

On his latest Grammy nominated Yep Roc Records release Bluegrass, Lauderdale gets back to basics bringing his friends and his hefty picking chops along for the ride. Bluegrass is naked and lonesome as bluegrass music should be, but as always, Lauderdale leaps at the chance to bend music and phrase to his will. The transformation of the nimble fiddle/guitar line on "Don't Blame the Wrong Guy" into a counter-melody on the chorus shows his interest in going far beyond the typical bluegrass vernacular. The pain in his phrasing in "Love in the Ruins" and "Forever Ends Today," from Bluegrass, came partly through the influence of Buck Owens but mostly through his own gift for channeling life's lessons through a melody and lacing it with a sharp, unforgettable hook. Bluegrass is a metaphor for Lauderdale's entire career; switchblade-sharp, honest and starkly American.

The Grammy Awards Show will air Feb. 11, 2007 @ 8pm et/pt on CBS.