As the Americana Music Association celebrates 25 years as a trade organization committed to honoring, supporting and advocating for a myriad of roots-oriented music, the organization held its 23^rd annual Americana Honors & Awards at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville on Wednesday evening (Sept. 18).

The historic building, which has been home to generations of performers, was appropriate for the ceremony, as the evening was a revelry of Americana music’s roots and branches, winding through and meshing together rock n’ roll, Gospel, folk, country, blues, R&B and more.

Sierra Ferrell was the evening’s biggest winner, taking home the coveted artist of the year honor as well as album of the year (for Trail of Flowers). “Wondering Why” hitmakers The Red Clay Strays were named emerging artist of the year.

Duane Betts opened the show with a tribute to his late father Dickey Betts by performing a relaxed, rollicking rendition of The Allman Brothers Band’s “Blue Sky,” (from The Allman Brothers Band’s 1972 album Eat a Peach), punctuated by Betts’ note-perfect guitar skills and relaxed-yet-commanding guitar acumen.

“That one’s for you, Dad. We love you,” Betts said, honoring his father, who died in April.

The Milk Carton Kids welcomed the audience watching both in-person at the Ryman as well as those watching at home. Buddy Miller continued his reign as band leader, leading the 2024 house band with Don Was, The McCrary Sisters, Bryan Owings, Jerry Pentecost, Jen Gunderman, Jim Hoke and Larry Campbell.

From there, Oklahoma native and emerging artist of the year nominee Kaitlin Butts performed a roaring rendition of the witty, fiddle laden “You Ain’t Gotta Die (to Be Dead to Me).” The first accolade of the evening, instrumentalist of the year, was awarded to 18-year-old guitarist/singer phenom Grace Bowers, who in August released her debut album, Wine on Venus. Bowers was on the road and could not be in attendance.

Waxahatchee performed her song of the year-nominated “Right Back To It,” from her album Tigers Blood. Charles Wesley Godwin, his voice golden and burnished, performed the banjo-inflected love song “All Again.”

The evening rolled on with performances from the agile-voiced Jobi Riccio, as well as Wyatt Flores, who previewed the title track from his upcoming project Welcome to the Plains. The Milk Carton Kids dedicated their performance of “When You’re Gone” to sound engineer Mark Richards. Also stunning the audience were performances from sibling duo Larkin Poe, Red Dirt country-rockers Turnpike Troubadours, and the octave-scaling, peerless vocal dynamo The War and Treaty (who drew an instant, rowdy standing ovation). Also on the bill were engaging performances from Sarah Jarosz, Brandy Clark accompanied by SistaStrings, and a masterful performance of “American Dreaming” from Ferrell. Noah Kahan also performed his smash hit “Dial Drunk.”

Throughout the evening, powerful performances were punctuated by more awards winners, including Larkin Poe (duo/group of the year), Grace Bowers (instrumentalist of the year) and Brandy Clark (song of the year, for “Dear Insecurity,” featuring Brandi Carlile).

“I have struggled most of my career with where my music fits and you guys have made me feel at home,” Clark said in accepting the song of the year honor. “I remember I was at a low time of not fittin’ in and [Americana Music Association executive director] Jed Hilly invited me to play AmericanaFest.” Clark also thanked a few of her music industry champions, including Gail Gellman, Tracy Gershon, CMT’s Leslie Fram, as well as the musicians on Clark’s self-titled album and Carlile, who not only sang on the song, but produced the album.

The Americana Music Association also honored several artists and musicians with the lifetime achievement award, including the gospel group The Blind Boys of Alabama, who performed an ovation-drawing rendition of “Work Until My Days are Done.” Fellow lifetime achievement honorees included Dave Alvin (known for his work as an artist, writer and member of The Blasters, X and The Knitters), Rev. Gary Davis, Shelby Lynne, Dwight Yoakam and musician/producer Don Was (known for working with a slate of artists including Bonnie Raitt, the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Elton John, John Mayer, Ziggy Marley, Lucinda Williams, Ringo Starr, Delbert McClinton, Hootie & the Blowfish, The Black Crowes and Martina McBride (who introduced Was during the evening’s celebration).

“Go where the love is,” Alvin advised those listening. “Surround yourself with people who love music the same way that you do, no matter what passing tastes or fads might be, and always surround yourselves with musicians who are better than you are.”

The Americana Music Association has for the past five years teamed with the National Museum of African American Music, and was instrumental Wednesday evening in honoring Davis with the legacy of americana award, with Fantastic Negrito performing “Samson and Delilah.”

Singer-songwriter Allison Moorer celebrated her big sister and Wednesday evening’s lifetime achievement honoree Shelby Lynne, calling Lynne “my personal trailblazer.”

