A Lifetime Achievement Award will be presented to Joni Mitchell (pictured), the widely acclaimed Canadian-American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who is known for such songs as “Big Yellow Taxi,” “Both Sides, Now,” “Chelsea Morning,” “Help Me,” and “River.”

In the running for Contemporary Roots Album of the Year are Strange Trip Ahead (Mariel Buckley), The Hammer & The Rose (Matt Andersen), Purple Gas (Noeline Hofmann) These Dark Canyons (The Young Novelists), and Further From The Country (William Prince). Traditional Roots Music Album of the Year nominees include I Lost My Heart on Friday (Aerialists), Gold And Coal (Cassie and Maggie), The Moon’s Daughter (Heather MacIsaac), Heal The Divide (Morgan Toney), and Folk Signals (The Southern Residents).

Also of potential interest to AcousticMusicScene.com readers are the nominees for Blues Album of the Year. These include Sing Pretty Blues (Crystal Shawanda), Ooh Yeah! (Kenny “Blues Boss” Wayne), The Medicine (Miss Emily), Answer The Call (Secondhand Dreamcar), and Hear My Heart (Steve Mariner).

In addition to her Contemporary Album of the Year nomination for Purple Gas, Noeline Hofmann is among the 10 nominees for Breakthrough Artist of the Year. . Among the five nominees for Adult Contemporary Album of the Year are Conditions of Love Vol. 1 (Rose Cousins) and Better Broken (Sarah McLachlan, while Children’s Album of the Year nominees include Little Leaf (Chris McKhool).

In total, there are 248 nominees in the running across 47 categories for Canada’s top music awards. Eight-time JUNO Award-winner Justin Bieber and Tate McRae lead the pack with six nominations each.

Song of the Year honors went to Dan Navarro and Janiva Magness’ recording of “$20 Bill (for George Floyd) by the late singer-songwriter Tom Prasada-Rao. In accepting the award, Navarro (a singer-songwriter and voice actor perhaps best known for co-writing the hit song “We Belong”) noted that more than 100 artists recorded a version of Prasada-Rao’s song in 2020 “but because of the impact and the challenges of the pandemic, it never really had a proper release and we decided we would do something about that.“ Dedicating the award to Prasado-Rao, who died last year, Navarro said: “This is not just the song of the year; it’s the song of the century and the song of a lifetime.”

Here’s a link to view a video of Dan Navarro and Janiva Magness performing “$20 Bill (for George Floyd)”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeHdq817B7Y

Susan Werner’s Halfway to Houston was named Album of the Year. A prolific and versatile singer-songwriter who accompanies herself on both guitar and piano and is known for her sassy wit and classy Midwest charm, Werner was unable to be in Montreal to accept the award and sent a short video, while fellow singer-songwriter Dar Williams picked up the award on her behalf.

In addition to these FAI member-voted awards – which were open to recordings released between October 1, 2023 and September 30, 2024 – a number of special awards and honors were presented.

The People’s Voice Award recognizing an artist who embraces social and political commentary in his/her songs was presented to Gina Chavez, an Austin, Texas-based singer-songwriter who has helped to amplify the voices of the marginalized.

The River Roads Festival received The Clearwater Award, honoring a festival that — like its Pete Seeger-founded namesake –- exhibits sound leadership in environmental stewardship and sustainable event production. A one-day event presented by Dar Williams and held in Easthampton, Massachusetts for the past two years, the next River Roads Festival is set for July 5 at Heuser Park in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. Williams said that she was “so excited” to accept the award. She noted that, like Seeger was, she is a resident of New York’s Hudson Valley and recalled being on Conan O’Brien’s late-night TV talk show with him in 1998. Said Williams: “Music is an incredible force … The culture around the music can be a powerful vehicle for justice.”

The Rising tide Award, which is bestowed on an emerging artist/act of an age, went to OKAN, a female-led, Afro-Cuban roots and jazz duo.

Spirit of Folk Awards recognizing people and organizations actively engaged in the promotion and preservation of folk music were presented to Annie Capps, Innu Nikamu festival, Tom Power, and Alice Randall. Capps is a Michigan-based singer-songwriter and a longtime leader with Folk Alliance Region Midwest (FARM), who has served as both its board president and conference director. Innu Nikamu is a Quebec-based festival of Indigenous music and culture that has taken place for more than 30 years. Power, best known as the host of CBC Radio One’s Q program, is also a musician who performs and records with The Dardanelles, a Canadian folk band. Randall is a hit-making country music songwriter who has been a trailblazer in folk and country music. She’s also a college lecturer and the author of My Black Country, which she describes as both a memoir and a history.

“I owe my sanity to folk music,” said Randall in accepting the award. “In My Black Country, I tell the story of climbing out of the hell of being raped by holding on to the sound of John Prine singing “Angel From Montgomery.” Prine’s label, Oh Boy! Records, also released a collection of songs entitled My Black Country. Randall noted that her book “is about the Black folk, including Black folk musicians, who made country country.”

2025 Lifetime Achievement Award recipients included the folk-rock duo Indigo Girls (whose eponymous debut album won a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Recording 35 years ago), the late Black Appalachian musician Lesley Riddle, and the global roots magazine Songlines. During the awards show, singer-songwriters Rose Cousins and Mary Bragg performed “Galileo,” one of the Indigo Girls’ hit songs, in tribute to the duo, while Black indigenous Canadian singer-songwriter Julian Taylor performed “Red River Blues” in tribute to Riddle.

