The Americana Music Association has announced the nominees for its 24th annual Americana Honors & Awards. This year’s nominations were revealed by Brandi Carlile, Kashus Culpepper, S.G. Goodman, Jim Lauderdale, Kacey Musgraves and Molly Tuttle in a social media announcement.
The winners will be announced during the Americana Honors & Awards on Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2025, at the historic Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. The celebrated program is the hallmark event of AMERICANAFEST, which returns for its 25th year on Sept. 9-13, 2025.
A full list of categories and nominees for the Americana Music Association’s 24th annual Americana Honors & Awards is below the video player.
ALBUM OF THE YEAR:
Lonesome Drifter, Charley Crockett; Produced by Charley Crockett & Shooter Jennings
Foxes in the Snow, Jason Isbell; Produced by Jason Isbell & Gena Johnson
Manning Fireworks, MJ Lenderman; Produced by Alex Farrar & MJ Lenderman
South of Here, Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats; Produced by Brad Cook
Woodland, Gillian Welch & David Rawlings; Produced by David Rawlings
ARTIST OF THE YEAR:
Charley Crockett
Sierra Ferrell
Joy Oladokun
Billy Strings
Waxahatchee
DUO/GROUP OF THE YEAR:
Julien Baker & TORRES
Dawes
Larkin Poe
The Mavericks
Gillian Welch & David Rawlings
EMERGING ACT OF THE YEAR:
Noeline Hofmann
MJ Lenderman
Medium Build
Maggie Rose
Jesse Welles
INSTRUMENTALIST OF THE YEAR:
Fred Eltringham
Alex Hargreaves
Megan Jane
Kaitlyn Raitz
Seth Taylor
SONG OF THE YEAR:
“Johnny Moonshine,” Maggie Antone; Written by Maggie Antone, Natalie Hemby & Aaron Raitiere
“Ancient Light,” I’m With Her; Written by Sarah Jarosz, Aoife O’Donovan & Sara Watkins
“Wristwatch,” MJ Lenderman; Written by MJ Lenderman
“Sunshine Getaway,” JD McPherson; Written by Page Burkum, JD McPherson & Jack Torrey
“Heartless,” Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats; Written by Nathaniel Rateliff
Photo Credits: Charley Crockett courtesy of the artist; Gillian Welch & David Rawlings by Alysse Gafkjen; Waxahatchee by Molly Matalon
Over the past couple of decades, the music industry has seen more women rising to become leaders in audio engineering and producing. However, even as access, acceptance, and opportunity continue to improve, women are still painfully underrepresented in these career paths, making up just five percent of engineers and producers worldwide. Over the past few weeks, I’ve talked to a handful of these remarkable women, in person at coffee shops, over the phone, and via email, about how they built their careers and the challenges they have faced in a male-dominated industry. These women are trailblazers, often without career models to follow, often the only woman in the room when they work. Their tenacity, talent, and dedication are evident, and I feel honored to share their stories.
As a musician who came up in the the bluegrass scene, the first female producer I ever knew of or worked with – and now that I think of it, the only female producer I’ve worked with who was not hired by me – is the legendary Alison Brown, virtuosic banjo player and co-owner of Compass Records. Since Brown has seen a lot of generational change over her tenure in Nashville, I thought I should start by getting her perspective.
Brown had already solidified her reputation as an instrumentalist, winning IBMA’s Banjo Player of the Year award in 1991 and touring with Alison Krauss, when she decided to start a record label along with her husband, Garry West. “We were talking about how to have a sustainable life in music,” she said, “And it was one of those napkin drawing in a coffee shop moments.”
The two were on tour in Sweden with Michelle Shocked, for whom Brown was the bandleader. “When I look back, I can see how a lot of the opportunities I had were carved out for me by other women. I was about to go to law school when Shocked asked me to be her bandleader and then we went on a world tour. At Compass, I never thought of myself as a producer, Garry was more interested in that role. But when Dale Ann Bradley was going to make an album she asked me to produce it, so I said yes, and that’s how I started producing.”
Since then, Brown has produced seven Grammy-nominated records, as well as winning a Grammy for her own song, “Leaving Cottondale,” off of her 2000 record, Fair Weather.
When asked about her production style, Brown interestingly observes that she may come at it from a traditionally female perspective, by observing and predicting other people’s feelings and needs. “Especially in the studio, you need to make people feel at ease…” she explains. “Ultimately your job is to draw the best out of the musicians. Everyone has that thing they’re afraid of having to do under the microscope, but the goal is to make the musician feel comfortable enough to reach out and hit something new.”
