The 2020 Americana Honors and Awards which were due to take place in Nashville tomorrow have been postponed because of concerns over the Covid-19 pandemic. The ceremony was set to include its usual live event at the Ryman Auditorium but will instead be held at a later, yet-to-be-announced date.
In a statement, Americana Music Association executive director Jed Hilly says, “We’ve carefully evaluated safety measures both with an audience and without. It is our conclusion that if just one person walked out of the Ryman with COVID-19, we would not be able to forgive ourselves. We are making new plans to celebrate the nominees and to proclaim the winners later this fall, and we hope to have details on that shortly with an official announcement date soon.”
According to other media reports, the AMA was hoping to record the awards without an audience at The Ryman to air at a future date, but this was not possible in the end due to financial constraints.
Although the conference itself isn’t happening, the AMA is still going ahead with their “Thriving Roots” conference tomorrow, which over 3 days will include dozens of panels and online performances, include Brandi Carlile in conversation with Yola, Emmylou Harris speaking with Ken Burns, and the Black Pumas discussing artistic development. You can find out more here. In the meantime, here’s a poignant clip from last year’s awards.
