2024 Grammys: How Taylor Swift, Lainey Wilson made history on music's biggest night. See the Nashville's top moments

LOS ANGELES - Nashville was front and center for many of the most memorable moments at Sunday night's 66th annual Grammy Awards. The evening included historic wins, tough losses and some unforgettable performances from artists with ties to Music City.

Lainey Wilson, Miley Cyrus and Allison Russell each took home their very first Grammy awards, while Best New Artist contenders Jelly Roll and The War and Treaty did not. And Taylor Swift, who began from Nashville on her path to superstardom, bested Frank Sinatra, Paul Simon and Stevie Wonder in one of the Grammy's most prestigious categories.

Here is a rundown of our best Nashville moments from Music's Biggest Night.

Luke Combs and Tracy Chapman's performance of 'Fast Car' wins the night

One of the top moments from the 66th annual Grammy Awards came at the top of the broadcast when Luke Combs sang "Fast Car," — one of his favorite childhood songs — with its original singer Tracy Chapman.

Combs was visibly honored to share the stage and Chapman radiated with genuine gratitude for the moment and appreciation from the crowd, including Taylor Swift. Jelly Roll and The War and Treaty's Michael Trotter, who were spotted standing, singing along and dancing.

Miley Cyrus and Mariah Carey

Nashville native Miley Cyrus won Best Pop Solo Performance for "Flowers." While she was flattered with the Grammy Award, she seemed equally in awe of it being presented by Mariah Carey.

"This MC is gonna stand by this MC," she said referring to both of their initials. "This is just too iconic. I just got stuck in the rain and traffic and I thought I was going to miss this moment. I could have missed the award, that's fine, but not Mariah Carey."

Cyrus took the stage shortly after to perform "Flowers" for the first time on national television. Wearing a sparkly silver very J-Lo-inspired outfit, Cyrus had the whole room dancing including Taylor Swift, Kelsea Ballerini, John Legend, Chrissy Teigen and Oprah.

Later in the night, Cyrus took home her second Grammy for Record of the Year for "Flowers."

Lainey Wilson gets Best Country Album award from presenter Kacey Musgraves

Next up for Nashville was Best Country Album presented to Lainey Wilson by Kacey Musgraves. Wilson told the crowd she comes from a farming community of 200 people in Northeast Louisiana.

She told The Tennessean after her win that it was starting to sink in.

"I don't know if I'll ever completely wrap my head around this one tonight. It feels like, blood sweat and tears have led to this moment right here. I'm so proud to be here and be in the same building with so many people I look up to. I'm on cloud nine but I feel like this is also just the beginning and that's a very exciting feeling."

Brandi Carlile fangirling over her hero, Joni Mitchell

Brandi Carlile introduced Joni Mitchell's Grammy performance by saying, "Whether we know it or not, any one of us out here who ever dreamed of becoming a truly self-revealing signer songwriter is standing on the shoulders of the one and only Joni Mitchell."

After the heartfelt and sincere introduction where she coined Joni Mitchell the "matriarch of imagination," Carlile joined Mitchell along with Allison Russell and Sista Strings for a sweet rendition of "Both Sides Now."

Carlile was clearly in awe of getting to honor and play on stage with Mitchell, who, at 80 years old, performed for the very first time on the Grammy stage and won a Grammy earlier in the day for Best Folk Album. Mitchell sang seated in a wing back chair with Carlile next to her on an acoustic guitar taking in every second of the special moment.

Taylor Swift announces new album and breaks a Grammy record

Yes, we're talking Taylor Swift. The one Nashville will always claim as its own who showed up, who sang and danced at her seat like a true music fan – and in true Taylor Swift fashion – who won awards and broke records. Numerous times she was out of her seat either giving someone a standing ovation or singing and dancing along to a live performance. She generously praised her “best friend” and producer Jack Antonoff and broke the internet by announcing a new album coming in April.

Swift was nominated for six Grammys this year and took home two of them. One for Best Pop Vocal Album and a record breaking fourth for Album of the Year for “Midnights.”

Nashville stealing the show at the Grammy Awards Premiere Ceremony

The Grammy Premiere Ceremony, which is where the majority of the Grammy Awards are handed out, heralded several special moments for some of Nashville's best including wins for Chris Stapleton, Russell, Molly Tuttle, Jason Isbell, Kirk Franklin, Paramore, Brandy Clark and Brandi Carlile and Larkin Poe.

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Tuttle said after the ceremony that winning in a category with fellow nominees such as Billy Strings, Willie Nelson and Sam Bush was "completely surreal."

"I mean we got up there and I hadn't prepared anything to say," she said. "We are up against such a stacked category of my heroes, so it was so exciting. This is the first real band record we've made, so it just feels great to get to share it with my bandmates. It was awesome."

Clark took home a Grammy for Best Americana Performance for "Dear Insecurity" which she recorded with Brandi Carlile.

"This song was really important to me and the work I did on it with Brandi Carlile is really important to me and I'm a little mind blown," she said after her win, adding that it was Carlile's idea to turn the song from one voice into a duet, although she never intended to be the voice.

"Brandi said 'let's get someone like Lucinda Williams to sing it with you'," Clark said. "She said, 'I'll sing the scratch (vocal) and I'll even try to sing like her a little bit.' I said OK and Brandy started singing it and when we came in together on that chorus, it really felt like magic to me. Then I had the task of talking Brandi into doing it, because she had been adamant that she not be the feature, but she felt that same magic. When I asked her, she was like 'sure, we can do that.'"

Rock band Paramore, hailing from Franklin, took home two Grammy Awards for “This Is Why." The group won Best Rock Album and Best Alternative Music Performance.

Jason Isbell took home two Grammys for Best American Roots Song and Best Americana Album. He joked with reporters saying, "Winning a Grammy is 100% better than not winning a Grammy."

Melonee Hurt covers music and music business at The Tennessean, part of the USA TODAY NETWORK — Tennessee. Reach Melonee at mhurt@tennessean.com, on X @HurtMelonee or Instagram at @MelHurtWrites.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Grammy Awards: Taylor Swift, Lainey Wilson make top Nashville moments