Here’s a complete listing of the nominees in the American Roots Music Field, while select nominees in other categories of particular interest to readers of AcousticMusicScene.com are mentioned in a paragraph following that:

Best Americana Album:

Big Money – Jon Baptiste
Bloom – Larkin Poe
Last Leaf On The Tree – Willie Nelson
So Long Little Miss Sunshine – Molly Tuttle
Middle – Jesse Welles

Best Americana Performance:

“Boom” – Sierra Hull
“Poison In My Well” – Maggie Rose & Grace Potter
“Godspeed” – Mavis Staples
“That’s Gonna Leave A Mark” – Molly Tuttle
“Horses” – Jesse Welles

Best American Roots Performance:

“Lonely Avenue” — Jon Batiste (featuring Randy Newman)
“Ancient Light” – I’m With Her
“Crimson And Clay” – Jason isbell
“Richmond On The James” – Alison Krauss & Union Station
“Beautiful Strangers” – Mavis Staples

Best American Roots Song:

“Ancient Light” – Sarah Jarosz, Aoife O’Donovan & Sara Watkins, songwriters (I’m With Her)

“Big Money” – Jon Baptiste, Mike Elizondo & Steve McEwan, songwriters (Jon Baptiste)                                                              “Foxes In The Snow” – Jason Isbell, songwriter (Jason Isbell)                                                                                                              “Middle” – Jesse Welles, songwriter (Jesse Welles)                                                                                                                                  “Spitfire” – Sierra Hull, songwriter (Sierra Hull)

Best Bluegrass Album:

Carter & Cleveland – Michael Cleveland & Jason Carter Carter                                                                                                           A Tip Toe High Wire – Sierra Hull                                                                                                                                                  Arcadia – Alison Krauss & Union Station
Outrun – The Steeldrivers                                                                                                                                                                Highway Prayers –- Billy Strings

Best Folk Album:

What Did The Blackbird Say To The Crow – Rhiannon Giddens & Justin Robinson
Crown of Roses – Patty Griffin                                                                                                                                                              Wild And Clear And Blue – I’m With Her
Foxes In The Snow – Jason Isbell                                                                                                                                                      Under The Powerlines April 24-September 24 – Jesse Welles

Best Contemporary Blues Album:

Breakthrough – Joe Bonamassa                                                                                                                                                          Paper Doll – Samantha Fish
A Tribute To LJK – Eric Gales                                                                                                                                                        Preacher Kids – Robert Randolph                                                                                                                                                      Family – Southern Avenue

Best Traditional Blues Album:

Ain’t Done With The Blues – Buddy Guy
Room On The Porch – Taj Mahal & Keb’ Mo’                                                                                                                                      One Hour Mama: The Blues of Victoria Stivey – Maria Muldaur                                                                                                Look Out Highway – Charlie Musselwhite                                                                                                                                      Young Fashioned Ways – Kenny White Shepherd & Bobby Rush

Best Regional Roots Music Album:

Live At Vaughan’s – Corey Henry & The Treme Funktet
For Fat Man – Preservation Brass & Preservation Hall Jazz Band                                                                                            Church Of New Orleans  – Kyle Roussel                                                                                                                                            Second Line Sunday – Trombone Shorty And New Breed Brass Band                                                                                               A Tribute To The King Of Zydeco – Various Artists

Also of note: Nominees for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album include Bella Fleck, Edgar Castaneda & Antonio Sanchez for BEATrio, while Sierra Hull’s “Lord, That’s A Long Way” is in the running for Best Instrumental Composition. Angelique Kidjo’s “Jerusalema” is among the nominees for Best Global Music Performance. The soundtrack for A Complete Unknown, the Bob Dylan biopic, is nominated for Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media, while Joni Mitchell Archives – Volume 4: The Asylum Years – 1976-1980 is among the nominees for Best Historical album. Alison Krauss & Union Station’s Arcadia is up for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical. Nominees for Best Country Solo Album include Chris Stapleton’s Bad As I Used To Be and Tyler Childers’ Nose On The Grindstone. Stapleton also snagged a nominations for Best Country Song for both “A Song To Sing” (with Miranda lambert) and “Honky Tonk Hall of Fame” (with George Strait), while Childers is also nominated for Best Country Song for “Bitin’ List” and with Margo Price for Best Country Duo/Group Performance for “Love Me Like You Used To Do.” In total, nominees were named in 95 categories on November 7 from among recordings released between August 31, 2024 – August 30, 2025.

