The nominations are in for the 2009 Grammys, and lots of your favorite Christian music artists are nominated.
Well, in the Gospel category, anyway.
That’s the weird thing about the Grammys. All Christian artists fall into the Gospel categories.
For a lot of artists, that makes perfect sense. Traditional Gospel or Southern, Country or Bluegrass are actually genres of music, with specific sounds. Like Polka or Hawaiian or Zydeco or Cajun. (Yes, those are actual Grammy categories.)
But Pop/Contemporary Gospel? Rock or Rap Gospel? That’s always seemed a little weird to me, because those artists are lumped together not based on their style of music, but the content of their songs. Kind of like having a category for Best Breakup Album or Best Suicide/Life Sucks Themed Album. So you end up with rock and rap artists vying in the same category for Best Album. It’s like asking which is better, apples or carrots.
Personally, I think it’d be a bigger coup to win a Grammy if a Christian rock band went head to head with a mainstream rock band and won. Then again, if you’re like some Christian music fans, you probably think they wouldn’t stand a chance.
But I digress. To be nominated for a Grammy is certainly a huge, huge, HUGE honor. Once you win, you’re a Grammy winner for life. So let’s take a look at some of the artists who got this year’s Grammy nods:

• Mary Mary received three nominations, for Best Gospel Performance and Best Gospel Song (“Get Up”) and Best Contemporary R&B Gospel Album (The Sound).
• Brandon Heath received two nods, for Best Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album (What If We) and Best Gospel Song (“Give Me Your Eyes”).
• Kirk Franklin was nominated for Best Gospel Song (“Help Me Believe”) and Best Contemporary R&B Gospel Album (The Fight of My Life).
• CeCe Winans was nominated for Best Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album (Thy Kingdom Come) and Best Gospel Performance (“Waging War”).
• MercyMe was nominated for Best Gospel Song (“You Reign”) and frontman Bart Millard recieved a nomination for Best Southern, Country, Or Bluegrass Gospel Album (Hymned Again).

The nominees in the Best Rock Or Rap Gospel Album:

• Hello, After Edmund
• Our World Redeemed, Flame
• We Need Each Other, Sanctus Real
• Rock What You Got, Superchick
• Alive And Transported, tobyMac

And breaking free from the Gospel category, Hawk Nelson was nominated for Best Recording Package (Hawk Nelson Is My Friend). (Just out of curiosity, what do the Grammys use as a criteria for that category? All the words are spelled right on the liner notes? The cellophane is easy to open?)
The Soweto Gospel Choir’s Live At The Nelson Mandela Theater is also nominated for Best Contemporary World Music Album.
Mainstream artists with ties to Christian music also got Grammy nods. Not surprising, Jonas Brothers were nominated for Best New Artist. Jordin Sparks’ duet with Chris Brown (“No Air”) got the nod for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals. Randy Travis’ Around The Bend was nominated for Best Country Album.

Who takes home the award? You’ll have to wait until February, when the 51st Annual Grammy Awards happen at the STAPLES Center in Los Angeles.
You can see the complete list of Gospel nominees at the Grammys website. Gospel categories are 51-57.
Visit Beliefnet’s Christian music blog, Gospel Soundcheck, daily for the latest news on your favorite Christian music artists as well as mainstream artists with ties to Christian music.