“I am proud to be a part of Americana. If I was ever to fit in anywhere, it was with the misfits, storytellers, outlaws and truth-tellers, the heartbreakers, the hippies,” Lynne said, before she was joined by Moorer in singing “Gotta Get Back,” from Lynne’s landmark album I Am Shelby Lynne.

Versatile musician, writer and actor Yoakam was also feted by Clark with a lifetime achievement award. He earned a standing ovation as he took the stage, first paying tribute to Alvin, saying,  “Without Dave Alvin coming into my life, I don’t know where my journey would have taken me. The twists and turns that lay ahead of me at that point wouldn’t have turned corners into bright sunlight without Dave championing me…I owe him a debt of gratitude along with [guitarist/producer] Pete Anderson.”

“That was truly an independent record,” Yoakam said of Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc., which Yoakam originally released as a six-song indie record in 1984, before it was picked up by Warner’s Reprise Records and re-released with additional songs in 1986. The project would become the first of three consecutive Yoakam albums to hit No. 1 on Billboard’s top country albums chart. On Wednesday evening, Yoakam also said that original indie project was part of, “…why the spirit of the Americana Music Association felt at home to me…Thanks for the reminder every year when the AMA allows me to participate in anything they are doing. They always make room for us to come down… Every decade or so there is another generation that rediscovers the enormous impact of early country music, blues, rock and roll, soul, all of it can have on their peers and a brand new audience. The only place I ever won an artist of the year award was the Americana Awards [in 2013],” he noted. From there, fastening his guitar strap, Yoakam plunged the audience into his Bakersfield-meets-rockabilly groove of his 1993 hit “Fast as You.”

During the evening, Elizabeth Cook also took a moment to honor Jeremy Tepper, executive and program director of SiriusXM’s Outlaw Country station, who passed away in June.

“Jeremy was a key part of this community,” Cook said. “He was a musician first-off, and a label owner, a really clever guy who recognized that truck stops still had jukeboxes…and thus was born Diesel Only Records….he was an early and ardent supporter of the Americana Music Association.”

The star-studded evening closed with Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell offering a version of the Gram Parsons song “Return of the Grievous Angel.”

See the full list of this year’s Americana Music Honors & Awards honorees below:

Instrumentalist of the year:  Grace Bowers

Album of the year: Trail of Flowers, Sierra Ferrell (produced by Eddie Spear and Gary Paczosa)

Duo/Group of the year: Larkin Poe

Emerging act of the year: The Red Clay Strays

Song of the year: “Dear Insecurity,” by Brandy Clark (feat. Brandi Carlile) (written by Clark and Michael Pollack)

Artist of the year: Sierra Ferrell

Billie Eilish’s “When the Party’s Over” soundtracks a new Kamala Harris ad that targets the dangers of not having reproductive care under a Donald Trump presidency.

In the one-minute clip, reproductive freed activist Hadley Duvall tells a devastating story of how she became pregnant after her stepfather raped her when she was just 12 years old. While she was able to get to have options like abortion for her pregnancy, Duvall warned that due to Roe v. Wade having been revoked, young women can no longer get the care they need, even when the pregnancy is die to incest or rape.

Eilish’s recognizable chorus is heard as Harris approves the message.

Oh my goodness. This new Kamala Harris ad is so powerful. Hadley Duvall tells how her stepfather raped her when she was 12 & then she became pregnant. But girls now can no longer access the care she got because of Trump. Billie Eilish closes the ad. Watch. pic.twitter.com/sSjB72tQ8A

— Victor Shi (@Victorshi2020) September 18, 2024

Earlier in the day, Eilish and her brother Finneas voiced their support for Harris. “We are voting for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz because they are fighting to protect our reproductive freedom, our planet and our democracy,” the “Bad Guy” singer says in a clip posted to social media.

“We can’t let extremists control our lives, our freedoms and our future,” Finneas continues. “The only way to stop them and the dangerous Project 2025 agenda is to vote and elect Kamala Harris.”

The pair also shared a link where fans can check their registration status ahead of election day on Nov. 5. “Vote like your life depends on it,” Eilish adds in the clip. “Because it does.”

Townsend Music, a U.K.-based distributor and direct-to-consumer retailer, has been acquired by Artone, a Dutch business with a portfolio of companies that caters to the physical music marketplace. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Townsend Music founder Steve Bamber called the acquisition “a clear opportunity to push its European expansion strategy forward quickly, with Artone’s well established sales, distribution and manufacturing facilities already in place.” 

Artone can quickly scale up and meets its goal of becoming a global D2C company, according to sales director Bruce McKenzie. “Artone’s suite of services from vinyl manufacturing, EU physical distribution, and label services gives us perfect synergy to offer both our D2C clients and super-fan customers a super charged service,” he said in a statement.