Voting members of the Recording Academy (grammy.com), who represent all genres and creative disciplines, select the GRAMMY Award winners. These members include recording artists, songwriters, composers, producers, mixers, and engineers. Dedicated to ensuring the recording arts remain a thriving part of our shared cultural heritage, the Academy honors music’s history while investing in its future through the GRAMMY Museum, advocates on behalf of music creators, supports music people in times of need through MusiCares, and celebrates artistic excellence through the GRAMMY Awards.

The GRAMMY Awards show will be broadcast live from Los Angeles’ Crypto.com Arena on Sunday, February 1, 2026 on the CBS Television Network and streaming on Paramount+ from 8-11:30 p.m. ET/5-8:30 p.m. PT. However, the winners in the American Roots Music Field and select others will be recognized prior to the telecast during the GRAMMY Awards Premiere Ceremony at the Peacock Theater that will be streamed live on live.GRAMMY.com and the Recording Academy’s YouTube channel at 3:30 p.m. ET/12:30 p.m. ET.

Editor’s Note: Please excuse the formatting issues with the listing of nominees in some categories.

[Here’s a link to enjoy the official video for “American Dreaming” by Sierra Ferrell: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=V8e9nbsq-18.]

“It’s so unusual for anyone to win four Grammys in any category,” Larry Groce, producer of the nationally syndicated radio show Mountain Stage on which Ferrell appeared in 2020, told Charleston, WV television station WSAZ3. “We watched her grow up and watched her perform when she was a teenager and watched her grow into what she is now.”

For a profile in Rolling Stone magazine last year, Ferrell –- whose music is an eclectic mix of bluegrass, folk, gypsy jazz, honky-tonk country, and old-time — said: “I want to let other people know, younger generations coming up, that you can do whatever you want… Don’t think you only have to be one way. You can be it all.”

Ferrell’s interest in music was stirred at an early age. Raised by a single mom, she played clarinet and sang in her school choir as a child and was a vocalist with a Grateful Dead cover band during her teens. However, she particularly enjoyed 90s folk-rock while growing up and also picked up the guitar and fiddle. While in her 20s, Ferrell, now 36, traveled cross-country by train — playing freight-train boxcars, truck stops and alleyways, and busking on the streets of New Orleans, Louisiana and Seattle, Washington.

After self-releasing two albums – Pretty Magic Spell (2018) and Washington by the Sea (2019), which she sold while busking and via Bandcamp, she drew the attention of producer Gary Paczosa during one of her frequent live performances during Honky Tonk Tuesdays at Nashville’s American Legion Post 82. With his assistance, she signed to Rounder Records in 2019. Trail of Flowers, released last March, is her second full-length recording for the label following 2021’s critically acclaimed Long Time Coming, an album that also featured Billy Strings and Sarah Jarosz. In addition to those two notable artists, Ferrell has collaborated with The Black Keys, Zach Bryan, Lukas Nelson (Willie’s son), Old Crow Medicine Show, Margo Price, and Post Malone (with whom she is slated to open some shows later this year).

Gillian Welch & David Rawlings, Billy Strings, Kacey Musgraves, and Chris Stapleton Also Win Grammys.

Besides Ferrell, winners in the Grammy Awards’ American Roots Music Field included Gillian Welch & David Rawlings for Best Folk album (Woodland), Billy Strings for Best Bluegrass Album (Live Vol. 1, and Kalani Pe’a for Best Regional Roots Music Album (Kuini). Other roots artists awarded Grammys included Kacey Musgraves for Best Country Song (“The Architect”), Chris Stapleton for Best Country Solo Performance (“It Takes a Woman”), and Ruthie Foster for Best Contemporary Blues Album (Mileage). Musgraves and Stapleton also were among the nominees for Best Country Album, an award that went to Beyonce for Cowboy Carter, while Musgraves also was in the running for Country Solo Performance and with Madi Diaz for Best Americana Performance.