Accepting the Legacy Lifetime Achievement Award on behalf of Riddle, who died in 1980 at age 75, Randall referred to him as a founder of country music and a practitioner of folk who collected and taught the Carter Family a lot of songs. “Tonight, Folk Alliance corrects an almost 100 year-old wrong” by recognizing him.

“We need folk music now more than ever,” said the Indigo Girls’ Emily Saliers in a pre-recorded video. “This Folk Alliance is a group that honors diversity, equity, inclusion, and access for all. Folk music is the music of truth telling. Amy [Ray] and I are, especially in this time, particularly honored to accept this award.” Echoing her sentiments, Ray urged folks to “Please stand up with us and make your voices heard in these times … Day by day, song by song, we can make this world a better place.”

Accepting a Lifetime Achievement Award on behalf of Songlines, James Anderson-Hanney, its publisher, said: “I think we’re the last world music magazine on the planet.” The UK-based, glossy bimonthly that comes with CD is currently celebrating its 25th anniversary.Leading Quebecois folk ensemble Le Vent Du Nord, a 2023 Songlines award recipient, performed in honor of the magazine.

Five Inducted Into Folk Radio Hall of Fame

Eight years ago, Folk Alliance International established a Folk Radio Hall of Fame in order to recognize folk DJs and music directors for the vital role that they play by sharing the music with their listeners. Wanda Fischer, Longtime host of The Hudson River Sampler on WAMC Radio in Albany, New York and herself an inductee in the Hall of Fame, recognized this year’s inductees, while a video featuring visuals and information about them was also screened. The 2025 inductees include Taylor Caffery, Matthew Finch, Archie Fisher, MarySue Twohy, and Chuck Wentworth.

Taylor Caffery, a native of New Orleans, Louisiana, has been the host Hootenanny Power of WRKF Public Radio in Baton Rouge, LA since it began airing in 1981. He’s also been recognized with WRKF’s Founder’s Award (2022) and with the Kari Estrin Founding President’s Award during the 2024 Southeast Regional Folk Alliance (SERFA) Conference.

Matthew Finch, who left our world unexpectedly in July 2024, was a beloved figure in New Mexico’s music scene, who devoted more than 20 years to KUNM in Albuquerque as its music director, and as a tireless advocate for local musicians. Through the programs Ear to the Ground and Studio 55, he created platforms for regional artists to share their music, showcasing live performances and celebrating the diversity of the state’s music community.

Archie Fisher hosted BBC Radio Scotland’s award-winning Traveling Folk program for 27 years – promoting artists and musicians of the folksong revival throughout the British Isles. A talented artist in his own right, he also hosted studio sessions and interviews with such notable American and Canadian artists as Joan Baez, Judy Collins, David Francey, and James Keelaghan. Queen Elizabeth II presented him with a MBE in 2006 for his services to music.

MarySue Twohy is a program director at SiriusXM, who currently manages The Village, its folk channel, among others. She conducts artist interviews and produces a wide array of radio programs. Formerly an artist herself, she moved into broadcasting by hosting a two-hour program 20 years ago and quickly rose to PD. She also served on the FAI board of directors for seven years and continues to serve on national music committees, and to participate in conference panels and as a songwriting contest judge.

Chuck Wentworth, who passed away last year, was a revered figure on the New England music scene – best known for his long-standing contributions as both a radio show host and a festival producer. He began hosting a folk radio show on WRIU-FM, the college radio station at the University of Rhode Island, while he was a student and Traditions aired for 38 years. He also served as the station’s folk and roots music director and expanded its folk programming from one show to five nights a week. Wentworth was also the founder and producer of the Rhythm & Roots Festival, a three-day music and dance festival in Rhode Island.

[Here’s a link to view the International Folk Music Awards Show, which also was livestreamed via YouTube and was available for viewing via Folk Alley and NPR Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVE29BZ6fBg

The International Folk Music Awards was just one part, albeit an important one, of the 37th annual Folk Alliance International Conference that extended from February 19-23 and drew nearly 2,500 attendees. In addition to more than 2,700 showcases featuring more than 700 acts (including 183 juried official showcases plus many more showcases extending into the early morning hours), the conference included a keynote conversation with Allison Russell and Ann Powers [see below], Black American Music and International Indigenous Music Summits, a one-day legal summit, 45 panel discussions and workshops, a number of affinity and peer group sessions, six film screenings and discussions, lobby jams, meetings of FAI’s regional affiliates, a town hall meeting on P2 Visas – Working Through Parity at the Canada/US Border, a popular Meet the Folk DJs session, morning yoga, an exhibit hall, agent-presenter speed networking sessions, and lots of other networking opportunities.

Artist & Activist Allison Russell Engages in Keynote Conversation with Music Journalist Anne Powers

Allison Russell — a widely acclaimed singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer and activist –- returned to her hometown to engage in an hour-long keynote conversation with Anne Powers, a critic and correspondent for NPR Music. A soulful, Nashville, Tennessee-based, Montreal-born Scottish Grenadian Canadian, Russell is the recipient of more than a dozen awards. These include a Grammy Award for Best American Roots Music Performance for Eve Was Black,” a single off of her sophomore solo recording, Returner released in September 2023), Juno Awards for Contemporary Album of the Year (for her solo debut, Outside Child – 2022) and Music Video of the Year (for “Demons,” 2024), six UK Americana Music Awards, four Canadian Folk Music Awards, and two Americana Music Honors & Awards. In 2022, Folk Alliance International members voted Russell’s solo debut as Album of the Year and her as Artist of the Year. Outside Child was also named Contemporary album of the Year in the 2022 Canadian Folk Music Awards, while she was named Songwriter of the Year and New/Emerging Artist of the Year in recognition of the emotion-laden album featuring 11 original songs “about resilience and survival, transcendence and the redemptive power of art, community, connection, and chosen family.”

