News – U.S. National
Finalists Announced in 2017 Grassy Hill Kerrville New Folk Competition

Finalists Announced in 2017 Grassy Hill Kerrville New Folk Competition

Thirty-two songwriters have been named as finalists in the 2017 Grassy Hill Kerrville New Folk Competition for Emerging Songwriters. Chosen from among more than 600 submissions from around the world, the finalists will perform the two songs they submitted at the New Folk Concerts slated for Saturday and Sunday afternoons, May 27 and 28, as part of the Kerrville Folk Festival. [To continue reading this article and see the list of Kerrville New Folk finalists, click on the headline.]

Folk Alliance International Honors David Amram with Lifetime Achievement Award

Noted composer, conductor, multi-instrumentalist and author David Amram received an Elaine Weissman Lifetime Achievement Award during a star-studded International Folk Music Awards Show, Feb. 15, on the opening night of the 29th Folk Alliance International Conference in Kansas City, Missouri. The late activist songwriter Malvina Reynolds (legacy) and prolific Canadian folklorist Helen Creighton (Business/Academic) were also named as recipients. [To continue reading this article, which includes more information on the awards and on the conference, click on the headline.]

Winners Named in 59th Grammy Awards’ American Roots Music Field

Winners in the 59th Grammy Awards’ American Roots Music Field were recognized during a Premiere Ceremony that streamed online prior to The Recording Academy’s televised awards show on Sunday, February 12, from the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. [To continue reading this article, click on the headline.]

Folk Alliance International Hosts Conference, Camp and Festival, Feb. 15-19, in Kansas City

“Forbidden Folk,” a celebration of activism in art, is the theme of the 29th Folk Alliance International Conference that takes place, Feb. 15-19, in Kansas City, Missouri. Billy Bragg, a Grammy Award-winning British singer-songwriter and activist, keynotes the event and also headlines the second annual Kansas City Folk Festival that caps it. [To continue reading this article, click on the headline.]

Maggie Roche of The Roches, 1951-2017

Maggie Roche, the eldest of three sisters in the folk-pop vocal trio The Roches, died Jan. 21 at age of 65, following a long struggle with cancer. [To continue reading this article, click on the headline.]

Greg Trooper, Singer-Songwriter, 1956-2017

Singer-songwriter Greg Trooper died Jan. 15, two days after his 61st birthday and less than two years after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Trooper, who released 13 albums over the span of 30 years, also had his songs recorded by many artists. Among them were Billy Bragg, Steve Earle (who recorded “Little Sister”), Vince Gill, Lucy Kaplansky, Robert Earl Keen, Maura O’Connell and Tom Russell. [To continue reading this article, click on the headline.]

Nominees Named for 2017 Grammy Awards

Nominees in 84 categories have been named for the 59th Annual Grammy Awards to be presented by The Recording Academy on Sunday, February 12, 2017. Of particular interest to readers of AcousticMusicScene.com are 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. Lori McKenna leads the nominees in the American Roots Music Field with three nominations. [To continue reading this article and see the list of nominees in the American Roots Music Field, click on the headline.]
ACL Presents: Americana Music Festival 2016 Airs on PBS Television Stations

ACL Presents: Americana Music Festival 2016 Airs on PBS Television Stations

Performance highlights from this year’s Americana Honors & Awards show in Nashville will be broadcast on Austin City Limits. ACL Presents: Americana Music Festival 2016 premieres Nov. 19 on PBS stations across the U.S. Check your local TV listings for dates and times. [To continue reading this article, click on the headline.]

Remembering Roz Larman, Host of “FolkScene”

Roz Larman, longtime host of the internationally syndicated radio program FolkScene, died unexpectedly on Oct. 10 following a recent heart attack and stroke. Originating from Los Angeles, California’s KPFK 90.7 FM, a Pacifica radio station, FolkScene was launched by Roz and her late husband Howard in 1970. Between them, they shared recorded music and live in-studio performances and artist interviews with listeners every Sunday evening for more than 45 years. Singer-Songwriters Dan Navarro and James Lee Stanley, who knew Roz well, shared their reflections with AcousticMusicScene.com. [To continue reading this article, click on the headline.]
2016 Americana Honors and Awards Presented

2016 Americana Honors and Awards Presented

Jason Isbell won Album of the Year and Song of the Year honors, while Chris Stapleton was named Artist of the Year during the Americana Music Association’s 15th Annual Americana Honors & Awards show, Sept. 21, at Nashville’s storied Ryman Auditorium. [To continue reading this article, click on the headline.]

Rhiannon Giddens Earns 2016 Steve Martin Prize

Rhiannon Giddens has been named the recipient of the 2016 Steve Martin Prize for Excellence in Banjo and Bluegrass. A North Carolina-based musician and co-founder of the Grammy Award-winning string band Carolina Chocolate Drops, Giddens, 39, is the first woman and the first African-American to win the prize in its seven-year history. [To continue reading this article, click on the headline.]
National Folk Festival Returns to Greensboro, NC, Sept. 9-11

National Folk Festival Returns to Greensboro, NC, Sept. 9-11

Diversity is the hallmark of the 76th National Folk Festival taking place Sept. 9-11, 2016 in downtown Greensboro, North Carolina. The free event, programmed and co-produced by the National Council for Traditional Arts (NCTA), the U.S.’s oldest nonprofit folk arts organization, in partnership with Arts Greensboro, celebrates togetherness and the diversity of America’s arts and heritage – with artists young and old honoring America’s musical soul and cultural roots. [To continue reading this article, click on the headline.]