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.”

Here’s a complete listing of the nominees in the American Roots Music Field:

Best Americana Album:

• Brandy Clark — Brandy Clark
• The Chicago Sessions — Rodney Crowell
• You’re The One — Rhiannon Giddens
• Weathervanes — Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit
• The Returner — Allison Russell

Best Americana Performance:

• “Friendship” — The Blind Boys of Alabama
• “Help Me Make It Through The Night” — Tyler Childers
• “Dear Insecurity” — Brandy Clark featuring Brandi Carlile
• “King of Oklahoma” — Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit
• “The Returner” — Allison Russell

Best American Roots Performance:

• “Butterfly” — Jon Batiste
• “Heaven Help Us All” — The Blind Boys of Alabama
• “Inventing The Wheel” — Madison Cunningham
• “You Louisiana Man” — Rhiannon Giddens
• “Eve Was Black” — Allison Russell

Best American Roots Song:

• “Blank Page” — Michael Trotter Jr. & Tanya Trotter, songwriters (The War and Treaty)
• “California Sober” — Aaron Allen, William Apostol & Jon Weisberger, songwriters (Billy Strings featuring Willie Nelson)
• “Cast Iron Skillet” — Jason Isbell, songwriter (Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit)
• “Dear Insecurity” — Brandy Clark & Michael Pollack, songwriters (Brandy Clark featuring Brandi Carlile)
• “The Returner” — Drew Lindsay, JT Nero & Allison Russell, songwriters (Allison Russell)

Best Bluegrass Album:

• Radio John: Songs Of John Hartford — Sam Bush
• Lovin’ Of The Game — Michael Cleveland
• Mighty Poplar — Mighty Poplar
• Bluegrass — Willie Nelson
• Me/And Dad — Billy Strings
• City Of Gold — Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway

Best Folk Album:

• Traveling Wildfire — Dom Flemons
• I Only See the Moon — The Milk Carton Kids
• Joni Mitchell At Newport (Live) — Joni Mitchell
• Celebrants — Nickel Creek
• Jubilee — Old Crow Medicine Show
• Seven Psalms — Paul Simon
• Folkocracy — Rufus Wainwright

Best Contemporary Blues Album:

• Death Wish Blues — Samantha Fish and Jesse Dayton
• Healing Time — Ruthie Foster
• Live In London — Christone “Kingfish” Ingram
• Blood Harmony — Larkin Poe
• LaVette! — Bettye LaVette

Best Traditional Blues Album:

• Ridin’ — Eric Bibb
• The Soul Side of Sipp — Mr. Sipp
• Life Don’t Miss Nobody — Tracy Nelson
• Teardrops For Magic Slim Live At Rosa’s Lounge — John Primer
• All My Love For You — Bobby Rush

Best Regional Roots Music Album:

• New Beginnings — Buckwheat Zydeco Jr. & The Legendary Ils Sont Partis Band
• Live At The 2023 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival — Dwayne Dopsie & The Zydeco Hellraisers
• Live: Orpheum Theater Nola — Lost Bayou Ramblers & Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra
• Made In New Orleans — New Breed Brass Band
• Too Much To Hold — New Orleans Nightcrawlers
• Live At The Maple Leaf — The Rumble Featuring Chief Joseph Boudreaux Jr.

Also of Note: Among the nominees for Best New Artist are The War and Treaty. Bela Fleck, Zakir Hussain & Edgar Meyer featuring Rakesh Chaurasia received nominations in three categories: Best Global Music Performance (for “Pashto”), Best Contemporary Instrumental Album (for As We Speak) and Best Instrumental Composition (for “Motion”). Tyler Childers’ “In Your Love,” Brandy Clark’s “Buried” and Chris Stapleton’s “White Horse” are among those in the running for Best Country Solo Performance and Best Country Song (along with co-writers Geno Seale, Jessie Jo Dillon and Dan Wilson, respectively). Childers’ “In Your Love” also is vying for Best Music Video, while his Rustin’ In The Rain is among the nominees for Best Country Album. Clark’s Shucked is in the running for Best Musical Theater Album. “I Remember Everything” by Zach Bryan and Kacey Musgraves is in the running for both Best Country Song and Best Country Duo/Group Performance, while Bryan’s self-titled album vies 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.

