Winners of the Third Annual Folk Alliance Awards were recognized during an awards ceremony on the opening night of the 20th Annual International Folk Alliance Conference that drew nearly 2,000 people to Memphis, Tennessee, February 20-24.

And the winners are…

Album of the Year:

(based on Folk-DJ Chart airplay)

Uncle Earl – Waterloo, Tennessee (Rounder) 

Song of the Year:

(based on Folk-DJ chart airplay)

Tom Russell – “Who’s Gonna Build Your Wall?” (Hightone Records) 

Traditional Artist of the Year:          

Levon Helm

Contemporary Artist of the Year:

Susan Werner

Emerging Artist of the Year:

Carolina Chocolate Drops

World Music Artist of the Year:

Loreena McKennitt

Legacy Recording:

Woody Guthrie, The Live Wire-Woody Guthrie in Performance 1949 (Woody Guthrie Archives)

Broadcaster of the Year:

Rich Warren, host of The Midnight Special, WFMT, Chicago, IL and syndicated nationally    

(A separate article appears in the Acoustic Radio Waves section of AcousticMusicScene.com.)

Folk Booking Agency:

The Roots Agency

Small Folk Venue (under 250 capacity):

Café Lena – Saratoga Springs, NY and Freight & Salvage – Berkeley, CA 

Large Folk Venue (over 250 capacity):

The Ark – Ann Arbor, MI 

Folk Festival: 

Falcon Ridge Folk Festival, which, like Folk Alliance, is now in its 20th year.

The award recipients were recognized for merit and achievement during a February 20 awards show at the Cook Convention Center, across the street from the Marriott where much of the four-day conference took place.  Although only a  few of the award winners were present to accept their awards in person, Texas troubadour and gifted songwriter Tom Russell performed his “song of the year,” while Anthony da Costa, Eilen Jewell and Twilight Hotel showed why the balloting for Emerging Artist of the Year was so difficult.   

The Elaine Weissman Lifetime Achievement Awards, named for the Folk Alliance’s late co-founder, were presented in absentia to R & B singer and soul & gospel legend Mavis Staples (Living Artist) and the late old-time fiddler Tommy Jarrell (Legacy Artist).  Video clips of both of them speaking and performing were screened.   

Ken Irwin, founder of Rounder Records, accepted the Elaine Weissman Lifetime Achievement Award for Business/Industry on behalf of the label.  “It’s really wonderful to be honored by Folk Alliance… It makes us both pleased and proud,” Irwin told those gathered at the convention center and others listening the world-over on XM Satellite Radio.  Noting that Rounder, now in its 38th year, has produced close to 4,000 albums, Irwin said: “We started Rounder because we saw a need to record music that wasn’t being recorded.”  Many of us are certainly very glad that they did.