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John Prine, Mavis Staples, Brandi Carlile, I'm With Her, and The War and Treaty among the 2019 Americana Fest award winners

September 12, 2019

Mavis Staples, Michael Trotter of The War and Treaty, and Elvis Costello, among others, onstage for the grand finale during the 2019 Americana Honors & Awards at Ryman Auditorium on September 11, 2019 in Nashville, Tennessee.Terry Wyatt/Getty Images for Americana Music Association

It was a night of powerful performances and equally powerful speeches as the 2019 Americana Music Association's Honors and Awards ceremony took place Wednesday at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tenn.

John Prine took home a pair of honors, with Song of the Year for "Summer's End" and Album of the Year for The Tree of Forgiveness, produced by Dave Cobb. "This album's been my album of the year for about a year and a half now," Prine said in his acceptance speech. "I loved making it."

Singer-songwriter and producer Brandi Carlile took home the Artist of the Year award, and in so doing, honored each of the other three nominees in her category: Rhiannon Giddens, Kacey Musgraves and Mavis Staples. And Staples, for her part, was honored with the Inspiration Award, presented by The First Amendment Center. Staples' award was given onstage by civil-rights activist Dr. Ernest "Rip" Patton, who delivered a moving speech while wearing a baseball cap emblazoned with a prisoner number he was given after being arrested as a Freedom Rider in Jackson, Miss., in 1961.

The ceremony, which clocked in at nearly four hours, was capped by Staples' rousing performance of "Change," followed by an ensemble performance of the standard, "I'll Fly Away."

The Milk Carton Kids, Joey Ryan and Kenneth Pattengale, once again hosted the program with poise and wit. A particular highlight for the Milk Carton Kids came when they introduced and played the music of the President's Award recipients, songwriters Felice and Boudleaux Bryant, who published more than 1,500 songs that have been performed in every decade since the 1950s.

The night was not without its occasional glitches, however. There were numerous mics that didn't go live right when then were supposed to, and a handful of presenters struggled with the pronunciation of J.S. Ondara's surname. The evening's most obvious error came when Rhiannon Giddens — co-recipient, with (posthumously) Frank Johnson, of the new Legacy of Americana Award — had to repeat her performance of "Wayfaring Stranger" after a portion of the song was not recorded. Giddens also asked that her accordion accompanist, Francesco Turrisi (with whom she collaborated on the recent album, There Is No Other), be properly introduced. When Ryan and Pattengale confessed they didn't know how to pronounce Turrisi, Giddens made his introduction. Both performances of the song, however, absolutely captivated the audience.

Other performance highlights of the evening included Bonnie Raitt and John Prine duetting on Prine's song (famously covered by Raitt), "Angel From Montgomery," Amanda Shires' performance of "Parking Lot Pirouette," J.S. Ondara's performance of "American Dream," and Brandi Carlile's performance of "The Mother."

The complete list of winners appears below.