Tyler Childers’ Can I Take My Hounds to Heaven? was named Album of the Year, while Bonnie Raitt’s “Just Like That” was named Song of the Year. Billy Strings is 2023’s Artist of the Year, while The War and Treaty is the year’s Duo/Group of the Year, and S.G. Goodman is its Emerging Act of the Year. Americana Music Association members also voted SistaStrings as Instrumentalist of the Year.

Tyler Childers (Album of the Year – Can I Take My Hounds to Heaven?) is a 32-year-old singer-songwriter whose music blends neo-traditional country, bluegrass and folk. Although the crooner released his first album independently in 2011, it wasn’t until 2017 that he started to get international attention with the release of Purgatory, a breakout album that helped to prompt invites to perform at Bonnaroo, the Grand Ole Opry, Lollapalooza, Merlefest, and the Newport Folk Festival. His latest release is 2023’s Rustlin’ in the Rain. [Here’s a link to enjoy Tyler Childers’ official video for “In Your Love”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=II-L8Hq0_i4.]

Bonnie Raitt (Song of the Year) is an acclaimed singer-songwriter and guitarist. A ten-time Grammy Award-winner, she has been performing and recording for more than 50 years. “Just Like That” is the title track of her 21st album — her first new release in more than six years. It also was the recipient of a coveted Grammy Award for Song of the Year, as well as Best American Roots Song in the 65th annual Grammy Awards presented by The Recording Academy earlier this year. [Here’s a link to view the official lyric video for Bonnie Raitt’s “Just Like That”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Skd0XR3twCA.]

The War and Treaty (Duo/Group of the Year), the husband and wife team of Michael Trotter Jr. and Tanya Trotter, was named Duo/Group of the Year for a second consecutive year. The two, who are signed to Universal Music Group, have been performing together since 2014. Their musical repertoire features a mix of Americana, blues, country, folk, rock, and soul. The War and Treaty was previously named Artist of the Year in the 2020 International Folk Music Awards presented by Folk Alliance International and Emerging Artist of the Year in the 2019 Americana Honors and Awards. [Here’s a link to enjoy the official music video for The War and Treaty’s “Have You A Heart”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qw9VYGlhQAQ.]

S.G. Goodman (Emerging Artist of the Year) is a Kentucky-born and based singer-songwriter who is signed to Verve Forecast Records. She performed at the Newport Folk Festival in 2021 and has released two albums that feature a mix of Americana, folk, country, and rock.

SistaStrings (Instrumentalist of the Year) is a duo comprised of sisters Monique (cello) and Chauntee Ross (violin), who have seen their musical fortunes rise since moving to Nashville from Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 2011. As the daughters of two ministers, they grew up playing gospel and classical music in church, later expanding their musical horizons to include work on country, folk and hip-hop pr0jects. Last year, SistaStrings collaborated with Milwaukee-based singer-songwriter Peter Mulvey on his Righteous Babe album, Love Is the Only Thing – lending both their instrumental talents and vocal harmonies. They have also toured with both Allison Russell and Brandi Carlisle. [Here’s a link to enjoy the classic folk song “Shenandoah,” as performed by Peter Mulvey and SistaStrings:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mLSPsKBXB0.]

Lifetime Achievement Honorees Also Recognized

Recognized as Lifetime Achievement, Trailblazer and Legacy Award honorees were The Avett Brothers, George Fontaine, Sr., Patty Griffin, Bettye LaVette, and Nickel Creek. The Avett Brothers are folk rocking’ North Carolina-based roots music icons and four-time Americana Award winners. George Fontaine, Sr. is co-founder and owner of New West Records, an indie label that has released nearly 500 albums – including many by Americana artists, as well as CDs and DVDS from the PBS television program Austin City Limits. Austin, Texas-based singer-songwriter Patty Griffin is a two-time Grammy Award-winner and 2007 Americana Artist of the Year, who has released nearly a dozen albums and been an inspiration to many other artists – a number of whom have covered her songs. Bettye LaVette, the 2023 Legacy Award recipient, is a soulful singer- and interpreter of American song, whose musical career spans more than 60 years. Nickel Creek is a multiple Grammy Award-winning, innovative and virtuosic acoustic Americana, bluegrass and folk-rock band.

