Mellencamp, Jackson & Three More to Receive Americana Lifetime Achievement Awards

The Americana Music Association has announced the recipients of their 2010 Lifetime Achievement Awards.  They will be presented on September 9 during the annual awards show at the Ryman Auditorium, hosted by Jim Lauderdale with a house band led by Buddy Miller.

The honorees and the Americana Music Association's description of the recipient's legacy:

• Wanda Jackson (Performance) - "the undisputed Queen of Rockabilly and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member, whose growling glamour reshaped the role of women in both rock and roll and country."

• John Mellencamp (Songwriting) - "whose songs have influentially combined the blue collar sweat of rock and roll and the humble grit of honky tonk." 

• Luke Lewis (Executive) - "Chairman of Universal Music Group Nashville, whose visionary commitment to the label’s Lost Highway imprint has created a home for numerous Americana greats." 

• Greg Leisz (Instrumentalist) - "the go-to lap and pedal steel, guitar, mandolin and bass virtuoso who has enriched recordings by Lucinda Williams, Emmylou Harris, Joni Mitchell, Bill Frisell, Whiskeytown, Robert Plant & Alison Krauss and more." 

• Brian Ahern (Producer / Engineer) - "whose work as a producer includes seminal albums by Emmylou Harris, as well as output from Marty Robbins, George Jones, Anne Murray, Billy Joe Shaver, Rodney Crowell, Jesse Winchester and Ricky Skaggs."