When the idea for the Americana Music Association came about in the late 1990s, it came from a community that shared a vision. A group of artists, record executives, journalists and radio programmers all believed in promoting music based on ideals and creativity rather than revenue. The nonprofit began in 1999 and held its first conference in Downtown Nashville the following year with performances by Rhonda Vincent, Sam Bush, Jim Lauderdale and Rodney Crowell. In 2002, the first Americana Music Honors & Awards show was held with Lauderdale, Buddy & Julie Miller, Johnny Cash, Emmylou Harris, Billy Joe Shaver and T Bone Burnett.
Over the past 25 years, the club has worked to build a community that supports an ever-growing, ever-evolving lineup of artists whose roots in musical styles include country, folk, bluegrass, R&B and roots-rock. This was followed by the Avett Brothers, Carolina Chocolate Drops (of which Rhiannon Giddens was a member at the time), Mumford & Sons, Jason Isbell, Brandi Carlile, Margo Price, Sturgill Simpson, Brandy Clark and the late Levon Helm. from the recent addition of Noah Kahan, Wyatt Flores, Kaitlin Butts, Charley Crockett, Tyler Childers and Allison Russell.
The Americana genre is “just a core thing, for me — I've built my whole life within this community, including my family and my kids,” Carlile said. Bulletin board last year, when it received Grammy Award nominations in the pop, rock and Americana categories. “We're just rooted in our American people. And what Americana really is is the rejection of some of the exclusive tenets of country music — I mean that politically. I mean sonically. In terms of diversity, Americana is where you'll see it the most.”
Jed Hilly was key to the development of the Americana Music Association. After serving as head of label for Orbison Records, Hilly became the label's executive director in 2007 and has been the genre's leading advocate. He sees the organization's mission in simple terms: to support the authentic voice of American roots music. During Hilly's tenure, the Recording Academy expanded the Americana/roots categories at the Grammy Awards, while Bulletin board updated the name of the Folk Albums table to Americana/Folk Albums and the Merriam-Webster Dictionary added the word “Americana”.
In recent years, acts such as Carlile, Crockett, Russell, the late John Prine, Billy Strings and The War and Treaty have won top categories at the Americana Music Honors & Awards, and the association now has 4,000 members. Additionally, the annual Nashville-based AmericanaFest has showcased a variety of talent, with last year's event featuring 200 acts with performances spanning 48 venues across the city. AmericanaFest 2024 will take place September 17-21.
As the Americana Music Association celebrates its 25th anniversary, Bulletin board spoke with Hilly about the organization's origins, its evolution and the genre's current rise in popularity.
Tell me about the origins of the Americana Music Association.
In the late 90s, there was a movement against commercial country radio, which had rejected artists like Steve Earle, Emmylou Harris, Lyle Lovett, Rosanne Cash, and the list goes on. The movement was started by Jon Grimson and Rob Bleetstein, [who were instrumental in launching] an Americana chart for [music publication The Gavin Report]where they picked the stations that still played that type of music. Then in 1999, when about 30 people gathered at South by Southwest in Austin, they wanted to start a trade association like others had done.
Credit goes to the founders, mothers, sisters and brothers, people like Emmylou Harris, Buddy Miller, Rodney [Crowell]. We have really changed the landscape of music. We highlighted those artists who would otherwise go unheard. Music in the 90s became more commercial, with less artist development. SoundScan really changed the landscape. But as T Bone Burnett says, “If you make a great album, you make a great album.”
Jed Hilly on stage during the Association's Honors & Awards Nomination Ceremony at the National Museum of African American Music in Nashville on May 7, 2024.
Tibrina Hobson/Getty Images
The Americana Music Association has done significant advocacy work to expand the roots and recognition of Americana at the Grammy Awards.
That was the first thing I was working on. Hats off to Robert Plant, Alison Krauss and T Bone Burnett [whose 2007 Raising Sand earned five Grammys, including album of the year]. We welcomed this album before this one [went] to win the Grammys. It was album of the year the fall before the Grammys when they were nominated and won all those awards. When Robert walked into the press room at the Grammys with four or five Grammys stacked up, someone asked him which one was his favorite, and Robert said, “Actually, it was the one we won in Nashville last fall.” That opened doors. I got engaged [the Americana Music Association’s] member to support the Recording Academy membership [because the academy’s philanthropic division]MusiCares, is an organization that I respect so much. Significantly, the Americana album category became the fastest-growing category, percentage-wise, for the Grammys.
