Poss frequently acknowledged that he didn’t have a very conventional career path. “I used to joke that I had the perfect qualifications for being in the music business,” Poss once wrote. “I had no business training; in fact, no formal music background either but I teach Sociology of deviant Behavior.”

After graduating from Duke, he took a position with County Records in Floyd, Virginia. Poss and its owner, Dave Freeman, launched Sugar Hill Records in 1978, embracing what Poss called “contemporary music grounded in traditional music roots.” A self-described “wayward academic in an entrepreneurial role,” Poss assumed full control of the label in 1980, and moved it to Durham. He operated the label from there until its sale to Welk Music Group 20 years later. He became the group’s chairman in 2002. It’s now part of Concord Music, which also owns Rounder Records.

Among the many artists of note who recorded for Sugar Hill Records during Poss’ tenure were Pat Alger, Byron Berline, Ronnie Bowman, Sam Bush, Guy Clark, Mike Cross, Rodney Crowell, Jerry Douglas, Sara Evans, Cathy Fink, Butch Hancock, Hot Rize, The Infamous Stringdusters, Chris Hillman, Wanda Jackson, Sarah Jarosz, Robert Earl Keen, Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver, Lonesome River Band, Lyle Lovett, Nashville Bluegrass Band, Nickel Creek, Tim O’Brien, Dolly Parton, Dirk Powell, The Red Clay Ramblers, Peter Rowan, Ricky Skaggs, Darrell Scott, Marty Stuart, Bryan Sutton, Chris Thile, Townes Van Zandt, Doc Watson, and Jesse Winchester.

“The identity peg for Sugar Hill is having that traditional connection to contemporary music,” Poss Told Blue ridge Outdoors in 2008. “Some have taken to describing a ‘Sugar Hill Sound,” but I am not going to try to define that. To me, it’s what connect Doc Watson to Chris Thile, ricky skaggs to Guy Clark, Townes Van Zandt to dolly Parton. They all exhibit a rootedness in their contemporary expressions of music. I like it because the music comes from a place. It’s not prefabricated or manufactured.”

Douglas and Skaggs had been part of a bluegrass group called Boone Creek, whose One Way Track album was Sugar Hill’s first release in 1978. In a May 18 Facebook post, Douglas wrote of Poss: “His dream was to have a label that mirrored the same idea as Sam Phillips and his famous Sun label, which catered to a specific audience and created a new genre, Rockabilly Plus. Barry knew an audience was there for a specific form of music (bluegrass) and there were certain bands who could grow that audience and the music would evolve with the growth of that audience.”

Douglas, who also produced a number of recordings for Sugar Hill Records, noted that he and Poss were “very close friends. Confidants really. He was like my wingman and brother at any event we collided with. We would spend hours talking about the direction of the music and the parameters he wanted his label to maintain no matter the current climate.” Poss was also godfather to Douglas’ daughter Nola. “Barry loved my family, and Jill and I, along with our children, will forever press his memory closer to our hearts.”

In addition to spending many years at the helm of Sugar Hill Records, Poss was a founding board member of the Bluegrass Hall of Fame & Museum in Owensboro, Kentucky and helped to launch the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA).

“Barry Poss was not just a champion of roots music and the artists that made it, but he was instrumental in the founding of our organization,” Ken White, IBMA’s executive director, said in a statement. “For that and so much more, we will always be grateful.”

Poss was a recipient of the IBMA’s Distinguished Achievement Award in 1998. The Americana Music Association also honored him with its Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006 in recognition of Sugar Hill’s pivotal role in both preserving and reinvigorating traditional music, while he was inducted into the Oak Ridge Music Hall of Fame in 2023.

Closer to home, Poss also served on the boards of the Carolina Theater, the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University, MerleFest, the North Carolina, Folklife Institute, and WUNC-FM.

While many artists and others have shared tributes to Poss since his passing, for his part Poss once said: “It’s the artists who make the music to which I’m the most indebted. They had something important to say. They needed to be heard. And I wanted to be part of their creative lives – because it mattered.”

