Americana Music Festival

I was fortunate to be able to attend the 2010 Americana Music Festival in Nashville on September 9-11. We arrived at the Nashville Sheraton mid afternoon, and checked into the hotel, noting the bustle of musicians and music fans already well underway. We picked up the wristbands (for the three nights of music) and the tickets to the awards ceremony that evening at the Ryman. There were lots of gatherings of musicians and music business folks going on in the lounge and lobby areas. We checked out maps to get an idea where things were in downtown Nashville. We walked on over to see what kind of walk it was to the Ryman, and took in some of the flavor of Nashville. We found the honky tonk area of Broadway, too, on this first outing. We ate at a downtown restuarant, and connected up with the winners of the trip to Nashville raffle we had been conducting as a fund raiser through most of the year. They were ecstatic about having won this great trip.
That evening was the 9th annual Americana Honors and Awards at the Ryman. We got there early enough to check out some of the historic displays around the edge of the theater, about Grand Ol Opry history, and particular musicians. The show was fantastic with album of the year, artist of the year, duo/group of the year, instrumentalist of the year, new and emerging artist of the year and song of the year. There were 5 lifetime achievement award honorees, too. There were performances interspersed throughout, by individuals, and combinations of musicians. Jim Lauderdale was the main host, and Buddy Miller led an all star house band. Lots of legends introduced the winners and honorees. At the end of the ceremonies, Robert Plant was re-introduced and did a set featuring his new album Band of Joy. He had Patty Griffin, Buddy Miller, and Darrell Scott featured in a line up of songs.
That night after the event, I went to the Rutledge and took in David Olney, Tommy Emmanuel, and Will Kimbrough.
The next night we went to The Basement, and saw Minton Sparks, Chip Taylor, Peter Case. We visited Grimey's briefly and got a in store show there.
The last night we opted for The Station Inn, and saw the Cherryholmes, the Cole Porters, Paul Burch. Earlier that day, at the Country Music Hall of Fame, we saw a performance by Jimmy Webb, and then an interview with Sid Griffin, who is not only a musician, but a writer of books about music.
The whole festival was a wonderfully organized and boggling immersion in great music. More later!