Artone was formed in 2022 from the merger of Bertus Distribution and Record Industry, a vinyl pressing plant based in Haarlem, Netherlands. The portfolio of companies also includes Sound Factory, which provides artists and labels with solutions to sell exclusive content directly to consumers; two labels that release music in physical formats, Music on Vinyl and Music on CD; and V2 Benelux, which provides label services in the Netherlands, Belgium, France and Germany.

“The acquisition is another welcome step for Artone’s continued expansion of its service portfolio and gives us presence in the UK market,” CEO Jan Willem Kaasschieter said in a statement. “This acquisition strengthens our position as a global leader in physical music distribution. We’re excited about the opportunities this will bring and look forward to driving the future of physical music together, developing further global reach and innovative solutions for the benefit of the music industry.”

Physical music sales continue to show strong growth as streaming takes a larger portion of the global market. In the United Kingdom, vinyl sales grew 13.5% and CD sales improved 3.2% in the first half of 2024, according to the Entertainment Retailers’ Association. 

With vinyl sales continuing to rise and streaming growth slowing, the music industry is putting increased focused on reaching “superfans” willing to pay more for premium experiences and tangible products. The unmet opportunity to monetize superfans was a key talking point in Universal Music Group’s Capital Markets Day presentation on Tuesday (Sept. 17). “We’re creating and monetizing new ways to meet the superfans pent up demand for products, experiences and access that brings them closer to the music and to the artists that they love,” said CEO Lucian Grainge. 

Warner Music Group CEO Robert Kyncl has also made superfans a priority during his tenure. “One of the most important things is to figure out a direct relationship with the most valuable fans,” Kyncl said at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and Telecom Conference on March 6. “Because it’s not only important to monetization and new revenue stream, but it’s also important to launching new music, which is the core of what we do.”

Effectively reaching superfans could be a lucrative endeavor for record labels. In its latest “Music in the Air” report, Goldman Sachs analysts put the global superfan addressable market at $4.5 billion—nearly 16% of the $28.6 billion recorded music market in 2023, according to the IFPI. Much of that revenue could come from music subscription services’ high-priced, high-value offerings that go beyond the current premium subscription tier.

Physical goods are a proven way to connect with superfans. Market research firm MusicWatch found that 20% of U.S. music fans are superfans for their favorite artists who go to concerts, buy merchandise and albums and would be wiling to spend more for VIP experiences from the artist. At the same time, more superfan sales are coming from the types of direct-to-consumer stores offered by Townsend. In the first half of 2023, U.S. direct-to-consumer sales tracked by Luminate increased 20% year-over-year.

Playing in a trio is not without precedent for Sting; he was in this little band called the Police, after all.
But his Sting 3.0 tour — which began during the summer in Europe and opened its North American leg Tuesday night (Sept. 17) with the first of two shows at the Fillmore Detroit — has been a welcome return to the format after a good 40 years of touring with different and varyingly larger configurations.

“My inclination is always to try and surprise people in the songs I write or in the format I present the song,” he told Billboard via Zoom from New York, between the 3.0 tour legs. “I don’t think anyone was expecting a trio. “I’ve worked with these big seven, eight-piece bands, and it’s a bit like driving a Bentley. It kind of drives itself, and it’s comfortable. So I decided I would put myself out of my comfort zone in order to get something on the back end that wasn’t guaranteed — a risk, if you like.

“I’m enjoying the challenge, and it’s also fun looking, watching the audience go, ‘Wow, there’s only three people up there. We were expecting a bigger band’ and then enjoying the sonic clarity of it.”

Sting is joined in the endeavor by longtime guitarist Dominic Miller and drummer Chris Maas, a Luxembourg native who’s previously worked with Mumford & Sons, Maggie Rodgers and the Pierces. And while Sting fessed up to being “kind of anxious all the way up to the first show” in Europe, he quickly shed any doubts he may have had — or, perhaps, any lingering PTSD from the legendary combativeness within the Police.

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“Halfway through that first gig I relied this is exactly what I want to do,” he said, explaining that, “There’s a space that you have been instruments — the clarity, the mutual listening between the members of the band, the risk factor, stripping the songs down to their basic essence and having them work. You take all the fat away, but the basic structure of the song is very satisfying.

“We’ve had a blast. There’s no let-up here. You can’t cruise. You have to be right on the money the whole time. But the songs are holding up. The singer’s holding up…’” And so, he added, is the player. “I began to notice how good I am at singing and playing the bass, actually,” he said with a chuckle. “I’ve forgotten how well I did that.

“Nothing is impossible with a trio, I realize that,” he added. “And it’s not as if I’m completely new to the format. But I am surprised at how adaptable the songs and the arrangements are. It’s been so enjoyable.”

