Sierra Ferrell, I’m With Her & More

The Americana Music Association celebrated its 24th annual Americana Honors & Awards Wednesday night (Sept. 10) at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium.

Sierra Ferrell continued her reign as artist of the year, taking home her second consecutive win in that category. Ferrell becomes the first woman to win back-to-back awards for artist of the year. Brandi Carlile previously won the category twice, though not in consecutive years. Other previous back-to-back winners in the category are John Prine (2017-2018) and Billy Strings (2022-2023). Ferrell won emerging artist of the year three years ago. She’s just the second artist to go from winning emerging artist of the year to artist of the year. Sturgill Simpson was the first.

Gillian Welch and David Rawlings were celebrated as duo/group of the year. The pair is the fourth collaboration to win duo/group of the year, following Alison Krauss and Robert Plant, Buddy and Julie Miller, and Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell.

Alex Hargreaves, a celebrated violinist and current full-time touring member with Billy Strings, was named instrumentalist of the year. Hargreaves is the first man to win instrumentalist of the year since Chris Eldridge in 2019.

I’m With Her’s Sarah Jarosz, Aoife O’Donovan and Sara Watkins were honored with song of the year for “Ancient Light.” MJ Lenderman, who released the album Manning Fireworks in 2024, was honored as emerging act of the year.

Nathaniel Rateliff and The Night Sweats were honored with album of the year for their LP South of Here, which included songs such as “Heartless” and “Call Me (Whatever You Like).” They were presented with the accolade by Carlile, who is gearing up for the release of her album Returning to Myself in October.

John C. Reilly hosted the evening, while John Fogerty presented the spirit of Americana free speech in music award to Jesse Welles. Welles is known for his witty musical distilling of his clear-eyed observations on the world, and has released albums including With The Devil and Devil’s Den.

Fogerty then closed out the evening with renditions of Creedence Clearwater Revival classics including “Up Around the Bend,” “Lookin’ Out My Back Door” and “Proud Mary.” Meanwhile, Emmylou Harris and Daniel Lanois reprised Harris’ landmark Wrecking Ball project with a rendition of “May This Be Love.”

Throughout the evening, Buddy Miller led the Americana All-Star Band, which included Don Was, The McCrary Sisters, Fred Eltringham, Jen Gunderman, Jim Hoke and Larry Campbell.

The evening featured a top-notch lineup of performances from Dawes, Welch and Rawlings, Emmylou Harris, I’m With Her, JD McPherson, Reilly, Joy Oladokun, Maggie Antone, Maggie Rose, Margo Price, Medium Build, Rateliff, Noeline Hofmann and Old 97’s.

The Old 97’s, Joe Henry and Darrell Scott were recipients of the Americana lifetime achievement honor, presented by Rosanne Cash, Rodney Crowell and Hayes Carll, respectively. The McCrary Sisters were honored with the legacy of Americana award in partnership with the National Museum of African American Music; the honor was presented by NMAAM board member and producer Shannon Sanders.

Jed Hilly, executive director of the Americana Music Association and Foundation, said in a statement, “What a great night! We saw the breadth of the Americana community and spirit. This legacy has stood strong for over two decades and will continue for many more to come.”

The awards show took place during the annual AmericanaFest, which runs from Sept. 9 to 13.

Additional reporting by Paul Grein.