“This year’s Lifetime Achievement honorees represent the diverse sounds that contribute to the American roots music canon,” said Jed Hilly, the Americana Music Association’s executive director. “Our honorees have inspired this community individually and have collectively changed the landscape of the music industry.”

Musical performance highlights from the 22nd Annual Americana Honors & Awards show will be featured on a special episode of Austin City Limits that is set to air on PBS television stations on November 25.

AmericanaFest, which began Sept. 22 and continues through Sept. 25, is a festival and conference filled with daytime 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 not-for-profit trade association whose mission is to advocate for the authentic voice of American roots music around the world. Visit americanamusic.org for more information.

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.

“Caramoor is a nature paradise and the music takes place in several locations on the grounds so that folks can experience some of the environmental beauty as well,” says Maggi Landau, artistic director –roots music for Caramoor and the festival’s organizer. She notes that daytime artists will be performing acoustic, unplugged sets in the Sunken Garden – “a quiet grove with the audience sitting on the ground literally at the feet of the artist” – as well as on the larger Friends Field.

Daytime performers, starting at noon, include Sara Watkins (a fiddle player, singer and founding member of Nickel Creek), High Plains Jamboree, Man About A Horse, Dennis Stroughmatt et L’Esprit Creole, the Lowest Pair, Spuyten Duyvil, Silver City Bound, Matt Turk and Monica Rizzo. The Northeast Regional Folk Alliance (NERFA) presents Young Folk featuring Lula Wiles, Eric Lee and Eliza Paltauf. In honor of Bob Dylan’s 75th birthday, many of the day’s featured artists will also perform songs from The Basement Tapes during The Social Music Hour beginning at 6 p.m.

An evening concert featuring John Fullbright (a Grammy-nominated young Americana artist from Oklahoma) and Hurray for the Riff Raff (NYC-born and New Orleans-based Alyndra Segarra, a 26-year-old of Puerto Rican descent, fuses folk-blues and Americana) will take place inside the Venetian Theater, for which there is reserved seating.

$25 daytime only tickets (excluding the evening performances) and full-festival tickets, priced at $35-$100 (including reserved seating for the evening concert), may be ordered by visiting www.caramoor.org.

Attendees are advised to bring their own chairs for the daytime performances. Although food and beverages will be available for purchase, folks also can bring their own and enjoy picnicking on Caramoor’s spacious lawns.

Editor’s Note: As vice president of the board of directors for the Northeast Regional Folk Alliance, a regional affiliate of Folk Alliance International on whose board I also serve, I will emcee the hour-long “NERFA presents Young Folk” showcase during the festival.

Cash’s latest release, The River & the Thread, a collection of songs that connect and re-connect the New York-based singer-songwriter to the American South where she was born and from which her family hails, was named Americana Album of the Year. Among the album’s tracks is “A Feather’s Not a Bird,” which was honored by The Recording Academy as both the Best American Roots Performance and the Best American Roots Song. The River & the Thread also was the most-played album on Americana radio during 2014, according to the American Music Association.

Below is a listing of all the Grammy nominees in the American Roots Music Field. The winners appear in boldface type.

BEST AMERICAN ROOTS PERFORMANCE

• “Statesboro Blues,” Gregg Allman and Taj Mahal
• “A Feather’s Not a Bird,” Rosanne Cash
• “And When I Die,” Billy Childs Featuring Alison Krauss & Jerry Douglas
• “The Old Me Better,” Keb’ Mo’ Featuring The California Feet Warmers
• “Destination,” Nickel Creek

BEST AMERICAN ROOTS SONG

• “A Feather’s Not a Bird,” Rosanne Cash
• “Just So Much,” Jesse Winchester
• “The New York Trains,” The Del McCoury Band
• “Pretty Little One,” Steve Martin And The Steep Canyon Rangers Featuring Edie Brickell
• “Terms of My Surrender,” John Hiatt

BEST AMERICANA ALBUM

• The River & the Thread, Rosanne Cash
• Terms of My Surrender, John Hiatt
• Bluesamericana, Keb’ Mo’
• A Dotted Line, Nickel Creek
• Metamodern Sounds in Country Music, Sturgill Simpson

BEST BLUEGRASS ALBUM

• The Earls of Leicester, The Earls of Leicester
• Noam Pikelny Plays Kenny Baker Plays Bill Monroe, Noam Pikelny
• Cold Spell, Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen
• Into My Own, Bryan Sutton
• Only Me, Rhonda Vincent

