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A nice bit of news to end the year with this morning from Rolling Stone Country who are reporting that John Prine has been named one of the recipients of the 2020 Lifetime Achievement Awards at next year’s GRAMMYs. The singer-songwriter, whose 1971 debut album was entered into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2015, had three Grammy nominations last year for his album ‘The Tree of Forgiveness.’ Continue reading “John Prine gets Lifetime Achievement Award at 2020 Grammys”
So it’s the end of another week. Don’t forget Ken Burns’ fabulous documentary on country music tonight at 9.30pm on BBC4. We leave you with a lovely clip of John Prine playing Cowboy Jack Clement’s 1958 Johnny Cash hit ‘Ballad of a Teenage Queen’ on Clement’s guitar. Earlier this week during an afternoon ceremony at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, Clement’s legacy was honoured with the donation of his Gibson J-200 guitar to the museum’s permanent collection. The guitar was played over the years by the likes of Bobby Bare, Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson and Elvis Presley, and John Prine does that list justice with this performance. Have a good one.
We leave you this week dear reader with a lovely clip of John Prine who has released a new video of his 1971 classic song ‘Paradise’ which he plays with Kentucky-born country singer Kelsey Waldon. The song will be released as a 7” vinyl single, with the B-side featuring a cover of the Merle Travis song ‘Kentucky Means Paradise.’ Waldon has toured with Prine in recent years but this is the first time they’ve recorded something in a studio together. Let’s hope it’s not the last. Have a good one.
AmericanaFest 2019 is taking place in Nashville at the moment – our intrepid reporter Mark Underwood is there if you’ve been following our social media – and last night their annual Honors and Awards ceremony took place where there were wins for Brandi Carlile (AGAIN), the War and Treaty and John Prine. In fact Prine’s heartbreaking ‘Summer End’ is about the only song that came out last year that could legitimately beat Ruston Kelly’s ‘Mockingbird’ – hey they’re both below if you want to compare and contrast. Here’s the list of winners (winners in bold): Continue reading “Americana Honors and Awards 2019 – Here are all the winners”
The 18th annual Americana Honors & Awards is happening next month over in Nashville and they have announced the performing lineup for their big ceremony which takes place on the 11th. The list includes (deep breath…) Continue reading “AMA announces its line-up for 2019 awards ceremony”
Here’s another voyage into the psyche of our writers and contributors in which we interrogate the (often) unfathomable reasons why we are all such junkies for this Americana stuff. This week self-confessed needle dropper Andrew Frolish documents his journey from the unfashionable to the deeply unfashionable (or fashionable to the uber fashionable depending on who you talk to). As a needle dropper we’re not sure if he’s a junkie, a vinyl junkie or just a rubbish seamstress (but we could probably find out). Continue reading “What Is This Americana Thing Anyway…”
Recent events in Alabama would have Margaret Atwood spinning in her grave if she was dead. Still, good to have resistance from the americana community. RS reports: “John Prine and Margo Price have joined the chorus of voices coming out in opposition of Alabama’s abortion ban, which was signed into law by Governor Kay Ivey on Wednesday. Continue reading “John Prine and Margo Price fight Alabama abortion ban”
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. Continue reading “2019 Americana Honor and Awards Nominees are announced”
The 2018 Americana Music Association Awards took place last night, hosted by the lovely Milk Carton Kids, and no surprises for guessing who won a number of them (literally no surprises as we told you in the headline). Rolling Stone Country reports: “Jason Isbell reinforced his status as the king of the Americana genre at the 2018 Americana Honors & Awards. Continue reading “Jason Isbell dominates at 2018 AMAs”
We’re full to the rafters with horses, women and rain in Liverpool today (which sounds like the title of a country compilation) and so we leave you for the weekend with this lovely clip of 3 americana legends in the one set and coinciding with the release today of the first new album of original songs in over 13 years from John Prine. ‘The Tree Of Forgiveness’ features collaborations with the Pat McLaughlin, Jason Isbell, and Amanda Shires among others and last night, Prine performed the song ‘Summer’s End’ from the album on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, alongside Sturgill and Brandi Carlile. Watch it below, and have a good one!