A list of winners in the GRAMMY Awards’ American Roots Music Field follows, while the complete list of award recipients may be found at grammy.com.

Best American Roots Performance: “Eve Was Black” – Allison Russell

Best American Roots Song: “Cast Iron Skillet” – Jason Isbell, songwriter (Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit)

Best Americana Album: Weathervanes – Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit

Best Americana Performance: “Dear Insecurity” – Brandy Clark (featuring Brandi Carlile)

Best Bluegrass Album: City of Gold – Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway

(Note: Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway also won in this category last year for Crooked Tree.)

Best Folk Album: Joni Mitchell At Newport (Live) – Joni Mitchell

Best Contemporary Blues Album: Blood Harmony – Larkin Poe

Best Traditional Blues Album: All My Love For You – Bobby Rush

Best Regional Roots Music Album: New Beginnings – Buckwheat Zydeco Jr. & The Legendary Ils Sont Partis Band and Live: Orpheum Theater Nola – Lost Bayou Ramblers & Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra (Tie)

Winners in other categories of potential interest to AcousticMusicScene.com readers included Bela Fleck for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album (As We Speak) and Best Global Music Performance (“Pashto”); Blind Boys of Alabama for Best Roots Gospel Album (Echoes of the South); Chris Stapleton for Best Country Solo Performance (“White Horse”) and Best Country Song (“White Horse”) with co-writer Dan Wilson; Lainey Wilson for Best Country Album (Bell Bottom Country); Zach Bryan featuring Kacey Musgraves for Best Country Duo/Group Performance (“I Remember Everything”); and John Carter Cash, Tommy Emmanuel, Markus Illko, Janet Robin, and Roberto Luis Rodriguez, arrangers (The String Revolution featuring Tommy Emmanuel) for Best Arrangement , Instrumental or A Cappella (“Folsom Prison Blues”).

The Recording Academy represents the voices of performers, songwriters, producers, engineers, and all music professionals. Dedicated to ensuring the recording arts remain a thriving part of our shared cultural heritage, the Recording Academy honors music’s history while investing in its future through the GRAMMY Museum, advocates on behalf of music creators, supports music people in times of need through MusiCares, and celebrates artistic excellence through the GRAMMY Awards.

Here are the nominees in the America Roots Music Field as announced via a livestream on November 23. Winners in these categories will likely be announced just prior to the star-studded Grammy Awards show that airs on CBS television stations across The United States. Check your local TV listings.

Best American Roots Performance:

• “Cry” – Jon Batiste
• “Love and Regret” – Billy Strings
• “I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free” – The Blind Boys Of Alabama & Béla Fleck
• “Same Devil” – Brandy Clark Featuring Brandi Carlile
• “Nightflyer” – Allison Russell

Best American Roots Song:

• “Avalon” – Rhiannon Giddens, Justin Robinson & Francesco Turrisi, songwriters (Rhiannon Giddens With Francesco Turrisi)
• “Call Me A Fool” – Valerie June, songwriter (Valerie June Featuring Carla Thomas)
• “Cry” – Jon Batiste & Steve McEwan, songwriters (Jon Batiste)
• “Diamond Studded Shoes” – Dan Auerbach, Natalie Hemby, Aaron Lee Tasjan & Yola, songwriters (Yola)
• “Nightflyer” – Jeremy Lindsay & Allison Russell, songwriters (Allison Russell)

Best Americana Album:

• Downhill from Everywhere – Jackson Browne
• Leftover Feelings – John Hiatt with The Jerry Douglas Band
• Native Sons – Los Lobos
• Outside Child – Allison Russell
• Stand for Myself – Yola

Best Bluegrass Album:

• Renewal – Billy Strings
• My Bluegrass Heart – Béla Fleck
• A Tribute to Bill Monroe – The Infamous Stringdusters
• Cuttin’ Grass – Vol. 1 (Butcher Shoppe Sessions) – Sturgill Simpson
• Music is What I See – Rhonda Vincent

Best Traditional Blues Album:

• 100 Years of Blues – Elvin Bishop & Charlie Musselwhite
• Traveler’s Blues – Blues Traveler
• I Be Trying – Cedric Burnside
• Be Ready When I Call You – Guy Davis
• Take Me Back – Kim Wilson