Russell has previously spoken of the abuse and trauma that she faced in her youth and the major role that music has played in helping her to overcome it .In her conversation with Powers, she recalled how, at age 15, while unhoused, she slept in the pews at a church just a few blocks from Le Sheraton Centre.

Asked about her latest album, 2023’s The Returner, she noted how she had been a challenged, broken yet brave girl. “”We come from long, broken lines of survivors. We’re all miracles. We’re all returners. We are all overcoming things.”

Much of her on-stage conversation with Powers focused on her recent portrayal of Persephone in Anais Mitchell’s award-winning Broadway musical, Hadestown. Russell noted that it was her first professional acting role and that she had not acted since performing in a Shakespearean play while in high school.

Sharing her reflections on Hadestown just days after she concluded her 50-week run as Persephone and in keeping with the “Illuminate” theme of the conference, she said: Persephone is Hades’ only source of light, of illumination in the underworld. She was the light in his life.”

Playing a mythic goddess in this time took on new connotations, she acknowledged, citing “the current fear-mongering administration in Washington” and “the bigotry and bias that can really harm communities.”

Referring to herself as “a geriatric millennial,” Russell said: “When I came up 24 years ago, there weren’t too many others who looked liked me.” Acknowledging that “our [folk] community is growing more diverse,” she spoke of being a curator during the 2021 Newport Folk Festival tasked with featuring Black and Black & queer women and their allies in the center of a 90-minute set focused on roots and revolution. ”What could be more beautiful than to be conscious, to be mindful [woke],” said Russell, noting that she’s “a queer woman who somehow married a white man with a guitar.”

Prior to embarking on her solo career, Russell was a co-founder of Our Native Daughters and Birds of Chicago and was part of Po’ Girl.

[Here’s a link to view a video recording of the keynote conversation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_ne2-baY8g.]

Folk Alliance International (folk.org) is a nonprofit organization that aims to serve, strengthen, and engage the global folk music community through preservation, presentation and promotion.

Extending from 3-6 p.m. EST, the 2021 Folk DJ Emerging Artist Showcase is hosted by Folk Music Notebook, an online radio station showcasing a wide array of folk music 24/7 since May 2019. The showcase premieres with a video stream on its YouTube channel (Here is a direct link to view the video: https://youtu.be/ZOAHIRHvTb8], while there will also be a separate audio stream at www.FolkMusicNotebook.com.

Inspired by the Folk DJ Showcase that was started in 2003 at the annual Northeast Regional Folk Alliance (NERFA) Conference by Rich Warren (the former longtime host of The Midnight Special on Chicago’s WFMT that is also nationally syndicated) and the late Suzi Wollenberg, this virtual showcase will carry on the tradition that was interrupted with the cancellation of the November event due to the COVID-19 pandemic, notes Ron Olesko, a veteran folk DJ who founded and curates Folk Music Notebook.

Realizing that the NERFA Conference would not be taking place, Olesko contacted fellow DJs John Platt, Joe Pszonek and Bruce Swan to discuss doing something online in its place. “We brainstormed and came up with this virtual showcase, and I think what all the DJs have created will remind viewers and listeners of the spirit of the guerrilla Folk DJ Showcase that has been part of NERFA since 2003,” said Olesko. “If this event is well received, we might try another in the spring with other DJs from around the United States and Canada. The talent in our community continues to astound me, and I predict that the artists who are participating in this event will soon become audience favorites.”

Referring to the Folk DJ Showcase as a highlight of the NERFA Conference for a couple of decades, Platt, host of Sunday Supper on WFUV in New York, recalls “first getting turned on to [Canadian singer-songwriter] Rose Cousins and being gratified by the response to artists like [eclectic NY-based alt-roots-Americana band] Spuyten Duyvil that I introduced.” He believes “The lineup here is equally strong, and the beauty is you don’t have to pay for registration or have a hotel room to enjoy them.”

Here is the list of DJs and the artists whom they will be presenting (in order of appearance):

A number of booking agencies whose rosters include folk and roots artists were among the more than 300 exhibitors in the large EXPO Hall. The conference also featured networking opportunities galore, daily plenary sessions and keynote speakers, an awards ceremony, a town hall on the artist as activist, and a wide array of professional development workshops and forums.

The theme for 2019 was The Power of WE and highlighted the collective strength and the influence of the performing arts in the world. As Mario Garcia Durham, APAP’s president and CEO, noted in welcoming conference attendees: “At APAP, we celebrate both the impact of our work and the opportunity for each one of us to draw energy, ideas and inspiration from it. Our strength as an industry comes from the everyday efforts of individuals in this field, and our collective power – The Power of WE – that fuels us as performing arts professionals.”

Showcases of Note Took Place at the Host Hotel and at Venues Around New York City

More than 1,000 showcases (music, dance, theater, comedy, and more) took place both at the New York Hilton Midtown, the conference hotel, and at venues throughout Manhattan. A few also were set in other New York City boroughs.

