Yola, Brandi Carlile, and Allison Russell lead this year’s nominations for the Americana Honors & Awards, held by the Americana Music Association, with three nods each. Hosted at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium on September 14, the awards show will also double as the flagship event for the AmericanaFest conference. Broadcast information, along with the event’s Lifetime Achievement Awards are to be announced.
In the Album of the Year category, Yola, Brandi Carlile, and Allison Russell all received nominations. Yola’s second studio album, Stand for Myself, was released in July 2021 and also received a nod at this year’s Grammy Awards. Carlile’s In These Silent Days topped both of Billboard’s Top Rock Albums and Americana/Folk Albums charts. Russell, meanwhile, is nominated for her debut solo album, Outside Child.
“I’m looking back at my past self, I’m looking back at friends who I’m like, ‘Come on, buddy!’ and I’m exclaiming, I’m in this moment of absolute freedom,” Yola told Stereogum about her album’s tracks in 2021. “Arriving there and feeling creatively free is how I felt about this record. I’m fully realizing, in the moment of singing the song that was keeping me up at night and that I had to ask my friends to help me get out of my head in 2018.”
In addition, the three women are all nominated for Song of the Year (Yola’s “Diamond Studded Shoes,” Carlile’s “Right On Time,” and Russell’s “Persephone”) and Artist of the Year (alongside Jason Isbell and Billy Strings.)
Rounding out the Album of the Year category are duo Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, who are nominated for Raise the Roof, as well as singer-songwriter Adia Victoria for A Southern Gothic. Both acts are tied for two nominations at this year’s Americana Honors.
Plant and Krauss are also in the running for Duo/Group of the Year, alongside other contenders The Mavericks, Los Lobos, The War and Treaty, and Big Thief. Meanwhile, Victoria earned her second nomination for Emerging Act of the Year, with others in the category including Sierra Ferrell, Neal Francis, Brittney Spencer, and Morgan Wade.
For a complete list of nominees, visit Americana Honors & Awards’ official website.
