Tag: Americana Music Association

TV holds key to growth of Americana music

 in Americana Music Festival, Reviews

The Avett Brothers at the Americana Awards show

By Ken Paulson

Television is a very big deal to the Americana music community.
For years, the Americana Music Association has worked to establish the genre with the general public, and TV is the key.
Any medium that can make Snooki a household name should do wonders for Buddy Miller.
That’s why news that WNPT, Nashville’s public television station, would broadcast the 2011 Americana Music Festival Honors and Awards show , and that Austin City Limits would do a show of highlights, was so welcome. A broader audience would finally see what Americana music was all about.
Yet the early results were discouraging. That initial live broadcast from the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville showed large expanses of empty seats early on, due to a late-arriving crowd. Unbelievably, the opening graphic noted that the evening was dedicated to the memory of “Jim” Hartford rather than John Hartford. And then early in the show, transmission difficulties meant audio and video drop-outs during performances by Justin Townes Earle and Elizabeth Cook. Ouch.
Things were better for a rebroadcast two days later, although the length of the show was apparently longer than the original estimate. If you have a TiVo, you didn’t see a dazzling finale.
But the good news is that the music overall was stunning, the performances passionate and even the presentations were well-paced. Austin City Limits should find it relatively easy to mine the two-plus hour show for an hour’s worth of great music, drawing on performances by Robert Plant, the Avett Brothers, Jim Lauderdale, Lucinda Williams, Emmylou Harris, Miller, Cook, Earle and more.
That kind of quality exposure will build awareness of Americana, but will also amplify the sales pitch to prospective music festival sponsors.
My guess is that Austin City Limits, scheduled for Nov. 19, will edit out acceptance speeches, which may be just as well. The message relayed by Mumford and Sons thanked “the Nashville community,” which is exactly what the Americana Music Association doesn’t need. Americana needs to be seen as a vibrant worldwide genre, which just happens to have an office in Nashville. National television exposure is critical to making that happen.

 

Preview: Americana Music Festival 2011 in Nashville

 in Americana Music Festival

The 2011 Americana Music Festival lights up Nashville this
week, bringing a remarkably diverse and talented range of artists to the city’s venues.
And of course, it also prompts the question: “What is
Americana music?”
Peter Cooper of the Tennessean took a stab at it in 2003:

American music is “country music that is too rooted and true for contemporary country radio programmers. Twangy music that draws from blues, folk and rock forms. Music with smart and
literary lyrics that can be more layered and “difficult” than most
radio fare. Or maybe it would be simpler to say that what they mean is ‘Johnny Cash Music.’

Not bad. That description holds up well today. The biggest change over the years has been a broadening of the genre by the Americana Music Association and radio programmers, inviting more alternative folk performers and storied rock artists into the tent.
That means you’ll see country legend Connie Smith at 9 p.m.
at the Rutledge and emerging folk duo The Civil Wars at the Cannery Ballroom two hours later. You’ll hear the rootsy Knoxville band the Black Lillies one night, and Bobby Keys, saxophonist for the Rolling Stones the next.

Among the performers scheduled for the Americana Music
Festival, which runs from Oct. 12-15:

– The Jayhawks
– North Mississippi AllStars
– Elizabeth Cook
– Keb’ Mo’
-The Bottle Rockets
– Foster and Lloyd
– John Oates
– Kelly Willis and Bruce Robison
– Marty Stuart
– Blind Boys of Alabama
– Blackie and the Rodeo Kings
– Hayes Carll

The highlight of the week is the Americana Americana Honors and Awards Show, scheduled for the Ryman Auditorium on Oct. 13. The show recognizes the best in Americana music and always features stellar performances. This year the show will be broadcast live
for the first time on Nashville Public Television. An edited version will be featured on Nov. 19 on Austin City Limits.

Ticket information for the week’s showcases available at the Americana Music Association website.
You’ll find schedules for Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday on Sun209.

Americana Music Lifetime Achievement winners named

 in Americana Music

The Americana Music Association has named Lucinda Williams, Gregg Allman, Jerry Douglas and executive Rick Hall as this year’s lifetime achievement award winners, and will recognize them on Oct. 13 at its annual awards ahow at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville.
Also to be honored: radio host and journalist Bob Harris, who will receive the AMA’s trailblazer award.

Ollabelle and Guy Clark move into Americana music top ten

 in Americana Music

Ollabelle and Guy Clark are new to this week’s Americana Music Association chart, with their new albums ranked seventh and eighth respectively. The marketing and merchandising around the Guy Clark live CD “Songs and Stories” has been fascinating. It was available as an MP3 for one day on Amazon for $3.99, but you can also buy the CD, an autographed print and a T-shirt on Clark’s website for $125. Clearly he’s an artist for all income groups.
Robert Earl Keen’s “Ready for Confetti” moved up to fourth place, following John Hiatt, Gillian Welch and the Jayhawks, who again hold down the top three slots.
New to the chart is Greg Brown’s “Freak Flag.” (Pictured) Among the albums with the most adds this week are Joy Kills Sorrow’s “This Unknown Science” and Johnny Winter’s “Roots.”

Austin City Limits to showcase Americana Music Festival

 in Americana Music

The Americana Music Festival has finally found a home on television. In their efforts to build awareness of Americana music, Americana Music Association Executive Director Jed Hilly and his staff have long sought a way to showcase the genre and its stars to a national audience.
The Tennesseean reports today that the festival awards show will be broadcast live on Oct. 13 in Nashville on WNPT, the area’s public television station. An edited version will appear on Nov. 19 as an episode of Austin City Limits.
That’s a huge step forward in building the Americana music brand and the Austin City Limits audience is already attuned to the music and its artists.
Robert Plant, The Civil Wars, Elizabeth Cook, Jim Lauderdale and Gregg Allman are among the artists expected to perform at the show. Editing the full broadcast into a single Austin City Limits show will be an unenviable task.

Americana music by the book

 in Americana Music

I’ve never seen Americana Music Association Executive Director Jed Hilly so excited about a reference book. From the Americana Music Assocation website:
“Merriam-Webster announced today, as reported by the Associated Press, the inclusion of the musical definition of the word Americana to its Collegiate Dictionary. Americana joins Tweet, m-commerce and around 100 other words whose use is now widely recognized enough to be a part of today’s lexicon. According to the dictionary’s editors Americana music is defined as:
a genre of American music having roots in early folk and country music

Americana, as a musical term, has been under consideration longer than the 12 years the Americana Music Association has been in existence. Merriam-Webster’s inclusion of the word is based on widespread general written use, longevity, and an easily discernible definition.
“I’m thrilled. It’s affirmation of what we have been saying for over a decade” said Jed Hilly, Executive Director of the Americana Music Association. “To have an authority like Merriam Webster do the research and determine that our society recognizes the Americana genre is really great.”It’s about time. Next step: The thesaurus.