Lucinda Williams has been announced as the recipient of the International Lifetime Achievement Award from the Americana Music Association UK. The news was revealed during the official launch of the 2022 event last night (16) at London’s Omeara venue.
UK Americana Music Week will return to Hackney in London from January 24 to 27th next year, with showcases, industry panels, and special events, culminating in the UK Americana Awards Show at Hackney Empire on January 27.
The AMA-UK last night revealed the nominations for the seven member-voted categories of the awards, and the winners of the special awards presented by the AMA-UK board. Alongside Williams, other honorees are Beth Orton for the Trailblazer Award and the Long Ryders for the International Trailblazer Award. The Bob Harris Emerging Artist Award goes to Lauren Housley and the Grassroots Award to independent label Loose Music’s Tom Bridgewater.
“I am so honored to be the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Americana Music Association UK,” says Williams. “Coming now, at the end of a rollercoaster year and a half of both the professional challenges that we’ve all faced as well as a serious personal health issue. Let me just say that it feels especially rewarding.
“This past year and a half has definitely not been all bad as with any rollercoaster ride, there are peaks. I had so much fun working on my Jukebox series and the fact that it has been so well embraced in the UK is very special. One of the most disappointing things on the other hand was that we lost multiple planned trips to the UK, so I can’t wait to get back whenever we get back to some sense of normalcy. Thank you so much for this Award! You have no idea how much this means to me right now.”
Orton said of her award: “I am thrilled be recognised as a trailblazer by the board of the Americana Music Association. Classic Americana songwriters from Glen Campbell and Emmylou Harris to Lucinda Williams and John Prine have always been songwriters I hold in the highest esteem. I have drawn inspiration from the wellspring of that timeless music and to have that acknowledged means a great deal to me.”
The International Trailblazer Award winners added: “The Long Ryders are thrilled to the gills at receiving the International Trailblazer Award from our friends at Americana Music Association UK. We truly are honoured at being noticed by such a distinguished crowd and cannot wait for the big night in January. This is complete proof of the old saying, ‘you stick around long enough you become respectable and admired!’”
The award for the Best-Selling Americana Album by a UK artist, presented in conjunction with The Official Charts Company (OCC), will be announced in January.
“It’s hard to express how exciting it is to be launching the 2022 event after such tumultuous years in the music business,” says CEO AMA-UK CEO Stevie Smith. “After a successful campaign to ensure gender balance across the event our focus has rightly moved to diversity, ensuring we create opportunities for all.
“We are so happy to be presenting some really wonderful new artists to you this year from our UK’s own Simeon Hammond Dallas and Lady Nade to Miko Marks and Tré Burt from USA, we have some really innovative artists coming who are pushing the boundaries of the genre like James Riley and Mom & The Rebels – and this is exactly why we LOVE Americana so much, because it’s always evolving and reinventing itself.”
The Awards show in January will be preceded by two evenings of showcases, featuring over 70 artists from across all four UK nations, Canada, America, and Europe. There will be guest host showcases from Canada House (CIMA & PEI), Loose Music, Jansen Records, and Die With Your Boots On Records from Norway.
The three-day conference preceding the awards will embrace such topics as sync, royalties, touring, building your team, the return to live and safer and more inclusive spaces for Americana artists, audiences and industry. Speakers will include Beverley Whitrick (MVT), Ethan Proctor (Midnight Mango), Lara Baker (Songtrust), Lucy Tamboura (PRS for Music), Ric Salmon (Driift/ATC), Rich Legate (Attitude is Everything), Gill Tee (Black Deer Festival), Darlingside, Beth Morton (UTA), Robert Specterman-Green (DCMS), Paul Bonham (MMF), Bee Adamic (Liberty PR), Shauni Caballero (The Go 2 Agency), and Joe Hastings (Help Musicians).
Special events will include Celebrating Neckerchief Rock, featuring music and conversation with broadcaster Robert Elms, AMA-UK award winner Danny George Wilson and special guests; Six Shooter Records’ songwriting circle; Showcase Scotland Expo’s lunchtime showcase; and, in honor of Beth Orton’s TrailblazerAward, her In Conversation session with broadcaster Baylen Leonard.
The nominations for UK and International Songs of the Year, Albums of the Year and Artists of the Year and UK Instrumentalist of the Year, voted upon by the AMA-UK membership are below, along with further details of the AMA-UK board special awards.
2022 Americana Music Association UK Awards nominations:
UK Album of the Year
• Click Click Domino by Ida Mae (produced by Christopher Turpin)
• Good Woman by The Staves (produced by John Congleton)
• The Wandering Hearts by The Wandering Hearts (produced by Simone Felice, David Baron, Mike Mogis and The Wandering Hearts)
• Stand For Myself by Yola (produced by Dan Auerbach)
International Album of the Year
• Wary + Strange by Amythyst Kiah (produced by Tony Berg and Amythyst Kiah)
• Outside Child by Allison Russell (produced by Dan Knobler)
• Arrivals by Declan O’Rourke (produced by Paul Weller)
• Tasjan! Tasjan! Tasjan! by Aaron Lee Tasjan (produced by Aaron Lee Tasjan and Gregory Lattimer)
UK Song of the Year
• This Ain’t The Life by Lauren Housley (written by Lauren Housley)
• Eye to Eye by John Smith featuring Sarah Jarosz (written by John Smith and Sarah Siskind)
• Latchkey by Memorial (written by Jack Watts and Oliver Spalding)
• Willing by Lady Nade (written by Lady Nade)
International Song of the Year
• Never Said A Word by Judy Blank & Dylan Earl (written by Judy Blank & Dylan Earl)
• Sweet Misery by Tré Burt (written by Tré Burt)
• Right on Time by Brandi Carlile (written by Brandi Carlile, Dave Cobb, Phil Hanseroth and Tim Hanseroth)
• Jeremiah by Sierra Ferrell (written by Sierra Ferrell)
UK Artist of the Year
• Elles Bailey
• The Staves
• John Smith
• Yola
International Artist of the Year
• Rhiannon Giddens
• Amythyst Kiah
• Allison Russell
• Taylor Swift
UK Instrumentalist of the Year
• Thomas Dibb
• Joe Harvey-Whyte
• Mark Lewis
• Michele Stodart