With so much to see during AmericanaFest, you need a game plan to get the most out of your pass. With that in mind, we humbly offer our picks for the sets and parties you don’t want to miss this year.
Maggie Rose
Two of the biggest shows on Tuesday, Sept. 9, are separately ticketed events: The Secret Sisters and Maggie Rose perform with the Nashville Symphony (7:30 p.m. at the Schermerhorn) while Dwight Yoakam plays Ascend Amphitheater with support from Shooter Jennings (8 p.m.).
You won’t need a festival credential to get into either of those, but you will to catch events like the Stella Prince and Friends writers’ round (4 p.m. at Anzie Blue), led by rising folk star Stella Prince and presented by gender equality organization Change the Conversation, and Other Voices: Songs for Nanci Griffith, a tribute show featuring Amythyst Kiah, Caroline Spence and more (7:30 p.m. at City Winery), country great Cam (7 p.m. at Antalog at Hutton Hotel) or ace songsmith Jesse Welles (10 p.m. at Exit/In). Pass pickup is at City Winery from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Tuesday, and it will move to Embassy Suites (on the second floor at the top of the escalator) from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesday through Friday.
The Pink Stones
The major event on Wednesday is the keystone 24th Americana Honors and Awards ceremony and concert (6:30 p.m. at the Ryman). As usual, the show has its own ticketing process, but there’s tons more to check out all day. For those with Silver Passes, that includes notable panel discussions like a Fireside Chat With Brandi Carlile and Grammy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. (10 a.m., Embassy Suites Meadow A&B) and The Business of Belonging: Breaking Barriers in Americana (read our conversation with panel moderator Becky Parsons and others; 1 p.m., Embassy Suites Riverbed C&D). The Thirty Tigers Day Party takes over new East Side honky-tonk Skinny Dennis for daytime fun with Hayes Carll, Eric Slick and others starting at noon. At night, Exit/In hosts a stellar run including country singer-songwriter Kristina Murray (8 p.m.) coming behind her stunner Little Blue, exceptional singers The Watson Twins (9 p.m.), Athens, Ga., country-rockers The Pink Stones (10 p.m.) and wide-ranging songsmith extraordinaire Aaron Lee Tasjan (11 p.m.). Meanwhile, up-and-coming singer-songwriters Adam Chaffins (9 p.m.) and Emily Hines (10 p.m.) play The Basement, master storyteller Willi Carlisle heads to The Basement East (9 p.m.), and country ace Jett Holden (9 p.m.) hits The 5 Spot along with songsmith Nicki Bluhm (10 p.m.), who might showcase her LP Rancho Deluxe, due in October.
The schedule kicks into yet a higher gear on Thursday, Sept. 11. At noon, John C. Reilly and Jack White will give a keynote speech that you can attend if you have a Silver Pass (Embassy Suites Meadow A&B). At the same time, choose between Jillith Fair (a tribute to revered songwriter Jill Sobule, who died in May) at The 5 Spot; day one of the OUTlaw Queer Country Roots party (featuring Melody Walker, Lizzie No and more) at The Lipstick Lounge; and There Will Be Dogs: New West Records & Oh Boy Records Day Party (with rocking singer-songwriter Tré Burt and others) at Skinny Dennis.
Update, Sept. 4: Big Freedia and Nashville in Harmony have been added as a special headline act to A New Orleans Invocation, happening 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sept. 11 at Exit/In.
Let this serve as a reminder: Surprise official events and myriad great unofficial shows are likely pop up all throughout the festival, so keep an eye on social media and the official festival app.
