Bettye LaVette, Nickel Creek Among AMA Lifetime Honorees
LaVette’s Legacy Award is being presented with the National Museum of African American Music.
Bettye LaVette, Nickel Creek, and Patty Griffin are among the names announced by the Americana Music Association as Lifetime Achievement, Trailblazer and Legacy Award honorees, for its upcoming 22nd Annual Americana Honors & Awards show on September 20.
Soul veteran LaVette and roots trailblazers Nickel Creek join Americana singer-songwriters Griffin (who won Americana Artist of the Year in 2007) and the Avett Brothers on this year’s roll of honor. LaVette’s Legacy Award is being presented in partnership with the National Museum of African American Music.
This year’s winner of the Jack Emerson Award is the late George Fontaine, Sr, co-founder and owner of New West Records and its offshoot Normaltown Records. Across some 500 releases, New West has worked with such key names in American music as Rodney Crowell, Kris Kristofferson, Delbert McClinton, Steve Earle, John Hiatt, Buddy and Julie Miller, and Billy Joe Shaver.
Presentations will take place at the signature event, at the Ryman Auditorium, of the AMA’s annual AmericanaFest, which runs September 19-23 in Nashville. Tickets to the Americana Honors & Awards are on sale now. More information on all Americana Music Association events and Americanafest Conference and Festival wristbands are available here.
Jed Hilly, Executive Director of the Americana Music Association and Foundation, notes: “This year’s Lifetime Achievement honorees represent the diverse sounds that contribute to the American roots music canon. Our honorees have inspired this community individually and have collectively changed the landscape of the music industry. We are truly humbled to be in the same room with them.”
The association will also present its six prestigious member-voted annual awards, the winners of which will be announced during the ceremony. A list of this year’s nominees, five in each category, can be found at the Americana Music Association and Foundation website. The categories are Album, Artist, Duo/Group, Emerging Act, Instrumentalist, and Song.
Listen to the 2023 Americana Honors & Awards Nominees playlist.