Jon Batiste was the night’s big winner, taking home Grammys in five of the 11 categories in which he was nominated – including for Best American Roots Music Performance and Best American Roots Song for “Cry” and the coveted Album of the Year award for We Are. The pianist, composer and bandleader for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert also was honored for Best Music Video for “Freedom” (along with video director Alan Ferguson and video producer Alex P. Wilson) and Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media for composing the music for Soul, the Disney-Pixar animated film for which he previously won an Oscar for Best Original Score. He shared the latter award with Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross.

Other winners in the American Roots Music Field include:

Best Americana Album: Native Sons – Los Lobos
Best Bluegrass Album: My Bluegrass Heart – Béla Fleck
Best Traditional Blues Album: I Be Trying – Cedric Burnside
Best Contemporary Blues Album: 662 – Christine “Kingfish” Ingram
Best Folk Album: They’re Calling Me Home – Rhiannon Giddens with Francisco Turrisi
Best Regional Roots Music Album: Kau Ka Pe’a – Kalani Pe’a

Also of note: Angelique Kiddo’s Mother Nature won the Grammy Award for Best Global Music Album went to Angelique Kidjo for Mother Nature, while Joni Mitchell Archives, Vol. 1: The Early Years (1963-1967) was named Best Historical 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.

Besides its nomination for Best American Roots Music Performance for “Colors,” Black Pumas is also is nominated for two of the top Grammy Awards. The deluxe edition of the Austin, Texas-based psychedelic soul band’s eponymous debut album is among the nominees for Album of the Year, while “Colors” is up for Record of the Year. In addition to her nomination for Best American Roots Music Performance for “Short And Sweet,” singer-songwriter Brittany Howard, who formerly fronted Alabama Shakes, was nominated for Best Rock Performance and Best Rock Song (“Stay High”), Best Alternative Music Album (for her solo debut, Jaime) and Best R & B Performance (“Goat Head”).

Here’s a list of the nominees in the American Roots Music Field that were announced Nov. 24 during a first-ever livestream on Grammy.com:

Best American Roots Performance

• Colors (Black Pumas)
• Deep In Love (Bonny Light Horseman)
• Short And Sweet (Brittany Howard)
• I’ll Be Gone (Norah Jones & Mavis Staples)
• I Remember Everything (John Prine)

Best American Roots Song – a songwriter(s) award

• “Cabin” – Laura Rogers & Lydia Rogers, songwriters (The Secret Sisters)
• “Ceiling to the Floor” – Sierra Hull & Kai Welch, songwriters (Sierra Hull)
• ”Hometown” – Sarah Jarosz, songwriter (Sarah Jarosz)
• “I Remember Everything” – Pat McLaughlin & John Prine, songwriters (John Prine)
• “Man Without A Soul” – Tom Overby & Lucinda Williams, songwriters (Lucinda Williams)

Best Americana Album

• Old Flowers (Courtney Marie Andrews)
• Terms Of Surrender (Hiss Golden Messenger)
• World On The Ground (Sarah Jarosz)
• El Dorado (Marcus King)
• Good Souls Better Angels (Lucinda Williams)

Best Bluegrass Album

• Man On Fire (Danny Barnes)
• To Live In Two Worlds, Vol. 1 (Thomas Jutz)
• North Carolina Songbook (Steep Canyon Rangers)
• Home (Billy Strings)
• The John Hartford Fiddle Tune Project, Vol. 1 (Various Artists)

Best Traditional Blues Album

• All My Dues Are Paid (Frank Bey)
• You Make Me Feel (Don Bryant)
• That’s What I Heard (Robert Cray Band)
• Cypress Grove (Jimmy “Duck” Holmes)
• Rawer Than Raw (Bobby Rush)

Best Contemporary Blues Album

• Have You Lost Your Mind Yet? (Fantastic Negrito)
• Live At The Paramount (Ruthie Foster Big Band)
• The Juice (G. Love)
• Blackbirds (Bettye LaVette)
• Up And Rolling (North Mississippi Allstars)

Best Folk Album

• Bonny Light Horseman (Bonny Light Horseman)
• Thanks For The Dance (Leonard Cohen)
• Song For Our Daughter (Laura Marling)
• Saturn Return (The Secret Sisters)
• All The Good Times (Gillian Welch & David Rawlings)

