Nashville, Tenn. — The Americana Music Association is proud to announce plans to celebrate the legacy of the Grateful Dead at this week’s ninth annual conference and music festival in Nashville. At Thursday night’s Honors & Awards at the Ryman Auditorium, Jerry Garcia will be named the recipient of the 2008 AMA President’s Award, a posthumous lifetime achievement recognition for innovation in American roots music. Following the awards, the AMA and Relix magazine co-host a huge tribute show with San Francisco’s The Waybacks and The American Beauty Project, featuring Ollabelle, Jim Lauderdale, Larry Campbell, Buddy Miller and several surprise guests.

AMA President Jessie Scott of Sirius XM Satellite Radio selected Garcia for this year’s award based on his many contributions to Americana music, as part of the Grateful Dead and as a collaborator in acoustic music. “Jerry Garcia championed the roots,” Scott says. “From the Americana infused Dead albums to his collaborations with David Grisman, his love for the archetypes of American music shines through.”

Relix magazine will sponsor the musical tribute to the Dead beginning at 10 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 18 at the Cannery Ballroom, immediately following the Americana Honors & Awards. The Waybacks will kick off the evening. This Bay Area quartet has enjoyed fruitful on-stage collaborations with Dead founder Bob Weir over the last couple of years, and they’ll bring that spirit to their acoustic/electric music rooted in country and blues.

Next up, the American Beauty Project is a collective of remarkable artists who have gathered on several occasions to cover the historic albums the Grateful Dead released in 1970: American Beauty and Workingman’s Dead. They’ve earned praise in the New York Times, Variety and Relix magazine as a true re-imagining of groundbreaking songs that were meant to be interpreted and shared. The musicians include the passionate folk group Ollabelle, legendary multi-instrumentalist Larry Campbell, star Nashville songwriter Jim Lauderdale and delicious singers Catherine Russell and Teresa Williams. Awards show band leader and Americana superstar Buddy Miller will be there, plus special guests you won’t want to miss.

The Ninth Annual Americana Festival and Conference will offer seminars, panels and networking opportunities at the Nashville Convention Center by day, while each evening brings more than 80 stacked Americana showcases. The Americana Music Association is a professional trade organization whose mission is to provide a forum for the advocacy of Americana music and to promote public awareness of the genre to support the creative and economic viability of professionals in this field.