In recent years, top Americana Music Honors & Awards winners have included the bluegrass-rock sounds of Billy Strings, the old-school country and soul sounds of Charley Crockett, the singing of John Prine, the powerful voices of Brandi Carlile and Allison Russell and the country. -Soul sounds of The War and Treaty. How do you define Americana today?
Music evolves. Billy Strings crosses a modern line. Perhaps a more radical version would be Mumford & Sons with that first album. They crossed a modern line. With the blues, if Muddy Waters is the baseline, Bonnie Raitt made a modern form of the blues. [Bob] Dylan and the band [went] electric in [the Newport Folk festival] — this was no longer folk music. it was something else. I believe it is important for art forms to maintain their integrity. In 1955, rock'n'roll was Elvis Presley. In 1961, it was Chubby Checker. and fast forward to U2 winning [the Grammy for best rock performance by a duo or group with vocal] for The Joshua tree. It is evolving.
I also give credit to Danna Strong, who was the first employee of the Americana Music Association and is still the director of education and programs and conference producer. Dana came to me in 2010 and said, “No one is honored for muscle. How do we do that?' We honored everyone at Muscle Shoals and asked Rick Hall [who has been called “the Father of Muscle Shoals”] to accept the award, but honored everyone involved in it.
Did that change the way you looked at the awards?
We recognized inspiration as part of the criteria for a lifetime achievement award, and that came in part from Porter Wagoner. My first year, I was reluctant to honor Porter, and I hate that I was reluctant, but I was figuring things out. Porter, to me, was the epitome of country music, and I felt like we were something different from country music. But I realized that people like Buddy and Rodney were doing Porter songs on their albums. This opened the door to other ideas such as [honoring] Richard Thomson [and] honoring Booker T. and the MG's. She is not what you would think of as the low-class American woman at the time. It was to look at the larger landscape of inspiration.
The Americana Music Honors & Awards are set for September 18 in Nashville, and the awards have become more inclusive to honor the work of pioneers like Mavis Staples and Allen Toussaint, but also celebrate the artistry and musicianship of contemporary artists like Brandi Carlile and Alison Russell.
Diversity is important. I woke up after [Americana] awards came out in 2013 or 2014 and I realized that all of our lifetime achievement honorees were basically white, middle-aged men. Americana is the modern form of music that comes from multiple roots genres. The best way I know to do this is to find people who feel welcome in the community and show them off. The McCrary Sisters have been our in-house band for as long as we've been doing this, and they're great. We have partnered with the National Museum of African American Music. The Fairfield Four as a quartet deserve to be recognized and honored — let's put the spotlight on it. Our goal is to be open and welcoming. Do we have a long way to go? We sure do. Americana is a great American art form and is an opportunity that welcomes all walks of life with an authentic approach to music making. I believe that if everyone in the world listened to Americana music for an hour, the world would be a better place.
In recent years, artists like Zach Bryan and Noah Kahan, who have a roots-based sound, have dominated the charts of all genres. They're not based in Nashville, but they're making a huge impact in pushing listeners to seek out more Americana sounds. What is your view on this impact?
Americana is rocking right now. Noah has participated in many events and this year he is nominated for artist of the year. When the Lumineers took off, we embraced them early and nominated them for emerging artist of the year. They didn't really know what we were doing, so we sat down with them and as time went on, they said, “What can we do to help?” They performed a show during AmericanaFest at The Cannery [Ballroom]so 700 people saw play. I hope Zach joins us someday. I think he's an American artist — not a country artist, in my humble opinion. But we do see Wyatt Flores and Sierra Ferrell, Nathaniel Rateliff, Jason Isbell and Brandi Carlile selling out massive rooms. Either Americana has a mainstream or it doesn't [radio] knock, we can build a career.
This story appears in the August 24, 2024 issue Bulletin board.
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/pro/americana-music-association-executive-director-interview/
