Charley Crockett, a new era Texas troubadour, and Margo Price, the East Nashville indie country phenom, will lead the pack into the 2023 Americana Honors and Awards with three nominations each for Artist, Album and Song of the Year. This year’s selections were announced Tuesday afternoon at the National Museum of African American Music by Americana Music Association board member Gina Miller.
The nominations were the first for Crockett in the major categories, though he won Emerging Act of the Year in 2021. The blues-forward country traditionalist has toured aggressively and released an exceptional number of albums since his debut in 2015. His album nomination is for 2022’s The Man From Waco, produced by Bruce Robison, featuring his nominated song “I’m Just A Clown.”
Meanwhile Margo Price returned to Artist of the Year nominee status after a year’s absence. Her hard rocking nominated album Strays, produced by her and Jonathan Wilson, came out in January to strong reviews. Its nominated song “Change Of Heart” was written with her husband Jeremy Ivey. She’s also been in the news for her fascinating memoir Maybe We’ll Make It, which recounts her journey from a repossessed Illinois farm to Austin City Limits and Saturday Night Live.
Other Artist of the Year nominees are Sierra Ferrell, Allison Russell, who won Album of the Year in 2022 and last year’s category winner Billy Strings. Album of the Year was rounded out with several surprises - Angel Olson’s Big Time, Tyler Childers’s three-disc concept album Can I Take My Hounds To Heaven?, and El Bueno y El Malo by the instrumental guitar duo Hermanos Gutiérrez.
Curiously, the nominees for Duo/Group of the Year appear in no other categories, and they include some of last year’s most interesting stories, such as the breakout country rock band 49 Winchester from rural Virginia and Plains, the one-off duo of Waxahatchee’s Katie Crutchfield and songwriter Jessica Williamson. Other contenders are Nickel Creek, who didn’t release an album or tour until after the eligibility period, Caamp, an indie folk group from Ohio, and perennial favorites The War and Treaty.
The Emerging Act of the Year category may tell more of Americana’s current story than any other, with a diverse cast of unique musicians from across the country and genre fields. Postmodern blues picker Sunny War and nonbinary Knoxville-raised folksinger Adeem the Artist will be up against Kentucky truth-teller S.G. Goodman, Canadian First Nations songwriter William Prince and southern California soul trio Thee Sacred Souls.
The awards will be handed out Wed, Sept. 20 at the Ryman Auditorium during AmericanaFest 2023, running Sept. 19 - 23. A complete list of nominees follows:
ALBUM OF THE YEAR:
"Big Time," Angel Olsen; Produced by Angel Olsen and Jonathan Wilson
"Can I Take My Hounds To Heaven?," Tyler Childers; Produced by Tyler Childers
"El Bueno y el Malo," Hermanos Gutiérrez; Produced by Dan Auerbach
"The Man from Waco," Charley Crockett; Produced by Bruce Robison
"Strays," Margo Price; Produced by Margo Price and Jonathan Wilson
ARTIST OF THE YEAR:
Charley Crockett
Sierra Ferrell
Margo Price
Allison Russell
Billy Strings
DUO/GROUP OF THE YEAR:
49 Winchester
Caamp
Nickel Creek
Plains
The War and Treaty
EMERGING ACT OF THE YEAR:
Adeem the Artist
S.G. Goodman
William Prince
Thee Sacred Souls
Sunny War
INSTRUMENTALIST OF THE YEAR:
Isa Burke
Allison de Groot
Jeff Picker
SistaStrings (Chauntee and Monique Ross)
Kyle Tuttle
SONG OF THE YEAR:
“Change of Heart,” Margo Price; Written by Jeremy Ivey, Margo Price
“I’m Just a Clown,” Charley Crockett; Written by Charley Crockett
“Just Like That,” Bonnie Raitt; Written by Bonnie Raitt
“Something in the Orange,” Zach Bryan; Written by Zach Bryan
“You’re Not Alone,” Allison Russell featuring Brandi Carlile; Written by Allison Russell
