emalvick

Interesting, I never would have considered Mumford and Sons Americana, but I am no authority on the genre nor was I aware that they had even been nominated as an Americana album. Thankfully, best album is non-genre specific.

Actually, I only figured out I liked Americana when Amazon started recommending me Americana albums based on ones I had bought that I just bought because I liked the music.

As for the genre gaining exposure... even though there wasn't a formal Americana category, I feel that the successes of albums like the Plant & Krauss album a few years ago amongst others would do more for the genre than Mumford and Sons.

Pinning down an Americana genre isn't really easy, which I'm fine with. I like the fact that it blurs the genre lines between rock, country, and folk. Creativity is best when it respects no boundaries.

TboneFrank

Not directly specific when it's awarded but it's generally known from the performances during the awards show from what genre or sub-category an Album of the Year comes from. Americana is more tricky right now because it hasn't been around that long but people are getting more and more familiar with the category. Especially rap, soul, country and rock fans who say..."What!?!...who the hell are THEY?..my favorite artist lost to an Americana band?...that sucks."

Actually Plant & Krauss' Raising Sand DID do a lot for the genre. And there actually was a formal Grammy category in 2009 for Best Contemporary Folk/Americana Album and Raising Sand did win it as well as winning the Album of the Year. In 2010 they split that category up to make a distinction between the use of acoustic vs. electric instruments. Best Contemporary Folk Album reflects predominately acoustic instruments and Best Americana Album reflects predominately electric instruments. Even though acoustic instruments are often present and essential to Americana music it often uses full electric bands as well.

But now it's already been over four years since Raising Sand and most of us like me have moved ahead witnessing a great growth in popularity of this young genre. Mumford & Sons' Babel winning Grammy Album of the Year is just another great moment in it's short history. Some people may not like it because they have their own opinions of what they believe Americana music should be. But what people think it should be and what it actually IS are two different things.


It was effectively 'pinned down' in 1995. The whole idea of creating an Americana genre in the first place was to not continue to have blurred lines between the established mainstream genres but to incorporate those elements of American roots music (country, bluegrass, folk, rock ‘n’ roll, R & B and blues) into a distinctive roots-oriented sound. A sound that stands apart from the styles of music from which it draws. And by definition now that Americana music is a genre it does have to respect the boundaries that are true only to American roots music.