Americana Music Festival, Conference Launches Tomorrow

The 12th Annual Americana Music Festival and Conference, sponsored by Nissan, opens tomorrow in Nashville and runs through Oct. 15. The centerpiece of the week will be Thursday night’s (10/13) Americana Honors & Awards show at the historic Ryman Auditorium. The ceremony will be broadcast live in Middle Tennessee on Nashville Public Television Ch. 8 at 7:00 p.m. Additionally, a one-hour cut of the program will broadcast nationwide Nov. 19, during a special edition of PBS’s Austin City Limits.

There will be rockin’ nighttime showcases at numerous local venues, and daytime educational components held at the Nashville Downtown Sheraton.

One recently announced theme running through the week will showcase the remarkable music from the state of Alabama. Included will be an evening of music, an all-star panel discussion of the Muscle Shoals sound, and a Lifetime Achievement Award presentation to Fame Studios producer Rick Hall during the Honors & Awards show.

The Americana Music Festival opens Wednesday, Oct. 12, at 8 p.m. at the Cannery Ballroom with an evening of Alabama song. On the bill are the Blind Boys of Alabama, The Civil Wars, Candi Staton, Mike Farris, Webb Wilder, Dez Dickerson, T Graham Brown and more.

The following afternoon, Thursday, Oct. 13, 12–1:30 p.m., offers a stacked panel discussion on the recordings which helped define the careers of Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, Bob Dylan, Bobbie Gentry, the Osmonds, the Rolling Stones and more. Land of 1000 Dances: The Groundbreaking Sounds of Muscle Shoals, presented in partnership with the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum at the Hall’s Ford Theater, will feature pioneering producers, songwriters and musicians David Briggs, Rick Hall, Norbert Putnam, Donnie Fritts, Dan Penn, Spooner Oldham and Jimmy Johnson, with journalist Holly George Warren as moderator.

Details on the conference, awards, panel discussion and more at www.americanamusic.org.