Back in Austin, the Ameripolitan Awards Define a Musical Spirit
By Doug Freeman, February 19, 2024, 5:30pm, Earache!
A decade into the Ameripolitan Music Awards, the event’s namesake genre remains a somewhat nebulous catchall.
Dale Watson coined the term to describe his own brand of hard honky-tonk, but it’s expanded to embrace a broad sweep loosely umbrellaed by Western swing, rockabilly, and outlaw. Although the category sometimes leads to incongruous boxing – like this year’s nominations dubbing NOLA folk stompers the Deslondes as honky-tonk – the end result lifts up music that’s often still underrecognized, even within the widening reach of Americana.
For the 10th anniversary of the Ameripolitan Music Awards, Watson returned the show to Austin for the first time since he left Texas for Memphis in 2018. On Sunday night, the Moody Theater’s gala found much of the crowd decked in high rockabilly and honky-tonk fashion, even as the show kept a loose and raucous feel. Most apparent, though, was the sense of community spearheaded by Watson, who generated gratitude from the fans and especially the nominees. Whether rising stars or hardened lifers, many were being recognized for the first time.
Turk Pipkin played co-host alongside Watson, allowing the Ameripolitan patriarch to roam the stage, keeping the three-and-a-half-hour show on pace. Gary P. Nunn aptly kicked off the performances with a sing-along of “London Homesick Blues,” supported by a stellar Jason Roberts-led house band that, as Ray Benson quipped, featured almost entirely (and inevitably) Asleep at the Wheel alumni.
After accepting his Ameripolitan Master Award, Benson gave a rallying rendition of “Miles and Miles of Texas.” Still, Kelly Willis, Melissa Carper, and Western Swing Female award winner Brennen Leigh provided the early highlight with new single “Another Broken Heart” from the upcoming debut of their supergroup, Wonder Women of Country. Junior Brown countered with “Too Many Nights in a Roadhouse,” swerving through the real-time tuning of his “guit-steel” and blistering baritone twang, while Wayne Hancock provided a surprise appearance, hard-strumming “Thunderstorms and Neon Signs” alongside Jake Penrod and Rachel Brooke.
Charlie Robison and James White both received moving tributes, the former led by Monte Warden doing “My Hometown” and the latter posthumously serenaded by Watson, Roberts, and Alvin Crow with “Never Mend the Broken Spoke” as they rolled the venue’s iconic wagon wheel out onstage. The recent passing of Mojo Nixon likewise weighed heavy in the room, though as Watson interrupted at one point: “We don’t do a moment of silence for Mojo, we give a hell yeah!” As Jason D. Williams wryly noted in accepting Musician of the Year, “I’d thank a lot more people but they’re dead now.”
While honoring the influence of the roots genres’ legacies, the awards equally focused on cultivating the next generation of talent. Kaitlin Butts gave a heartfelt and tearful speech for Honky Tonk Female, bolstered by Kelsey Waldon’s defiant acceptance of Outlaw Female. Last year’s Rockabilly Female winner Tammi Savoy smoked her own “I Want Your Good Lovin’,” and Les Greene was genuinely shocked to win Rockabilly Male – before blazing across the stage and into the audience while performing “Airbound,” backed by the Televisionaries.
Greene’s energy was matched only by the Reverend Horton Heat ripping his trademark psychobilly freakout through “Big Little Baby,” a blur of a performance nearly upstaged by Lance Lipinsky’s unhinged pounding on the keys.
The night’s biggest moment was reserved to honor Tex-Mex accordion pioneers Flaco Jiménez and Augie Meyers with “Founders of the Sound” recognition. Rhythm section Speedy Sparks and Ernie Durawa joined the pair to reunite the surviving members of Texas Tornados – with Big Sandy delivering Freddy Fender’s “Wasted Days and Wasted Nights,” and Max Baca joining to run through “Soy de San Luis” and the Meyers-led “(Hey Baby) Que Paso.”
Ameripolitan may still be an awkwardly defined genre, more of a musical spirit than a specific sound. But the evening proved a definitive Ameripolitan community as presenters, performers, and winners continuously acknowledged their appreciation for Watson and his wife Celine, who’ve created a space to recognize both the past and future of largely outsider roots sounds.
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