Originally Posted by Safar

Good point Drjohnrock.
When I first read the quote which I used for Gillian Welch, I hesitated for a second and thought, „isn´t Appalachian music, bluegrass and country included in Americana?“, but it was not enough not to post the quote, and not to think that the author probably knows something I don`t.
Personaly I would not use the term Americana. Mainly because it is still nebulous to me and also because I noticed it only a few years ago and have not become familiar with it since then.
I knew what bluegrass, folk, country was before I stumbled upon the word Americana, tried to guess the meaning, with the result that probably it is restricted to early US folk music ( Woody Guthrie, Carter family....).
Later did some research to broaden my understanding only to come to the conclusion, leave it to the locals.
If I try hard to define the word (that I hesitate to use), it would be (I know it´s more than the music) kind of roots music of the United States; if my narrow view makes sense. How large the span is, I have no idea.