BEST BLUES ALBUM

• Common Ground – Dave Alvin & Phil Alvin Play And Sing The Songs Of Big Bill Broonzy, Dave Alvin & Phil Alvin
• Promise of a Brand New Day, Ruthie Foster
• Juke Joint Chapel, Charlie Musselwhite
• Decisions, Bobby Rush With Blinddog Smokin’
• Step Back, Johnny Winter

BEST FOLK ALBUM

• Three Bells, Mike Auldridge, Jerry Douglas & Rob Ickes
• Follow The Music, Alice Gerrard
• The Nocturne Diaries, Eliza Gilkyson
• Remedy, Old Crow Medicine Show
• A Reasonable Amount Of Trouble, Jesse Winchester

BEST REGIONAL ROOTS MUSIC ALBUM

• Light The Stars, Bonsoir, Catin
• Hanu ‘A’ala, Kamaka Kukona
• Love’s Lies, Magnolia Sisters
• The Legacy, Jo-El Sonnier
• Ceremony, Joe Tohonnie Jr.

Also of note: The Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album went to Chris Thile and Edgar Meyer for Bass & Mandolin. Thile also is part of Nickel Creek, which was among the nominees for Best Americana Album. Angelique Kidjo’s Eve was named Best World Music Album.

Best American Roots Performance

• “Statesboro Blues,” Gregg Allman and Taj Mahal
• “A Feather’s Not a Bird,” Rosanne Cash
• “And When I Die,” Billy Childs Featuring Alison Krauss & Jerry Douglas
• “The Old Me Better,” Keb’ Mo’ Featuring The California Feet Warmers
• “Destination,” Nickel Creek

Best American Roots Song

• “A Feather’s Not a Bird,” Rosanne Cash
• “Just So Much,” Jesse Winchester
• “The New York Trains,” The Del McCoury Band
• “Pretty Little One,” Steve Martin And The Steep Canyon Rangers Featuring Edie Brickell
• “Terms of My Surrender,” John Hiatt

Best Americana Album

• The River & the Thread, Rosanne Cash
• Terms of My Surrender, John Hiatt
• Bluesamericana, Keb’ Mo’
• A Dotted Line, Nickel Creek
• Metamodern Sounds in Country Music, Sturgill Simpson

Best Bluegrass Album

• The Earls of Leicester, The Earls of Leicester
• Noam Pikelny Plays Kenny Baker Plays Bill Monroe, Noam Pikelny
• Cold Spell, Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen
• Into My Own, Bryan Sutton
• Only Me, Rhonda Vincent

Best Blues Album

• Common Ground – Dave Alvin & Phil Alvin Play And Sing The Songs Of Big Bill Broonzy, Dave Alvin & Phil Alvin
• Promise of a Brand New Day, Ruthie Foster
• Juke Joint Chapel, Charlie Musselwhite
• Decisions, Bobby Rush With Blinddog Smokin’
• Step Back, Johnny Winter

Best Folk Album

• Three Bells, Mike Auldridge, Jerry Douglas & Rob Ickes
• Follow The Music, Alice Gerrard
• The Nocturne Diaries, Eliza Gilkyson
• Remedy, Old Crow Medicine Show
• A Reasonable Amount Of Trouble, Jesse Winchester

Best Regional Roots Music Album

• Light The Stars, Bonsoir, Catin
• Hanu ‘A’ala, Kamaka Kukona
• Love’s Lies, Magnolia Sisters
• The Legacy, Jo-El Sonnier
• Ceremony, Joe Tohonnie Jr.

Among the nominees for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album are Chris Thile and Edgar Meyer for Bass & Mandolin. Thile also is part of Nickel Creek. Bass & Mandolin also is in the mix for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical, as is Keb’ Mo’s Bluesamericana. Glen Campbell’s very moving/poignant “I’m Not Gonna Miss You,” co-written with Julian Raymond and the final song recorded by the ailing country music legend, is among the nominees for Best Country Song of the Year.

The Grammy Awards will be presented by The Recording Academy on Sunday, February 8, 2015. A live broadcast of the major award presentations will air on CBS television stations from the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California.

