Bonnie Raitt, Billy Strings Among Winners at Americana Awards

Bonnie Raitt, Billy Strings, Tyler Childers, the duo the War and Treaty and S.S. Goodman had been among the many winners as trophies had been handed out on the twenty second annual Americana Honors & Awards present Wednesday evening at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium.

Raitt gained the award for tune of the 12 months for her (actually) heart-rending quantity “Just Like That” — identical to she did at the latest Grammys, in a really uncommon instance of overlap between the 2 reveals. String was named artist of the 12 months for a second 12 months in a row, whereas the War and Treaty prevailed for duo/group of the 12 months. Childers was honored in absentia for album of the 12 months for “Can I Take My Hounds to Heaven?” S.S. Goodman prevailed as rising artist of the 12 months. The sibling members of the family who make up SistaStrings had been collectively named instrumentalist of the 12 months.

Last 12 months’s album of the 12 months award, Allison Russell, was given a shock award chosen by the Americana Association’s board, offered to her by three figures who’re folks heroes in Tennessee now, and never within the musical sense: the “Tennessee three,” aka state legislators Gloria Johnson, Justin Jones and Justin Pearson, two of whom had been expelled by fellow members after which re-elected. Russell was being celebrated for organizing the “Love Rising” profit and different activism in Nashville.

Lifetime honorees available to be celebrated for a physique of labor included the Avett Brothers, Bettye LaVette, Nickel Creek and Patty Griffin.

Among the presenters had been Kacey Musgraves, who saluted one of the formative influences, the trio Nickel Creek; Brandi Carlile, who did the introductory honors for her beloved Avett Brothers; and comic and display screen star Sarah Silverman, who actually went via Patty Griffin’s total discography to point out her appreciation for the revered singer-songwriter.

Performance highlights through the present, which stretched to simply over three and a half hours, included bookending tributes to not too long ago departed figures. Logan Ledger opened the present with the late Jimmy Buffett’s “Come Monday,” and almost the whole solid of performers, presenters and awardees gathered on stage on the finish for a group-sing of the Band’s “Up on Cripple Creek,” composed by Robbie Robertson.

Elder statesmen nonetheless with us received their efficiency flowers, too, as Noah Kahan and hosts the Milk Carton Kids joined in concord to salute the fiftieth anniversary of Paul Simon’s “There Goes Rhymin’ Simon” album and Rufus Wainwright did the identical with a tune from Tom Waits’ five-decade-old “Closing Time.”

Other standouts among the many performances included Brandy Clark and Brandi Carlile performing a duet of “Dear Insecurity,” from the previous’s latest self-titled album, with SistaStrings offering outstanding accompaniment, and Russell main her all-female band in a very rocking model of “Eve Was Black,” from her new album “The Returner.” Both the Clark and Russell albums got here out too not too long ago to satisfy the March 31 eligibility deadline however are sturdy contenders for the 2024 awards.

At the Americana Awards, classes are few sufficient that everybody who’s nominated is invited to carry out. Nearly everybody did — together with a shock solo from Strings through the Robbie Robertson tribute on the finish, clearly unplanned since he stated he had made the choice to come back to the awards just some hours earlier than. Performances from nominees that had a bit extra planning concerned included turns from Margo Price, Adeem the Artist, Sunny War, William Prince, Angel Olsen, Hermanos Gutiérrez, 49 Winchester and the entire aforementioned winners besides Childers.

The ceremony was webcast and carried reside on SiriusXM and might be edited down for an “Austin City Limits” episode to air on PBS in November.

More to come back…