UK Americana Awards 2022 nominations announced

The annual AMA-UK Music Week is once again taking place in London this coming January 23-27th. The three-day multi-venue festival will showcase over 70 artists from the UK, Europe, America, and Canada and includes talks, industry panels, and special events culminating in the awards show. Headlining on the night at Hackney Empire is Keifer Sutherland. Lucinda Williams will be honoured with an International Lifetime Achievement Award, Beth Orton will be this year’s Trailblazer Award recipient, and The Long Ryders will receive the International Trailblazer Award. In addition, the Bob Harris Emerging Artist Award goes to Lauren Housley and the Grassroots Award goes to Loose Music’s Tom Bridgewater.

Of her honours, Lucinda Williams said

“I am so honoured to be the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Americana Music Association UK. Coming now, at the end of a rollercoaster year and a half of both the professional challenges that we’ve all faced as well as a serious personal health issue. Let me just say that it feels especially rewarding. This past year and a half has definitely not been all bad as with any rollercoaster ride, there are peaks. I had so much fun working on my Jukebox series and the fact that it has been so well embraced in the UK is very special. One of the most disappointing things on the other hand was that we lost multiple planned trips to the UK, so I can’t wait to get back whenever we get back to some sense of normalcy. Thank you so much for this Award! You have no idea how much this means to me right now.”

Beth Orton commented on her nomination, saying

“I am thrilled be recognised as a trailblazer by the board of the Americana Music Association. Classic Americana songwriters from Glen Campbell and Emmylou Harris to Lucinda Williams and John Prine have always been songwriters I hold in the highest esteem. I have drawn inspiration from the wellspring of that timeless music and to have that acknowledged means a great deal to me.”

Similarly, The Long Ryders stated

“The Long Ryders are thrilled to the gills at receiving the International Trailblazer Award from our friends at Americana Music Association UK. We truly are honoured at being noticed by such a distinguished crowd and cannot wait for the big night in January. This is complete proof of the old saying, “you stick around long enough you become respectable and admired!”.

Stevie Smith, CEO AMA-UK, remarked

“It’s hard to express how exciting it is to be launching the 2022 event after such tumultuous years in the music business. After a successful campaign to ensure gender balance across the event our focus has rightly moved to diversity, ensuring we create opportunities for all – we are so happy to be presenting some really wonderful new artists to you this year from our UK’s own Simeon Hammond Dallas and Lady Nade to Miko Marks and Trè Burt from USA, we have some really innovative artists coming who are pushing the boundaries of the genre like James Riley and Mom & The Rebels. – and this is exactly why we love Americana so much: because it’s always evolving and reinventing itself.”

Nominations

UK Album of the Year

‘Click Click Domino‘ by Ida Mae (produced by Christopher Turpin)
‘Good Woman‘ by The Staves (produced by John Congleton)
‘The Wandering Hearts‘ by The Wandering Hearts (produced by Simone Felice, David Baron, Mike Mogis and The Wandering Hearts)
‘Stand For Myself‘ by Yola (produced by Dan Auerbach)

International Album of the Year

‘Wary + Strange‘ by Amythyst Kiah (produced by Tony Berg and Amythyst Kiah)
‘Outside Child‘ by Allison Russell (produced by Dan Knobler)
‘Arrivals‘ by Declan O’Rourke (produced by Paul Weller)
‘Tasjan! Tasjan! Tasjan!‘ by Aaron Lee Tasjan (produced by Aaron Lee Tasjan and Gregory Lattimer)

UK Song of the Year

‘This Ain’t The Life‘ by Lauren Housley (written by Lauren Housley)
‘Eye to Eye‘ by John Smith feat. Sarah Jarosz (written by John Smith and Sarah Siskind)
‘Latchkey‘ by Memorial (written by Jack Watts and Oliver Spalding)
‘Willing‘ by Lady Nade (written by Lady Nade)

International Song of the Year

‘Never Said A Word‘ by Judy Blank & Dylan Earl (written by Judy Blank & Dylan Earl)
‘Sweet Misery‘ by Tré Burt (written by Tré Burt)
‘Right on Time‘ by Brandi Carlile (written by Brandi Carlile, Dave Cobb, Phil Hanseroth and Tim Hanseroth)
‘Jeremiah‘ by Sierra Ferrell (written by Sierra Ferrell)

UK Artist of the Year