Tool and Calexico earned 2020 Grammy nominations alongside other acts with Arizona ties

Three great artists with strong ties to Arizona have been nominated for multiple Grammys in 2020. The Grammys will be presented on Jan. 26 and CBS will broadcast the ceremony live. 

Country legend Tanya Tucker, whose early years were spent primarily in Willcox, where the only radio station in town, KHIL, played country music, earned four nominations.

“Bring My Flowers Now,” a song she co-wrote and recorded, is up for one of Grammy's biggest honors, Song of the Year, as well as Best Country Solo Performance and Best Country Song. 

"While I’m Livin’" earned Tucker a nomination for Best Country Album.

In addition to those early years in Willcox, Tucker earned one of her earliest breaks when she landed a gig at the Arizona State Fair. This is before she'd been signed to Columbia Records and launched her career with the Grammy-nominated "Delta Dawn." 

Tool nominated twice at 2020 Grammys

Tool, led by Maynard James Keenan, who lives in Jerome, are up for two honors – Best Metal Performance for "7empest" and Best Rock Song for the title track to their new album, "Fear Inoculum."

Keenan moved to Jerome in 1995 at the suggestion of Primus' Tim Alexander.

At the time, his first album with Tool had been certified platinum largely based on an attention-grabbing summer with Lollapalooza, then a touring music festival, and he was losing patience with the lifestyle in Los Angeles.

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"A friend of mine was living in Jerome," Keenan told The Republic. "So, he suggested that I check it out. And I immediately fell in love with it. That's all it really took, because it didn't look anything like where I grew up in Michigan. But as far as the lack of traffic, the number of people and the lower-key lifestyle, it felt like where I wanted to be."

Tucson band Calexico also up for 2 awards

Calexico are up for two awards for their collaboration with Iron & Wine – a Best Americana Album nod for "Years To Burn" and a Best American Roots Performance nod for “Father Mountain.” 

Joey Burns and John Convertino moved to Tucson in 1994 with Giant Sand. The two formed Spoke, a project that evolved into Calexico, a year later.

Their first collaboration with Sam Beam of Iron & Wine, "In the Reins," was record, like much of their music, at Wavelab Studio in Tucson.

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Joey DeFrancesco earns Best Jazz nod 

Jazz Times once hailed DeFrancesco as "the best B3 player on the planet." And you'll find no argument against that claim on "In the Key of the Universe," which earned a Best Jazz Instrumental Album nomination. 

Born in Springfield, Pennsylvania, DeFrancesco attended the Philadelphia High School for the Creative and Performing Arts and launched his career in Philadelphia, moving to north Scottsdale long after having established himself as an in-demand jazz organist.

Sugaray Rayford earns blues nod

Sugaray Rayford, a Rhythm Room regular who lives in Maricopa, earned a Best Contemporary Blues Album nomination for "Somebody Save Me."

Born in Texas, Rayford grew up singing gospel in church and turned to the blues in his teens after moving to San Diego. When he moved to Maricopa in 2013, the Rhythm Room's Bob Corritore told Phoenix Magazine, "We're so blessed. The blues gods have smiled upon us.” 

Reach the reporter at ed.masley@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-4495. Follow him on Twitter @EdMasley.

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