Amanda Shires
Around sundown, songsmith Amanda Shires returns to Exit/In a few weeks ahead of Nobody’s Girl (7 p.m.). Country champs Joshua Ray Walker (whose new LP Stuff is coming in October; 7 p.m.), Kashus Culpepper (8 p.m.) and Kaitlin Butts (9 p.m.) play Brooklyn Bowl as part of Relix’s party, while Texas bluesman Buffalo Nichols heads to The Basement (read our talk with him; 9 p.m.) along with Virginia folksters Palmyra (10 p.m.). The Blue Room at Third Man Records is hosting a knockout lineup of songwriters that kicks off at 7 p.m. and includes Joy Oladokun, Dawes, Medium Build and S.G. Goodman. Demand will be high, so there are special entry procedures: Silver and Gold Passes will get priority in the line at the door, but if you’d rather not take chances, a handful of physical tickets will go on sale — $40 each, cash only, limit of two per person — at 11 a.m. Thursday morning in the Third Man storefront.
Joy Clark
Friday evening, Sept. 12, AmericanaFest does its annual takeover of beloved free show series Musicians Corner in Centennial Park. You don’t need a credential for entry. The show begins at 5 p.m., and the crown jewel in its stout lineup is a performance from Lockeland Strings with guest vocalists including Amanda Shires, Esther Rose and Joy Clark. Then The Hold Steady main man Craig Finn will be at The Basement East (8 p.m.), teeing up Pittsburgh folk-rocker Merce Lemon (9 p.m.) and widely loved North Carolina rock outfit Wednesday (10 p.m.), whose latest LP Bleeds drops the following week.
Analog at Hutton Hotel has a lineup to keep you planted all night, including subtle and powerful songsmith Kyshona (read more in our talk with her; 8 p.m.), roots-rocking power-popping songster Webb Wilder (9 p.m.) and the heady rhythms of Chuck Prophet and His Cumbia Shoes (10 p.m.). If none of this strikes your fancy, set your GPS for Jim Lauderdale, a veritable head on the Mount Rushmore of Americana, playing with his group The Game Changers at 3rd and Lindsley (7 p.m., with country greats The War and Treaty on at 10), rising songsmith Ken Pomeroy at The Blue Room at Third Man Records (9 p.m.), onetime Eagles instrumentalist Bernie Leadon at City Winery (10 p.m.) or Nick Hexum — check the color of your energy, because he is indeed the guy from 311 — backed by folk-punks Water Tower at the Station Inn (11 p.m.).
All good things must come to an end, and the shows on Saturday, Sept. 13, set up AmericanaFest to go out on a high note. On the early side, you have annual events like The Aussie BBQ at The 5 Spot and Thirty Tigers Gospel Brunch at City Winery (both start at 11 a.m.) and day two of the OUTlaw Queer Country Roots party. OUTlaw picks up after a one-day hiatus and moves over to Dee’s Country Cocktail Lounge at noon, with Secret Emchy Society, Mya Byrne, Julie Effin’ Nolen and others on deck.
Lilly Hiatt
As night falls, The Blue Room at Third Man Records readies one more heater including takes on indie-folk songwriting from Nigerian American Uwade (7 p.m.), Brit Jade Bird (fresh off her Who Wants to Talk About Love? album; 9 p.m.) and Liberian American and Chattanooga resident Mon Rovîa (10 p.m.). Fresh off his latest record In the Hour of Dust, Grant-Lee Phillips heads to The Basement (8 p.m.) alongside fellow rocking singer-songwriter Lilly Hiatt (10 p.m.) and others. Joelton Mayfield, whose eagerly anticipated full-length debut Crowd Pleaser is set to land in October, plays at 8 p.m. at The Basement East, on a bill including fellow locals Will Hoge (7 p.m.) and Jack Van Cleaf (10 p.m.). Songsmith Liz Longley plays 3rd and Lindsley at 7 p.m., warming up the crowd for some Americana royalty: Rodney Crowell and Friends play at 8, and the Rockabilly Filly herself, Rosie Flores, is on at 9:30. Rounding out that bill is a fine way to wrap up the fest: a Guitar Party at 10:30 p.m., featuring local pickers Tom Bukovac, Jedd Hughes and Guthrie Trapp, who just put a pretty dang fancy feather in his cap when the call came to record all the guitars for the soundtrack to the reboot of King of the Hill.
Ahead of AMERICANAFEST, we talk with multiple awards nominee MJ Lenderman, run down our favorite shows and much more