52. Best Regional Roots Music Album

• My Relatives: Nikso’Kowaiks Pow-Wow Songs Recorded Live at Fort Collins (Black Lodge Singers)
• Cameron Dupuy And The Cajun Troubadours (Cameron Dupuy And The Cajun Troubadours)
• Lovely Sunrise (Nā Wai ʽEhā)
• Atmosphere (New Orleans Nightcrawlers)
• A Tribute To Al Berard (Sweet Cecilia)

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 Americana Album, Best American Roots Performance and Best American Roots Song — is in the running for Grammys for Best Song Written for Visual Media (“Carried Me With You” for Onward, co-written with Phil and Tim Hanseroth) and Best Country Song (“Crowded Table” for The Highwomen), co-written with bandmates Natalie Hemby and Lori McKenna. Hemby is also nominated in that category with co-writers Luke Dick and Miranda Lambert for “Bluebird,” recorded by Lambert on Wildcard, which is among the nominees for Best Country Album. Other nominees that may be of particular interest to AcousticMusicScene.com readers include Bela Fleck, whose Throw Down Your Heart: The Complete Africa Sessions” is nominated for Best Historical Album; Alastair Moock and Friends, whose Be A Pain: An Album for Young (and Old) Leaders is vying for Best Children’s Music Album; Grace Potter, whose “Daylight” is in the running for Best Rock Performance; and James Taylor, whose American Standard is up for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album. Nominees for Producer of the Year include Dave Cobb, who produced albums for Lori McKenna (The Balladeer), The Highwomen (The Highwomen), John Prine (I Remember Everything), Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit (Reunion), and William Prince (The Spark), among others. Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice is nominated in the Best Music Film category.

Lawrence Azerrad and Jeff Tweedy, art directors for Wilco’s Ode To Joy, are in the running for Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package. Brittany Howard’s aforementioned album, Jaime, is among the nominees for Best Engineered Album – non-classical (Brian Everett, engineer and mastering engineer) as are Sierra Hull’s 25 Trips (Shani Gandhi and Gary Paczosa, engineers; Adam Grover, mastering engineer) and Katie Pruitt’s Expectations (Gary Paczosa and Mike Robinson, engineers, Paul Blakemore, mastering engineer).

Yola, a 35 year-old rootsy British singer-songwriter who also was nominated for Best New Artist, received nods for Best American Roots Performance and Best American Roots Song for “Faraway Look” and Best Americana Album for Walk Through Fire. Her critically acclaimed debut solo album, released in February, was produced by Black Keys frontman Dan Auerbach (who is among the nominees for Producer of the Year). Yola showcased her talents at the Newport and Philadelphia Folk Festivals, SXSW, AmericanaFest, and Farm Aid, as well as such notable venues as the Hollywood Bowl during 2019.

Here are links to view the official video for “Yola’s “Faraway Look” and her performance of he song during the 2019 UK Americana Awards at which she was named UK Artist of the Year: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWTwuQ3LeH4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0IZBHegbA4

I’m With Her is a female trio comprised of Sarah Jarosz, Aoife O’Donovan, and Sara Watkins – each of whom is a talented singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist in her own right. The harmonic trio is nominated for both Best American Roots Performance and Best American Roots Song for ‘Call My Name,” which they co-wrote.

To listen to “Call My Name,” click on the following link:https://youtube.com/watch?v=gRZWhfuI6dQ“> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRZWhfuI6dQ

Here’s a list of the Grammy Award nominees in the American Roots Music Field:

Best American Roots Performance

Saint Honesty, Sara Bareilles
Father Mountain, Calexico and Iron & Wine
I’m On My Way, Rhiannon Giddens with Francesco Turrisi
Call My Name, I’m With Her
Faraway Look, Yola

Best American Roots Song

“Black Myself,” Amythyst Kiah, songwriter (Our Native Daughters)
“Call My Name,” Sarah Jarosz, Aoife O’Donovan & Sara Watkins, songwriters (I’m With Her)
“Crossing to Jerusalem,” Rosanne Cash & John Leventhal, songwriters (Rosanne Cash)
“Faraway Look,” Dan Auerbach, Yola Carter & Pat McLaughlin, songwriters (Yola)
“I Don’t Wanna Ride the Rails No More,” Vince Gill, songwriter (Vince Gill)

Best Americana Album
.
Years to Burn, Calexico and Iron & Wine
Who Are You Now, Madison Cunningham
Oklahoma, Keb’ Mo’
Tales of America, J.S. Ondara
Walk Through Fire, Yola

