Americana Music Honors & Awards Announce Lifetime Achievement Award Winners

Photo Credit: americana.org

The Americana Music Association announces the selection of Jackson Browne, Loretta Lynn, Flaco Jiménez and Taj Mahal as Lifetime Achievement Award winners to be presented at its 13th Annual Honors and Awards ceremony on Wednesday, September 17 at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. The show will be taped to air on PBS later this year and titled ACL Presents: Americana Music Festival 2014.
 
Jackson Browne will receive the “Spirit of Americana Award, Free Speech in Music” co-presented with the First Amendment Center.
 
The Lifetime Achievement Award for Songwriting goes to Loretta Lynn.
 Her story is an American classic that happens to be true. As her famous song says, she was coal miner’s daughter from Johnson County, Kentucky. She became one of the most pivotal and admired women in the history of American music because of the way she challenged convention, sang her mind and achieved success doing so. Her songwriting was unprecedented for its candor among women in country music, and a string of hits such as “The Pill,” “Don’t Come Home A Drinkin’ (With Lovin’ On Your Mind)” and “Rated “X”” forced country music and its fans to confront sexism and double standards. 
 
Flaco Jiménez will be honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award as an Instrumentalist.
 
In the category of Lifetime Achievement in Performance, the honor goes to Taj Mahal, who says he plays “for the goddess of music.”
 
“These artists have not only influenced the Americana community, but the musical landscape as a whole,” said Jed Hilly, Executive Director of the Americana Music Association, “they all have been an inspiration to our community and we are humbled they will honor us in song at the Ryman this fall.”

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