Shakey Graves,
Sturgill Simpson,
John Leventhal, The Mavericks and
Lucinda Williams Claim Top Honors at
14th Annual
Americana Honors & Awards
Americana -- "A lively genre embodies
both the continuity and evolution of roots music," (Wall Street
Journal) -- celebrated its 14th Annual Americana Honors & Awards tonight
at the historic Ryman Auditorium.
This
year's winners reflected the community's "spirit of eclecticism" (New
York Times), with Shakey Graves as
Emerging Artist of the Year; John
Leventhal, Instrumentalist of the Year; The Mavericks, Group/Duo of the Year; Lucinda Williams, Album of the Year ('Down Where The Spirit Meets
The Bone'); and Sturgill Simpson
claiming both Song of the Year (for "Turtles All The Way Down") and
Artist of the Year trophies.
Hosted
by Jim Lauderdale, the show kicked
off the 16th Annual Americana Music Festival and Conference, presented by
Nissan, and featured an all-star house band -- led by Buddy Miller -- including legendary musicians, Dominic Davis, Chad
Cromwell, Fats Kaplin, Ian Fitchuk, the McCrary Sisters and Bill Payne,
legendary founding member of Little Feat.
Performances
by Lifetime Achievement Award honorees Buffy
Sainte-Marie, Don Henley, Gillian Welch, David Rawlings, Ricky Skaggs and Los Lobos brought the sold-out crowd to
its feet, and in true Americana style, the evening was loaded with musical
moments,
including ovation-worthy performances by Ry Cooder with Sharon White; Shakey Graves with Esme Patterson and Rhiannon Giddens, John Hiatt, Houndmouth, Jason
Isbell, Nikki Lane, Jim Lauderdale, The Lone Bellow, Mavericks, Buddy Miller
with Marc Ribot, Keb Mo, Robert Randolph
with The Fairfield Four and McCrary Sisters, Doug Seegers, Lucinda
Williams and Lee Ann Womack.
This
year's presenters included Joey Ryan and Kenneth Pattengale of the Milk Carton
Kids; Rosanne Cash; Marc Ribot; Americana Chart Founding Fathers Rob Bleetstein
and John Grimson; Abigail Washburn and Noam Pikelny; Mary Gauthier and Mike
Farris; Ry Cooder; Rodney Crowell; Sara and Sean Watkins; John Kay and Ken
Paulson; and Robyn Hitchcock.
Americana Music Honors & Awards 2015 Winners:
Album of the Year: Down Where The Spirit Meets The Bone, Lucinda
Williams
(Produced
by Lucinda Williams, Tom Overby and Greg Leisz)
Artist of the Year: Sturgill Simpson
Duo Group of the Year: The Mavericks
Song of the Year: "Turtles All The Way Down" Written by
Sturgill Simpson
Emerging Artist of the Year: Shakey Graves
Instrumentalist of the Year: John Leventhal
Spirit of Americana/Free Speech in Music Award co-presented
by the Americana Music Association and the First Amendment Center: Buffy Sainte-Marie
Lifetime Achievement Award, Trailblazer: Don Henley
The Lifetime Achievement Award, Songwriting: Gillian Welch & David Rawlings
Lifetime Achievement Award, Instrumentalist: Ricky Skaggs
Lifetime Achievement Award, Performance: Los Lobos
President's Award: BB King
Americana's
14th Annual Honors & Awards, presented by Nissan, was broadcast live on
SiriusXM's Outlaw Country; terrestrial radio partner, WSM; and streamed live
through a partnership with NPR Music (Live Audio/Video) and Folk Alley (Audio
only). PBS will broadcast an edited version of the show as an Austin City
Limits special, "ACL Presents: Americana Music Festival" later this
year, and Australia's County Music Channel (CMC) will also carry the show.
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Don Henley & Lee Ann Womack backstage
4th annual Americana Music Association Honors-Ryman Auditorium (16 Sept2015) |
The
Americana Honors & Awards executive producers are Jed Hilly, Martin Fischer
(High Five Entertainment) and Terry Lickona (Austin City Limits). The show was
produced by Michelle Aquilato and Edie Lynn Hoback.
