Tears came quickly at the Ryman Wednesday night as the Americana Honors and Awards unveiled a prerecorded video message from Dolly Parton, who died in August, accepting her Lifetime Achievement Award. Frustrations rose in the crowd when the video’s audio faltered at first. But a moving “Coat of Many Colors” tribute performance from Song of the Year nominees I’m With Her (nominated for “Wild and Clear and Blue”) and winner Brandi Carlile (“Returning to Myself”) — as well as tongue-in-cheek acknowledgements from hosts The Milk Carton Kids and Americana Music Association executive director Jed Hilly — dissolved the tension around the mix-up.
Chris Stapleton performs with the late Tom Petty's band, the Heartbreakers, during the 25th annual Americana Music Honors and Awards at the Ryman, 9/16/2026
Parton’s fellow Lifetime Achievement honoree Robert Plant performed a ferocious rendition of “Oh Satan Your Kingdom Must Come Down.” The third of three honorees was Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, who will celebrate the 50th anniversary of their debut self-titled album in November. The original lineup of the Heartbreakers staged a rollicking three-song reunion performance with Chris Stapleton, and Petty’s daughter, Adria Petty, accepted the award on her late father’s behalf.
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Presenter Nathaniel Rateliff accepted Tyler Childers’ Album of the Year award for Snipe Hunter on his behalf, and Gillian Welch accepted her and David Rawlings’ win for Duo/Group of the Year. Welch admitted that she thought it was “a mistake” they’d been nominated because they haven’t released music in the past year. Ken Pomeroy accepted her award for Emerging Act of the Year, performing “Days Getting Darker” from her album Cruel Joke, and 2023 Emerging Act winner S.G. Goodman followed up with her own “Snapping Turtle.”
The awards remain in conversation with social events. Multiple speakers reckoned with AI: The Milk Carton Kids’ Kenneth Pattengale expressed support for Jason Isbell in his ongoing lawsuit with Suno, and Allison Russell celebrated the fact that all of the honorees were “100 percent human” while presenting the Artist of the Year award to Molly Tuttle. Jesse Welles, who was recognized with the Spirit of Americana award last year, performed his protest song “The Nerd Reich,” and Emerging Act of the Year nominee Mon Rovîa performed his own “Heavy Foot.”
Artist of the Year Molly Tuttle performs during the 25th annual Americana Music Honors and Awards at the Ryman, 9/16/2026
More tearjerker moments came as the ceremony honored the memories of Todd Snider, who died in November, and The Mavericks’ Raul Malo, who died in December. Hayes Carll and Elizabeth Cook performed Snider’s “Play a Train Song,” and Carll named Snider as “the mayor of East Nashville.” At the end of the night, “Mon Rovîa and everybody” were called to the stage to play The Mavericks’ “Dance the Night Away” — a moving tribute on the site of the group’s own salute to Malo just before his death, and which the band is set to revisit Dec. 4 and 5.
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