This year’s Top 10 most-played albums are:

1. Rosanne Cash, The River & The Thread
2. Nickel Creek, A Dotted Line
3. Rodney Crowell, Tarpaper Sky
4. Hard Working Americans, Hard Working Americans
5. Old Crow Medicine Show, Remedy
6. Nikki Lane, All Or Nothin’
7. Lake Street Dive, Bad Self Portraits
8. Shovels & Rope, Swimmin’ Time
9. John Hiatt, Terms Of My Surrender
10. Sturgill Simpson, Metamodern Sounds In Country Music

Here’s the complete Americana Top 100:

Rosanne Cash, The River & The Thread
Nickel Creek, A Dotted Line
Rodney Crowell, Tarpaper Sky
Hard Working Americans, Hard Working Americans
Old Crow Medicine Show, Remedy
Nikki Lane, All Or Nothin’
Lake Street Dive, Bad Self Portraits
Shovels & Rope, Swimmin’ Time
John Hiatt, Terms Of My Surrender
Sturgill Simpson, Metamodern Sounds In Country Music
Dave Alvin & Phil Alvin, Common Ground
St. Paul & The Broken Bones, Half The City
Parker Millsap, Parker Millsap
Willie Nelson, Band Of Brothers
Paul Thorn, Too Blessed To Be Stressed
Lucinda Williams, Down Where The Spirit Meets The Bone
Trampled By Turtles, Wild Animals
Various – A Tribute To Jackson Browne, Looking Into You
Keb Mo, BLUESAmericana
Secret Sisters, Put Your Needle Down
John Fullbright, Songs
Amos Lee, Mountains Of Sorrow, Rivers Of Song
Jamestown Revival, Utah
Kelly Willis & Bruce Robison, Our Year
Jason Eady, Daylight & Dark
Infamous Stringdusters, Let It Go
Chuck Mead, Free State Serenade
Sarah Jarosz, Build Me Up From Bones
Billie Joe & Norah Jones, Foreverly
Justin Townes Earle, Single Mothers
Ryan Adams, Ryan Adams
Johnny Cash, Out Among The Stars
First Aid Kit, Stay Gold
Carlene Carter, Carter Girl
Devil Makes Three, I’m A Stranger Here
Red Molly, The Red Album
The Duhks, Beyond The Blue
The Mastersons, Good Luck Charm
Will Hoge, Never Give In
Blackie and the Rodeo Kings, South
Puss N Boots, No Fools, No Fun
Billy Joe Shaver, Long In The Tooth
Brandy Clark, 12 Stories
Drive-By Truckers, English Oceans
Carolina Story, Chapter Two
Lee Ann Womack, The Way I’m Livin’
Will Kimbrough, Sideshow Love
Irene Kelley, Pennsylvania Coal
Trigger Hippy, Trigger Hippy
Shakey Graves, And The War Came
Carolina Story, Chapter One
Hurray For The Riff Raff, Small Town Heroes
Chuck Prophet, Night Surfer
Girls Guns & Glory, Good Luck
Howlin’ Brothers, Trouble
Blue Highway, The Game
Amy LaVere, Runaway’s Diary
Jim Lauderdale, I’m A Song
Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings, Give The People What They Want
Black Prairie, Fortune
Ruthie Foster, Promise Of A Brand New Day
Whiskey Myers, Early Morning Shakes
Robert Ellis, The Lights From The Chemical Plant
Suzy Bogguss, Lucky
Seth Walker, Sky Still Blue
Felice Brothers, Favorite Waitress
Ray Benson, A Little Piece
Scott Miller, Big Big World
String Cheese Incident, Song In My Head
Lydia Loveless, Somewhere Else
Mingo Fishtrap, On Time
Haden Triplets, Haden Triplets
Robert Cray Band, In My Soul
Mike Farris, Shine For All The People
Tommy Malone, Poor Boy
Zoe Muth, World Of Strangers
Greg Trooper, Incident on Willow Street
Charlie Robison, High Life
Marty Stuart, Saturday Night/Sunday Morning
Various – Inside Llewyn Davis, Inside Llewyn Davis
Old 97s, Most Messed Up
Chris Smither, Still On The Levee
Various – A Tribute To Born in the USA, Dead Man’s Town
Deep Dark Woods, Jubilee
Rod Picott, Hang Your Hopes On A Crooked Nail
Steve Martin And The Steep Canyon Rangers, LIVE featuring Edie Brickell
Janiva Magness, Original
Otis Gibbs, Souvenirs Of A Misspent Youth
Avett Brothers, Magpie And The Dandelion
Candi Staton, Life Happens
Blue Rodeo, In Our Nature
Dolly Parton, Blue Smoke
Head And The Heart, Let’s Be Still
Peter Mulvey, Silver Ladder
John Mellencamp, Plain Spoken
Laura Cantrell, No Way There From Here
Band Of Heathens, Sunday Morning Record
Jim Lauderdale, Black Roses
Mary Gauthier, Trouble & Love
Hannah Aldridge, Razor Wire