The
show kicked off the 16th Annual Americana Festival and Conference that runs
through Sunday, Sept. 20 in Nashville. The conference, "the smaller,
rootsier version of South by Southwest" according to the New York Times,
will deliver a range of panels, networking and seminars, while the
"finely-tuned festival" (Travel and Leisure) hosts a record 180
artist showcases across 15 Music City venues, including Loretta Lynne and Steve
Earle at Ascend Amphitheater on Saturday, Sept., 19. A full list of venues and
performers is available at americanamusic.org.
 |
Americana Music Association Honors-Executive Director
Jed Hilly with Amanda Shires and Jason Isbell (16Sept2015) |
Sturgill
Simpson picked up
awards for both ARTIST OF THE YEAR
and SONG OF THE YEAR ("Turtles
All The Way Down"), but he was one of the few not on hand for last night's
Americana Music Honors And Awards Show. The critically acclaimed roots
performer was more than 500 miles away, playing a sold-out show in
Charlottesville, VA.
The
Kentucky-born, NASHVILLE-based former train worker, who took home the EMERGING
ARTIST trophy last year, lost out on ALBUM OF THE YEAR, when his "Metamodern
Sounds In Country Music" was bested by Lucinda Williams' "DOWN WHERE
THE SPIRIT MEETS THE BONE," a song title taken from
"Compassion," a poem written by her late father, Miller Williams, who
passed away on New Year's Day.
"The Lord has put so many great people in my
life," Ricky
Skaggs said after accepting his Home Lifetime Achievement Award from
Ry Cooder "Getting to play with Bill
Monroe, playing with Flatt & Scruggs and with Ralph and Carter Stanley …
I’m so blessed."
"What a thrill to receive the Lifetime
Achievement Award from one of my musical heroes, Ry Cooder. I've listened to and loved his music for so
many years," noted Skaggs.
"There are so many musicians
who are very deserving of this great award.
I'm very thankful to the Americana Music Association for this great honour. I'm glad to be part of the Americana music
community. They still care about
music. So do I." During the
ceremony, Skaggs, Cooder and Sharon White performed "Just Over In The
Glory Land" live on-stage. The trio
is currently traveling the nation on the critically-acclaimed
"Cooder-White-Skaggs" tour. (Source: Press Release - Image)
John Leventhal who co-wrote, produced and performed on
wife Rosanne Cash's GRAMMY-winning record, THE RIVER AND THE THREAD, received
Instrumentalist Of The Year honors. "Musicians
always have been and always will be my heroes," Leventhal said in his
acceptance speech.
 |
Americana Music Association Honors
Rosanne Cash with husband and
Instrumentalist Recipient John Leventhal
CLICK to ENLARGE |
BB
KING's guitar Lucille was front and center as KEB' MO paid tribute to the late blues legend with a rendition of
"How Blue Can I Get." KING, who died in MAY, was posthumously
honored with the Americana Music Association President's Award on what
would have been his 90th birthday.
About Americana Music
Association:
The
Americana Music Association is a professional non-profit trade organization
whose mission is to advocate for the authentic voice of American Roots Music
around the world. The Association curates events throughout the year including
the annual Americana Music Festival and Conference, the acclaimed Americana
Honors & Awards program and most recently "Americana NYC" which
took place Aug. 4th - 11th in partnership with Lincoln Center.
The
Americana Music Festival & Conference is proudly sponsored by Nissan,
Tennessee Department of Tourism, Pandora, Lagunitas Brewing Company, BMI,
SESAC, ASCAP, Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp, AT&T,
Blackberry Farm, and Music City Networks
For
more information on the Americana Music Association and to become a member:
THE MAVERICKS NAMED GROUP OF THE YEAR AT
AMERICANA HONORS AND AWARDS
Dynamic entertainers exude vulnerability with “Pardon Me” performance;
slated for special edition of live radio show
Music City Roots tonight (9/17)
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The
Mavericks continue to deliver with their one-of-a-kind, bold, sheer, eclectic musical
fusion.
On the night of Sept 16, 2015, the dynamic entertainers took
home the Americana Music Award for
Duo/Group of the Year, presented to them by the Milk Carton
Kids. Raul Malo, whose signature tenor fronts the band, and his
musical comrades — Paul Deakin (drums, percussion and
marimba), Eddie Perez (electric and acoustic guitars)
and Jerry Dale McFadden (piano, organ, celeste) — serenaded
the audience with the gut-wrenching honesty of “Pardon Me.”
