Bonnie Raitt, Billy Strings, Tyler Childers, the duo the War and Treaty and S.S. Goodman were among the winners as trophies were handed out at the 22nd annual Americana Honors & Awards show Wednesday night at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium.
Raitt won the award for song of the year for her (literally) heart-rending number “Just Like That” — just like she did at the most recent Grammys, in a very rare example of overlap between the two shows. Strings was named artist of the year for a second year in a row, while the War and Treaty prevailed for duo/group of the year. Childers was honored in absentia for album of the year for “Can I Take My Hounds to Heaven?”
S.G. Goodman prevailed as emerging artist of the year. Chauntee Ross and Monique Ross, better known as the sibling duo SistaStrings, were collectively named instrumentalist of the year.
Strings admitted that he was a late arrival at the show, having been watching TV at home a few hours earlier when his manager called and reminded him the awards were about to go down downtown. His enthusiasm grew upon entering the Ryman. “I walked into that door and I saw all my friends,” the bluegrass crossover phenomenon said. “You know, I moved to Nashville in 2015, not really knowing what I’d find or what would happen, and I found the most colorful and vibrant musical community that I could ever imagine. And I’m just honored to be part of the community and to be even mentioned in the same way (as) the other nominees, Charlie Crockett, Margo Price, Sierra Ferrell, Allison Russell, all these amazing musicians. I just can’t even believe I’m gonna stand here in the same room as them.”
In accepting her honor for song of the year, Raitt said, “Thank God for Americana,” as she often does, exclaiming thanks for the genre that came to be formed around what she long did before it had a name. Of her multiply award-winning “Just Like That,” Raitt said, “That song came to me as a gift, kind of channeled through me when I was wanting to write a song inspired by our beloved John Prine, singing ‘Angel From Montgomery’ every night since we met in 1971, every gig. And just to be able to have the story of grace and redemption in these times of such cruelty and stupidity and suffering, and to have a good story like this (to share) with you and so many others. .. I’ll tell you, I’m very proud.”
“To the fans and to everybody in this room,” said the War and Treaty’s Michael Trotter Jr. (most recently heard in a star turn on Zach Bryan’s new album), “you matter. You might not be able to sing or write a song, but your life is the greatest song ever written in this world. Period. Don’t stop dreaming, and don’t stop learning, artists.”
Last year’s album of the year award, Allison Russell, was given a surprise award selected by the Americana Association’s board, presented to her by three figures who are folk heroes in Tennessee now, and not in the musical sense: the “Tennessee three,” aka state legislators Gloria Johnson, Justin JonesandJustin Pearson, two of whom were expelled by fellow members and then re-elected. Russell was being celebrated for organizing the “Love Rising” benefit and other activism in Nashville.
“Tonight is about honoring the work of an extraordinary musician everybody in this room knows and loves,” said Johnson in her introductory remarks. “The state legislature here in Tennessee, where we serve, and sadly, in many other states, is not particularly interested in diversity, nor equity, nor inclusion. Those, apparently, are dirty words, or at least, dirty words, if one means to use legislative power to codify prejudice, privilege and exclusion. Last session, Tennessee Republicans ran through a bill criminalizing certain kinds of health care for trans people under the age of 18, and other bills criminalizing drag performance where minors are present. But they did pass a bill to (completely legalize) assault guns. We deal with an institution that is rooted in white supremacy and patriarchy and injustice, and it requires a multi-racial and multi-ethnic and intergenerational movement of people to change that.”
Pearson said that after his and Jones’ expulsion “and the near-expulsion of Representative Johnson, this artist was fighting back. And in that whole moment on a Sunday morning, the woman we are here to honor sent this message to her friends: ‘I think we need to mobilize our all-Americana family, in a big way, to resist these insane bills. … The ‘Love Rising’ concert was announced on Tuesday, March 7 and took place March 28. That is an amazing act of resistance in the face of hurt, an amazing act of love in the face of hate. And that is what resisting is about. My dear friend and yours, Allison Russell, shows us that resisting this cruelty that we see every day in the General Assembly is essential. But that there are no gradations to equality. We’re either all equal or none of us are equal,” he said, repeating the slogan, “Y’all means all.” He lauded Russell as “an amazing trailblazer, torch bearer, fighter, love seeker, justice maker.”
Said Russell: “I’m so proud of Tennessee. There is pride in Tennessee. … I feel completely committed to this community. I have Canadian friends and family who call me when the next wave of legislative terrorism rocks us and say, ‘When are you coming home?’ I tell them, ‘We don’t run from fascism’. … We’re not divided. We are united. I fucking love y’all so much.”
Lifetime honorees on hand to be celebrated for a body of work included the Avett Brothers, Bettye LaVette, Nickel Creek and Patty Griffin.
Among the presenters were Kacey Musgraves, who saluted one of the most formative influences, the trio Nickel Creek; Brandi Carlile, who did the introductory honors for her beloved Avett Brothers; and comedian and screen star Sarah Silverman, who literally went through Patty Griffin’s entire discography to show her appreciation for the revered singer-songwriter.
Seth Avett of the Avett Brothers spoke to his belief in Americana as a coined genre in accepting his trio’s honor. “I was thinking about how it would feel so natural when you’re put into a musical category to want to get out. So if someone calls you rock ‘n’ roll, ‘I’m not just that,’ you know? I can call you country — well, yeah, that’s me, but that’s not only me. It seems like there are so many labels that would be put upon you that you would be struggling (to throw off)… But every question about genre leads me back to the reality that we were so lucky to be called that. And it’s such a beautiful, beautiful thing. And we don’t ever want out.”