Best Bluegrass Album
.
Tall Fiddler, Michael Cleveland
Live in Prague, Czech Republic, Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver
Toil, Tears & Trouble, The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys
Royal Traveller, Missy Raines
If You Can’t Stand The Heat, Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen

Best Traditional Blues Album

Kingfish, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram
Tall, Dark & Handsome, Delbert McClinton & Self-Made Men
Sitting On Top of the Blues, Bobby Rush
Baby, Please Come Home, Jimmie Vaughan
Spectacular Class, Jontavious Willis

Best Contemporary Blues Album

This Land, Gary Clark Jr.
Venom & Faith, Larkin Poe
Brighter Days, Robert Randolph & The Family Band
Somebody Save Me, Sugaray Rayford
Keep On, Southern Avenue

Best Folk Album

My Finest Work Yet, Andrew Bird
Rearrange My Heart, Che Apalache
Patty Griffin, Patty Griffin
Evening Machines, Gregory Alan Isakov
Front Porch, Joy Williams

Best Regional Roots Music Album

Kalawai’anui, Amy Hānaiali’i
When It’s Cold – Cree Round Dance Songs, Northern Cree
Good Time, Ranky Tanky
Recorded Live at the 2019 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, Rebirth Brass Band
Hawaiian Lullaby, (Various Artists)

Also of note: Pete Seeger: The Smithsonian Folkways Collection is among the nominees for both Best Album Notes and Best Historical Album (Jeff Place and Robert Santelli, compilation producers). Among the five nominees for Best Musical Theater Album is Hadestown (Anais Mitchell & odd Sickafoose, producers; Anais Mitchell, composer & lyricist), while David Crosby – Remember My Name is in the running for Best Music – Film.

[Winners of the Americana Music Association’s member-voted awards, shown above (l.-r.): John Prine, Brandi Carlile, I’m With Her, The War and Treaty, and Chris Eldridge. Composite image courtesy of the Americana Music Association ]

Singer-Songwriter John Prine was the big winner in The 2019 Americana Honors & Awards that were presented on Wednesday, September 11 at the historic Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee. His 2019 release, The Tree of Forgiveness, was named Album of the Year, while “Summer’s End” was voted Song of the Year.

An internationally acclaimed singer-songwriter, Prine has been touring and plying his craft for nearly 50 years. The Tree of Forgiveness is his first collection of new material since his Grammy-winning 2005 release, Fair and Square. It was the most-played album on folk radio during 2018 and also featured the year’s top song (“Knockin’ On You Screen Door”), according to charts compiled from radio playlists submitted to FOLKDJ-L, an electronic discussion forum for DJs and others in all folk-based music on the radio. Prine also was nominated for three Grammy Awards in the American Roots Music field last year — including Best Americana Album and Best American Roots Song (for both “Knockin’ On Your Screen Door” and “Summer’s End).”

Produced by Dave Cobb, Prine’s The Tree of Forgiveness bested two other Cobb –produced albums – Amanda Shires’ To the Sunset and Lori McKenna’s The Tree – as well as British newcomer Yola’s Walk Through Fire, produced by Dan Auerbach.

“Summer’s End, –which Prine co-wrote with Pat McLaughlin– took top song honors over “By Degrees” by Mark Erelli, “Mockingbird” by Ruston Kelly, and “People Get Old” by Lori McKenna (who also was among the artists featured on Erelli’s song).

Artist of the Year honors went to Brandi Carlile, a folk-rock and Americana singer-songwriter, who also was the big winner in the American Roots Music Field during the 61st annual Grammy Awards presented by the Recording Academy in February at which her eighth album, By The Way, I Forgive You, was named Best Americana Album, while one of its tracks (“The Joke”) was named both Best American Roots Performance and Best American Roots Song. Carlile also is part of a newly-formed group called The Highwomen.

