The Americana Music Association has revealed this year’s slate of lifetime achievement honorees for the 23rd annual Americana Honors & Awards ceremony, to be held Sept. 18 at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium. The ceremony serves as a key event during the annual Americanafest, slated for Sept.
17-21 in Nashville. Dave Alvin, The Blind Boys of Alabama , Rev. Gary Davis, Shelby Lynne , Don Was and Dwight Yoakam are this year’s honorees.
Alvin is known for both his solo work as well as being part of the duo The Blasters alongside his brother Phil. Alvin won a Grammy in 2000 for his album Public Domain: Songs From the Wild Land . The Blind Boys of Alabama was established in Alabama in 1939 and in the ensuing decades came to redefine gospel music with their songs and performances.
They are multi-Grammy winners and Gospel Music Hall of Fame inductees, and found mainstream acclaim following the group’s role in the 1983 musical The Gospel at Colonus. They went on to perform and record with artists including Prince, Bonnie Raitt and Peter Gabriel. South Carolina native Davis was a blues and gospel performer proficient on multiple instruments including harmonica.
He became an essential part of the 1960s folk revival thanks to songs including “Death Don’t Have No Mercy,” influencing artists including Bob Dylan and the Grateful Dead. Lynne made her debut project, Sunrise , in 1989 and has since traversed musical spaces including rock, country and pop. In the 1990s she saw songs .