Best Contemporary Blues Album:

• Delta Kream – The Black Keys featuring Eric Deaton & Kenny Brown
• Royal Tea – Joe Bonamassa
• Uncivil War – Shemekia Copeland
• Fire It Up – Steve Cropper
• 662 – Christine “Kingfish” Ingram

Best Folk Album:

• One Night Lonely [Live] – Mary Chapin Carpenter
• Long Violent History – Tyler Childers
• Wednesday [Extended Edition] – Madison Cunningham
• Theyr’e Calling Me Home – Rhiannon Giddens with FranciscoTurrisi
• Blue Heron Suite – Sarah Jarosz

Best Regional Roots Music Album:

• In New Orleans! – Sean Ardoin and Kreole Rock and Soul
• Bloodstains & Teardrops – Big Chief Monk Boudreaux
• My People – Cha Wa
• Corey Ledet Zydeco – Corey Ledet Zydeco
• Kau Ka Pe’a – Kalani Pe’a

Also of note: Folk-rock and Americana singer-songwriter Brandi Carlile — who was the big winner in the American Roots Music Field during the 61st annual Grammy Awards in February 2019, with Grammy Awards for Best American Album, Best American Roots Performance and Best American Roots Song — is in the running for Grammys for Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance for “Right On Time,” while “A Beautiful Noise,” a co-write with Ruby Amanfu, Brandy Clark, Alicia Keys, Hillary Lindsey, Lori McKenna, Linda Perry & Hailey Whitters that she recorded with Keys is also up for Song of the Year. Black Pumas are in the running for Best Rock Performance (“Know You Better” – Live from Capitol Studio A) and Best Rock Album (Capitol Cuts – Live from Studio A). Joni Mitchell Archives, Vol. 1: The Early Years (1963-1967), produced by Patrick Milligan & Joni Mitchell, is among the nominees for Best Historical Album, while Girl From The North Country (Simon Hale, Conor McPherson, Dean Sharenow, and Bob Dylan) is in the running for Best Musical Theater Album. Chris Stapleton is among the nominees for Best Country Solo Performance (“You Should Probably Leave”), Best Country Album (Starting Over) and Best Country Song (“Cold” a co-write with Dave Cobb, J.T. Cure, and Derek Mixon). Jason Isbell is also in the running for Best Country Solo Performance (“All I Do is Drive’), while Sturgill Simpson’s The Ballad of Dodd & Juanita is among the nominees for Best Country Album.

The Recording Academy (grammy.com) represents the voices of performers, songwriters, producers, engineers, and all music professionals. Dedicated to ensuring the recording arts remain a thriving part of our shared cultural heritage, the Academy honors music’s history while investing in its future through the GRAMMY Museum, advocates on behalf of music creators, supports music people in times of need through MusiCares, and celebrates artistic excellence through the GRAMMY Awards.

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.

Isbell, who took home trophies for his 2015 release, Something More Than Free, and for the song “24 Frames,” is now a six-time Americana Award winner. The former Drive-By Trucker had snagged the most nominations (three) earlier this year. Isbell thanked Amanda Shires, his wife and fellow artist, for helping to keep him grounded amid his artistic success. “If you can, keep people around you who will tell you when you’ve done something awful, whether it’s in a song or in your personal life, and listen to them if at all possible,” he said while accepting the award for Song of the Year.

Here’s a link to a lyric video for Isbell’s “24 Frames”:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtgPeNKpnyw

Stapleton, a Kentucky-born singer-songwriter, who has co-written six number one country music hit songs and formerly fronted The SteelDrivers, was hailed for his 2015 solo debut Traveller. The critically acclaimed album that also topped the Billboard Top 200 charts and landed him appearances on several late-night television shows, also received a Grammy Award earlier this year for Best Country Album, while Traveller was named 2015 Album of the Year by the Country Music Association (CMA). Stapleton also won a Grammy Award this year for Best Country Solo Performance and was named CMA’s Male Vocalist of the Year and New Artist of the Year in 2015. During the Americana Honors & Awards show, he expressed thanks to all the Americana radio stations, noting: “It’s been a big part of what we’ve been doing.”

