I've been watching the Americana Music Awards...

[Dotneck]

I don't think I've seen a mandolin all night...

[OldSausage]

Well, not many people play the mandolin.

[journeybear]

Not surprised. It's an Italian instrument. Try watching the Italian Music Awards instead for better results.

[JeffD]

You guys are great.

[Lideruke]

How great would "Cover Me Up" sound with one?

[Astro]

You should have been watching The Roosevelts.

[journeybear]

Ha! Right - at least there's some mandolin in that.

[Mandomonte]

My original little rant did not show up. Here goes again. My Opinion Only: This show is about an 80% disappointment to me. If string band and bluegrass Don't even show up, how is it Americana ? IF, LARRY Campbell can win, "Instrumentalist" over Jerry Douglas, as in last year and Buddy Miller wins over another serious player this year and there they are in the house band ? Not to say they are not adequate musicians, but people like Jerry are virtuosos There were some great moments, but not many acoustic instruments. Jason Isbol (so), Milk Carton Kids (great play in, harmonies and banter) , Robert Ellis, Taj , a couple others, all impressive. Some nice stuff from Closer. Jackson Brown , to me, real America, disappointed me.

[Bob byk]

Like everything else "Follow the money trail". It is all about advertising dollars

[Steve Ostrander]

Most awards shows are popularity contests. He or she who sells the most CDs wins. I pay very little attention to them....unless I should happen to get nominated....

[JeffD]

My original little rant did not show up. Here goes again. My Opinion Only: This show is about an 80% disappointment to me. If string band and bluegrass Don't even show up, how is it Americana ? .

Bluegrass, popular as it is, is a small, small niche music in terms of American popular music.

If you put random Americans in a room, you have to put a lot of them to get a single bluegrass fan. Part of what I do for work involves professional training, all over the country. So I get an audience gathered for reasons having nothing to do with music. Every now and then I do find a bluegrass fan. More often than not there is either two bluegrass fans in a class of 25, and they know each other, or there are none. Usually there are none. In all my years doing this I have yet to find a mandolin player.

[Rush Burkhardt]

Randy Wood has made a significant commitment to the support of Americana music, not only by featuring a great diversity of music in his concert hall. He is also streaming each of those concerts, live, for no charge. His website for these performances and the streaming video, supported by, among others, Coca Cola, also archives those performances...also no charge. (http://flattmountainmedia.com/)

Among the mandolin centric concerts are featured: Mike Compton, Frank Solivan, Sierra Hull, Danny Roberts, Chris Henry, Sarah Jarosz, Emory Lester and others!

Check out Randy's Flatt Mountain and Randy Wood Guitars!

PS: I've no financial interest in these endeavors!

[Capt. E]

Guitar is still the king of Americana music. Violin is probably second. Also, many mandolin players do not play bluegrass at all, but classical, international folk, etc. That means the percentage of bluegrass mandolin players is pretty darn small. Also, I've heard at least one person say that bluegrass is "country" music, not "americana" music. Then there is "roots", "new-grass", "string-band", "contemporary", "new age", etc. All these labels make my head hurt.

[Mandomonte]

Steve. Do not know you ,but if I was one of the supposed 2,000 voting members, I might just nominate you.

[Mandomonte]

The Gibson -Brothers have a song, " They Called It Music" speaking to categorizing music. Worth a listen.

[Mandomonte]

Not pushing BG per say, just an example. Lots of good acoustic stuff out there. Most do not get deserved recognition. If you are happy with you play ( alone , or in a group)and people enjoy it, I believe you are in a good place

[montana]

I agree love the music you play and don't worry about anything else.

[allenhopkins]

If we're waiting around for mainstream music-industry and media recognition of the kind of music(s) that many of us play --

we'll be waiting a LONG time.

Play, don't worry.

