The Americana Awards and Honors Show: Heroes of the Past and a Diverse Future
The Americana Awards and Honors Show, held at the Ryman Auditorium as part of the Americanafest 2019 event and hosted by the Milk Carton Kids, demonstrated the future direction of the genre: diversity. Americana music is amazingly diverse in its scope, and the performers in the early part of the show demonstrated that they are diverse as well. The show opened with the McCrary Sisters, a gospel music quartet, and then Our Native Daughters performed “Black Myself” from their Smithsonian release. Rhiannon Giddens founded the group to relate the history of slavery and stories of struggle and hope. The group was nominated for Group of the Year honors and Giddens for Artist of the Year.
The diversity was not just about race; three of the four nominees for Emerging Act of the Year were from outside the U.S.: Jade Bird and Yola from the U.K. and J.S. Ondara, a Kenyan who moved to the U.S. in 2013. Yola’s amazing vocals, reminiscent of Aretha Franklin‘s, shook the stained glass windows in the Mother Church.
The winners of the Emerging Artist of the Year award were The War and Treaty. The dynamic R&B-based duo of Michael Trotter and Tanya Blount performed an a cappella version of “Love Like There’s No Tomorrow” that warranted their standing ovation.
The big winner of the night was Americana icon John Prine. His album The Tree of Forgiveness took home Album of the Year, and his song “Summer’s End,” which dealt in part with the opioid crisis, took Song of the Year. To nobody’s surprise, the album was produced by Dave Cobb, who produced three of four albums nominated in the category.
Prine and Bonnie Raitt, who did a heartfelt duet on “Angel From Montgomery” that brought the crowd to their feet, provided one of the emotional high points of the night.
The beloved Brandi Carlile took home the Artist of the Year award. Her groundbreaking album By the Way I Forgive You missed Album of the Year last year, and many felt this was in recognition of that wonderful work. Playing with a string quartet, Brandi performed “The Mother,” one of the gems from that album.
The supergroup trio I’m With Her, composed of Sara Watkins, Sarah Jarocz and Aoife O’Donovan, were honored as Group of the Year. Chris Eldredge, masterful guitar player in the Punch Brothers, who also serves in the house band with Chris Thile on the Live From Here broadcasts, took home Instrumentalist of the Year.
While the future of diversity among young artists was on display, the Lifetime Awards also demonstrated diversity. The President’s Award was presented posthumously to Felice and Boudleaux Bryant, who published over 1500 songs over their career. The Lifetime Achievement Award for Songwriting was given to proto-punk/New Wave/Americana convert Elvis Costello; T-Bone Burnett, when presenting the award, feigned concern because Costello had been “allowed to roam freely about this country for the past forty years.”
The Lifetime Achievement Award for Performance went to the roadhouse warrior and blues legend Delbert McClinton. Now in his late ‘70s, he’s still performing, a remarkable feat considering he played the harmonica on Bruce Channel’s massive 1961 hit “Hey Baby;” a year later he taught John Lennon to play harmonica for the Beatles song “Love Love Me Do.”
The Trailblazer Award went to Maria Muldaur, who after her huge success with 1973’s “Midnight at the Oasis” has continued to make albums all her life. A new award, the Legacy of Americana Award, was presented to Rhiannon Giddens and posthumously to historic fiddler Frank Johnson, who learned to play fiddle as a slave and was largely forgotten until Giddens publicized his contributions. Finally, the Inspiration Award was presented in partnership with the First Amendment Center to Mavis Staples, who also had an album in the running for Album of the Year. Freedom Rider Rip Patton, who acknowledged the nearly seven-decades contributions made by Staples as a model of justice and hope, made the presentation.
There were other highlights. An ensemble cast that included Shawn Colvin, Josh Ritter and Lori McKenna performed Mark Erelli’s nominated song “By Degrees.” The song addresses the toll that living with gun violence takes on all of us; he partnered with Gabby Giffords’ Courage to Fight Gun Violence, and all proceeds from sales go directly to that cause. The song received a standing ovation. Amanda Shires provided a step outside the ordinary with her arrangement of “Parking Lot Pirouette.” Mumford and Sons, last-minute additions, did an acoustic version of their hit “Do It for Yourself” featuring the Milk Carton Kids and six-part harmony.
The finale got everyone on stage for a rousing version of “I’ll Fly Away” featuring Staples, The War and Treaty, and Brandi Carlile.
It was clearly a night of change for the Americana family: new sounds, new diversity, and new directions for the future.
