NASHVILLE (CelebrityAccess) John Prine won artist of the year for the second time in a row and Jason Isbell took home three awards at the annual Americana Music Honors and Awards show in Nashville last night.
Isbell, the leading nominee, won album of the year, song of the year for “If We Were Vampires” and as duo/group of the year for his band, the 400 Unit.
The album, The Nashville Sound, is already a Grammy winner. During the show, the band played “White Man’s World,” inspired by President Donald Trump. He thanked his wife, Amanda Shires, who plays fiddle and sings in his band, while accepting song of the year because “If We Were Vampires,” which is about their relationship.
Isbell noted that Shires gave him a hard time for watching TV before writing the song.
“This song almost did not happen for me,” Isbell said, according to the Associated Press. “I have to thank my wife Amanda. Beyond being the inspiration for the song as she often is, she was also the motivation for the song.”
Isbell was the only male nominee in the category, going up against Brandi Carlile, Margo Price and Lee Ann Womack and, for album of the year, faced Carlile, Price and Mary Gauthier.
Despite all of the female nominees, only one walked away with an award – banjo player Molly Tuttle for instrumentalist of the year.
Tyler Childers won emerging artist of the year but said he preferred to be called a country singer rather than an Americana artist.
“As a man who identifies as country music singer, I feel Americana … is a distraction of the issues that we are facing on a bigger level as country music singers,” Childers said. “It kind of feels like purgatory.”
Roseanne Cash won the “Spirit of Americana” Free Speech award and got several standing ovations during her speech and performance after calling for equal pay for women and more gun control.
Soul singer Irma Thomas, blues legend Buddy Guy and k.d lang won lifetime achievement honors.
