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Aug 2008

Americana Music Association to Honor Joan Baez, Sept. 18

Posted in Home Page, News - U.S. National, Awards & Contests, Conferences of Note by Michael Kornfeld at 9:19 am |

Joan Baez is slated to receive the “Spirit of Americana” Free Speech Award during the Americana Music Association’s Seventh Annual Honors and Awards Ceremony, to be held Sept. 18 at the historic Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee.

Past recipients of the Spirit of Americana Award, which recognizes and celebrates artists who have ignited discussion and challenged the status quo through their music and their actions, also have included Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson, Mavis Staples, Judy Collins and Charlie Daniels.

During a career spanning nearly 50 years, Baez has released more than 30 albums and has inspired a generation of female singer-songwriters. In addition to scoring hits with her own compositions like “Diamonds in the Rust” and “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down,” the soprano with a three-octave vocal range also has drawn accolades for her interpretations of songs by the likes of The Beatles, Donovan, Bob Dylan, Tim Hardin, Phil Ochs and Malvina Reynolds, among others. Last year, the National Academy for the Recording Arts & Sciences (NARAS, the organization behind the Grammy Awards) presented her with its prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award.

A longtime committed social activist, as well as a seminal recording artist, Baez has been engaged in a number of social movements and causes over the years. A recipient of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Earl Warren Award for commitment to human and civil rights issues, she sang out for and about freedom and civil rights on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial during Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s famed March on Washington in 1963 and helped inspire Vaclav Haval in his fight for a Czech Republic. Baez participated in the birth of the Free Speech Movement at UC Berkeley and co-founded the Institute for the Study of NonViolence, as well as the Humanitas International Human Rights Committee. She stood in the California fields along with Cesar Chavez and migrant farm workers pressing their case for fair wages and better treatment. She marched, sang and fought against the Vietnam War, helped establish Amnesty International’s presence on the West Coast and participated in the international human rights organization’s first concert tour. In 1985, Baez opened the U.S. segment of the worldwide Live Aid telecast. More recently, she stood alongside South Africa’s Nelson Mandela earlier this year when the world celebrated his 90th birthday in London’s Hyde Park.

Fittingly, Steve Earle, an AMA Artist of the Year nominee and previous “Spirit of Americana” recipient, will bestow this latest honor on Baez. Earle produced Day After Tomorrow, Baez’ first studio album in five years, which is set for release on Sept. 9. Baez covered two of Earle’s songs, “Christmas in Washington” and “Jerusalem” on her last album, Bowery Songs, which was recorded live at New York’s Bowery Ballroom in November 2004. She also presented Earle with a Lifetime Achievement Award during the fifth annual BBC 2 Folk Awards that year in London, England, having received the same honor herself during the inaugural event in 2000. Baez and Earle both performed at a Concert for a Landmine Free World in London in 2003 and played a series of U.S. gigs together in the spring of 2004.

Established in 1999, the Americana Music Association is a professional trade association dedicated to building and promoting the Americana genre and the individuals who participate in the industry. The annual Americana Music Conference and Americana Honors & Awards that takes place during it are an important part of that.

Last year’s conference drew some 1,000 artists, label executives, managers, agents, music publishers, performing rights society executives, music retailers, producers, promoters, allied professionals and music journalists to Nashville for three days of learning, networking and entertainment.

For more information on the association, to see detailed conference schedules, or buy tickets and showcase wristbands, log-on to www.americanamusic.org.

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