Americana Music Conference Goes Digital As ‘Thriving Roots’

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This year’s Americana Music Festival & Conference may be on the rocks because of the coronavirus pandemic, but aficionados will still be able to attend the confab without cramming into a hotel conference room or even making the trip to downtown Nashville.

Thriving Roots: A Virtual Community Music Conference is a new event presented by the Amaericana Music Association Foundation that will feature almost 100 online sessions over three days Sept. 16-18 and promises to “go beyond today’s webinar-style virtual conference.”

As with the traditional Americana conference, artists and industry leaders will give presentations and join panels, as well as conduct “personal hangs” and performances.  

The Thriving Roots digital platform will provide opportunities for personal contact and networking by creating attendee profiles and a directory, private messaging and schedules for open forum. Attendees will also be able to schedule one-on-one virtual meetings and check out a live “exhibit hall” filled with friends of the music community.

And, unlike a live conference, schedule conflicts are no problem – if an attendee can’t make it to one panel, they can always access its content after the conference ends.

Among the artists participating in Thriving Roots are Rosanne Cash, John Leventhal, Mavis Staples, Jackson Browne, Rhiannon Giddens and T Bone Burnett, who will give talks about their trailblazing careers. Many more are expected to be announced as the conference approaches.

Early Bird passes are now available at the conference’s event page at Eventbrite for $99, with the price increasing to $149 once those are sold out.