I’m With Her — the up-and-coming female Americana-folk trio comprised of Sarah Jarosz, Aoife O’Donovan and Sara Watkins –- was voted Duo/Group of the Year. Named as Emerging Act of the Year was The War and Treaty, the husband-and-wife duo of Michael and Tanya Trotter, who initially wowed folks when they filled in for Buddy Miller (who produced their album, Healing Tide) during the 2017 Americana Music Festival & Conference at Nashville’s Cannery Ballroom. In accepting the award on 9-11, the duo paid tribute to everyone suffering with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The custom-designed award for Instrumentalist of the Year was presented to Chris Eldridge, a guitarist and member of Punch Brothers, who also was a founding member of the bluegrass group The Infamous Stringdusters.

The recipients of the new Legacy of Americana Award, presented in partnership with the National Museum of African-American Music that is slated to open next year in Nashville, were Rhiannon Giddens and the late Frank Johnson. Giddens, honored for her “unstinting devotion to African-American folk tradition” currently performs solo as a powerhouse vocalist and as part of Our Native Daughters, a group of four female African-American artists that was among the nominees for Duo/Group of the Year. Formerly a founding member of the Grammy Award-winning Carolina Chocolate Drops, Giddens also accepted the award for Jackson. In doing so, she referred to him as “an inextricable part of American music [whose] legacy I carry and will, God willing, pass on in my time.”

AMERICANAFEST, which began Sept. 10, continues through Sept. 15. Filled with daytime panel discussions and seminars and evenings chock-full of artist showcases at venues throughout the Music City, the annual event attracts several thousand artists, music industry professionals and fans.

Established in 1999, the Americana Music Association is a professional not-for-profit trade association whose mission is to advocate for the authentic voice of American roots music around the world. For more information, visit www.americanamusic.org.

With two nods each, Lori McKenna, John Prine, The War and Treaty, and Yola lead the list of nominees. Both McKenna and Prine received nominations for Album of the Year (The Tree and The Tree of Forgiveness, respectively – both produced by Dave Cobb) and Song of the Year (McKenna’s “People Get Old” and Prine and Pat McLaughlan’s “Summer’s End”). McKenna also is among the artists featured on Mark Erelli’s “By Degrees,” which also is in the running for Song of the Year. The War and Treaty is vying for both Duo/Group of the Year and Emerging Act of the Year, while Yola is up for Album of the Year (for the Dan Auerbach-produced Walk Through Fire) and Emerging Act of the Year. In addition, Rhiannon Giddens is nominated for Artist of the Year and with her musical partners in Our Native Daughters for Duo/Group of the Year.

Here is a listing of the nominees in the six American Music Association member-voted awards categories:

Album of the Year

To the Sunset – Amanda Shires (produced by Dave Cobb)
The Tree – Lori McKenna (produced by Dave Cobb)
The Tree of Forgiveness – John Prine (produced by Dave Cobb)
Walk Through Fire – Yola (produced by Dan Auerbach)

Brandi Carlile
Rhiannon Giddens
Kacey Musgraves
Mavis Staples

Duo/Group of the Year

I’m With Her
Our Native Daughters
Tedeschi Trucks Band
The War and Treaty

Emerging Act of the Year

Jade Bird
J.S. Ondara
Erin Rae
The War and Treaty
Yola

Instrumentalist of the Year

Chris Eldridge
Eamon McLoughlin
Chris Powell
Michael Rinne

Song of the Year

“By Degrees” – Mark Erelli, Rosanne Cash, Sheryl Crow, Lori McKenna, Anais Mitchell & Josh Ritter (written by Erelli)
“Mockingbird” – Ruston Kelly
“People Get Old” – Lori McKenna
“Summer’s End – John Prine (written by Prine and Pat McLaughlin)

Lifetime Achievement Awards to be Presented to Elvis Costello, Delbert McClinton and Maria Muldaur

“We are beyond humbled to honor this group of incredibly venerable musicians,” said Jed Hilly, the association’s executive director, in announcing the Lifetime Achievement Awards recipients last month. “All of these artists are luminaries in their own right and have helped to build a perennial foundation for Americana music to prosper as an art form today.”

Among the artists slated to perform during the 18th annual Americana Honors & Awards Show are Brandi Carlile, Elvis Costello, Mark Erelli, Rhiannon Giddens, I’m With Her, Delbert McClinton, Lori McKenna, Maria Muldaur, John Prine, J.S. Ondara, Erin Rae, Amanda Shires, Mavis Staples (who also will be recognized by the AMA for a career that has spanned nearly seven decades), The War and Treaty, and Yola.

