The AMA-UK News Welcoming our new Acting CEO and UK Americana Music Week 2024...

Dear members, Thank you for your patience over these last weeks since our AMA-UK CEO and dear friend, Stevie Smith, decided to step down. We have been working hard behind the scenes to plot the Association’s next steps and are excited to share some news with you. First up, we have a new Acting CEO. We are delighted to announce that AMA-UK Board Member, Charlie Pierce, has been appointed to the role of Acting CEO. Many of you will already know Charlie, who has been embedded within the Americana music community for many years, as both an artist manager and passionate ambassador for the genre. We are excited and grateful to Charlie for stepping into this role and look forward to working with her over the coming months.

What does this mean for UK Americana Music Week in 2024?

Well…it’s all systems go! We can confirm that a number of events are in the pipeline for the week commencing 22 January 2024 and, whilst we are still planning the finer details with our partners, we can tell you there will be artist showcases and a number of opportunities for the Americana music community to come together. And, of course, a party and awards ceremony!

So, what happens next?

We are working closely with our event partners – as well as our friends at the Americana Music Association in Nashville – to build and deliver the programme of events for January. We will be opening the nominations for showcases in the coming weeks and will announce this via social media and the member newsletter. We appreciate your continued patience with us and are working to bring you updates as quickly as we can so you can make plans to join us in the new year.

In the meantime, if you are attending AmericanaFest this week in the US, you can see Charlie and a number of our Board members at the AMA-UK / British Underground Welcome Party on Wednesday (2.30pm - 5.30pm at Alley Taps) or the "Touring the UK panel" on Thursday (2pm - 3pm at The Westin - Gulch III).

Charlie can be contacted at admin@theamauk.org for any member feedback or questions.

We hope this news is a welcome update and we’ll be in touch again soon. Before we go, here’s a message from our new Acting CEO, Charlie Pierce.

"I’m honoured to be taking the position as Acting CEO for AMA-UK. Stevie stepping down has left a big hole in our organisation and whilst I cannot imagine filling her shoes entirely, I am pleased to be able to offer our community and members some reassurance that our annual celebration of Americana Music in the UK will take place in January, and that we will be working over the coming months to establish a longer term plan for the association’s future goals and objectives to best support the artists and industry who call Americana home. A big thanks to The Board and Exec for their support as we move ahead, and of course to Stevie for the legacy and community she has built in UK Americana." 

Charlie & the AMA-UK Board

Member opportunity APPLICATIONS CLOSED
We are delighted to team up with SongFest in Rugby, Warwickshire who have offered one slot to an AMAUK member.

There's a 30 minute slot for one singer song writer to join the line up headlined by Chris Difford. 

Dean Friedman who curates Songfest will make the selection from among the AMA-UK member applicants.

More information about the festival HERE

If you want to attend tickets links HERE 

Applications have closed and successful applicants have been informed

thank you for applying

AMA-UK will be hosting the Front Porch Stage on the Friday of The Long Road Festival, we have 6 slots for AMA-UK members  - AMA-UK and TLR will be making the final selection together from all the applicants. Please only apply if you are available to play at the Long Road on Friday 25th August 2023.  Applications close on April 5th  - Successful applicants will be informed by April 25th. 

Members can log in for more details and APPLY HERE 

The AMA-UK are thrilled to be invited back to the awesome Ramblin' Roots Revue, this year we are looking for THREE artists/bands from our membership to join the fun!  Each day a AMA-UK band will open the Saloon Bar stage with a 30 minute set .

Dates are :

Friday 14th April 8:00pm

Saturday 15th April 12:50pm

Sunday 16th April 11.30am

Members can log in for more details and APPLY HERE 

DOWNLOAD TO PRINT 

Songwriting Workshop 2023

This will be our fourth songwriting workshop - each one has had a different focus and outcome, first one was about intergenerational connections with Hackney Elders group, we then held a workshop with Hackney Windrush Generation and then NHS staff.  

Watch the 2020 workshop here 

Our 2023 conference is titled: Good Foundations - Stronger Futures - 2022 was not an easy year for our industry and we have all experienced a hard, sometimes slow yet sometimes hectic path back to live.  For this workshop we are teaming you; our members,  up with a group of music students from ELAM (East London Arts & Music) who have recently graduated form their courses. This group of students had their normal college experience in a very different way to what they had expected and deserved; in lockdown, with very little social interaction and little time in class together.  We want this experience to be a place for them to feel safe to explore some of those stories and emotions and talk about what they expect and hope for in the future; and together craft a song that encapsulates their stories.

We found with the past workshops that it was a very cathartic experience for all, some saying they felt like they had been on holiday. Once the songs were performed, we could see how emotional it was for them and also from the feedback we found it had helped them to deal with some life trauma, experiences, and things they hadn’t been able to express before - the medium of 'song' was something that enabled them to share poetically without it being too heavy and still be meaningful to the listener. We now want to share this experience with this group of  students and hope we can make it another really powerful event for all involved.

We feel this will be another moving event for all involved, for the students to be able to talk about their lives and experiences, see them transformed into songs and for our songwriters to experience writing songs on subjects that are not directly their own stories. If this idea sounds like something you would like to take part in then please apply below - spaces are very limited so please let us know why you think you should be chosen. You will need to demonstrate that you have songwriting experience, you will need to be able to write songs using a guitar and to be aware and sensitive to the fact that your partners in this process may or may not be experienced songwriters. You will need to be able to be available to carry out this workshop in the first week of January 2023, be prepared to be part of short documentary type film about the workshop, then be able to perform your song at the conference on January 25th. We will in return give you a free full delegate pass for the conference, festival and awards.  

APPLY HERE (you must be logged in to access)

Members can now log in to VOTE on 7 of the Categories HERE

Members and public can VOTE here for the Live Act Of The Year Award 

Join us as we announce the 2022 awards nominees, network with industry and members and catch a couple of performances from special guests!

Doors: 7:00pm. members REGISTER HERE FOR FREE GUEST LIST  must be logged in to access

non members or press please email events@theamauk.org to request name on guest list.

Every year we have a fantastic team of awesome volunteers who help us run AmericanaFest UK over three days  - we couldn't do it without you!
 
You can choose which part of the event you would like to help at and we will give you entry to the remainder of the festival as a thank you.
 
Volunteers need to be able to provide their own means of transport and accommodation; however, those volunteering all day at the conference will be provided with lunch.  You will be asked to do 2 shifts either day time or evening and then you are invited to attend the rest of the event including the award show.

Would you like to be a volunteer? Open to members HERE