Pictured are (l to r): Publicist Kim Fowler, Jason & the Scorchers’ Warner Hodges, AMA’s Danna Strong, Jason & the Scorchers’ Jason Ringenberg, Webb Wilder and BMI’s Kay Clary.

Roots music royalty Abigail Washburn and Béla Fleck read the list of award candidates, whose names were met with enthusiastic whoops and applause.

Longtime BMI songwriter James McMurtry garnered a slew of nominations, including Artist, Album and Song of the Year. McMurtry’s barbed wit and astute songwriting have resonated with listeners all over the world.

Pictured are (l to r): Hal Ketchum, Billy Block and Fats Kaplin.

Perennial BMI favorite Alison Krauss also received multiple nominations for her work with legend Robert Plant. In addition to a spot on the Duo/Group of the Year list, their collaborative effort Raising Sand earned Album of the Year, and their rendition of the Everly Brothers’ “Gone, Gone, Gone” secured a Song of the Year nod.

New/Emerging Artist of the Year nominees included a wealth of auspicious BMI singer/songwriters. Neo-soul, gospel conduit Mike Farris, gravely troubadour Ryan Bingham and the virtuosic bluegrass-dipped SteelDrivers all received well-deserved nods.

Pictured are (l to r): Third Coast Artist Agency’s Clint Wiley and Steve Hoiberg, Thirty Tigers’ Traci Thomas, Justin Townes Earle and Bonnie Whitmore.

Recognition also went to preeminent mandolin player and roots/bluegrass innovator Sam Bush in the Instrumentalist of the Year field; esteemed singer/songwriter Tiff Merritt, who received a Song of the Year nod for “Broken”; and triple-threat Kane Welch Kaplin, in the Duo/Group of the Year field.

The winners will be announced September 18 at the historic Ryman Auditorium during the 7th Annual Americana Music Association’s Honors and Awards Show. Hosted by Jim Lauderdale and featuring a band led by Buddy Miller, the Honors & Awards ceremony will also recognize iconic troubadour John Hiatt with the Lifetime Achievement Award in Songwriting and Jason and the Scorchers with a Lifetime Achievement Award in Performance. Additional honorees and performers will be announced in the coming months.

Abigail Washburn (left) and Béla Fleck (right) announce the nominees.

Slated for Wednesday, September 17 through Saturday, September 20, the 9th Annual Americana Festival and Conference will offer daily seminars, panels and networking opportunities at the Nashville Convention Center. Each evening brings more than 80 stacked Americana showcases to key venues throughout Nashville. Approximately 2,000 industry executives, artists and fans are expected this year.

For more information on tickets, becoming a member of the Americana Music Association and more, please visit www.americanamusic.org.

About the Americana Music Association
The Americana Music Association is a professional trade organization whose mission is to provide a forum for the advocacy of Americana music and to promote public awareness of the genre to support the creative and economic viability of professionals in this field. Dedicated to building and promoting the Americana genre and the individuals who participate in that industry, the Americana Music Association works closely with artists, labels, radio stations, retailers, print media, festivals, agents, publishers and more to help organize and build the infrastructure necessary for the Americana genre to achieve success both creatively and financially.

Pictured are (l to r): BMI's Jody Williams, Honorable Mayor Karl Dean, Abigail Washburn and Béla Fleck, with the AMA's Danna Strong and Jed Hilly.

2008 BMI Americana Music Association Honors & Awards Nominees

ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Alison Krauss & Robert Plant
Raising Sand

James McMurtry
Just Us Kids

ARTIST OF THE YEAR
James McMurtry

INSTUMENTALIST OF THE YEAR
Sam Bush

NEW EMERGING ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Mike Farris
Ryan Bingham
The Steeldrivers

SONG OF THE YEAR
“Broken”
Tift Merritt

“Cheney’s Toy”
James McMurtry

“Gone Gone Gone”
Alison Krauss & Robert Plant

DUO/GROUP OF THE YEAR
Alison Krauss & Robert Plant
Drive By Truckers
Kane Welch Kaplin

Born in Boston and raised in Kentucky, Colorado and South Florida, school brought her back to Cambridge. She started to sing as a child and spent years studying classical voice and piano, and in high school sang in everything from alt rock garage bands and Motown funk bands to jazz and classical choirs and church. At the end of high school, she taught herself guitar when an uncle gave her his old acoustic. But the sum of these parts wasn’t clear to anyone until she left home for college, where the truth was revealed on the streets of Harvard Square.

Mieka’s ability to captivate audiences first made her a favorite of Boston’s best clubs including The Paradise Lounge, House of Blues, Club Passim and Kendall Café - and next at New York’s renowned Bitter End, Living Room, Makor, Knitting Factory and Village Underground. In Summer 2002 she graduated from Harvard with a degree in Biological Anthropology, won BMI’s Rock Boat Song Contest, and placed top three at the famed Telluride Troubadour Competition. In 2003 she was invited to perform at four of the top music festivals in the country: The Newport Folk Festival, On The Bricks in Atlanta, Dancin’ In The District in Nashville and a return trip to The Rock Boat. 2004 included the month-long Citizen Cope Northeast Tour, the first ever BMI/NACA “See It Hear First” showcase, sharing a bill with Eric Clapton at Boston’s Tweeter Center, and winning the prestigious Rocky Mountain Folks Fest Songwriter Showcase. In 2005 she was nominated for a Boston Music Award, won the first ever Starbucks Emerging Artist Award, and recorded a new EP with producer John Alagia (John Mayer, Dave Matthews, Jason Mraz, Rachel Yamagata, Josh Kelly, Lifehouse, Liz Phair, Trevor Hall and others), due to be released in early 2006.

