BONUS TRACKS: Americana’s Latest Lifetime Achievers + More of the Week’s Music News

In addition to Album of the Year, Song of the Year, and other annual awards to be bestowed at the Americana Honors & Awards show during AmericanaFest in September, the Americana Music Association will also honor several folks for lifetime achievements — and they’re not keeping us waiting on those. The six lifetime achievement recipients during the Sept. 18 show at the Ryman Auditorium will be Dave Alvin, The Blind Boys of Alabama, the Rev. Gary Davis (Legacy Award), Shelby Lynne, Don Was, and Dwight Yoakam. Learn more about each of these lifetime achievers here, and refresh your memory on the nominees for the member-voted awards in our coverage from the May announcement.

Listening to The Mavericks is always a fun time, but the band shared some more somber news on its social media accounts Thursday. Lead singer Raul Malo announced that a colonoscopy had revealed cancer, and he’ll start treatment next month. His chemotherapy is expected to be manageable, he shared, but some shows “may be affected this year as we navigate this situation,” he says in a video. The band currently has dozens of dates booked across the US for a tour supporting their latest album, Moon and Stars, which came out in May (ND review).

Malo’s cancer was discovered as the band became more mindful of their health. “In the last couple of years out here on the road we have been on a health kick,” Malo explains, “treating ourselves a little better and taking care of ourselves a little better and really trying to do all the right things in terms of nutrition, etc. Part of that health journey includes getting yourself checked out.” That’s a lesson he hopes to impress on fans now. “Most importantly I’m saying this because we want you all to get checked out,” he says. “Go see a doctor. Be proactive about your health. It’ll help fight what ails you.”

 

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A year after MTV News was shut down by its struggling parent company, Paramount Global, its internet footprint has also fallen victim to corporate mismanagement, with more than two decades’ worth of online articles just … gone. CMT, also owned by Paramount Global, similarly redirects links to its articles back to its homepage. Former MTV News journalists and many others decried the unannounced deletion, citing the historic value of interviews with artists and cultural figures now unavailable anywhere else. But Paramount wasn’t done making dumb decisions there. A day later, Comedy Central’s archives were gone from its website. A note on the site directs viewers to (sighhhh) Paramount+ if they want to watch Comedy Central shows (only some of which are on the streaming service). For more on this loss of cultural content, read the coverage from Variety (MTV News/CMT; Comedy Central). And for more on why it matters, read this guest post at Variety by MTV News alum Michael Alex.

In a letter shared on Father’s Day, Nora Guthrie, daughter of Woody Guthrie, announced she is retiring from Woody Guthrie Publications Inc., where she oversaw her father’s catalog and archives and co-produced new songs, books, and more involving his work. After 33 years, she is handing the reins to her own daughter, Anna Canoni, who has been involved with the archives for more than two decades herself and now becomes acting president. Read Nora Guthrie’s delightful announcement here, in which she talks about what she learned by going deep into her father’s notebooks and other papers and recordings.

WHAT WE’RE LISTENING TO

Here’s a sampling of the songs, albums, bands, and sounds No Depression staffers have been into this week:

The Steel Wheels – “I Shall Be Released” (The Band cover)
JD McPherson – “Sunshine Getaway,” from his new album, Nite Owls, coming in September
Liv Greene – “Deep Feeler,” the title track from her new album, coming in October
Compton and Newberry – “Cherry River Line,” from their new album, Home in My Heart, coming this fall
The Jayhawks – “Wichita”
Amadou & Mariam – “Mogolu (Moris Beat Remix),” from their new album, La Vie Est Belle, coming in September

Freddy Roach – Brown Sugar
The Damnwells – “Pretty as Pittsburgh,” from their new album, Bad at Beautiful, coming in  August
Noah Kahan – “Maine”
Allison Russell – “The Returner”
Mr. Sam & The People People – Again! Again!
PUP – Morbid Stuff and The Unraveling of Puptheband
Miko Marks – “I’ll Cry for Yours”