Performance highlights during the show, which stretched to just over three and a half hours, included bookending tributes to recently departed figures. Logan Ledger opened the show with the late Jimmy Buffett’s “Come Monday,” and nearly the entire cast of performers, presenters and awardees gathered on stage at the end for a group-sing of the Band’s “Up on Cripple Creek,” composed by Robbie Robertson.
Elder statesmen still with us got their performance flowers, too, as Noah Kahan and hosts the Milk Carton Kids joined in harmony to salute the 50th anniversary of Paul Simon’s “There Goes Rhymin’ Simon” album with “American Tune,” and Rufus Wainwright did the same with a song from Tom Waits’ five-decade-old “Closing Time,” “Ol’ 55.”
Other standouts among the performances included Brandy Clark and Brandi Carlile performing a duet of “Dear Insecurity,” from the former’s recent self-titled album, with SistaStrings providing prominent accompaniment, and Russell leading her all-female band in a particularly rocking version of “Eve Was Black,” from her new album “The Returner.” (Both the Clark and Russell albums came out too recently to meet the March 31 eligibility deadline but are strong contenders for the 2024 awards.)
At the Americana Awards, categories are few enough that everyone who is nominated is invited to perform. Nearly everyone did — including a surprise solo from Strings during the Robbie Robertson tribute at the end, obviously unplanned since he said he had made the decision to come to the awards just a few hours before. Performances from nominees that had a bit more planning involved included turns from Russell (“Eve Was Black”), Margo Price (“Been to the Mountain”), Adeem the Artist (“Middle of a Heart”), Sunny War (“Whole”), William Prince (“When You Miss Someone”), Angel Olsen (“Big Time”), Hermanos Gutiérrez (“El Bueno Y El Malo”), 49 Winchester (“Russell County Line”), Goodman (“Space and Time”), the War and Treaty (“Stretch Out”).
Perennial band leader Buddy Miller got a frontman slot, as well, to sing a number, “We’re Leavin’,” from the new duo album he made with his wife, Julie Miller. Among the lifetime honorees, the Avett Brothers chose to represent their career with “I Wish I Was,” LaVette was joined by her current producer of choice, Steve Jordan, on drums for “In the Meantime,” Patty Griffin revived “Shine a Different Way,” and Nickel Creek rocked it out, in a string-band kind of way, with “Where the Long Line Leads.”
Carlile provided a passionate introduction for the Avett Brothers, including thanking Scott Avett for painting the cover portrait of her album “By the Way, I Forgive You.”
“Anytime somebody gives the words ‘lifetime achievement’ applied to anyone or anything, you think of a later in life honor. But this is a lifetime achievement acknowledgement that is specifically for performance. And what the Avett Brothers lack in years, they have — no offense — more than made up for in miles. If you take a look at the odometer on those boys, it basically says they’re in their 90s. Old dudes.
“I personally followed this ragtag family band around the country for years,” Carlile said, “opening up the show and being given the sacred honor of singing the last verse of ‘Murder in the City.’ Are you familiar with that song? When I was singing, I would say, ‘Make sure my wife knows that I loved her. Make sure my daughters know the same. And always remember, there is nothing worth sharing like the love that let us share our name.’ They platformed me and allowed me to acknowledge my wife and children in times and places where it felt like a bit of a risk for them. And for that and way too many things to list here, I will always be grateful to them.
“No one puts a show on like you folks. You are a meditation in chaos, fidelity, and the edge-of-your-seat, anything-can-go-wrong feeling the defiance of great rock ‘and’n’ roll. And at the same time, you radiate the sincerity of a sermon. Performance isn’t a big enough word to define what it is that you do together on stage. You’re transcendent. Live music is probably the cornerstone of this band. But the Avett Brothers have released 18 works into the world in just over 20 years. Eighteen works. So the albums, live albums, and singles, and the way that they integrate visual art into what they do musically sets the bar frustratingly high for their fellow touring bands. … It’s an impossible standard, and I’m honestly not OK with it.” She called the band’s work “prophecy turned revelry. You are the true Evangeli. Beautiful are the feet who bring good news. May you continue to bring good news to all of us for many years to come.”
Sarah Silverman was a surprisingly busy presence at the AmericanaFest conference as well as the awards show, having done a live interview with Nickel Creek for attendees at a nearby studio earlier Wednesday before introducing Griffin in the evening. “Hi, I’m Sarah Silverman, your Jewish friend,” she said by way of self-introduction at the Ryman.
“It’s a really daunting task to be gifted the job of introducing a personal hero — especially someone you’ve never met in real life. Until we shared a space heater just about five minutes ago. It was very exciting. But, gosh, I feel like I know her. And, like all of her fans, I’m, I’m positive she knows me. I mean, because of her lyrics and I relate to them, not because I think maybe she saw me in la ‘Star Trek: Voyager’ in ’97. OK, so, I’m gonna go through her discography and just kind of free-associate” — which she did.
“I was so obsessed with ‘Nobody’s Crying’,” Silverman said, in one of many discography entries of Griffin’s she riffed on. “I’ll tell you who was crying: my neighbors, when I would not stop screeching ‘Nobody’s Crying’ for about one year. Her phrasing is just singular… complex themes boiled down to just a handful of perfectly placed words, like ‘Sometimes all we do is cope.’ … How about ‘Long Ride Home’? Are you kidding me? How much beauty did a heartbreak in one person take? Patty, come on! This heart has to last me my whole life and you’re ripping it to shreds. Wait, do I have a lawsuit here? I’ve become very litigious.”
The ceremony was webcast and carried live on SiriusXM; the show will be edited down for an “Austin City Limits” episode to air on PBS in November.