January 4: As he has for the last two years, composer, banjoist and producer Jayme Stone curated an eclectic roots music showcase at the host hotel that extended from the late afternoon into the evening. Called the Secret Agents APAP Showcase, it featured a number of notable, primarily self-managed touring artists. As Stone told AcousticMusicScene.com last January, he sought “to create a space for independent roots/world music artists to have their music heard by performing arts center directors and festival programmers. My goal was to make the cost slightly more affordable for artists and to create an opportunity for underrepresented artists to have a seat at the table. Most of the artists at our showcase do not have agents, which is rare at this conference.”

Kicking off the musical festivities was Eleanor Dubinsky, a soulful NYC-based singer songwriter, and her ensemble. Although I’d seen and previously been impressed by Dubinsky’s singing and song stylings in solo and duo performances, having an ensemble backing her added a whole new dimension to her performance. Next up, Stone debuted his New Art-Pop Project. Among the artists joining him on that was Moira Smiley, herself a gifted songwriter and vocalist, who, accompanied by her group, VOCO, had her own short showcase immediately afterwards entitled The Voice is a Traveler.

“2019 was my first time at Wavelengths, and that was a revelation to experience the small, fierce like-minded group of people interested in traditional arts,” she said, expressing appreciation to the pre-conference’s organizers for screening her promo video for her The Voice Is A Traveler show. In my view, it was the best of a number of short videos and video clips screened. As for the Secret Agents Showcase, Smiley said: “I love [them] for their absolute weirdness of variety. It reminds you how many worlds of entertainment here are – some intersecting not-one-bit with your own! Yet we’re all here making our dough with these sights and sounds.”

Also part of the Secret Agents Showcase were Taarka, a Colorado-based adventurous Americana trio whose sound is a blend of bluegrass, folk, gypsy jazz, and soul; American samba band Os Clavelitos; the energetic Northeastern Brazilian party music of accordionist Rob Curto’s Forro For All; and the joyous Brazilian bluegrass sounds of Matuto (fronted by Clay Ross), among others.

The evening’s musical gumbo also included the jazzy Brazilian Americana sounds of Max Hatt & Edda Glass; Hen’s Teeth, a cross-continental duo with Janie Rothfield (Staunton, VA) and Nathan Bontrager (Cologne, Germany); DuoDuo Quartet comprised of percussive dancer Nic Gareiss with harpist Maeve Glichrist, plus cellist Natalie Haas (who frequently performs with Alasdair Fraser) with her husband-guitarist Yann Falquet (from the Quebecois folk group Genticorum) – all of whom have toured internationally for years; Jenna Moynihan & Mairi Chaimbeaul, a fiddle and harp duo; and Mark Kilianski & Nate Sabat featuring a guitarist and songwriter from the duo Hoot & Holler and the bassist and songwriter from Mile Twelve, a Boston-based bluegrass band. Each of the preceding artists (with the exception of Simien) also joined Waldman in kicking-off the evening’s musical festivities with renditions of “Cluck Old Hen.” A welcome and unexpected highlight of the evening was Waldman’s pairing of harpists Gilchrist and Chaimbeaul for a tune as a twin-harp interlude between sets.

Although some parts of the roots music variety show’s format have remained the same, “it’s always evolving, sometimes in subtle ways, sometimes a little more dramatically,” Waldman noted. “O stage, I’ll sometimes mention a quote I’ve learned as a writer: no surprise to writer, no surprise to reader, which means if a writer is surprised what he or she is writing, which happens, it’s almost guaranteed the reader will be surprised. I think that’s a good thing. It means extra energy. I try to bring that mindset to the show, and have actively encouraged collaborations, which brings an element of the unknown. If the musicians are not 100% sure what’s going to happen next, the audience won’t know either.”

The same lineup of artists who performed at Don’t Tell Mama also showcased their talents the previous night at Brooklyn’s Jalopy Theater. “One of the evolutions in the show was [that] we began booking Thursday night at the Jalopy Theater in Red Hook, which served not only as a public event (on Friday we only market to APAP attendees), but also as a run-through for Friday,” said Waldman.

While I was enjoying the music at Don’t Tell Mama, the Americana Music Association sponsored a showcase concert at Rockwood Music Hall on the Lower East Side featuring singer-songwriter Caitlin Canty with special guests Oshima Brothers, while Smithsonian Folkways recording artists Anna & Elizabeth (who have previously been part of Waldman’s roots music variety shows) shared their innovative, modern arrangements of old-time Appalachian music at Joe’s Pub; The Klezmatics played Irridium, a midtown jazz club; and the Seamus Egan Project (featuring one of the most influential artists in contemporary Irish music) showcased at the New York Hilton, as did Switchback, the Celtic and Americana duo of Brian Fitzgerald and Martin McCormick. A multimedia concert by Seamus Egan’s seminal band Solas was a highlight of a previous APAP Conference.

January 5: My Saturday afternoon is traditionally filled with Celtic showcases at the hotel, and it would have been this year had I not opted to remain on Long Island to emcee a concert that I’d helped to arrange. Among the artists who showcased their talents at the New York Hilton Midtown that day were ebullient New York-based jig-rockers The Prodigals and their alter egos Acoustic Micks; Cherish The Ladies, the all-female Irish band fronted by Joannie Madden; Philadelphia-based Celtic roots band RUNA; and the young Irish trad trio Socks in the Frying Pan (from County Clare), whom I saw the next day.

