Jimmie Allen hasn’t been welcomed into the Grammy family — at least not yet.
But he was dressed to impressed on the red carpet, decked out in a gold suit, topped off with a black hat.
The platinum-selling country star from Delaware was up for his first-ever Grammy nod and lost Best New Artist to “Drivers License” singer Oliva Rodrigo at the 64th Annual Grammy Awards on Sunday night.
Allen was the only country artist nominated in that category.
Twitter attempted to cheer up the scrapple-loving singer. It appears he gained new fans from the ceremony, which was broadcasted on CBS.
“I was pulling for Jimmie Allen, but I’m happy for that singing child!, Olivia!” tweeted former “American Idol” finalist Melinda Doolittle.
“Someone give Jimmie Allen his own Grammy please I love this man,” a fan tweeted.
“Jimmie Allen didn’t win Best New Artist, but he put a lot of work in to establish himself as a country artist,” a supporter tweeted.
“Poor Jimmie Allen. These Latin categories are kicking his ass,” another person wrote.
“another black country singer?? i gotta start listening to jimmie allen,” a newcomer tweeted.
“Wait who is this Jimmie Allen man? Nom for best new artist and he does country but he a fine black man,” tweeted a new Jimmie Allen supporter.
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Duron Harmon, a fellow Delaware celebrity and safety for the Las Vegas Raiders, said it was a huge deal that Allen was nominated for a Grammy in the first place, because the First State isn’t known to produce a lot of celebrities each year.
“[Allen] moved himself all the way down to Nashville, Tennessee,” Harmon, a native of Magnolia, told Delaware Online/The News Journal. “He had a dream. He had a passion. He followed it and that’s the reason he’s nominated for that Grammy. It’s showing kids that you can have dreams. You can attain them. But you have to work hard and stay the course.”
Delaware friends gave him flowers
Some of Jimmie Allen’s old pals from Delaware State University toasted him for making it all the way to the Grammys.
It’s an “honor just to know somebody that, first of all, I rubbed shoulders with who went to Del State; and he’s a Black man; and he’s changing the norm for country. I’m thrilled,” said Andre Brown, of Dover, who befriended Allen at DSU nearly 20 years ago.
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Newark rapper Kyle “Kae Hock” Hockaday recorded songs and shared the stage with Jimmie when they both attended Del State. Hock said he wasn’t shocked that his buddy received a Grammy nod. But he’s still super proud of him.
“I’m more or less amazed at seeing the manifestation of hard work, and how manifesting what you want for your life and career happened through somebody I consider a friend,” Hock said.
“When he brought the Country Music Award home [in 2021], I told him, ‘You’re gonna be at the Grammys next, bro.’ That’s what I texted him,” the rapper explained.
Rehoboth Beach concert booker Vikki Walls didn’t go to college with Allen, but she’s known the singer before the world discovered him.
They became friends after Walls took a chance on the then-little-known singer and booked a gig for him at her PopFest event in Dewey Beach in 2014, back before he made the switch to singing country.
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She said all of the accolades Jimmie has gotten over the last few years has been well-earned.
“Nobody deserves it more than him. Nobody works harder than him literally, out of anyone that I know,” said Walls, talent buyer/promoter for Highway One, which owns clubs the Bottle & Cork and Rusty Rudder in Dewey Beach.
Bumpy road to stardom
Jimmie Allen’s long road to the Grammys wasn’t a straight shot or always a comfy ride. He spent years on the struggle bus.
After graduating from Cape Henlopen High School in 2004, Allen enrolled at Delaware State University. At that time he mainly sang R&B.
His college friends from Del State, Hock and Brown, said they didn’t even know he was into country music until years later.
After two years at DSU, Allen transferred to the University of Delaware. Around 2008, after spending a short time at UD, the singer dropped out and moved to Nashville.
“When I got to Nashville, I lived in a trailer with no electric for a little bit. I lived in my car, too. When I moved there, I only had $21 to my name and no job,” Allen told Delaware Online/The News Journal in a 2018 interview.
The singer said he landed a job at a gym and used the place for showers and to wash clothes. “Then when I got off, I would go into town and try to meet people, play different songwriter series and try to get connected.”
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In a timespan of less than 10 years, a lot happened. Allen auditioned for “American Idol” but didn’t make the cut. He also formed the alt-pop duo Colours of London.
In 2014, Walls brought the struggling Nashville singer to PopFest in Dewey Beach when he was still experimenting with pop. Those festivals averaged about 45 acts across multiple stages over the weekend.
Jimmie’s performance was so good, Walls recalled, that he forced her to do something that she hardly ever did at her own festival.
“I would go jump from stage to stage. But he’s one that I sat at the bar stool for and just recorded him because he floored me with his vocals and his image and his presence.”
Hock said he met up with Allen in 2014 or ’15 at SXSW in Austin, Texas, where they both had performances. The singer was still doing pop tunes.
A few years later, Hock said, Allen gave him a call to let him know he was interested in switching to country and was close to signing a record deal.
In 2016, the singer landed a publishing deal with Wide Open Music.
Grammy nod for sacrifice
In 2018, Allen blew up. He signed a record deal with Broken Bow Records and dropped his debut album “Mercury Lane,” named after the Milton street he grew up on.
The album features his two platinum hits: “Best Shot” and “Make Me Want To.”
In 2019, he received his first ACM nomination for New Male Artist of the Year and a CMA Awards nomination for New Artist of the Year in 2020.
In 2020, Allen dropped his second platinum hit “Make Me Want To.” In 2021, the singer dropped the 16-song “Bettie James Gold Edition.”
Last summer he got married in Delaware and launched his new Bettie James Festival in Milton. The name Bettie James is a tribute to Allen’s late father, James Allen, and late grandmother, Bettie Snead.
In the fall he competed on season 30 of “Dancing with the Stars.”
Ten minutes before Allen was set to go on TV last year, he got on the phone to chat with his old promoter friend, Walls.
“I called him just to chat about something. And he picked up the phone and he was like, ‘Well, I gotta go in a minute. I’m gonna get ready for the finale of ‘Dancing with the Stars.’ I’m like, ‘Why did you pick up the phone?!’” Walls recalled with a laugh.
“He’s always like, ‘Just remember, you’re family.’ He always says that,” she said.
In November, Allen won the ACM Award for New Male Artist of the Year – the first Black artist to win that category since the awards were founded.
Over the holiday season, he performed in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and had tour dates with rapper Nelly. He also sang as part of the “Disney Parks Magical Christmas Day Parade,” which aired on Christmas.
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In February, Allen was nominated for Outstanding New Artist by the 53rd NAACP Image Awards. That month it also was announced that he’ll be a mentor on season 20 of “American Idol.”
In March, Allen co-costed the ACM Awards with Dolly Parton and Gabby Barrett and was nominated for ACM Male Artist of the Year.
During the ceremony, he performed his new song “Down Home,” in tribute to his father who died in 2019.
Allen will return to Delaware to host the second Bettie James Fest at Hudson Fields on Aug. 13.
Despite losing his first Grammy nod, Allen’s college friend Hock said there’s no ceiling on what the singer can accomplish.
“You story is never written until the last chapter.”
Andre Lamar is the features/lifestyle reporter. If you have an interesting story idea, email Andre Lamar at alamar@gannett.com
