Australian country legend Kasey Chambers and Americana live music champion Brian ‘BT’ Taranto will be honoured at the first Australian Americana Honours Night in October.
As a celebration of all things once called alt-Country and before that Country Rock Australia has a strong ‘Americana’ scene, despite the genre’s odd name.
To celebrate the quality of Australian Americana promoter Michael Chugg, Nash Chambers and the international Americana Music Association is presenting the first awards show on October 2 at the Thornbury Theatre in Melbourne.
“I’m incredibly proud to be a part of this celebration of Americana music in Australia”, said Michael Chugg. “We wanted to showcase a genre that is growing significantly in Australia, and an Honours Night seemed like the way to do it. We hope to continue this event for many years to come”.
Kasey Chambers will receive the inaugural Americana Vanguard Award along with BT, who founded the Out on the Weekend festival.
“For those of us who love Roots & Americana Music, this is a dream line-up to have at our inaugural event”, said Kasey’s brother and long-time producer Nash Chambers. “We’re mighty proud to be building awareness of Americana Music in Australia with the US Association and Tennessee Tourism. We also believe this is just the beginning of a genre that is exploding worldwide.”
The event will be hosted by Triple R’s Denise Hylands and the Americana Music Associations Jed Hilly.
“What a thrill to work with Michael (Chugg) and Nash (Chambers) to bring this extraordinary event to Melbourne,” said Jed Hilly, Executive Director of the Americana Music Association and Executive Producer of the Critically Acclaimed Americana Honors & Awards program in Nashville. Hilly added, “To see how this genre has grown in Australia over the past few years has been amazing, and I’m excited to take this to another level with such a great team.”
Old Crow Medicine Show and Valerie June, along with seasoned chart-toppers Busby Marou, Kasey Chambers, Shane Howard, Bernard Fanning, Catherine Britt, Kevin Welch and Henry Wagons, and joined by some exciting new talent Emily Barker, Ruby Boots and Jordie Lane & The Sleepers.
