Gilbert Flores for Billboard
The 2024 Americana Music Honors and Awards nominations were unveiled in May. The winners won’t be announced until September, but it’s never too early to discuss who the front-runners are. Let’s break down the races in this year’s artist categories.
Artist of the Year
Tyler Childers
Charley Crockett
Sierra Ferrell
Noah Kahan
Allison Russell
You might see Noah Kahan’s name and assume he will win by default just due to his clear commercial advantage over his fellow nominees. While he is undoubtedly the most popular in the category, that won’t necessarily equate to a win, especially since this show is much more about what resonates within the Americana industry. Kahan isn’t as established in that scene as he is in the alternative and pop worlds. That said, I do think he is winning here. Voters tend to skew commercial here, and not being nominated elsewhere doesn’t seem to matter. For example, Chris Stapleton won this category when his album “Traveller” was smashing, despite not being nominated elsewhere. This was also the case for Brandi Carlile, who won in 2021 without any material nominated. So Kahan might simply be honored here because of his great, commercially dominant year.
There is a scenario where he gets upset by either Sierra Ferrell or Allison Russell, though. I would say that if Ferrell loses all her other nominations then voters might go for her here so as not to send her away empty-handed. As for Russell, she’s been in the news recently because of a controversy surrounding the Tennessee GOP blocking a resolution that was meant to honor her in celebration of her Grammy win. Voters may want to cast a vote for her as a way to show their solidarity as well as for her fantastic year in 2023 with a new album and that very first Grammy.
Duo/Group of the Year
Black Pumas
Larkin Poe
The Milk Carton Kids
Turnpike Troubadours
The War and Treaty
Husband-and-wife duo The War and Treaty won this award last year, and they might be headed for another win this year. The band’s hype in the industry is quite palpable. In the past year-and-a-half they’ve been nominated at the Academy of Country Music Awards, the Country Music Association Awards, and twice at the Grammys, including for Best New Artist. They’ve objectively had the stronger year than their competition, so voters could be compelled to award them once more. On top of that, the duo released a successful album (“Lover’s Game”) and featured on Zach Bryan‘s top-20 hit “Hey Driver.”
Larkin Poe won a Grammy recently for Best Contemporary Blues Album, so they could also be in the hunt here. There’s also Black Pumas, who recently released a new album, “Chronicles of a Diamond,” but I suspect their moment will come next year.
Emerging Act
Kaitlin Butts
Wyatt Flores
Charles Wesley Godwin
The Red Clay Strays
Jobi Riccio
This should be a win for The Red Clay Strays. The band went viral on TikTok late last year with their song “Wondering Why,” which peaked in the top 80 of the Billboard Hot 100 last February. This kind of success for an Americana act is quite significant since the genre is still largely under-the-radar for mainstream audiences, Noah Kahan notwithstanding. Also, if you take a look at the band’s videos on YouTube, you’ll see they have a strong following, much more than the other nominees. Of course, the winner here doesn’t have to be the most commercial act, but it often goes that way. If anyone were to upset, it might be Charles Wesley Godwin, who has collaborated with big names like Zach Bryan, and his music was recently featured in the hit movie “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes,” so the industry is well aware of him too.
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