Michael Wilson
For nearly a quarter-century, Buddy Miller has strummed his guitar during some of the most memorable moments captured on stage in Nashville.
As director of the Americana Honors & Awards house band, he played “Coal Miner’s Daughter” with Loretta Lynn and covered Merle Haggard’s “Mama Tried” with Grateful Dead co-founder Bob Weir. He’s jammed with Gregg Allman and once joined John Fogerty in a rowdy singalong to “Proud Mary.” Artists who’ve shared the stage with Miller and the awards show band include Mavis Staples, Elvis Costello, Buddy Guy, and the list goes on.
And when the Americana Honors & Awards returns Sept. 16 to the Ryman Auditorium, he’ll step on stage for another night of magic-making moments inside Music City’s longstanding Mother Church.
“You can feel the respect and love the artists have for each other, whether they’re presenting or playing together,” said Miller, a two-time Americana Awards Artist of the Year recipient who in 2022 earned a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Americana Music Association.
He added, “There’s a lot of musical moments that happen on these awards shows that don’t happen anywhere else.”
This year, nominees for the Americana Honors & Awards include Tyler Childers, Mumford & Sons, Turnpike Troubadours, Brandi Carlile, and Lucinda Williams, among others. Show organizers plan to celebrate Robert Plant with a Lifetime Achievement Award.
The show anchors AmericanaFest, a five-day event that includes showcases, panel discussions, and one-of-a-kind gigs throughout Nashville. AmericanaFest runs Sept. 15–19, when artists embrace Americana, a catch-all genre for roots rock, traditional country, soul, blues, bluegrass, and folk music. The lineup includes scheduled performances from more than 190 artists, according to the Americana Music Association, a nonprofit group that organizes the festival.
Like a come-to-life playlist on shuffle, the festival provides ample opportunity for listeners to discover a new favorite artist or album. Musicmakers take to clubs and concert halls throughout Nashville for much of the week, with showcases sometimes kicking off before lunch and others wrapping late into the night.
Lineup highlights in 2026 include Country Music Hall of Fame inductee Wynonna Judd, Grammy Award-winning songwriter Brandy Clark, veteran rocker Grace Potter, and Amy Grant, who plays in support of her new folk-pop album The Me That Remains.
And when he’s not holding court inside the Ryman for awards show rehearsals and performances, Miller plans to bring a few new songs to AmericanaFest this year. This month, the veteran storyteller debuts a new self-titled album, Buddy Miller, his first solo release in 15 years. The 12-song album hits streaming services and record store shelves on Sept. 11, days before the event kicks off.
Miller initially thought he’d make an album of cover songs; since the late 1980s, he’s collected in a notebook a growing list of tunes he’d like to one day record, he said. But Buddy Miller evolved into a country-soul gumbo that includes covers, originals, and some songs penned by his wife, singer-songwriter Julie Miller.
“Records always take on a life of their own,” Miller said. “I may have a vague idea of what I want to do when I’m going into it, but I’m always open to whatever it turns into. … I think it still has a thread through it. Country-soul is where I like to think I hang my hat, anyway, with everything I do.”
Miller cut Buddy Miller inside his home studio, where a rotating cast of friends stopped by to sing a few lines and share a few laughs. On one song, a haunting track titled “The Inner Sanctum of God,” he harmonizes with Emmylou Harris. At another moment, Miller teams with husband-and-wife duo The War and Treaty to sing a spiritual rendition of “Lay Down the Burden of Your Heart,” a 1970s song written by Jesse Winchester and once recorded by Grant.
The album captures honky-tonkin’ country on “Till the Wheels Come Off,” a duet with Ashley Monroe, and chronicles fiery passion on the psychedelic-tinged “Strange Desire,” which includes contributions from Jim Lauderdale.
He also recruited Dan Penn, a legend of the recording scene in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. The two play together on “Don’t Look Back,” a reimagined version of a song Smokey Robinson co-wrote in the 1960s that was recorded by The Temptations.
“Dan was one of the first people I met when I moved to Nashville,” said Miller, a 73-year-old who relocated to Music City in the 1990s. “He came over because I was advertising a Studer A80 24-track tape recorder, which is the size of a refrigerator. And not a small refrigerator.”
He continued, “He came over and he looked at it. He was in his uniform of cap, toothpick, and overalls. I was like, ‘Who is this guy? What is he, buying it for his grandson, or something?’ On his way out the door, he said, as we were shaking hands, ‘I might give you a call. My name’s Dan Penn.’ I pulled him back in because he had been one of my heroes since I saw his name on the back of a record. We became friends. He sang on my first record.”
Miller plays his new songs as part of AmericanaFest on Sept. 19 at 3rd and Lindsley. He also celebrates the new album with a show Sept. 13 at the Ryman, opening for The War and Treaty.