Also showcasing their talents at the hotel on Saturday afternoon were Banjo Nickaru & Western Scooches and Sam Reider & Human Hands. Natalia Zukerman performed excerpts from The Women Who Rode Away, a multimedia show melding her talents as a songwriter, painter and storyteller. William Florian, formerly of The New Christy Minstrels, presented a taste of Those Were The Days: The Spirit and the Songs of the 1960s.

Tamara Kater of Toronto, Ontario- based Mavens Music Management reports that the showcase was well attended, with more than 100 people in the audience – about half of whom had APAP connections. “APAP is always rewarding, especially with the concurrent content of Wavelengths and GlobalFEST,” said Kater. “It’s inspiring and rewarding to meet such an array of presenters and artists all in one place, within a few days. Seeing the venues of New York and so many performances in such a compact amount of time is always a brilliant way to start off the new year.”

Also that evening, booking agency Madison House hosted a showcase at City Winery featuring Canadian singer-songwriter Rose Cousins, American singer-songwriter Willie Nile, and Madagascar-born singer-songwriter ad environmental activist Razia Said. Down at Rockwood Music Hall, The Blue Dahlia featuring Dahlia Dumont, a Brooklyn gal now living in Paris, who pens and sings songs in both English and French, appeared. Among the artists who showcased their talents at New York Hilton were Emmet Cahill (star of PBS’ Celtic Thunder) and the Jen Chapin Trio featuring the soulful urban folk singer-songwriter, her husband Stephan Crump on acoustic bass, and Jamie Fox on electric guitar.

January 6: Isle of Klezbos, a swinging all-female Klezmer sextet shared a bill and some members with the octet Metropolitan Klezmer (now celebrating its silver anniversary) as they performed some vintage instrumentals and Yiddish songs during Sunday brunch at City Winery. Although I enjoyed this last year, I skipped it this time. I also missed singer-songwriter Ellis Paul’s short early morning “Hero In You” showcase, during which he presented 15-minutes of excerpts from an award-winning educational program for children based on his CD and book of the same name that inspires youngsters to dream big.

I enjoyed several showcases that were part of Celebrate Our FOLK at Connolly’s Pub – Restaurant (Connolly’s Klub 45). The highlights were Kaia Kater and Kittel & Co.

Fronted by Jeremy Kittel — a virtuosic violinist, fiddler and composer — Kittel & Co. is an acoustic trio/string band with folk and jazz sensibilities whose sound also has Celtic, bluegrass and classical influences. Its recent release, Whorls, debuted at #1 on the Billboard bluegrass chart, while Kittel’s piece “Chrysalis” is among the nominees for a Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Composition.

Also on the bill were singer-songwriter Ashley Davis, Making Movies (a Kansas City, MO-based band whose music defies easy categorization and whose set I missed, although I’ve previously seen the band at a Folk Alliance International conference held in its hometown), and the previously mentioned Socks in the Frying Pan.

Later in the evening, Kater shared a bill at Rockwood Music Hall as part of Quicksilver Productions, Lost Buffalo Artists & Smithsonian Folkways Present: The Women of Folkways with label mates The Bright Siders (featuring singer-songwriter and percussive dancer Kristin Andreassen – formerly of Uncle Earl – and Brooklyn-based child psychiatrist Dr. Kari Groff who create music that helps children and families have meaningful conversations about emotions) and Lula Wiles (a Boston–based, harmonious trio made up of Isa Burke, Eleanor Buckland, and Mali Obamsawin, whose Smithsonian Folkways debut, What Will We Do, is released Jan. 25 and who I had the pleasure of introducing at a couple of festivals).

Among the artists showcasing their talents at the New York Hilton in the evening were The Everly Set: Sean Altman and Jack Skuller Celebrate The Everly Brothers and Sultans of String, award-winning genre-bending world music instrumentalists from Toronto. Vanaver Caravan, a troupe of dancers and musicians, presented nearly half an hour of excerpts from Turn Turn Turn Turn, a show featuring more than 20 of Pete Seeger’s most celebrated songs and timed to coincide with the centenary of the late folk icon’s birth. Li, who describes his music as urban folk, did not impress this writer, while a Folk Legends showcase featuring two former members of The Kingston Trio was cancelled due to illness.

Also during the conference, Sage Artists shared excerpts of Call Mr. Robeson: A Life, With Songs, while cast members from Lonesome Traveler: The Concert performed short musical excerpts from the show, along with narration that helps tell the story of American folk and folk-rock music from Woody Guthrie to Bob Dylan and beyond. Artists in various other musical genres also showcased their talents, while comedy, dance and theatrical showcases also were part of the mix.

Since there were no folk or roots music showcases of note on January 7, and the conference closed with a plenary session on the morning of January 8, I did not venture into NYC those days.

About the Association of Performing Arts Professionals (APAP)

Based in Washington, DC, APAP is a nonprofit national service, advocacy and membership organization dedicated to developing and supporting a robust performing arts presenting field and the professionals who work within it. The next APAP Conference is set for Jan. 10-14, 2020 in New York City. More information on the organization may be found on its website: www.apap365.org.

In the running for Contemporary Roots Album of the Year are Inuusiq (The Jerry Cans), The Weather Station (The Weather Station), Watershed (Amelia Curran), Bone On Bone (Bruce Cockburn), and Medicine Songs (Buffy Sainte-Marie).

Traditional Roots Album of the Year nominees include Jayme Stone’s Folklife (Jayme Stone), What We Leave Behind (The East Pointers), Illusion & Doubt (The Dead South), The Willow Collection (Cassie and Maggie), and Rove (Coig).

