Hear ye, hear ye! On October 25 at 8 pm — in cooperation with our good friend WFUV 90.7 FM — NPR’s arbiters of Americana — Mountain Stage — will hoof it all the way from West Virginia to show a little love for us urban cowboys and gals @ NYC’s fabulous Town Hall.

Bruce Cockburn, Rodney Crowell Trio (feat. Jenny Scheinman and Will Kimbrough), Rosanne Cash, and Todd Snider will folk the f*&^! out!. Tickets $65, $45, $35 @ www.ticketmaster.com or call (212)307-4100.

Too rich for your blood? Don’t cry in your beer. Just tune your ‘puter to: NPR Music and wallow in four months of Mountain back sets, including stand-outs from Mike Farris, Chuck Prophet, Carrie Rodriguez, Over the Rhine, and my favoritely-named new bluegrass-band, Crooked Still.

Isn’t technology wonderful?

Staten Island daughter Joan Baez will be showered with love at the Americana Association’s 7th Annual Honors and Awards ceremony. Baez will receive the “Spirit of Americana” Free Speech Award, previously given to this year’s presenter Steve Earle, as well as such icons as Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson, Mavis Staples, Judy Collins and Charlie Daniels.

The laurel will dovetail nicely with the September 9, 2008 release date for Joan’s upcoming album, Day After Tomorrow, her first new studio recording in five years.

I had the pleasure of reviewing Baez’ last release: Dark Chords on a Big Guitar for Barnes & Noble.com. Day After Tomorrow promises to pick up right where Dark Chords left off, with Joan tapping the best of today’s Americana artists, including Tom Waits, Eliza Gilkyson, Patty Griffin, Diana Jones, Elvis Costello, and Steve Earle, who also produced the album.

Joan’s band also includes Americana Festival bluegrass showcase artist Tim O’Brien! Check out the rest of the Festival’s round-up, to date:

Marcia Ball, Langhorne Slim, Tim O’Brien, Cross Canadian Ragweed, Kathy Mattea, Band of Heathens, Folk Uke, James McMurtry,The Belleville Outfit, Jim White, Paul Thorn, The SteelDrivers and The Snake The Cross and the Crown.

Don’t forget: you can hear these artists and a gaggle more for the ridiculously low cost of $35 dollars, which buys you a wristband opening venue doors across Music City for FOUR full evenings. Visit www.americanamusic.org to purchase your very own.

In the meantime, enjoy Joan singing Steve Earle’s “God Is God” on MySpace .

Incoming….The Americana Music Association is testing the upper limits of my Gmail account with all manner of exciting e-news. Seems they’ve chosen Jason and the Scorchers to receive the prestigious Lifetime Achievement in Performance Award, and why not?

They were punk. They were country. They were rock. Perhaps most of all, they were originals. Jason and the Nashville Scorchers, as they were originally called, were messiahs for a 1980’s American rock scene suffering from a slight inferiority complex and aching for pride and grit. Together, frontman Jason Ringenberg, guitarist Warner Hodges, bassist Jeff Johnson and drummer Perry Baggs, personified roots music experimentation, boasting an unparalleled respect for and familiarity with honky tonk, while wielding innate punk savvy. It wasn’t just how they said it: What they were saying also resonated. Ringenberg’s songwriting often drew heady thematic comparisons to Southern Gothic literary giants like Flannery O’Conner or William Faulkner, and Hodges’ influential guitar work roared in response as the punk-rock backbone of their euphoric sound’s dual-personality. The group’s spirited interpretations of traditional country classics by journeymen including Hank Williams were uninhibited celebrations of hillbilly soul.

In addition, the Association announced their nominees for the organization’s 2008 Honors and Awards ceremony, slated for September 18 at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. Alison Krauss & Robert Plant, Levon Helm, and James McMurtry enjoyed cross-category nods.

Meanwhile, Cayamo 2009 — the cruise ship for Americana fans — is building an unbelievable lineup of artists. To date, Lyle Lovett, John Hiatt, Patty Griffin, Shawn Colvin, Girlyman, Jeff Holmes, Over the Rhine, Ed Roland, Mindy Smith, Buddy Miller, The Greencards, Vienna Teng, Indigo Girls and Brandi Carlile are all, literally, ON BOARD! Check out the full listing at www.cayamo.com.

IN OTHER NEWS:

Americana goddess Emmylou Harris dropped her new album All I Intended To Be. Here’s a clip of the graceful Ms. Harris being interviewed on the Charlie Rose show:

‘Til next time, keep it country!

They really need no introduction, but in case you’ve been living under a rock, Robert Plant & Allison Krauss, respectively “a legend of rock ‘n roll, and an icon of bluegrass” recently joined forces to raise some sand, a southern expression defined on USADeepSouth.com as: “a marvelous couple of words which, when combined, mean the person being discussed has just generally thrown or will throw a hissy fit, as in: ‘if you not in church ever time the doors open, yo mama gon raise sand, and you can pretty well bank on it.‘”

Now on tour, their album, “Raising Sand”, produced by T. Bone Burnett and released by Americana arbiters of taste Rounder Records:

• debuted at #2 on the Billboard 200 chart
• was #24 on Rolling Stone’s list of Top 50 albums of 2007
• won a Grammy Award for “Best Pop Collaboration w/Vocals”
• as of 3/4/2008, is certified platinum by the RIAA

Marc Ribot (Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, Cibo Matto, the Lounge Lizards) is prominently featured on acoustic guitar, banjo, dobro, electric guitar, and Norman Blake (Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, Steve Earle, Ralph Stanley, Joan Baez) flatpicks on acoustic.

Here’s the spine-tingling “Polly Come Home”, penned by Byrds’ founder Gene Clark, and hand-picked by Burnett.

Do try to see these two on one of their stops throughout the US and Canada. The tickets won’t be cheap, but I repeat: “a legend of rock ‘n roll, and an icon of bluegrass” I’ve seen each in concert separately, and they are forces on their own — let alone, together.

IN OTHER NEWS

Americana Music Association Executive Director Jed Hilly has announced the first showcase artist names for the upcoming Americana Music Festival, Nashville, September 17-20, 2008. Artists confirmed to date display the breadth and vibrance of the genre include Jim White, The Belleville Outfit, James McMurtry, Paul Thorn, The Snake The Cross and the Crown and The SteelDrivers. More names will be announced in the following weeks.

This just in from The Americana Music Association! Jed Hilly, Executive Director, announced that one of America’s most respected and influential singer songwriters — John Hiatt – will be the recipient of the 2008 Lifetime Achievement Award for Songwriting.

It’s a privilege to honor John Hiatt”, says Hilly. He is the essence of what the Americana Songwriter award is all about; a true artist, a performer and songwriter whose work is steeped with integrity.
…
Hiatt’s 30 year career includes a string of critically acclaimed albums, including the upcoming release Same Old Man. His songs have been covered by a diverse range of artists including Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton and B.B. King, Bonnie Raitt, Buddy Guy, Emmylou Harris, Iggy Pop, The Neville Brothers, Roseanne Cash, Steve Earle, Willie Nelson and The Jeff Healey Band.
…
The upcoming Americana Honors & Awards show will be hosted again by two-time Americana Honors & Awards recipient and Grammy® Winner Jim Lauderdale and the all-star house band will once again by led by last year’s Award winner for Instrumentalist of the Year Buddy Miller. Other participants and honorees will be announced in the future.

A limited number of tickets priced at $45 are now available by calling the Americana Music Association at (615) 386-6936. Tickets will be available via Ticketmaster and the Ryman Box Office at a later date.