Salı 18 Eki 2011, 17:59

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3skEpvi09Pc

NPR streamed this year's Americana Music Association Awards live from Nashville. When I clicked the link on my iPad it came up a Flash thing so I skipped it and read a book. Probably a good choice.

As I saw the winners roll by on Twitter later in the evening, I had a growing sense of unease. As one cranky outsider observed, it seemed more like Volvo commercial than a Celebration of Roots music.

ALBUM OF THE YEAR: Band Of Joy, Robert Plant

ARTIST OF THE YEAR: Buddy Miller

INSTRUMENTALIST OF THE YEAR: Buddy Miller

NEW / EMERGING ARTIST: Mumford & Sons

SONG OF THE YEAR: “Harlem River Blues” by Justin Townes Earle

DUO / GROUP OF THE YEAR: The Avett Brothers

Lifetime Achievement Award for Songwriter: Lucinda Williams

Lifetime Achievement Award for Performance: Gregg Allman

Lifetime Achievement Award for Instrumentalist: Jerry Douglas

Jack Emerson Lifetime Achievement Award for Executive: Rick Hall

Now, don't get me wrong, I do have most of the AMA winners in my iPad. They are good. They're just not Great. I feel like the AMA has been taken hostage by 1970s soft-rock FM DJs. My "Americana" just leans towards more Hank.

Tho any show with Alison Krauss ain't all bad.

(cross-posted from JC Shepard.com)