[journeybear]

I think most people think of Americana as alt-country, as something other than slick, commercial, Nashville-sound country. Something perhaps a bit more rootsy than mainstream. There is no guarantee the instrumentation for this is going to vary that significantly. One might think it should, but there's no guarantee. One of its chief proponents, Lucinda Williams, uses it rarely, and in fact often0 those parts are played on the half-neck 12-string (whatever it's called), so the guitarist doesn't have to learn how to play another instrument. On the other hand, Old Crow Medicine Show, a pretty left field act, use mandolin now and then, and are now members of the Grand Ole Opry, a stamp of approval from the country music old guard. I dunno, seems like there's a fair amount of crossover in both directions.

Whether or not any of this gets airtime or massive sales, there are a lot of people out there playing music that extends beyond what most people think of as country. If it hasn't caught on to the same extent as mainstream, it might be because an artist hasn't captured the public's imagination on a comparable level. I thought Lucinda was going to back in 1998 with "Car Wheels," but the success she had with that album didn't continue. Same with Old Crow, who had a big hit with "Wagon Wheel," which came out of nowhere and brought them widespread grass roots popularity, but haven't been able to follow it up in the 10 years since.

I suppose it would help matters if more people would buy Americana artists' music, rather than complain about its lack of popularity, but even if every Café member did, that's only 36K units, a drop in the bucket compared to what mainstream country sales for major artists look like. Mainstream country has an enormous machine performers can plug into, if they play the game - sales outlets, distribution, tours, publicity, media - and what's available for non-mainstream acts (including American) pales in comparison. The album "Wagon Wheel" was on topped the bluegrass chart, but reached only 68 on the country chart. It's been certified gold or platinum, I forget which, but it took years to accomplish this.

It all boils down to artists making a big enough splash without the backing of the Nashville machinery. I don't remember how Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings (and others) did it, with the whole outlaw movement (which Willie disputes, BTW), but clearly they struck a chord with the public, and made enough of a commotion that Nashville had to pay attention and adjust. Something like that would have to happen again for Americana to break through. This is a different world now, though, and I think that the way people buy music - online, on-demand - has affected how it all works. I also think that this has bred a sort of indifference into the audience, with less interaction among individuals.

But I still prefer to believe (with not much to back it up except hope and optimism) that someone could come along who would fire the public's imagination and rally enough interest to change things around. Maybe even someone who plays mandolin, in a way that intrigues and inspires people with its capabilities. To that end, I offer myself, if a few people would offer support in terms of producing and marketing an album or two of my music. It would be a leap of faith, but this could be just the thing to wake the public and industry out of the current doldrums. Between your investment in finances and business acumen and my talent and imagination, we could make it happen. We could make the world stand up and listen, and turn things around, making things better for all for whom our kind of music really matters, and maybe everyone through a ripple effect. It would mean leaving behind my life of relative comfort. I'm willing to make the sacrifice.

[jaycat]

A very wise man (I forget who) once said: "If you want to get rich as a songwriter, you're better off playing the lottery." It's not much of a leap from there to "if you want to make a living playing original music . . ."

[Mike Bunting]

It doesn't matter.

[journeybear]

Yep. Nope. Might as well give up.

[Perry Babasin]

$.02, I love Buddy Miller... He is an awesome singer-songwriter.

[Charlieshafer]

Well, the Americana label got put on a catch-all of musicians that didn't fit into other categories. Bluegrass or Old-time are not considered Americana by the record guys, as they already have an easy-to-market applied to their music. Promoters, presenters, and record labels all need to be able to hang a label on something, as the concert-going public will generally not take a chance on music they're not familiar with, if even by association.

If a bluegrass band is playing, and I like bluegrass, I might be tempted to go if they're labelled as bluegrass. Likewise old-time, jazz, elevator jazz, rock, etc. The original concept behind the Americana label was to pick up a lot of bands that are far more like old-school country bands from the 20's, 30's and 40's than anything else. Thrown into the mix are some really unusual rockers that sound real "vintage". Buddy, maybe Dave Alvin, Chris Gaffney when he was alive, etc.

There's lots of good music by young unknowns in this category, like Mipso or Barefoot Movement, Nora Jane Struthers, etc, who are too "old" sounding to make it in country. This gives them a chance, but with awards shows, they're gonna pack it with known folks just to get the ratings.

There's a good reason the Americana name exists, but mama won;t allow no bluegrass music in there.