Extending from Sept. 10-15, AMERICANAFEST is expected to draw several thousand artists, music industry professionals and fans for plenty of learning and networking opportunities during days filled with panel discussions and seminars and evenings chock-full of artist showcases at venues throughout he Music City.

Established in 1999, the Americana Music Association is a professional not-for-profit trade association whose mission is to advocate for the authentic voice of American roots music around the world. For more information, visit www.americanamusic.org.

With nods for Album of the Year (A Sailor’s Guide to Earth), Artist of the Year and Song of the Year (“All Around You”), Sturgill Simpson has the most nominations for this year’s American Honors and Awards. The Kentucky-bred and Nashville-based singer-songwriter was previously honored as Emerging Artist of the Year in 2014 and Artist of the Year in 2015, while his “Turtles All The Way Down” was named Song of the Year in 2015. A Sailor’s Guide to Earth, his third studio album and first major label release, received the Grammy Award for Best Country Album earlier this year, while Simpson was named International Artist of the Year in the UK American Awards. Rodney Crowell, Drive-By Truckers and Lori McKenna each were nominated in two of the six AMA member-voted awards categories.

Here’s a listing of the nominees:

Album of the Year
American Band – Drive-By Truckers
Close Ties – Rodney Crowell
Freedom Highway – Rhiannon Giddens
The Navigator – Hurray for the Riff Raff
A Sailor’s Guide to Earth – Sturgill Simpson

Artist of the Year
Jason Isbell
John Prine
Lori McKenna
Margo Price
Sturgill Simpson

Duo/Group of the Year
Billy Bragg & Joe Henry
Drive-By Truckers
Marty Stuart & His Fabulous Superlatives
The Lumineers

Emerging Artist of the Year
Aaron Lee Tasjan
Amanda Shires
Brent Cobb
Sam Outlaw

Song of the Year
“All Around You” – Sturgill Simpson
“It Ain’t Over Yet” – Rodney Crowell (with Rosanne Cash and John Paul White)
“To Be Without You” – Ryan Adams
“Wreck You” – Lori McKenna (co-written with Felix McTeigue)

Instrumentalist of the Year
Spencer Collum, Jr.
Jen Gunderman
Courtney Hartman
Charlie Sexton

In addition to these six Americana Music Association member-voted awards, Lifetime Achievement Awards will be presented to Van Morrison (Songwriter), Robert Cray (Performance), Hi Rhythm Section (Instrumentalist), Iris DeMent (Trailblazer), Graham Nash (Spirit of Americana/Free Speech in Music), and Larry Sloven and Bruce Bromberg for Hightone Records (Executive).

AmericanaFest, which extends from September 12-17, is expected to draw several thousand artists, industry professionals and fans for plenty of learning and networking opportunities during days filled with panel discussions and seminars and evenings chock-full of artist showcases at venues throughout the Music City.

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.

Besides pursuing a career as a solo-touring and recording artist, Jarosz, who was an occasional guest host on Garrison Keillor’s A Prairie Home Companion, is now part of the house band for the show under its new host, Chris Thile. She has also performed as part of a trio called I’m With Her, along with Sara Watkins (a co-founder of Nickel Creek) and Aoife O’Donovan (of Crooked Still fame).

The Grammy Award for Best American Roots Song went to “Kid Sister” – Vince Gill, songwriter (The Time Jumpers). A veteran country crooner, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist, Gill is a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame and the recipient of more than 20 Grammy awards.

Best Americana Album honors were bestowed on William Bell, a veteran soul and R & B singer-songwriter, for This Is Where I Live. Coming Home by O’Connor Band with Mark O’ Connor was named Best Bluegrass Album. Blues Hall of Famer Bobby Rush’s Porcupine Meat was chosen as the Best Traditional Blues Album, while the award for Best Contemporary Blues Album went to Fantastic Negrito for The Last Days of Oakland. Rounding out the honorees in the American Roots Music Field was Kalani Pe’a, a Hawaiian singer-songwriter whose 2016 debut release, E Walea, was named Best Regional Roots Music Album.