“Sometimes with the older guard guys, I’ll say, ‘OK, lets try to play through the chart’ and they will act like they don’t understand me. ‘What did she say? What does she want to do?’ … Like they want someone to translate it for them, because it’s coming from a woman. It’s annoying, but I know they’re acting that way because they are nervous and they don’t want to look stupid. So when I’m producing, I try to intuit those things about people, and stay focused on the end goal of making a great record.”
Engineer and producer Shani Gandhi has been in Nashville since 2011, and has been been nominated for two Grammys, winning Best Engineered Album (Non-Classical) for her work on Sierra Hull’s 2020 album, 25 Trips, which she engineered, mixed, and co-produced with Hull. Originally from Singapore, Gandhi was raised in Perth, Australia. She moved to the U.S. in 2007 to attend Ithaca College, where she received a BA in music with a concentration in sound recording technology.
Gandhi was drawn to engineering and production because of her love of music and her simultaneous dislike for performing. “As a kid, I didn’t even know that that side of music existed as a career, but once I found the Audio Engineering Society, I immersed myself in it, I was obsessed.”
Gandhi told me about her philosophy for building a community you can learn from and create with. “It’s really important to have a strong community of both mentors and peers,” she explains. “I had people that I was looking up to that were holding me to a very high standard, and then I had friends and colleagues where we were all working really hard and trading favors, and that’s how I built my freelance career. So you need really good people at all levels to make it work. You don’t want to feel like the smallest person in the room all the time, but you also need someone around to tell you, ‘I know you think what you’re doing is really cool, but it’s really not,’” she laughs.
Although she works on every stage of recording and producing, Gandhi’s great love is for mixing. “My approach is to always remember that it’s not my record, it’s the artist’s art when it comes down to it and they’re the ones who have to live with it for the rest of their lives. I do like things to be lush and tall and wide and pristine. I don’t go immediately to that tape or garage sort of sound, but I can do it. If that’s what the artists wants, that’s what the artists gets.”
Also hailing from Australia, producer and engineer Clare Reynolds – AKA Lollies – came to Nashville via LA, where she was signed as a songwriter for hip-hop producer Timbaland’s company. She essentially taught herself production and engineering on the job. “I was in a lot of big studios with big producers over those three years. It was really intense, I was almost always feeling out of my element, but I learned a lot. I would be writing the song, but also watching the others work, asking questions like, ‘Why are you using that mic?’ ‘How are you getting that sound?’ And trying to absorb everything they were doing.”
In Los Angeles, Reynolds tells me, she learned how to enter a room like a man: “I was with so many different, very big personalities that were at the top of their game and their egos were massive. They were just hyped … and if you want to be respected, you can’t go in tentative, you can’t code yourself as female. You have to act how they act, which is to say, you can’t care if other people like you. I would have this attitude like, ‘We don’t need to be friends, but we’re gonna write the best song ever.’”
Reynolds says that she will always love writing songs, but at least for now, production and engineering have taken a hold on her. “I will be forever learning,” she says, “But I do think that my experience with writing helps me approach the audio side from a very musical and song-based perspective.”
Engineer and producer Diana Walsh echoed Reynold’s sentiment about the typical energy in a recording studio. “With women being so critically underrepresented in these technical roles, it can sometimes take a minute for the gender biases in the room to dissipate,” she told me. “My focus is always on doing great work, and treating everyone in the room with the same respect I expect in return.”
Growing up in Houston, Texas, Walsh played guitar, but was always more interested in how she could record her guitar than how she could perform with it. Her mom bought her very first Shure SM57 microphone, which still gets used today in her sessions.
Walsh recorded her own music at home before heading to Belmont University to study music business, with an emphasis on production. While in school she started freelance recording for friends and classmates and after graduating, she began working at the historic RCA Studio B, where she is now the Studio Manager, as well as maintaining a busy freelance engineering schedule.
Her engineering and production credits include Matchbox 20, Amanda Shires, JD McPherson, and Sister Sadie. Walsh believes that representation is key for getting more women into the studio: “Working at RCA B, I have the opportunity to talk to a lot of school groups. After our sessions, I often speak with the students and ask about their goals for their future in music. Through these conversations, I’ve been thrilled to hear that more and more young women are taking an interest in engineering/producing.”
