Nominees Announced for the 2018 Americana Music Awards

The Americana Music Association has announced their nominees for the 2018 Americana Music Awards. In a ceremony held at the Country Music Hall of Fame on Tuesday afternoon (5/15), nominees in six categories were announced, with four total nominations going to Jason Isbell, and three going to both Brandi Carlile and Margo Price.

The ceremony also featured performances by the four nominees for Instrumentalist of the Year, guitar player Molly Tuttle, drummer Jerry Pentacost, fiddle player Brittany Haas, and guitarist Daniel Donato. At one point Jason Isbell crashed the presentation being hosted by the Milk Carton Kids. “You don’t come pick ’em up ’till September brother,” they joked, while Isbell played like Kanye to Taylor Swift, saying at one point to the Milk Carton Kids, “You need to make a record with Dave Cobb, and then every year they’ll just keep on nominating you.”

Most notable from the nominations is that both the Artist of the Year and Album of the Year categories only feature four nominees, where last year they featured five. Also, Jason Isbell, John Prine, and Margo Price were all nominated for Artist of the Year in 2017, as well as picking up nominations this year. John Prine ultimately won in 2017. Jason Isbell also doubles up on nominations by being considered for Artist of the Year, as well as receiving a nomination for Duo/Group of the Year with his band, The 400 Unit.

The full list of nominees can be seen below, as well as a video of the entire nominee presentation. Winners will be announced at the annual awards show at the Ryman Auditorium Wednesday, September 12th as part of AmericanaFest.

Artist of the Year

  • Jason Isbell
  • John Prine
  • Brandi Carlile
  • Margo Price

Album of the Year

  • “All American Made” – Margo Price
  • “By The Way, I Forgive You” – Brandi Carlile
  • “The Nashville Sound” – Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit
  • “Rifles and Rosary Beads” – Mary Gauthier

Song of the Year

  • “A Little Pain”- Margo Price
  • “All The Trouble” – Lee Ann Womack (w/ Waylon Payne, Adam Wright)
  • “If We Were Vampires” – Jason Isbell
  • “The Joke” – Brandi Carlile (w/ Dave Cobb, Phil Hanseroth, Tim Hanseroth)

Duo/Group of the Year

  • I’m With Her
  • Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit
  • Lukas Nelson an Promise of the Real
  • Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats

Emerging Artist of the Year

  • Courtney Marie Andrews
  • Tyler Childers
  • Anderson East
  • Lilly Hiatt

Instrumentalist of the Year

  • Molly Tuttle
  • Jerry Pentacost
  • Brittany Haas
  • Daniel Donato

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