Staff Report –
Molly Tuttle took top honors for Artist of the Year at the 2026 Americana Honors & Awards in Nashville, while Brandi Carlile took Song of the Year for “Returning to Myself.”
Tyler Childers’ Snipe Hunter was named Album of the Year.
“Last week I had the incredible honor of being named Artist of the Year at the Americana Music Association Awards and Honors,” Molly Tuttle said in an email to supporters. “The whole night felt like a dream— I loved reuniting with so many friends backstage and on the red carpet, seeing so many of my biggest heroes, watching all the amazing performances, and reflecting on my last decade in Nashville while sitting in the pews at The Ryman.”
(Chris Stapleton joined the Heartbreakers! Robert Plant! A Dolly Parton tribute from Brandi Carlile and I’m With Her!), the evening was also full of folks snagging the actual trophies, according to Rolling Stone magazine.
The night’s best speech was from Mandy Fer, who was named Instrumentalist of the Year, where she spoke from the Ryman Auditorium stage about seeing very few female lead guitarists growing up, and how she wanted to inspire other people of all gender identities to pursue music.
“When I was a 16 year old girl, first picking up the electric guitar, I noticed a huge void of women being highlighted on stage as lead guitarists,” Fer said, who plays with Amos Lee and Allison Russell. “And that became my life’s work, to attempt at being a part at filling that void.”
Gillian Welch & David Rawlings won for Duo/Group of the year, despite, as Welch pointed out on stage, not actually putting out any new music this year. What they did do, however, is tour nonstop, including a run of Grateful Dead “Acoustic Reckoning” shows.
“I’m standing here and I’m quite overwhelmed,” Welch said, “about what it feels like to be recognized just for playing a lot of music.”
Winning the title of Emerging Act of the Year was Ken Pomeroy, whose LP Cruel Joke was one of the best breakthroughs of 2025. Lifetime Achievement honors were awarded to Parton, Plant, and Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers.
“Roots music, or what is now called Americana music, is what I grew up playing back in the Smoky Mountains,” Parton said in video recorded before her death. “It’s that same music that drew me back to East Tennessee in 1997 to write and record my album Hungry Again. And that project really opened the door to a series of bluegrass and acoustic albums that changed the course of my career in so many ways.”
For Tuttle, “When Allison Russell and Madison Cunningham called my name as Artist of the Year I couldn’t believe my ears,” she said. “I’m honored that I get to spend my life making music and be part of this incredible community.
“It really does take a village and I’m SO thankful to everyone who has supported me along the way! Huge congrats to all the award winners and nominees – what an amazing group of artists! I’m honored that I get to spend my life making music and be part of this incredible community.
(Top photo by Terry Wyatt for Americana Music Association)
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