The Dead South (a Regina, Saskatchewan-based folk-bluegrass ensemble) and The Jerry Cans (a band from Iqualui, Nunavut, who fuse folk and country music with traditional Inuit throat singing) also are among the five nominees for Breakthrough Group of the Year. Amelia Curran, an award-winning singer-songwriter from St. John’s, Newfoundland, also is among the nominees for Songwriter of the Year — as is Rose Cousins, an award-winning singer-songwriter based in Halifax, Nova Scotia; both are previous JUNO Award recipients.

Medicine Songs by Buffy Sainte-Marie, a singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist known for her thought-provoking lyrics and her passionate advocacy for Aboriginal people, also is among the nominees for Indigenous Music Album of the Year. In addition to a music career spanning more than 50 years, Sainte-Marie has been a social activist, educator and philanthropist and has sought to protect indigenous intellectual property and championed indigenous artists and performers. In recognition of those efforts, she received the Alan Waters Humanitarian Award during last year’s JUNO Awards ceremonies.

A complete list of JUNO Awards nominees can be found, along with additional information, online at www.junoawards.ca.

Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit’s The Nashville Sound was named Best Americana Album, while “If We Were Vampires,” one of its original songs penned by Isbell, won the Grammy Award for Best American Roots Song. Isbell’s previous recording, Something More Than Fine, won the Grammy Award for Best Americana Album in 2016 and sported that year’s Best American Roots Song, ”24 Frames.” Also a six-time Americana Awards winner, the former Drive-By Trucker was previously named Artist of the Year and won Album and Song of the Year honors during the Americana Music Association’s 15th Annual Americana Honors & Awards Show in 2016. Last October, Isbell – who hails from Alabama and currently lives in Nashville, Tennessee – was named to be the official artist-in-residence at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.

Singer-songwriter Aimee Mann’s Mental Illness won Best Folk Album. Her first new studio recording in five years, it marks a return for Mann to a slower and more acoustic sound – with the focus on acoustic guitar, piano, and, of course, her voice — after she rocked out more on her previous album, 2012’s Charmed. That recording had harkened back more toward her days as the lead vocalist for rockers ‘Til Tuesday in the late 1980s.

The Infamous Stringdusters feature Andy Hall (dobro), Andy Falco (guitar), Chris Pandolfi (banjo), Jeremy Garrett (fiddle), and Travis Book (double bass). Although the band has received a number of International Bluegrass Music Awards over the years, this marked its first Grammy win – having previously been among the nominees for Best Country Instrumental Performance in 2011. Released on Compass Records last January, Laws of Gravity is The Infamous Stringdusters’ seventh studio album and was recorded while the band was on tour.

Rhonda Vincent & The Rage have won a bevy of awards overs the years from the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) and The Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music in America (SPBGMA). Hailed as the queen of bluegrass music, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Rhonda Vincent is an eight-time IBMA vocalist of the Year and multi-time SPBGMA Entertainer and Female Vocalist of the Year. Her bandmates include Hunter Berry (fiddle), Brent Burke (dobro). Mickey Harris (bass & vocals), Aaron McDaris (banjo), and Josh Williams (guitar & vocals).

Other Grammy Award winners in the American Roots Music Field include:

Best American Roots Performance: “Killer Diller Blues” (Alabama Shakes)

Best Traditional Blues Album: Blue & Lonesome (The Rolling Stones)

Best Contemporary Blues Album: TajMo (Taj Mahal and Keb’ Mo’)

Best Regional Roots Album: Kalenda (Lost Bayou Ramblers)

Outside of the American Roots Music Field, Chris Stapleton, a country music artist who has also garnered considerable folk and roots radio airplay, received Gammy Awards for both Best Country Song (“Broken Halos,” written with Mike Henderson0, Best Country album (From A Room; Volume 1) and Best Country Solo Performance (“Either Way”). A Kentucky-born singer-songwriter who formerly fronted The SteelDrivers, Stapleton has penned a number of songs that have topped the country music charts.

Americana Music Association, Folk Alliance International Hosted Pre-Grammy Events

On Saturday, Jan. 27, prior to the Grammy Awards, both the Americana Music Association and Folk Alliance International hosted celebratory events at popular NYC live music venues City Winery and Joe’s Pub, respectively. An Americanafest Pre-Grammy Salute to Emmylou Harris — who will be honored by The Recording Academy with a Lifetime Achievement Award later this year — was presented by the Americana Music Association and featured performances by Brandi Carlile, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Rodney Crowell, Steve Earle, Harris, Jack Ingram, Keb’ Mo’, and The Secret Sisters, among others. Hailing from northern Alabama, The Secret Sisters (Lydia and Laura Rogers) were among this year’s nominees for Best Folk Album and also shared their sisterly harmonies at Joe’s Pub during the afternoon, where Folk Alliance International honored past and present nominees in that category and other roots artists. Among the other artists at Joe’s Pub were Ashley Campbell (Glen’s daughter), Olivia Chaney of Ofa Rex (also a Best Folk album nominee), Rose Cousins (an award-winning Canadian singer-songwriter and the afternoon’s emcee), Michael Daves, bluesman Guy Davis (whose collaboration with Fabrizio Poggi on Sonny and Brownie’s Last Train earned a nomination for Best Traditional Blues Album), Anais Mitchell, and Dar Williams.