Throughout my conversations with each of these women, one point they all emphasized was the importance of staying focused on making great work in the face of difficult environments. “Nobody can argue with good work,” they each told me in their own way. And as we continue to see beautiful records being made by women, I have to agree.
Photo Credit: Alison Brown by Russ Harrington; Shani Gandhi by Joshua Black Wilkins.
Robert Plant and Alison Krauss are still riding a high from Raise the Roof, a well-received surprise album that appeared late last fall. After an international tour and three Grammy nominations, they’re now returning to the CMT Crossroads spotlight for the first time in 14 years.
Plant and Krauss first teamed for an episode of CMT Crossroads in 2008 following the release of their six-time Grammy Award-winning album Raising Sand. Their reunion marks the 20th anniversary of the franchise. CMT Crossroads: Robert Plant & Alison Krauss premieres with a special 90-minute presentation on Tuesday, November 29 at 9p/8c, exclusively on CMT. Encores are scheduled for Tuesday, November 29 at 10:30p/9:30c, and Sunday, December 4 at 11a/10c.
The anniversary special features the songs “High and Lonesome,” “Can’t Let Go” and “Gone Gone Gone” from their collaborative albums, as well as classics such as Led Zeppelin’s “Rock and Roll” and “When the Levee Breaks.” Enjoy the duo’s charming performance of “Can’t Let Go” (featuring a standout solo from guitarist JD McPherson) below.
Artist:JD McPherson Song: “Red Bows (For A Blue Girl)” (single)
In Their Words: “‘Red Bows (For A Blue Girl)’ was a title I had while writing the Socks album in 2018, but I never followed through with the idea. I have a couple of those. The idea came up to put out a 45 for Record Store Day, and it seemed like a good time to bring that tune to life. It’s about buying your special lady friend a nice gift for Christmas to cheer her up, but the character of the song is so manic, it’s no wonder the gal is down in the dumps! Love the maracas and background vocal shouts on this one; super fun to record. It’s been a blast to play live.” — JD McPherson
Oklahoma-born JD McPherson makes his own brand of high intellect, dance party-ready, Sun Studios-style rock ‘n’ roll. Last year he may have recorded one of the greatest original Christmas albums of the modern era with Socks.
While McPherson probably never dreamed he would become a new rock ‘n’ roll king of Christmas, Socks may be his most impressive feat yet. If you’re deeply suspicious of the capitalistic caterwauling of most modern holiday music on the airwaves (except you, Mariah!) you’ll still fall in love with JD’s sarcastic and sweet collection of holiday originals. The album deftly dives into lesser discussed Christmas subjects like broken expectations, inter-family angst, holiday horniness, and hilariously, the myth of why Santa must be grossly overweight to satisfy us fairy tale-loving kids. Give Socks a spin as you rock around the Christmas tree or the Hanukkah bush, or even better — keep it playing all year long.
Artist:JD McPherson Song: “All the Gifts I Need” Album:Socks
In Their Words: “’All The Gifts I Need’” was written with my pal Trent Dabbs. We were writing a song that I assumed was ‘for pitch’ (to be pitched to country artists) and I dubbed the song’s vibe ‘AC/DC for NASCAR fans,’ and we were both digging it a lot… the trouble was, Trent thought we were writing it for ME, and he was visibly bummed when I revealed that I had no intention of ever, ever recording it.
“I pivoted and suggest that we try writing a song for my upcoming Christmas album. Turns out Trent loves Christmas as much as I do… and that’s how ‘All the Gifts’ was born. We just had a little conversation about being dads during Christmas time, and how the ‘prelude’ is our favorite part… the pulling lights out of storage, playing Darlene Love records, seeing the kiddos get excited, and definitely smelling the baked goods!” –JD McPherson
Welcome to Gig Bag, a BGS feature that peeks into the touring essentials of some of our favorite artists. This time around, JD McPherson catalogs the items he always has nearby when out on the road.
Muhammad Ali jump rope: I found this jump rope in a junk mall and, in keeping with my tradition, every time I find a mildly eccentric exercise tool (i.e., kettlebells?!), made a solemn vow to use them every time I stepped out of the van or the bus. I’ve used them maybe 10 times in five years.
20 oz YETI tumbler w/ magnetic lid mechanism: The whole band got these as gifts, and now it’s like there are six Gollums and six precious rings in our group. There’s a constant game of picking up random tumblers and checking underneath for your own name in Sharpie. “WHERE’S MY YETI?” is heard a lot around our camp. Our Scottish tour manager says it like this: “YEH – EE” with no “T” sound.
