Month: March 2022

The 20th annual Americana Honors & Awards will be broadcast on TV, marking its first time to air nationally in the event’s 20-year history. The ceremony, which will air on the Circle Network on Sunday, March 20 at 8 p.m. EST/ 7 p.m., was held at the historic Nashville Ryman Auditorium last fall.

The Americana Honors & Awards, taped in September 2021 in front of a live audience, honor the distinguished members of the Americana music community, from performers to instrumentalists to producers and engineers. The 20th annual awards show features performances from Brandi Carlile, Jason Isbell, Allison Russell, Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell, Charley Crockett, Steve Earle, Valerie June, The Highwomen (Brandi Carlile, Natalie Hemby, Maren Morris and Amanda Shires) with Yola, and more.

The show honors top singers, groups and instrumentalists like Carlile, Crockett, John Prine, Keb’ Mo’, The Mavericks, Fisk Jubilee Singers, Carla Thomas and more for their lifetime achievements and contributions to the Americana community.

Jed Hilly, Executive Director of the Americana Music Association, said in a statement:  “We are thrilled the Americana Honors & Awards will be airing on the Circle Network. This show and these performances captured the beautiful and diverse artistic community that is Americana. We couldn’t have asked for a better partner than Circle to share the experience with a whole new audience.”

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Maddie & Tae’s Taylor Kerr and her husband, songwriter Josh Kerr brought their infant daughter, Leighton Grace Kerr, home from the hospital today after 53 days in the NICU.  Baby Leighton was born three months early.  A social media post from the couple read: “We have been blown away by all of the support and can’t thank you enough for praying her home. We were also blessed with so many amazing NICU nurses and staff along the way // PS the blanket was taken off of her right after the picture was taken #safesleep”

Kerr’s duet partner Maddie Font said that she had visited Kerr in the hospital, sharing: “It’s just been rough. My best friend’s been in the hospital for months, and she didn’t get to bring her baby home. It’s been really, really rough. We put out an album in January, and obviously, I had to do it by myself because Tae was in the hospital. It’s called ‘Through The Madness, Vol. 1,’ and I accidentally manifested some crazy madness naming the album that. And so, it’s wild listening to the new album before all of this. And now after, it makes me even more emotional.”

Font added that she prayed over her friend and that “God is so good. Every time we go through hardship, whether it’s our career or our personal life, he always pulls us through. It’s beautiful now being on the other side of this.”

Editorial credit: Debby Wong / Shutterstock.com

Miranda Lambert just announced her next studio album, ‘Palomino,’ will drop on April 29. The 15-song tracklist reveals a mix of cover songs, re-recorded songs and guest stars, plus new songs as well.

In addition to announcing the album, Lambert also dropped a new song called “Strange.” You can take a look at the video for the song – here.

You can pre-order “Palomino” – here.

Editorial credit: Debby Wong / Shutterstock.com

CMT announced that Kelsea Ballerini and Anthony Mackie will host the 2022 CMT Music Awards. This marks Ballerini’s second time as co-host, after sharing duties with Kane Brown in 2021. Mackie presented the video of the year award to Carrie Underwood last year.

The CMT Music Awards, which bills itself as “country music’s only entirely fan-voted award show,” were originally set to take place April 3, but were pushed back in February after the Grammy Awards were rescheduled to the same date.

The awards ceremony will now air live from Nashville on Monday, April 11, from 8-11 p.m. ET. For the first time, the show will air on CBS; it also will be available to stream live and on demand on Paramount+.

Editorial credit: Debby Wong / Shutterstock.com