Americanafest is a six-day festival and conference celebrating American roots-inspired music that is put on by the Americana Music Association. Early registration is currently available for the next one that is set for Sept. 11-16 in Nashville and will feature educational panels and seminars, showcases at venues around the music city, and the annual Americana Honors & Awards Show. Established in 1999, the Americana Music Association is a professional trade association whose mission is to advocate for the authentic voice of American roots music throughout the world. For more information, visit www.americanamusic.org.

Folk Alliance International (www.folk.org) is a Kansas City, MO-based nonprofit organization that seeks to nurture, engage and empower the international folk music community – traditional and contemporary, amateur and professional – through education, advocacy and performance. It’s 30th annual conference is slated for Feb. 14-18, in Kansas City, MO, and will feature presentations by Mary Chapin Carpenter and Richard Thompson, the Louis Jay Meyers Music Camp, the International Folk Music Awards, the third annual Kansas City Folk Festival, artist showcases, workshops, panel discussions, film screenings, an exhibit hall, and more.

A platform for luminaries and rising stars, the annual conference is the world’s largest gathering of the folk music industry and community. Folk Alliance International’s Official Showcases are jury-selected nightly mini-concerts featuring emerging artists and touring legends from around the world. The performances are 30 minutes in length and are held concurrently on ten full-production stages throughout the host hotel over three nights.

More than 800 artists/acts applied for the opportunity to perform for hundreds of festival and venue bookers, agents, managers, labels, media, and music industry representatives. The curated showcases feature artists representing a diverse array of folk genres including Appalachian, Americana, bluegrass, blues, Cajun, Celtic, global roots, Indie-folk, indigenous, Latin, old time, traditional, singer-songwriter, spoken word, and every imaginable fusion.

Breakthrough artists from previous conferences include The Carolina Chocolate Drops, Darlingside, David Francey, John Fullbright, Kaia Kater, Lake Street Dive, The Milk Carton Kids, Nickel Creek, The Stray Birds, Valerie June, The Waifs, and The Wailin’ Jennys. Past showcase performances have also included guest appearances by Judy Collins, Béla Fleck, Rita Coolidge, Ron Sexsmith, Archie Fisher, Peggy Seeger, and more.

Bringing together musicians, educators, and music industry professionals from around the world, the Folk Alliance International Conference is known for its community atmosphere, business and networking opportunities, and as a hotspot for discovering new talent.

The 2018 conference will feature presentations by Mary Chapin Carpenter and Richard Thompson, the Louis Jay Meyers Music Camp, the International Folk Music Awards, and the third annual Kansas City Folk Festival. Celebrating 30 years of community and song, the conference will YEARS OF COMMUNITY AND SONG, honor the first three decades of the organization’s growth and activity, as well as the broader story of folk music during that time.

Folk Alliance International (www.folk.org) is a Kansas City, MO-based nonprofit organization that seeks to nurture, engage and empower the international folk music community – traditional and contemporary, amateur and professional – through education, advocacy and performance.

Editor’s Note: This article is based on a news release issued by Folk Alliance International, on whose board of directors I serve. I’m also board president of the Northeast Regional Folk Alliance (NERFA), one of its five regional affiliates, which holds it annual conference, Nov. 9-12, in Stamford, CT. I am not involved in the selection of Official Showcase artists.

MacLellan is an internationally touring folksinger-songwriter who — like last year’s winner, Rose Cousins — hails from Prince Edward Island. She was previously named English Songwriter of the Year in the 2012 Canadian Folk Music Awards and also has won a bevy of East Coast Music Awards and Music PEI Awards. Since releasing her solo debut album in 2004, MacLellan has perennially appeared on Canada’s Roots Music charts. She also was among the nominees for this year’s JUNO for Songwriter of the Year, an award that went to Bahamas.

The Bros. Landreth, a Winnipeg, Manitoba-based roots-rockin’ Canadiana quartet that includes two brothers, has been developing a reputation in the Canadian prairies and far beyond with its guitar-playing, vocal harmonies, heart-on-the-sleeve songwriting, love gone bad songs and cowboy lullabies.

Quique Escamilla’s 500 Years of Night was named World Music Album of the Year. Originally from Chiapas, Mexico, Escamilla is a Toronto-based Latin folk-rock troubadour and multi-instrumentalist whose socially conscious music also draws inspiration from reggae and various Mexican regional music styles. He was a featured performer during the closing party for the 2015 International Folk Alliance Conference in Kansas City, Missouri in late February.

Tanya Tagaq’s Animism received the JUNO Award for Aboriginal Album of the Year. The Inuit throat singer and Polaris Music Prize winner, was previously honored for Pushing The Boundaries in the 2014 Canadian Folk Music Awards and was a featured speaker at the annual Association of Performing Arts Presenters (APAP) Conference in New York City in January.

Leonard Cohen’s Popular Problems was named Album of the Year, while Sam Smith’s In The Lonely Hour captured International Album of the Year honors. A complete list of winners may be found at www.junoawards.ca.

Leonard Cohen, whose 12th studio album, Old Ideas, was released early last year and topped the charts in his native Canada as well as in many European countries, was named both Artist and Songwriter of the Year.

Now 78, Cohen released his first album, The Songs of Leonard Cohen, more than 45 years ago, after moving to the U.S. Through the years he has received a bevy of awards, honors and accolades. Notable among them are a 2010 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and earlier induction into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Canadian Folk Music Walk of Fame. The influential artist also was named a Companion of the Order of Canada, the country’s highest civilian honor. Last year, Cohen won the inaugural PEN Award for Song Lyrics of Literary Excellence and was the subject of a second published biography entitled I’m Your Man: The Life of Leonard Cohen, by Sylvie Simmons.

