Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats’ Tearing at the Seams was the most-played Americana album during 2018, while its lead single, “You Worry Me,” topped the year-end singles chart. That’s the word from the Americana Music Association, whose Top 100 Albums and Singles of the Year are based on reports to the Americana Radio Airplay Charts between January 9 and December 10, 2018. [To see the year-end radio airplay charts, click on the headline.]
Nominees in 84 categories have been named for the 61st Annual Grammy Awards to be presented by the Recording Academy on Sunday, February 10, 2 019. With three nominations each, Brandi Carlile and John Prine lead the nominees for awards in the American Roots Music Field that will likely be presented prior to the live broadcast airing on CBS television stations that evening from the Staples Center in Los Angeles. [To continue reading this article and view a list of all the nominees in the American Roots Music Field, as well as a couple of videos, click on the headline.]
Winners in the 2018 Canadian Folk Music Awards were recognized during a bilingual, two-night celebratory and music-filled event co-hosted by Benoit Bourque and James Keelaghan, Nov. 30-Dec. 1, at The Gateway in Calgary, Alberta. [To continue reading this article and to view the complete list of award winners, as well as a couple of videos, click on the headline.]
Appleseed’s 21st Anniversary: Roots and Branches by Various Artists was the top album on folk radio for a second consecutive month, while Tellico’s “Courage for the Morning” was the #1 song during November 2018. So say charts compiled from radio playlists submitted to FOLKDJ-L, an electronic discussion group for DJs and others interested in all folk-based music on the radio. [The monthly top albums and songs charts are posted on AcousticMusicScene.com, with permission. To view them, click on the headline.]
Entries are now being accepted for the 2019 Grassy Hill Kerrville New Folk Competition for Emerging Songwriters, to be held on Saturday and Sunday, May 25 and 26, 2019, during the first weekend of the 48th Annual Kerrville Folk Festival in the Texas Hill Country near Austin and San Antonio. The first 800 entries postmarked or submitted online by February 28 will be judged, and 32 finalists will be named in April. [To continue reading this article, click on the headline.]
Some of Bob Sherman’s favorite folk artists -- including David Amram, Tom Chapin and Tom Paxton – will help celebrate the 50th anniversary of the longtime New York City broadcaster’s popular, award-winning radio show “Woody’s Children,” during a December 7 concert at the Peter Jay Sharp Theatre at Symphony Space. The event, hosted by Sherman, will be filmed for future airing on PBS television stations. [To continue reading this article, click on the headline.]
Eight songwriters have been named as finalists in the 2018 NewSong Music Performance and Songwriting Competition and will showcase their talents on Saturday evening, December 15, at Isis Music Hall in Asheville, North Carolina. [To continue reading this article, click on the headline.]
Appleseed’s 21st Anniversary: Roots and Branches by Various Artists was the top album on folk radio during October 2018, while singer-songwriter John Flynn had the month’s #1 song (“She Persisted”). So say charts compiled from radio playlists submitted to FOLKDJ-L, an electronic discussion group for DJs and others interested in all folk-based music on the radio. [The monthly top albums and songs charts are posted on AcousticMusicScene.com, with permission. To view them, click on the headline.]
More than 700 performing artists, presenters, promoters, agents and managers, folk DJs, and others actively engaged in contemporary and traditional folk music are expected to converge on the Crowne Plaza in Stamford, Connecticut, Nov. 8-11, 2018 for the 24th Annual Northeast Regional Folk Alliance (NERFA) Conference. AcousticMusicScene.com will again have a major presence as it hosts afternoon and late-night song swaps in addition to its popular Midnight Hoot at the close of the conference’s first day. [To continue reading this illustrated article -- including listings of juried showcase artists and the AcousticMusicScene.com showcase lineup -- click on the headline.]
Entertainer of the Year, the top honor in the 29th Annual International Bluegrass Music Awards – presented Sept. 27 at Raleigh, North Carolina’s Duke Energy Center for the Arts – went to the Tar Heel State’s own Balsam Range. The five-member acoustic ensemble previously won this award in 2014. Balsam Range’s Buddy Melton was voted 2018 IBMA Male Vocalist of the Year, while Tim Surrett was named Bass Player of the Year. [To continue reading this article – including a listing of all the 2018 award-winners – click on the headline.]
Franco-American folk-rock duo The Whispering Tree had the top album (Invisible Forces) and five of the month’s most-played songs on folk radio during September 2018, while eclectic Celtic folk and roots-rock duo House of Hamill had the month’s #1 song. So say charts compiled from radio playlists submitted to FOLKDJ-L, an electronic discussion group for DJs and others interested in all folk-based music on the radio. [The monthly top albums and songs charts are posted on AcousticMusicScene.com, with permission. To view them, click on the headline.]
The LYNNeS and Buffy Sainte-Marie top the list of nominees for the 2018 Canadian Folk Music Awards with five nods each. The duo of Lynn Miles & Lynne Hanson and the much-celebrated folksinger-songwriter are among the many artists and groups from throughout Canada vying for awards in 19 categories to be presented at The Gateway in Calgary, Alberta, Nov. 30 – Dec. 1. [To continue reading this article and see the complete list of nominees, click on the headline.]