The couple of thousand or so fans in Detroit on Tuesday certainly shared Sting’s exuberance, generating a give-and-take energy that sustained throughout the 20-song, hour-and-45-minute performance, and these unquestionable highlights from it…

A nice balance…
Not unusually, Sting and company did a fine job of combining the Police and his solo work, with eight of the former’s best-known songs in the setlist — including a ferocious rendition of “Driven to Tears” topical messages flashing across the video screen to “protest” and “react.” Sting’s “Desert Rose,” meanwhile, was sandwiched in the middle of a non-stop, main set-closing segment that began with the Police’s “Walking on the Moon” and “So Lonely” and finished with muscular arrangements of the Synchronicity hits “King of Pain” and “Every Breath You Take.”

A boatload of hits…
Sting doesn’t have to work hard to keep ’em coming, of course. Using a headset microphone and playing a few songs seated, he also delivered Police favorites such as the show-opening “Message in a Bottle” and “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic,” an extended “Can’t Stand Losing You” and a long, rhythmically shifting version of “Roxanne.” From the solo front, meanwhile, came “If I Ever Lose My Faith in You,” “Shape of My Heart,” “All This Time” and “Englishman in New York.” For the show-ending “Fragile,” meanwhile, he put aside the bass and played acoustic guitar to send the crowd home “quiet and thoughtful.”

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Deep cuts we love…
Sting mined 1991’s The Soul Cages for “Made About You” and “Why Should I Cry For You?,” both singles but not quite on A list status. From 2003’s Sacred Love, meanwhile, he plucked the solemn “Never Coming Home,” which he introduced as a musical note left by a woman as she was leaving her husband. The latter was also one of the night’s instrumental highlights, as Sting and Miller closed with an arresting, jammy outro.

It’s Miller time…
“Dominic is just loving the harmonic freedom he has, and the colors he’s creating are extraordinary,” Sting said, and that was borne out all show long, as Miller, employing an array of tasteful effects, used the space between Sting’s bass and Maas’s drums to paint an array of rich chordings and instrumental passages that elevated just about every song. His dexterous but discreet plucking filled in for the piano from the recorded version of “Every Little Thing She Does is Magic” and he created his own interpretation of the Arabic break from “Desert Rose.” And his solos during “Driven to Tears and “So Lonely” were nothing short of heroic.

Some fresh fare…
Sting, Miller and Maas recorded a new single, “I Wrote Your Name,” that’s been played throughout the tour and was formally released on Sept. 6. “It’s a romantic song,” he told the Detroit crowd. “It’s also quite noisy.” And with its punchy energy and raspy vocal (from “being in the middle of a tour and being fatigued”) certainly recalls the Police’s early release.
“It’s a surprising record from me — very, very basic, like maybe four and a half chords,” Sting said, adding that, “I’d like to make (an album) with this trio. I’ve got the bare bones of a few things. Playing every night, it’s still very experimental, so a lot of things are happening that weren’t planned and that’s the territory I will draw from to make a new album. It’s very exciting.”

Who needs words?
Sting remained one of rock’s kings of call-and-response, leading several singalongs throughout Tuesday’s shows. He gave the fans an opening during “Every Little Thing…,” then said he’d invented the wordless “little improvisation” at the end of “Can’t Stand Losing You” when the Police played the now-defunct Detroit club Bookie’s during November of 1978. There was another extended give-and-take towards the end of “Walking on the Moon” and, of course, during the jazzy breakdown in “Roxanne.”

And lest we forget, he IS Sting…
After recalling some of his history playing Detroit, Sting told the crowd, “I’m gonna sing a song about my home now,” explaining with smile that, “I’ve a little house in the English countryside — it’s more of a castle, really,” about two miles “down the hill” from Stonehenge. He said that when the Englishman is in England, “if you knock on the door, I’ll make you a cup of tea,” indicating that he’s been taken up on that offer in the past. He went on to say that “the other nice thing about my house is it’s surrounded by barley fields, and at harvest time — see where I’m going with this? — it’s surrounded by what looks like a sea of gold.” That, of course, led into a performance of “Fields of Gold.”

The trio plays Detroit again on Wednesday and will be in North America through mid-November, including performances at the Bourbon & Beyond festival on Thursday in Louisville and the Ohana Festival Sept. 28 in California. The full itinerary can be found at sting.com/tour.

The Sting 3.0 opening night performance in Detroit included:
Message in a Bottle
If I Ever Lose My Faith in You
Englishman in New York
Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic
Fields of Gold
Never Coming Home
Mad About You
Why Should I Cry for You?
All This Time
Driven to Tears
Can’t Stand Losing You
I Wrote Your Name
Shape of My Heart
Walking on the Moon
So Lonely
Desert Rose
King of Pain
Every Breath You Take
Encore:
Roxanne
Fragile