A trio of seemingly unstoppable singer-songwriters lead the nominations for the 2022 Americana Honors & Awards.
Brandi Carlile, reigning Americana Artist of the Year, Allison Russell, a soulful Canadian folk storyteller, and Yola, a soul-country transatlantic torchbearer, the top nominees of 2022 with three each, respectively. The female trio is competing in the Artist of the Year, Song of the Year and Album of the Year categories.
A cornerstone of the week-long AmericanaFest, the Americana Honors & Awards return September 14 to the Ryman Auditorium. AmericanaFest returns September 13-17 to clubs and music venues across Nashville.
The Americanafest program:Announcing the first set of official showcases for Americanafest 2022
Nonprofit organizers the Americana Music Association unveiled the nominees Monday with an event at the National Museum of African American Music that featured appearances by blues artist Adia Victoria, husband-wife duo War & Treaty and of the Fisk Jubilee Singers.
Carlile earns his fair share of nominations on the heels of “In These Silent Days,” a 2021 LP produced at RCA Studio A in Nashville with collaborator Dave Cobb. She is a two-time recipient of Entertainer of the Year which first won this honor in 2019.
Russell returns to the Americana Awards to support his heartbreaking solo debut, “Outside Child.” Considered by some to be Nashville music’s crowning achievement of 2021, the album chronicles his experience of escaping an abusive childhood before finding a “chosen” family.
After:Nashville’s Top 10 Albums 2021
Yola scores her three nominations behind “Stand For Myself,” a gripping autobiographical retro soul album produced by Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys. The album “Diamond Studded Shoes” is competing for Song of the Year alongside Russell, Carlile, Sturgill Simpson and James McMurtry.
Other nominees include Robert Plant and Alison Krauss – who reunited last year for ‘Raise The Roof,’ the duo’s first collaboration in 14 years – as well as Victoria, War & Treaty, bluegrass label Billy Strings, singer-songwriter Jason Isbell, unmissable country-rock The Mavericks and more.
More information about the 2022 Americana Honors & Awards — including performers, hosts and lifetime achievement honorees — is expected to be announced in the coming weeks.
2022 Americana Honors and Awards Nominees
Artist of the Year
- Brandi Carlile
- Jason Isbel
- Allison Russell
- Billy strings
- yola
album of the year
- “In These Silent Days,” Brandi Carlile; produced by Dave Cobb and Shooter Jennings
- “Outside Child”, Allison Russell; produced by Dan Knobler
- “Raise The Roof”, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss; produced by T Bone Burnett
- “A Southern Gothic”, Adia Victoria; produced by Mason Hickman and Adia Victoria, executive produced by T Bone Burnett
- “Defend yourself”, Yola; produced by Dan Auerbach
Emerging Act of the Year
- Sierra Ferrel
- Francois Francois
- Britney Spencer
- Adia Victoria
- Morgan Wade
song of the year
- “Canola Fields,” James McMurtry; Written by James McMurtry
- “Diamond Studded Shoes”, Yola; Written by Dan Auerbach, Natalie Hemby, Aaron Lee Tasjan and Yola
- “Juanita”, with Sturgill Simpson. Willie Nelson; Written by Sturgill Simpson
- “Persephone”, Allison Russell; Written by Jeremy Lindsay and Allison Russell
- “Right on Time”, Brandi Carlile; Written by Brandi Carlile, Dave Cobb, Phil Hanseroth and Tim Hanseroth
Duo/Group of the Year
- big thief
- Los Lobos
- The Mavericks
- Robert Plant and Alison Krauss
- The war and the treaty
Instrumentalist of the Year
- Ethan Ballinger
- Brian Farrow
- Larissa Maestro
- Shelby means
- justin moses