Established in 1999, the Americana Music Association (www.americanamusic.org) is dedicated to building and promoting the Americana genre and the individuals who participate in the industry. Its annual Americana Music Festival and Conference is slated for Sept. 15-20, 2015 in Nashville, Tennessee.

Tickets for the tour – including dates in Nashville (April 18 and 19), New York City (April 29), Boston (May 1), Washington DC (May 3 and 4, sold out), Chicago (May 9) and Oakland, CA (May 19) – go on sale Feb. 7. Nickel Creek also is slated to perform during the Telluride Bluegrass Festival in Colorado, June 19-22. More tour dates may be added.

Here’s a link to a video of Nickel Creek performing “Destination” off its forthcoming album:

Nickel Creek was launched in 1989 by bluegrass child prodigies Chris Thile (mandolin and vocals), Sara Watkins (fiddle and vocals), both then eight, and Sara’s older brother Sean Watkins (guitar and vocals), who was 11 at the time. Thereafter, the band released five studio albums and one compilation recording — 2006’s Reasons Why (The Very Best) — and earned popular and critical acclaim. Time magazine dubbed the trio “music innovators for the new millennium” following the release of its self-titled debut album in 2000, while its 2002 follow-up, This Side, won a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album.

Although the trio initially followed a bluegrass orientation, Nickel Creek evolved into an acoustic outfit with a wide array of musical influences — prompting USA Today to note “This acoustic trio moves farther and farther from anything Bill Monroe would have recognized as bluegrass.” Yet, Nickel Creek helped to stir renewed interest in bluegrass and acoustic music and appealed to millions of fans – including many young people.

Besides performing and recording as a band, Nickel Creek’s members also had been engaged in solo and other collaborative projects which they pursued even more during the trio’s seven-year hiatus. All three plan to continue to do so.

Chris Thile, a multi-instrumentalist and composer who delves in bluegrass as well as other musical genres – including folk, country, classical and jazz – was among 23 people in various fields who were awarded “Genius” grants last year from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation in recognition of having “shown extraordinary originality and dedication in their creative pursuits and a marked capacity for self-direction.”

Thile, who won the national mandolin championship at the Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield, Kansas at the ripe old age of 12, released his first solo album of mostly original composition, Leading Off, the following year. In 1997, at age 16, he won both a Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album and an International Bluegrass Music Award for album of the Year for True Life Blues: The Songs of Bill Monroe. He later won an International Bluegrass Music Award for Mandolinist of the Year (2001).

Over the years, Thile has released a number of solo albums and also has teamed up with such notable artists as mandolin player and multi-instrumentalist Mike Marshall, bassist Edgar Meyer (whom he has cited as one of his biggest musical influences), and cellist Yo-Yo-Ma. He recorded a well-received, Grammy Award-winning album entitled The Goat Rodeo Sessions with Yo-Yo Ma, Meyer and noted fiddle player Stuart Duncan; duo albums with Meyer and with guitarist Michael Daves; and has appeared on albums by such artists as Diercks Bentley, The Dixie Chicks, Scottish songbird Julie Fowlis, Sarah Jarosz, Dolly Parton, and Kate Rusby. His latest musical collaboration, Punch Brothers, sprung out of the How to Grow a Band, which he formed in 2006 and which also is the title of an independent documentary film that portrays Thile as he leaves the very popular Nickel Creek and launches an artistically ambitious new band. The five-member Punch Brothers has toured extensively, has released three albums and an EP, and is featured on the official soundtrack recording for the Coen brothers’ film Inside Llewyn Davis.

