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UK AMERICANA AWARDS CELEBRATES GRAHAM NASH, FRANK TURNER AND BRANDI CARLILE

• 1st Feb 2019

Hosted by Bob Harris OBE, The fourth UK Americana Awards took place last night at a packed Hackney Empire in East London.

Winners on the night included such names as Frank Turner (Best Selling Americana Album for Be More Kind), Graham Nash (Lifetime Achievement Award), legendary producer Joe Boyd (Trailblazer Award), Bennet Wilson Poole (UK Artist of the Year) and Brandi Carlile (International Song of the Year for The Joke).

The talented winners were presented with their unique ‘Woodys’. These awards are hand-crafted representations of 7” singles turned in a variety of woods. The special 12” Lifetime Achievement Awards was presented to Graham Nash. Full winners:

Lifetime Achievement Award – Graham Nash
UK Album of the Year – Shorebound by Ben Glover
International Album of the Year – May Your Kindness Remain by Courtney Marie Andrews
UK Song of the Year – Southern Wind by Dean Owens
International Song of the Year – The Joke by Brandi Carlile
UK Artist of the Year – Bennet Wilson Poole
International Artist of the Year – Mary Gauthier
UK Instrumentalist of the Year – CJ Hillman
Trailblazer Award – Joe Boyd
Bob Harris Emerging Artist Award – Curse of Lono
Best Selling Americana Album – Be More Kind by Frank Turner
Grass Roots Award – The Green Note, Camden

Playing to a sold-out venue, the house band helmed by esteemed producer and songwriter Ethan Johns, welcomed performers on the night including Graham Nash, Rhiannon Giddens (who was also a keynote speaker at the AMA UK Conference), Jade Bird, YOLA, Seth Lakeman, Chris Hillman and Curse of Lono.

The awards were presented by Bob Harris who was joined on stage by Countryfile’s Ellie Harrison, 10 CC’s Graham Gouldman, US Country star Ashley Monroe, Glastonbury Festival’s Emily Eavis and US comedian and musician Rich Hall to hand out the coveted gongs.

Earlier in the week, The Americana Music Association UK took over 5 venues in Hackney to showcase well over 50 artists representing the wide spectrum of the Americana genre. The week also saw AMA UK members attending conferences and talks from industry speakers and artists including John Oates (in conversation with Bob Harris), Deacon Blue’s Ricky Ross (in conversation with Fiona Bevan) and Rhiannon Giddens delivering the Keynote speech.