News Roundup: Americana Awards, Paul Simon, Wilco, Radiohead

Updated:

October 17, 2011 12:24 pm

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Wilco recently appeared on NBC New York’s Talk Stoop, an interview program that takes place on the streets of Brooklyn. Watch the band goofing off and performing songs acoustically below. Nice drum kit, Glenn. Can we get a Wilco Unplugged sometime soon? Update: here’s an acoustic Tiny Desk concert by the band.

View more videos at: http://nbcnewyork.com.

The Americana Music Association Awards will be broadcast live tonight on NPR Music. Lucinda Williams will be honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award for songwriting, and Gregg Allman will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award for performance. Robert Plant, The Civil Wars, Justin Townes Earle, Hayes Carll, Elizabeth Cook are among the acts who will perform live. Go here for a full list of tonight’s nominees.

The NME has picked the top 150 songs of the past 15 years. Leading the pack? “Paranoid Android,” Radiohead’s masterful multi-part rock opus from 1997’s OK Computer. As huge Radiohead fans, we actually see no problem with that. Read the full list here.

Interested in the nuts and bolts of songwriting? Singer-songwriter Ruth Gerson is giving instructions over at the Huffington Post.

Paul Simon has announced plans to tour behind his landmark Graceland album next year, which will be reissued for it’s 25th anniversary. Simon recently traveled back to South Africa to perform a concert with Ladysmith Black Mambazo; a documentary of the trip will be included with the reissue.

Celebrate Simon’s birthday (he turns 70 today) by reading our latest issue with Simon on the cover.