Americana Music Association Names Lifetime Achievement Winners

Loretta Lynn, Jackson Browne, Taj Mahal, and Flaco Jiménez have been selected as Lifetime Achievement Award winners by the Americana Music Association. The awards will be presented at the organization’s 13th annual Honors and Awards ceremony, presented by Nissan, on Wednesday, Sept. 17 at the historic Ryman Auditorium in Nashville.

The Lifetime Achievement Award for Songwriting goes to Loretta Lynn. During Lynn’s decades of hit songs, her compositions including “The Pill,” “Don’t Come Home A Drinkin’ (with Lovin’ On Your Mind)” and “Rated ‘X’,” confronted sexism and double standards. Lynn has received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement award and a Kennedy Center Honor.

Jackson Browne will receive the “Spirit of Americana Award, Free Speech in Music” co-presented with the First Amendment Center. Brown has sung on the behalf of Farm Aid, Amnesty International, MoveOn.org’s Vote For Change and was a co-founder of Musicians United for Safe Energy and nukefree.org. The Rock and Roll Songwriter’s Hall of Fame member’s songs include “Running On Empty,” “The Pretenders,” “For A Rocker,” and others.

Flaco Jiménez will be honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award as an instrumentalist. As one of the most accomplished conjunto tejano accordion players, the San Antonio, Texas-born Jiménez has collaborated with dozens of artists including Doug Sahm, Ry Cooder, Dr. John, Bob Dylan, and The Rolling Stones. He’s won several Grammy Awards, including one with super-group Los Super Seven. His accordion lines can be heard on “Streets of Bakersfield” by Dwight Yoakam and Buck Owens.

In the category of Lifetime Achievement for Performance, the honor goes to Grammy award-winning blues musician Taj Mahal. Mahal has worked with the Rolling Stones, Howlin’ Wolf, Buddy Guy, Muddy Waters, Lightnin’ Hopkins, and many others.

The awards will be included in ACL Presents: Americana Music Festival 2014, which will air on PBS later this year.