Rose Cousins received the Juno Award for Roots & Traditional Album of the Year – Solo for We Have Made a Spark, her third full-length studio release. The album topped the Roots Music Report folk radio charts for a number of weeks early last year and was among NPR Music’s top 10 folk and Americana albums of the year.

Born and raised on Prince Edward Island, Cousin, who is now active in the music communities in both Halifax and Boston, has made quite a spark in recent months. She was named Contemporary Singer of the Year in the 2012 Canadian Folk Music Awards last November (an honor she also received in 2010) while she took home three East Coast Music Awards last month for Folk Recording of the Year, Solo Recording of the Year and Songwriter of the Year. The latter award was in recognition of “Go First,” a piano ballad on the album that was also heard on an episode of the popular TV show Grey’s Anatomy last month.

Elliott Brood, a trio comprised of Mark Sasso, Casey LaForet and Stephen Pikin, won the Juno for Roots & Traditional album of the Year – Group for its September 2011 release, Days into Years. The band, whose members are now based in Hamilton and Toronto, released its first album, Ambassador, in 2005 and followed that up three years later with Mountain Meadows.

Other notable Juno Award winners included Mumford & Sons (International Album of the Year for Babel) and Lorraine Klaasen (World Music Album of the Year for Tribute to Miriam Makeba).

The Deep Dark Woods, a folk-rock, roots and alt-country band from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, who were touring outside the country, received the Contemporary Album of the Year award for The Place I Left Behind. The Fretless, a quartet whose music is a blend of Celtic, folk and chamber music and who were on tour in Germany, were named as both Instrumental Group of the Year and Ensemble of the Year for their album, Waterbound.

A total of 85 volunteer jurors selected the winners, with five separate jurors for each category, according to Grit Laskin, a veteran Canadian artist, guitar-maker and co-founder of Borealis Recording Company, a leading Canadian folk and roots music label, who also played a pivotal role in creating and organizing the Canadian Folk Music Awards.

The awards ceremony was the highlight of “Folk on the Water,” an event that also featured artist showcases on Thursday and Friday nights and Saturday afternoon, as well as the screening of folk films. The ceremony was punctuated with performances by singer-songwriter Carla Luft from Winnipeg, Manitoba; The Spinney Brothers, a bluegrass quartet from Nova Scotia; The Atlantic Ballet, and blues-roots guitarist and singer-songwriter Matt Andersen, who hails from Perth-Andover, a blue-collar village in New Brunswick. Harmonic virtuoso Mike Stevens joined both The Atlantic Ballet and Andersen on a song.

In one of the awards show’s moving segments, Cindy Church and Susan Crowe performed “All the Diamonds,” the title track of their late friend and colleague Raylene Rankin’s last solo album. Crowe noted that “She died as she lived – with grace and dignity. “ Acknowledging that she and Cindy were not certain about playing the awards show after Rankin’s death earlier this fall, Crowe said Rankin told them “Go out there; it’s all good; have some fun.” Quebecois folk trio Genticorum closed out the event, joined onstage for a lively musical finale by Matt Andersen, Benoit Bourque, Mike Stevens and Nova Scotia’s Cassie and Maggie MacDonald.

The Unsung Hero Award, recognizing exceptional contribution to the promotion, preservation and presentation of Canadian folk, roots and world music, was presented to Gerry Taylor, a music journalist in New Brunswick for more than 50 years. “I’m still pinching myself; I can’t believe it,” said Taylor, 79, in accepting the award. He has written about music for The Telegraph Journal in New Brunswick since 1958 and continues to write a half-page weekly column on folk and country music. An archive — sampler — of his written works may be found at www.gerrytaylor.thedrawlyn.com.

A complete list of Canadian Folk Music Award winners follows:

Traditional Album of the Year
Metis Fiddler Quartet – Northwest Voyage Nord Ouest

Contemporary Album of the Year
The Deep Dark Woods – The Place I Left Behind

Children’s Album of the Year
Henri Godon – Chansons pour toutes sortes

Traditional Singer of the Year
Lenka Lichtenberg – Songs for the Breathing Walls

Contemporary Singer of the Year
Rose Cousins – We Have Made a Spark

Instrumental Solo Artist of the Year
Trent Freeman – Rock Paper Scissors

Instrumental Group of the Year
The Fretless – Waterbound

Vocal Group of the Year
The Once – Row Upon Row of the People They Know

Ensemble of the Year
The Fretless – Waterbound

Solo Artist of the Year
Michael Jerome Browne – The Road is Dark

English Songwriter of the Year
Catherine MacLellan – Silhouette

French Songwriter of the Year
Mes Aieux – A l’aube du printemps

World Group/Artist of the Year
Sultans of String – MOVE

New/Emerging Artist of the Year
Pharis & Jason Romero – A Passing Glimpse

Producer of the Year
Ron Szabo – A Natural Fact (Steve Strongman)

Pushing the Boundaries
Sagapool – Sagapool

Young Performer of the Year
Lucas Chaisson

Innovator of the Year
Mike Stevens

Unsung Hero
Gerry Taylor

Established in 2005, the Canadian Folk Music Awards celebrates and promotes the breadth and depth of folk music in Canada.