Over these first 36 months of her young career, she’s become the embodiment of the musician road warrior: A girl, a guitar, and a car - crisscrossing the country and playing over 450 club and college shows from northern Maine to southern Florida, from the Pacific Northwest to southern California, from the Colorado Rockies to the Tennessee valleys to the Great Lakes States and all points between - and back around the bases of street corners, cafés and clubs of Boston - even sliding into home plate at Fenway Park for a National Anthem. She has shared the bill with such artists as Eric Clapton, Wyclef Jean, Jason Mraz, John Legend, the Black Eyed Peas, John Hiatt, Blues Traveler, Martin Sexton, Jesse Harris, Mindy Smith, Edwin McCain, Citizen Cope, Shawn Mullins, Marc Broussard, Talib Kweli, North Mississippi All-Stars, Ben Lee, Tift Merritt and Erin McKeown, among many others.

A recent Boston Globe feature on her perhaps said it best: “While the eyes may be the windows to the soul, Mieka Pauley lets you in through her voice (as unstoppable as a flood) and through her lyrics (as personal as diary entries). She’s making her voice heard, and not just on the streets of Harvard Square.”

Robert Earl Keen

Miranda Lambert

Other BMI artists performing throughout the three-day music fest are Pat Green, REM, Lucinda Williams, The Gourds, Al Green, Bright Eyes, Patrice Pike, Spoon, Steve Winwood, Yo La Tengo, Tift Merritt, Rosanne Cash and Dwight Yoakam.

Mason Jennings

Corn Mo

Justin King

The ACL Festival focuses on alternative country and roots music and will present more than 130 bands on eight stages over three days. The Festival takes its name from the award-winning PBS series that has been showcasing live music for almost 30 years. Produced by Capital Sports & Entertainment, this year's title sponsor is communications giant SBC; other stage sponsors include HEB, Heineken, Cingular Wireless, Austin Ventures LP, Jackson Walker LLP, Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority and Blackstone Winery.

Pauline Reese

Kaki King

Mindy Smith

BMI Singer/Songwriter Stage Schedule:

Friday, September 19
1:45 - 2:30 Pauline Reese
3:00 - 3:45 Shawn Camp
4:15 - 5:00 Robert Earl Keen
5:30 - 6:15 J.T. Van Zandt
6:45 - 7:30 Alexi Murdoch

Saturday, September 20
12:30 - 1:15 Corn Mo
1:45 - 2:30 Jeff Klein
3:00 - 3:45 Justin King
4:15 - 5:00 Mason Jennings
5:30 - 6:15 Bruce Robison
6:45 - 7:30 Josh Ritter

Sunday, September 21
12:30 - 1:15 Monte Warden
1:45 - 2:30 Paul Thorn
3:00 - 3:45 Kaki King
4:15 - 5:00 Tim Easton
5:30 - 6:15 Mindy Smith
6:45 - 7:30 Miranda Lambert]]> 2003-09-16T18:00:00-05:00 http://www.bmi.com/musicworld/entry/233329 Artists, Harris, Emmylou, Merritt, Tift, Parton, Dolly, Redding, Otis, Musical Styles, Rock, Musicworld, Hitmaker Like that “overnight success” story about the singer who suddenly made it big — after ten years of toiling in clubs — one journalist recently wrote, “Tift Merritt seemingly came out of nowhere in 2002 . . .”

Merritt has indeed been playing small clubs in North Carolina and learning her craft, though not quite for a decade. But one reason that writer likely made such a pronouncement is because unlike most “new” artists, Tift Merritt comes to us a fully-formed creative force; she demonstrates songwriting skill on par with much older, more seasoned artists, and possesses a mature and expressive voice. It helps, too, that her Lost Highway debut, Bramble Rose, is astonishingly good.

Comparisons to Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris have already been drawn, though unlike those two influential interpreters, the 27-year-old Merritt sings her own songs. In fact, she wrote every cut on the rootsy Bramble Rose, and counts Eudora Welty as much of an influence as Bob Dylan.

Though she grew up wanting to be a writer, Merritt’s father’s influence as a “Saturday musician” planted a seed. On the weekends, he’d play Otis Redding on guitar or piano and enlist his daughter to sing with him. Then they’d drive around and listen to Dolly Parton.

Merritt studied literature at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and won awards for her short stories. After trading prose for music, Merritt again gained honors by winning the 2000 Chris Austin songwriting contest at North Carolina’s MerleFest. acoustic music festival.

“That really changed things for me,” she says. Merritt met several Nashville songwriters and industry types, including Frank Callari, who became her manager and ultimately got her the record deal. In 2001, Merritt and her band went to L.A.’s Sound Factory with producer Ethan Johns to record Bramble Rose. “It was like camp,” she says with a laugh.

Tift Merritt revels in the label’s confidence of letting her do her record her way. “I just think it’s remarkable that they gave me the same [respect] they’ve given their other great artists, because I am just proving myself.”
With Tift Merritt, the proof is in Bramble Rose.]]> 2002-11-13T17:00:00-05:00