Congratulations to Robert Plant, who has been named the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Americana Music Association UK. It is the group's highest honor and goes to a UK artist for outstanding contribution to the Americana genre over the span of a career. And congratulations to Rhiannon Giddens, who has been nominated for International Artist of the Year at the 2018 UK Americana Awards. Both were announced earlier today by the Americana Music Association UK at a ceremony in London.

Robert Plant's eleventh studio album, Carry Fire, was released last month on Nonesuch / Warner Bros. Records. Produced by Plant in the west of England and Wales, it melds unusual rhythms with naturalism. As with his 2014 album, lullaby and… The Ceaseless Roar, it features his band The Sensational Space Shifters. They are also joined on the new album by special guests, including Chrissie Hynde. The album is "transfixing," exclaims NPR. "Plant and his collaborators create music that overflows with irrepressible life force ... Carry Fire is rivetingly intimate."

Rhiannon Giddens's new album, Freedom Highway, was nominated for Album of the Year at the 2017 Americana Honors & Awards earlier this year. The album includes nine original songs she wrote or co-wrote, a traditional tune, and two civil rights–era songs. She co-produced the album with multi-instrumentalist Dirk Powell in his Louisiana studio, with the bulk of recording done in wooden rooms built prior to the Civil War, over an intense eight-day period. "Giddens emerges as a peerless and powerful voice in roots music," Pitchfork exclaims. It's a "rich collection," says NPR; "hope comes back to life in Giddens' music." Rhiannon Giddens was recently named a MacArthur Fellow, a recipient of the "Genius" grant.

The UK Americana Awards show will take place on February 1, 2018, at the Hackney Empire in East London. For a list of all the nominees and tickets to the ceremony, visit theamauk.org.