Friday, September 19, 2008

2008 09 18 Americana Music Awards

We didn't go to Nashville for an awards show but thought since we we're here - we would check it out.

A 3 three hour awards program with lots of music talent was far better than we imagined. The program was hosted by two-time Americana Honors & Awards and Grammy recipient Jim Lauderdale. Award winner Buddy Miller also returned as the band leader. Special guests during the evening were Ryan Bingham, Joe Ely, The Sam Bush Band, Kane, Welch and Kaplan, The SteelDrivers, Tift Merritt, Chris Thile and Edgar Meyer, Justin Townes Earle, James McMurtry, Miller and Robert Plant, and Steve Earle and Alison Moorer.

The Awards were broadcast live on XM Satellite Radio and amazon.com. BBC 2 Radio will also broadcast the show at a later date. This was the 7th Annual Honors & Awards show and is part of the four day and night annual Americana Festival and Conference.
Winners were: Album of the Year: Alison Krauss & Robert Plant — “Raising Sand” ; Artist of the Year: Levon Helm;Duo/Group of the Year: Alison Krauss & Robert Plant; Instrumentalist of the Year: Buddy Miller; New Emerging Artist of the Year: Mike Farris; Song of the Year: “She Left Me for Jesus” by Hayes Carll and Brian Keane; Additional Lifetime Achievement Honors were given to: Spirit of Americana Free Speech in Music - Joan Baez; and Lifetime Achievement — Songwriting - to one of our favorites - John Hiatt. Jack Emerson Lifetime Achievement — Executive - Terry Lickona; Lifetime Achievement — Performance - Jason & The Scorchers
Presidents Award - Jerry Garcia; Lifetime Achievement — Instrumentalist - Larry Campbell
Trailblazer — Nanci Griffith; Lifetime Achievement — Producer / Engineer - Tony Brown.

Clearly we didn't recognize a lot of these people but all were highly admired by their fellow artists.

This was a fun evening, with lots of great music - and it's always a treat to get turned onto new music.

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