Here’s a link to hear the title track of Chris Stapleton’s solo debut album:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kBnFgLP8po

Other winners of Americana Music Association member-voted awards included Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell (Duo/Group of the Year for a second time), Margo Price (Emerging Artist of the Year), and Sara Watkins (Instrumentalist of the Year).

Lifetime Achievement Award recipients included Shawn Colvin (Trailblazer), William Bell (Songwriting), Bob Weir (Performance), Jim Lauderdale (WagonMaster), Woody Guthrie (President’s Award) and Billy Bragg (“Spirit of Americana” Free Speech in Music Award, co-presented by the First Amendment Center). On behalf of the Guthrie family, a President’s Award in Honor of Woody Guthrie was presented to Lucinda Williams.

Hosted by Lauderdale for the 14th consecutive year and featuring an all-star band led by Buddy Miller, the Americana Awards and Honors show also featured musical tributes to several luminary artists who died in the past year: Guy Clark, Merle Haggard, Ralph Stanley and Allen Toussaint. The show was a highlight of “AmericanaFest,” the Americana Music Festival and Conference, which extended from September 20-25 and featured lots of learning and networking opportunities as well as musical entertainment at various venues throughout the Music City.

Established in 1999, the Americana Music Association is a professional trade association dedicated to building and promoting the Americana genre and the individuals who participate in the industry. For more information, visit www.americanamusic.org.

With nods for Album of the Year, Artist of the Year and Song of the Year, former Drive-By Trucker Jason Isbell snagged the most nominations. Williams, Price, Chris Stapleton and Nathaniel Rateliff & The Nightsweat each were nominated in two categories.

Here’s a complete listing of the nominees for the 15th annual American Honors & Awards:

Album of the Year

Something More Than Free, Jason Isbell, produced by Dave Cobb
The Ghosts of Highway 20, Lucinda Williams, produced by Greg Leisz, Tom Overby and Lucinda Williams
The Very Last Day, Parker Millsap, produced by Parker Millsap and Gary Paczosa
Traveller, Chris Stapleton, produced by Dave Cobb and Chris Stapleton

Artist of the Year

Jason Isbell
Bonnie Raitt
Chris Stapleton
Lucinda Williams

Duo/Group of the Year

Alabama Shakes
Emmylou Harris & Rodney Crowell
Lake Street Dive
The Milk Carton Kids
Tedeschi Trucks Band

Emerging Artist of the Year

Leon Bridges
John Moreland
Margo Price
Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats

Song of the Year

“24 Frames” Jason Isbell
“Dime Store Cowgirl” Kacey Musgraves
“Hands Of Time” Margo Price
“S.O.B.” Nathaniel Rateliff & The Nightsweats

Instrumentalist of the Year

Cindy Cashdollar
Stuart Duncan
Jedd Hughes
Sara Watkins

The winners of these six Americana Music Association member-voted awards will be announced during a September 21 Americana Honors and Awards show at the historic Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, TN. The event is a highlight of “AmericanaFest,” the Americana Music Festival and Conference, which extends from September 20-25. AmericanaFest features lots of learning, networking and musical entertainment at various venues throughout the Music City

Established in 1999, the Americana Music Association is a professional trade association dedicated to building and promoting the Americana genre and the individuals who participate in the industry. For more information, visit www.americanamusic.org.

The five-piece band — comprised of veteran songsmiths and session musicians Mike Henderson (mandolin and vocals), Chris Stapleton (guitar and vocals), Richard Bailey (banjo) Tammy Rogers (fiddle and vocals) and Mike Fleming (bass and baritone harmony vocals) — were honored for their eponymous debut album, which was released by Rounder Records early last year. The Steeldrivers, who have more than 100 years of musical experience between them and perform what they refer to as “new music with the old feeling,” were recognized, along with winners in 19 other categories, during an Oct. 7 reception at Nashville’s Cannery Ballroom.

Established to recognize outstanding contributions in all genres of music, while celebrating the diversity and quality of artists and music professionals who call Nashville home, the Nashville Music Awards are presented by the nonprofit Leadership Music in partnership with the Next Big Thing music festival and conference.