So this happened last night although they didn’t send us a press release so we’re reporting this via Rolling Stone. We do by the way love the Milk Carton Kids – don’t forget to catch them in the UK in a couple of weeks’ time: “Nominees for the 2019 Americana Honors & Awards were announced Tuesday afternoon, with multiple women being recognized in the top categories. The Milk Carton Kids (and, later, Mavis Staples) read the names of the nominees during a rehearsal for the “Mavis & Friends: Celebrating 80 Years of Mavis Staples” concert set for Wednesday in Nashville.
Staples earned a nomination for Artist of the Year, alongside Brandi Carlile, Rhiannon Giddens and Kacey Musgraves, marking the first time the category has included only women. The last time a woman took home the Artist of the Year honor at the Americana Awards was Gillian Welch in 2012, despite every year in the interim having at least one woman among the nominees. Likewise, women outnumber men 3-to-1 in the Album of the Year category, with Amanda Shires’ To the Sunset, Lori McKenna’s The Tree and Yola’s Walk Through Fire earning nominations alongside John Prine’s The Tree of Forgiveness. Dave Cobb produced three of the four albums in the category.
Elsewhere, singer-songwriter McKenna picked up two nominations for Song of the Year for “People Get Old,” as well as her participation on the multi-artist event “By Degrees.” Giddens scored a second nomination for her role in the collaborative project Our Native Daughters, which is nominated for Duo/Group of the Year. Additional performers with more than one nomination include previous 2018 Americana Artist of the Year winner Prine, along with Yola and the War and Treaty.
The winners will be revealed at the 2019 Americana Honors & Awards, held September 11th at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. The awards ceremony is the central event of the annual AmericanaFest, which runs September 10th through 15th with performances at venues all over Nashville.
Album of the Year
To the Sunset, Amanda Shires (Produced by Dave Cobb)
The Tree, Lori McKenna (Produced by Dave Cobb)
The Tree of Forgiveness, John Prine (Produced by Dave Cobb)
Walk Through Fire, Yola (Produced by Dan Auerbach)
Artist of the Year
Brandi Carlile
Rhiannon Giddens
Kacey Musgraves
Mavis Staples
Duo/Group of the Year
I’m With Her
Our Native Daughters
Tedeschi Trucks Band
The War and Treaty
Emerging Act of the Year
Jade Bird
J.S. Ondara
Erin Rae
The War and Treaty
Yola
Instrumentalist of the Year
Chris Eldridge
Eamon McLoughlin
Chris Powell
Michael Rinne
Song of the Year
“By Degrees,” Mark Erelli, Rosanne Cash, Sheryl Crow, Lori McKenna, Anais Mitchell & Josh Ritter (Written by Mark Erelli)
“Mockingbird,” Ruston Kelly (Written by Ruston Kelly)
“People Get Old,” Lori McKenna (Written by Lori McKenna)
“Summer’s End,” John Prine (Written by Pat McLaughlin and John Prine)
