Jade Bird, Joan Armatrading and Yola were among the winners at the fifth UK Americana Awards, which brought the curtain down on four days of AmericanaFest UK 2020.
Armatrading was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award, Nick Lowe took the Trailblazer Award and Jade Bird was recognised with the Best Selling Americana Album award), while Grammy-nominated Yola was a double winner, claiming UK Album Of The Year and UK Artist Of The Year.
The event, held at Troxy in East London tonight (January 30), was hosted by radio legend Bob Harris, who received the Outstanding Contribution Award.
Performers included the house band helmed by musical director Jonathan Wilson, who welcomed Nick Lowe and The Felice Brothers. Billy Bragg performed alongside Peter Donegan as a tribute to his father – the late skiffle innovator Lonnie Donegan – who was awarded the Legend award. Noisettes’ singer Shingai, meanwhile, performed Joan Armatrading’s Love And Affection.
The full list of victors was as follows:
Lifetime Achievement Award – Joan Armatrading
UK Album of the Year – Walk Through Fire By Yola (produced by Dan Auerbach)
International Album of the Year – The Highwomen By The Highwomen (produced by Dave Cobb)
UK Song of the Year – Little Piece of Heaven by Elles Bailey (written by Elles Bailey, Bobby Wood and Dan Auerbach)
International Song of the Year – Me and The Ghost of Charlemagne By Amy Speace (written by Amy Speace)
UK Artist of the Year – Yola
International Artist of the Year – Brandi Carlile
UK Instrumentalist of the Year – Siân Monaghan
Trailblazer Award – Nick Lowe
Bob Harris Emerging Artist Award – Ferris & Sylvester
Best Selling Americana Album – Jade Bird by Jade Bird
Grass Roots Award – Mark Whitfield from americana-uk.com
Legend Award – Lonnie Donegan
Lifetime Achievement Award – Joan Armatrading
The Americana Music Association UK kicked off the festivities earlier in the week with the sold-out Americana Clash event at Oslo in Hackney, which saw the likes of Wandering Hearts and Frank Turner paying homage to the trailblazers of Americana, The Clash. The Americana community also took over six venues in Hackney to showcase more than 75 artists representing the genre.
In addition, the week saw AMA UK members attending conferences and talks from industry speakers and artists including Joan Armatrading delivering the Keynote speech, and Judy Collins in conversation with Bob Harris.
