Americanafest Draws Record Attendance
This year’s Americana Music Festival and Conference (Americanafest), which took place Sept. 12-16 in Nashville, TN, was the most successful one in its 13-year history – drawing record attendance and registrations, according tot the Americana Music Association.
The five-day celebration of American Roots-inspired music, featuring plenty of learning and networking opportunities, as well as a wide array of music showcases by up-and-coming and veteran artists, drew more than15,000 fans, 300 performing artists and more than 1,100 music industry professionals, according to the association.
[To read the full article and learn who the recipients of this year's Americana Honors and Awards are, click on the headline.]
‘Performing Songwriter’ Ends 16-Year Run
Performing Songwriter is ceasing publication after 16 years. The magazine’s June 2009 issue, sent to subscribers and newsstands this week, will be its final edition, Lydia Hutchinson, its editor and publisher, has announced.
[To read the article in its entirety, click on the headline.]
Abbie Gardner is Folk Winner in John Lennon Songwriting Contest
By Michael Kornfeld
Abbie Gardner, a gifted New York area singer-songwriter and dobro player, who also is part of the rootsy female Americana trio Red Molly, is the Lennon Award winner in the folk category of the John Lennon Songwriting Contest. Her winning song, “The Mind of a Soldier,” now competes with the winners in the contest’s 11 other categories for the $20,000 Maxell Song of the Year Award, to be announced in July.
“I wanted to write a war song, but not from the perspective of either side, not something preachy or political, something more personal that people can relate to,” says Gardner of her award-winning...Stephen Bruton, ‘the Soul of Texas Music,’ 1948-2009
Stephen Bruton, an Austin, Texas-based guitarist, songwriter and actor, has died at age 60, after battling throat cancer for more than two years. Bruton died peacefully in his sleep on May 9, at the Los Angeles, California home of his childhood friend, musician and producer T Bone Burnett, who considered him “the soul of Texas music” and with whom he was working on the soundtrack for Jeff Bridges’ film “Crazy Heart.”
[To read the entire article, click on the headline.]
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