The track is featured on the critically acclaimed Mono (The
Valory Music Co.), which sat atop the Americana Airplay Charts for two weeks
earlier this year.
From the ceremony, NPR music
critic Ann Powers tweeted, “The
Mavericks’ Mono is
genuinely an album you should listen to tonight BC it is great.”
“We won something?” a stunned Malo uttered. “Every time we take the stage, we hope our music makes you feel
something — joy, romance, sorrow, urgency. But tonight was our turn to be
flooded with emotion and honored that our industry, fans and friends think we
deserve to be Group of the Year.”
He continued, “you can’t imagine what this moment means to
us. We are truly in awe …”
On
Jan 18, 2015 Valory Music Co. group The Mavericks revealed the track
listing for "MONO" (HI RES Artwork) their forthcoming studio album
which streeted on Tuesday, Feb 17, 2015. Just two days later, the GRAMMY Award
winning group hit the road on a headlining tour.
Front
man Raul Malo penned all of the eleven tracks on the album, and the group
teamed with Niko Bolas for production. With founding members Paul Deakin, Eddie
Perez, and Jerry Dale McFadden backed by studio musicians with diverse
instrumentation including accordion, upright bass, and tuba, the album is sure
to be an eclectic mix of sound and inspiration.
On the Billboard Charts (dated March 7, 2015)
MONO made a debut at No.57 on the Bilboard 200 Album chart and No.5
on Top Country Albums selling 8,000 copies.
In the UK MONO (BIG MACHINE) made a debut
on the Official UK Album chart at No.96 with
sales less than 1,000 copies and landed at No.2 on the Official UK Country Album
Chart (Week Ending February 28, 2015)
Reviews
The nearly overdub
free mono recording captures the quartet’s taut, tight pocket augmented by The
Fantastic Four backing musicians that add horns, accordion and even tuba to the
festivities. There is a vibrant exuberance to these performances that, like its
old-school audio, feels alive and fresh making the Mavericks one of the few
bands better in their second act than in their first.
Billboard.com (Rating 8/10) Deceptively simple
songs of lust and chivalry get a vigorously swinging, guitar-heavy but
horn-heated attack. They veer from big-band salsa ("All Night Long")
to frisky, danceable Latin rock ("What You Do to Me"), swaggering,
shuffling R&B ("Do You Want Me To") and more mellow pop flavors,
closer to Neil Diamond, really, than country....It's big, bold and still stands
out next to anything coming from
Country Music People 5 STARS (editor Duncan Warwick) ..The
Mavericks are still my favourite band in the world and greatest live act I’ve
seen. This album continues the legacy
At the Americana Music Association awards Malo returned to the Ryman Auditorium
stage to present Los Lobos with the
Lifetime Achievement Award for Performance, and joined the group for the
finale, “One Time One Night.” The live show
streamed across NPR with broadcasts on SiriusXM Outlaw Country and WSM
while PBS’s Austin City Limits will air the show on
November 21.
On Sept 17 the
Mavericks were set to entice fans to groove during a special edition of Music
City Roots at the Factory in Franklin, airing at 7 p.m. CT on Nashville’s
Hippie Radio 94.5FM and webcast at http://musiccityroots.com/livestream/. The lineup included Whitehorse,
Shemekia Copeland and Joel Rafael, with Jim Lauderdale hosting. “Country’s
coolest, most versatile band” (Rolling Stone Country)
will perform selections from Mono — “it’s big, bold and still
stands out next to anything coming from Nashville” (Billboard);
“they’ve caught lightning in a bottle yet again” (Vintage Guitar)
— as well as some of their earlier hits.
The Mavericks' festive vibe coupled with their
unique blend of country, rock, Latin, soul, jazz, Tex-Mex and other roots
styles results in a marvelous “mono mundo” (one world) of music that transcends
decades. The Mavericks' festive vibe coupled with their
unique blend of country, rock, Latin, soul, jazz, Tex-Mex and other roots
styles results in a marvelous “mono mundo” (one world) of music that transcends
decades.
Making the most
relevant music of their career, and according to NPR, “became
great by cutting through the din in smoky rooms where studio tricks didn't
factor in — only a killer voice, indelible hooks and the ability to draw in
even the most distracted listeners,” it appears The Mavericks are once again
defying the odds.