Sara Watkins, who has held an informal residency at the Los Angeles nightclub Largo, along with her brother Sean, actively pursued a solo career while Nickel Creek was on hiatus. Her self-titled debut album, produced by Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones, was released by Nonesuch Records in 2009.

In the span of three years between it and her sophomore release, Sun Midnight Sun, she toured internationally both as a solo artist and as a guest fiddle player and vocalist with The Decemberists. She also has performed with Works Progress Administration, did a short tour of England and Scotland in with Jerry Douglas and Aly Bain, opened for and played with Jackson Browne during his 2012 acoustic winter tour (Browne also appears on Sun Midnight Sun), and toured with Donavan Frankenreiter, Robert Earl Keen and Tift Merritt as well. She also joined Garrison Keillor on his nationwide Summer Love performance tours and guest-hosted for him on A Prairie Home Companion. Sara also has accompanied her brother on two of his three solo albums.

The foundation recognizes individuals who “have shown extraordinary originality and dedication in their creative pursuits and a marked capacity for self-direction.” Says Robert Gallucci, the foundation’s president: “The MacArthur Fellowship is not only a recognition of their impressive past accomplishments but also, more importantly, an investment in their potential for the future. We believe in their creative instincts and hope the freedom the fellowship provides will enable them to pursue unfettered their insights and ideas for the benefit of the world.”

Here’s a link to a MacArthur Foundation video on Thile:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVmKwudzc2I&feature=player_embedded

Thile, who delves in bluegrass as well as other musical genres — including folk, country, classical and jazz — was among 23 people in various fields who were awarded MacArthur Fellowships. Something of a child prodigy, and certainly a virtuoso, Thile began playing mandolin as a youngster. He won the national mandolin championship at the Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield, Kansas at ripe old age of 12 and released his first solo album of mostly original compositions, Leading Off, the following year. In 1997, Thile, then 16, won both a Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album and an IBMA Award for Album of the Year for True Life Blues: The Songs of Bill Monroe. He later won an IBMA Award for Mandolinist of the Year (2001) and a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album for This Side (with Nickel Creek).

In addition to his more than 15 years with Nickel Creek, which went on indefinite hiatus in 2007, Thile has released a number of solo albums and also has teamed up with such notable artists as Mike Marshall, Edgar Meyer (whom Thiele has cited as one of his biggest musical influences) and Yo-Yo Ma. He’s also appeared on albums by such artists as Diercks Bentley, The Dixie Chicks, Scottish songbird Julie Fowlis, Sarah Jarosz, Dolly Parton, and Kate Rusby. His latest musical collaboration, Punch Brothers, sprung out of the How to Grow a Band, which he formed in 2006 and which also is the title of an independent documentary film released last year that portrays Thile as he leaves the very popular Nickel Creek and launches an artistically ambitious new band.

Renamed the Punch Brothers in 2007, the band released its first album, Punch (Nonesuch Records) in February 2008. Among other original compositions, it featured a 40-minute suite (really an elegy) in four movements entitled The Blind Leading The Blind that the group had debuted the previous year at New York’s Carnegie Hall and which Thile has said was written in part as a way of coping with his divorce several years earlier. The Punch Brothers released their third and newest album, Who’s Feeling Young Now?, earlier this year.

In a statement that appears on the Punch Brothers’ website — where you also can sign up for a free three-track sampler from the band’s performance at The Fillmore in San Francisco earlier this year –Thile says: “Punch Brothers has gradually evolved from a band that existed to present the ideas of one guy into a band presenting the unified idea of five guys. I had a very clear vision for The Blind Leaving the Blind and I’m very proud how that turned out, but the reason to put yourself in this kind of situation is to have the opportunity to present a real sense of community to other people. When there are five dudes up there doing something as a unit that encourages people to participate, that’s where Punch Brothers is exhibiting a lot of growth. We can actually bring a sense of real musical camaraderie, creative camaraderie, to people who come to our shows and those who listen to the records.”

Although touring extensively with Punch Brothers, Thile still finds time for other musical collaborations. Last year, he recorded an album entitled The Goat Rodeo Sessions with Yo-Yo Ma, Meyer and noted fiddle player Stuart Duncan, while Nonesuch also released Sleep With One Eye Open, his duo album with guitarist Michael Daves.