AmericanaFest

Americanafest 2026 threw a lot at us over five days last week. Our rambling writer Craig sensed a new trend in country singing and it led to some gorgeous and dramatic sets with ties to history, he reports.

The 25th annual Americana Honors Awards opened with an authentically historic American rock and roll reunion of The Heartbreakers and ended with a first-time Artist of the Year award for progressive acoustic guitarist and songwriter Molly Tuttle. Dolly Parton and Robert Plant also received Lifetime Achievement Awards.

Buddy Miller is the most awarded musician in the history of the Americana Music Association, with two Artist of the Year trophies, three Albums of the Year, and the lifetime achievement Wagonmaster Award. That’s a lot of attention on one humble man. But he’s worn his ambassador status for the format with distinction as a singer, songwriter, guitarist and producer. On the eve of Americanafest 2026, Miller released his first solo album in fifteen years. The self-titled set made a perfect occasion to bring Buddy on The String for a lifetime-spanning chat.

There's no easy way to forge a path through the beautiful sprawl that is Americanafest. But here, our journalist Craig Havighurst scans the newcomers and the veterans alike to assemble a day-by-day guide to some of the most compelling acts among this year's offerings.

This week marks one month until Americanafest 2026, so the wheels have been turning around here. Today we share the lineup for our ninth annual Americanafest Day Stage, presented in partnership with NPR Music, World Cafe, and Nashville PBS. It’s one of the strongest lineups ever, and the event will be broadcast and webcast widely.

Craig Havighurst has covered or attended every Nashville Americanafest since it was founded, and it remains a sacred week on the calendar. Spirits were high. The weather was excellent. There were countless good options for where to be at any given time, so choosing was hard, but our correspondent found his way to hearing top-shelf old-school country, funky soul, bluegrass and newgrass, emotional solo songwriters, and high caliber bands. Here's a look at his notebook across five days.

Sierra Ferrell’s journey from West Virginia to national prominence as a country singer and songwriter sounds more like something from the 1930s than this hypermediated new century, with rail riding, busking, and late night honky tonks along the way. But on Wednesday night the quirky, fashion-forward and extravagantly gifted artist took her spot at the top of Americana music, winning Artist and Album of the Year (Trail of Flowers) on a gala night that featured oratory almost as good as the songwriting from a score of multi-genre standouts.

With Americanafest landing in Nashville this week, Craig Havighurst looked over the many artists breaking out of Music City and got especially excited about Baltic Street Hotel by rocking songwriter Sophie Gault. It’ll be released this Friday, but Craig’s been listening for a few weeks and finds it rich with personal details, sharp melodies, and an old school Americana spirit that evokes Lucinda Williams or Kathleen Edwards. The show features exclusive teasers of several songs from this LP, produced by Ray Kennedy at his request. Also in the hour, a rising star of acoustic Americana, 15-year-old mandolinist Wyatt Ellis, who recently released his solo debut with guest turns by some of today’s best mandolin players, including Marty Stuart.

Watch WMOT's free livestream of the 2024 AMERICANAFEST Day Stage on September 18th - 20th from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. CDT.

For the second year in a row, bluegrass guitar innovator and live roots phenom Billy Strings was named Artist of the Year at the 22nd annual Americana Honors and Awards. Unlike last year, Strings was on hand to accept his custom trophy and then join the night's huge cast of assembled artists to play a snapping guitar solo on the show finale jam on "Cripple Creek," a salute to The Band's great songwriter and singer Robbie Robertson, who died in August.