The Muscle Shoals and New Orleans-Based Independent Record Label is Recognized with Three Total Nominations in The Best Traditional Blues Album, Best Regional Roots Album, and Best American Roots Performance Categories
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Single Lock Records, the artist-run and independent Southern American music label, congratulates Cedric Burnside, Cha Wa and The Blind Boys of Alabama on their 2022 GRAMMY Award nominations for releases on Single Lock this year. The nominations come for Mississippi Hill Country Blues master Cedric Burnside's I Be Trying in the Best Traditional Blues Album category, New Orleans' modern-day Mardi Gras Indian collective Cha Wa and their album My People for Best Regional Roots Album and the legendary Blind Boys of Alabama for their collaboration with Bela Fleck, “I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to be Free," in Best American Roots Performance.
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This group of nominations marks Single Lock's most ever at one GRAMMY Awards, and caps off a banner year for the Muscle Shoals, Alabama label - including the announcement of a worldwide partnership with Secretly Distribution and their first-ever expansion with the opening of a New Orleans office. Spotlighted in Billboard's "Label Look" column earlier this year, the publication praised the label's "for-musicians, by-musicians ethos, with simplified, often one-off profit-split contracts and an easygoing vibe that has seen the label not only survive, but grow and expand." Maintaining their focus on community above all, Single Lock has also successfully launched the Advocacy Fund for Alabama Musicians, a program providing no-strings-attached COVID-19 relief grants for in-state musicians and one they'll continue to grow in the year to come. Single Lock will also release new music from Jackson, Tennessee's The Kernal and Birmingham, Alabama's Duquette Johnston in early 2022, with more announcements to follow.
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"I am so proud of Cedric Burnside, Cha Wa, the Blind Boys of Alabama and Bela Fleck. They represent the best of Southern music, and I’m grateful that GRAMMY voters agree," says Reed Watson, Co-Owner and General Manager of Single Lock Records. "Single Lock is built on lifting the careers of artists like these— unique artists that transcend genre and help listeners around the world gain a new perspective on the South. I’m grateful that they would trust us with their art. On that note, I’m also proud of this company. Three nominations is a big deal for us and I want to recognize the hard work of Addy Kimbrell and Ben Tanner this year as we’ve bounced back from the pandemic and demonstrated the healing power of music. I also want to acknowledge the incredible and driven teams that surround these artists and assist us in this mission. Now let’s win these things!!"
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About Single Lock Records
From a humble start in 2013 as a community music project to its current status as a globally respected independent record label, Single Lock Records has held firm to the original goal: gathering and releasing interesting, challenging Southern American music-- regardless of genre. Based in the Florence/Muscle Shoals area of North Alabama, Single Lock draws on the musical heritage of the Shoals and pushes it into the 21st century, combining the efforts of creative legacies and young trailblazers to redefine the music of our region. Dreamt up by musicians, founded by musicians and run by musicians, the label pushes for fairness in their business dealings and transparency with their artists. Started as, simply, a co-op, the label found it’s audience and had to grow up fast. Single Lock’s first major success was St. Paul & the Broken Bones’ debut LP, Half the City. Later successes include Donnie Fritts’ Oh My Goodness, Dylan LeBlanc’s Cautionary Tale, Erin Rae’s Americana-nominated Putting On Airs, and Cedric Burnside’s GRAMMY-nominated Benton County Relic.