Although Lori McKenna did not win any of the three awards for which she was nominated in the American Roots Music Field, she took home one for Country Song of the Year for writing “Humble and Kind.” Tim McGraw’s recording of the song topped the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart early last year, while her own rendition of it appears on McKenna’s Grammy-nominated July 2016 release, The Bird & The Rifle. McKenna also co-wrote the 2016 Grammy Award-winning Best Country Song, “Girl Crazy,” which was a huge hit for Little Big Town.

Old Settler’s has a more casual and laid-back vibe and may not draw as much attention as SXSW, the Austin City Limits and Kerrville Folk festivals, but it certainly does feature a diverse array of talented performers. Among those in this year’s lineup are singer-songwriter Marshall Crenshaw (best known for his 1982 pop hit “Someday, Some Way”); the Celtic band Gaelic Storm; Boston-based singer-songwriter Eilen Jewell; folk-soul singer Amos Lee; Lafayette, Louisiana-based Cajun artists Pine Leaf Boys; jam band Railroad Earth, Austin’s own Bob Schneider and James McMurtry; and rising star Sarah Jarosz, who won the festival’s first Youth Competition ten years ago. Bluegrass will be well-represented by Audie Blaylock, Dale Ann Bradley, Greensky Bluegrass, Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver, Psychograss (featuring Darol Anger, Mike Marshall, Tony Trischka, David Grier and Todd Phillips), Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen, and 2011 IBMA Entertainers of the Year – The Steep Canyon Rangers.

In addition to concerts on several stages, there will be performance workshops led by notable artists, jam sessions, an arts and crafts area, a youth talent competition and children’s activities, and lots of tasty barbecue.

Discounted admission wristbands – single-day and full weekend with and without camping — are available online through April 6. For more information and to buy tickets in advance, visit www.oldsettlersmusicfest.org.

Bill Hurley, managing partner of The Alternate Root, LLC, acknowledges that “It certainly does seem like a strange decision.” However, he continues, “We’re a strange bunch over here but we’re embracing new technology and going against the model of filling a magazine with 50% advertising, printing the magazine and then praying it sells.” Unlike other print publications, The Alternate Root has adopted a very “green” way of releasing a magazine. It will be published in a print-on-demand format in which the magazine is printed and shipped when it is sold.

Replete with music stories from cover to cover, advertising in the magazine, which will retail for $15.99 and include a limited edition DVD with audio and video content by artists featured in it for the first 6,600 sold, will be limited to the inside front cover, back cover and inside back cover. A free digital download will be available to those who purchase the magazine after the first 6,600 are sold, while it will also be available digitally for mobile devices on ipad and Android tablets for $4.99. The first edition’s DVD will include nine video and 19 audio tracks from the artists featured in reviews, interviews or profile stories in the magazine. There will be video from Eric Brace and Peter Cooper with Tom T. Hall, Cumberland River, Dirtfoot, JD Malone, Rebel Montez, Christine Ohlman, Spuyten Duyvil and Tedeschi Trucks Band, among others. Artists with audio tracks will include Band of Heathens, Eileen Jewell, Yarn, and more.

Noting that the interactive music magazine – which features an amalgam of traditional American roots music including Americana, alt-country, blues, rockabilly, folk, bluegrass, roots rock and traditional country — has an estimated 130,000 monthly readers, Hurley says: “We’ve opted for a steady growth built on hard work, little capital, no debt and a relentless, dedicated group.” Hurley, who also serves as the publication’s editor and graphic designer, believes The Alternate Root has struck a responsive chord because “we cater to independent musicians, the little folks that are often ignored by the bigger magazines who have built their content around advertising dollars. We have access to the American roots music industry because we care about the growth, including many of the genres that comprise the broadly defined format.”

Like some other music publications, The Alternate Root has issued samplers that Hurley says have been downloaded thousands of times. The samplers have featured both emerging and more established artists. “Many of those [up-and-coming]artists, who have never been on a high-profile release, find themselves in the hands of 20,000 people,” Hurley continues. “We’re building a community, not a corporation and we’re not interested in being ‘gate-keepers.’… At the end of the day, we hope to sell music and raise awareness of the great music that’s out there that many people don’t get exposed to. If we do that, all the ancillary mechanisms will click in and we’ll be successful.”

With a stated aim to create the tools needed to advance the American Roots music format, The Alternate Root, LLC also produces a weekly American roots music program, Alternate Root TV, and publishes a Top 66 International Airplay Chart.