These things are like gold. Your coffee stays hot for A DAY. Try one, and then try traveling with coffee in anything else. You get nods of approval from the Anytown baristas, when you plop that bad boy up on the counter. They know that six shots of espresso they just brewed for you will stay hot all day. We make gigantic drinks on the rocks in these and carry them onstage. Can’t do without. “WHERE’S MY YEH-EEEEEEEE??”
World’s Tiniest Bible™ and Illuminations by Arthur Rimbaud: Shown in tandem to emphasize their contradictory natures. I’ve had this Bible for ages, but I can’t read this copy because the print is too small. The print is tiny. It came with a credit card-sized magnifier — seriously, you can’t read it without it — but I lost it. I carry it as a good luck charm.
I bought this copy of Illuminations at the famous City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco. Ray [Jacildo, my keys player] was showing me all the Beat Generation haunts in his town, and I figured the most Beatnik thing I could buy was a copy of Illuminations. I read it from time to time and, once in a while, it sparks an idea. “Under the Spell of City Lights” was written after running around SF with Ray.
Dixon Ticonderoga pencil with yarn cozy: Last Christmas, my youngest daughter bought a box of these pencils I like and painstakingly wrapped each end in yarn as a Christmas gift, so that her daddy could write songs more comfortably. I always keep one with me. Without question, best present I ever received.
VEB leather envelope with Chimayo trim: A friend of mine, John Villanueva, is a Marine. When he has downtime (frequently on a battleship), he painstakingly makes some of the highest-quality leather goods I’ve ever seen. Each hole is hand-hammered, each stitch is hand-stitched, and everything is perfectly symmetrical. I think it’s Chromexcel leather, which is like the best stuff you can get. His wife Jillian handed me this envelope as a gift from him a few years ago, and it’s one of my favorite possessions.
I keep receipts from the road in it, extra guitar picks, my passport when we’re headed overseas … anything that needs keepin’. This thing is so nice, it’ll be an heirloom for my kids and their kids. John makes other items, too. He’s also a well-respected vintage menswear blogger, and an expert on vintage engineer boots.
Mister Freedom denim fly bag
This bag. It holds all of my things I use frequently when I’m sitting in an airplane or van seat: headphones, pens, power cables, lozenges, earplugs, books, etc. I also keep a loony survival bracelet that has a compass, flint and steel, and fishing kit sewn into it in case the plane goes down and I survive and land on an uncharted island.
The bag is produced by my good friend Christophe Loiron, also knows as “Mister Freedom,” a Frenchman living in Los Angeles. His Mister Freedom store on Beverly Boulevard makes high-end classic menswear with an historical/utilitarian focus. I go in every single time I have to go to L.A., even just to be in there … I can’t explain how cool it is. Go see for yourself. All the stuff he sells will last a lifetime and looks better the more you use it.
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Who would be your dream co-writer?
Zara: Roger Miller or Molly Drake. Two writers from very different worlds, but both had a real grip on how to convey the human condition.
Emily: Hazel Dickens wrote really hard-hitting songs that didn’t soft-pedal the social issues she cared about. I would selfishly want to co-write with her, both because that would mean she had magically come back to life, which would be incredible for the world, but also so I could see HOW she managed to create such perfect, on-target songs.
If a song started playing every time you entered the room, what would you want it to be?
E: “Shake Your Groove Thing”
Z: “I Will Survive” — Can you tell we both have a deep mutual love for the Priscilla Queen of the Desert soundtrack?
What was your favorite grade in school?
E: Senior in high school. The world was my oyster!
Z: Yeah high school was the best. I basically went to the New England version of the movie Fame.
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Plane, train, or automobile?
E: Plane
Z: No where else I’d rather be than on the open road. Automobile.
Which is worse — rainy days or Mondays?
E: Mondays, by a longshot.
Z: Aren’t Mondays a musician’s version of Friday?
If you could go back (or forward) to live in any decade, when would you choose?
E: I love music from the 1950s and ’60s, but I can’t say I want to turn the clock back any further on human/civil rights in this country, so I’m gonna look forward to the shiny 2030s. I think maybe we’ll get our heads screwed on by then. And, heck, maybe honky tonk will have a huge, rhinestoned resurgence!
Z: What she said. Here’s to the future!
Photo credit: Anja Schutz
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