Plenty of Great Free Americana Shows in NYC This Week, Plus St. Vincent

If you're a fan of folk, country, or any of the other genres lumped into the Americana category, this is your time to overindulge in free concerts in New York. This week is the annual Lincoln Center Out of Doors Americanafest NYC, the last week of the LCOOD series that features a blowout of great shows.

See the schedule below for Lincoln Center's big Americanafest.

The 2014 Americanafest is no exception, with a week of shows packed with artists like Rosanne Cash, The Lone Bellow, Emmylou Harris & Rodney Crowell, Cassandra Wilson, and Charles Bradley. Most shows take place at the Damrosch Park Bandshell, but see the Americanafest page for links to specific show pages, where you'll find locations as well as information on the artists (including videos).

• Wed., 8/6 - Emmylou Harris & Rodney Crowell, Robert Ellis, 7:30 p.m.
• Thurs., 8/7 - Tift Merritt, 7:30 p.m.
• Fri., 8/8 - Cassandra Wilson, The Campbell Brothers: "A Sacred Steel Love Supreme" (a film honoring John Coltrane's "A Love Supreme"), 7:30 p.m.
• Sat., 8/9 - The Devil Makes Three, Old 97s, and John Fullbright, 1:30 p.m.
• Sat., 8/9 - "Heroes of American Roots: From the Historic Films Archives," 1 and 4 p.m. (a rare film montage of musical performances by artists such as Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Elvis Presley, and Woody Guthrie)
• Sat., 8/9 - Rosanne Cash, The Lone Bellow, Buddy Miller & Jim Lauderdale, 6 p.m.
• Sun., 8/10 - Charles Bradley & His Extraordinaires, St. Paul & the Broken Bones, Bobby Patterson, and the Music Maker Blues Revue, 5 p.m.
• Sun., 8/10 - Roots Symposium, 1 p.m., including "Heroes of Americana: From the Historic Films Archives," introduced by Joe Lauro; "Talkin’ Blues:" Music Maker Relief Foundation’s Beverly “Guitar” Watkins, Ironing Board Sam, Dom Flemons, and Tim Duffy in conversation with Coleman “Spike” Barkin; and SiriusXM’s “Buddy & Jim Show” with Buddy Miller & Jim Lauderdale

If adventurous contemporary rock is more your style, you've got another free option for Saturday night: St. Vincent and San Fermin play a free show at Celebrate Brooklyn at 7:30 p.m.

Enjoy!

Americana Awards Tonight; Get FREE Americana Sampler from Amazon.com

The Americana Music Association Awards take place tonight in Nashville, but unfortunately you won't find them on TV. (Too bad, since the quality of musicianship is undoubtedly higher than that found on most other music awards shows.)

There's good news, however: NPR Music is offering audio streaming of the Americana Music Awards (note: it's an early show, starting at 7:30 p.m. Eastern time).

And Amazon.com is offering a FREE Americana Music Awards Sampler with 14 tunes from folks including John Hiat, Buddy & Julie Miller, the Avett Brothers, James McMurtry, and Canadian Corb Lund (the "Hurtin' Albertan"). (This free sampler download offer may be good only in the U.S.)

The Americana Music Awards Sampler track listing:

1. The Open Road, John Hiatt
2. All The Time, Elizabeth Cook
3. Ellis County, Buddy And Julie Miller
4. Old Gin Road, Ponderosa
5. Shame, The Avett Brothers
6. Bury Me Far (From My Uniform), Joe Pug
7. A Crooked Road, Darrell Scott
8. To Live Is To Fly, Steve Earle
9. Mama's Little Baby, Delbert McClinton
10. A. Enlightenment B. Endarkenment ((Hint: There is no C)), Ray Wylie Hubbard
11. Patchwork River, Jim Lauderdale
12. Devil's Best Dress, Corb Lund
13. Seven-Mile Island, Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit
14. Bayou Tortous, James McMurtry

Tonight's Americana Music Awards show will feature performances by Emmylou Harris, the Avett Brothers, Rodney Crowell, Wanda Jackson, Rosanne Cash, Patty Griffin, Sam Bush, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Ryan Bingham, Corb Lund, Sarah Jarosz, and many others.

The Awards are part of the Americana Music Festival and Conference, which is taking place Sept. 8th to 11th.