The 2017 Americana Honors & Awards will be presented September 13 at the historic Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee. Hosted by Jim Lauderdale and featuring an all-star band led by Buddy Miller, the awards show is the highlight of the 18th annual AmericanaFest, a six-day festival and conference celebrating American roots-inspired music that is put on by the Americana Music Association. A live video stream of the show will be webcast via NPRMusic.org starting at 6:30 p.m. CDT, while a live simulcast will air on SiriusXM’s Outlaw Country and several Nashville area radio stations (WRLT and WMOT-FM, and WSM-AM). Performance highlights also will air on the Nov. 19 edition of Austin City Limits on PBS television stations.
With nods for Album of the Year (A Sailor’s Guide to Earth), Artist of the Year and Song of the Year (“All Around You”), Sturgill Simpson has the most nominations for this year’s American Honors and Awards. The Kentucky-bred and Nashville-based singer-songwriter was previously honored as Emerging Artist of the Year in 2014 and Artist of the Year in 2015, while his “Turtles All The Way Down” was named Song of the Year in 2015. A Sailor’s Guide to Earth, his third studio album and first major label release, received the Grammy Award for Best Country Album earlier this year, while Simpson was named International Artist of the Year in the UK American Awards. Rodney Crowell, Drive-By Truckers and Lori McKenna each were nominated in two of the six AMA member-voted awards categories.
Here’s a listing of the nominees:
Sturgill Simpson tops the list of nominees for the 2017 Americana Honors & Awards with three nominations.
Album of the Year
American Band – Drive-By Truckers
Close Ties – Rodney Crowell
Freedom Highway – Rhiannon Giddens
The Navigator – Hurray for the Riff Raff
A Sailor’s Guide to Earth – Sturgill Simpson
Artist of the Year
Jason Isbell
John Prine
Lori McKenna
Margo Price
Sturgill Simpson
Duo/Group of the Year
Billy Bragg & Joe Henry
Drive-By Truckers
Marty Stuart & His Fabulous Superlatives
The Lumineers
Emerging Artist of the Year
Aaron Lee Tasjan
Amanda Shires
Brent Cobb
Sam Outlaw
Song of the Year
“All Around You” – Sturgill Simpson
“It Ain’t Over Yet” – Rodney Crowell (with Rosanne Cash and John Paul White)
“To Be Without You” – Ryan Adams
“Wreck You” – Lori McKenna (co-written with Felix McTeigue)
Instrumentalist of the Year
Spencer Collum, Jr.
Jen Gunderman
Courtney Hartman
Charlie Sexton
In addition to these six Americana Music Association member-voted awards, Lifetime Achievement Awards will be presented to Van Morrison (Songwriter), Robert Cray (Performance), Hi Rhythm Section (Instrumentalist), Iris DeMent (Trailblazer), Graham Nash (Spirit of Americana/Free Speech in Music), and Larry Sloven and Bruce Bromberg for Hightone Records (Executive).
AmericanaFest, which extends from September 12-17, is expected to draw several thousand artists, industry professionals and fans for plenty of learning and networking opportunities during days filled with panel discussions and seminars and evenings chock-full of artist showcases at venues throughout the Music City.
Established in 1999, the Americana Music Association is a professional trade association whose mission is to advocate for the authentic voice of American Roots Music throughout the world. For more information, visit www.americanamusic.org.
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