Americana Music Association takes over The Troubador for Paul Simon tribute

For more than two hours Saturday night, the Americana Music Association turned L.A.'s legendary music joint The Troubadour, into a sold-out slice of Nashville.

The association's annual pre-Grammy event honors a pioneer in the Americana genre and this year it was all about Paul Simon.

Artists ranging from Jason Isbell and Larkin Poe to legends Dwight Yoakam and Rodney Crowell took turns singing hits from Simon's catalog including "Bridge Over Troubled Water," "You Can Call Me Al" and "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover."

The Blind Boys of Alabama opened the show with "She Loves Me Like a Rock," and from there the night featured a little Latin flair, acoustic performances, full band performances and a lot of singing along from the shoulder-to-shoulder crowd.

Before launching into "Slip Slidin' Away," Ruthie Foster told the crowd, "We are going to do something a little different with one of Paul's song's tonight. I can call him Paul, right?"

The Bangles front woman Susannah Hoffs sang "Hazy Shade of Winter" backed by emerging guitar goddess Grace Bowers and Marcus King played acoustic and sang "America" with the house band an organ, which added some depth and emotion to the rendition.

Dwight Yoakam took the stage about 10:30 to a roaring ovation from the crowd. Before playing Simon's "The Boxer," he told the crowd he thought the song was one of the most beautiful things Paul Simon had ever written.

"I read that Phil Ramone said he was at a party when he first heard it. He was in the bathroom washing his hands and looked up and said it just froze him. I have always had a kind-of hillbilly rendition of it. Please forgive me, Paul, if I don't do the exact timing of everything."

Jackson Brown was jokingly introduced as someone who has probably had his own key to The Troubadour since about 1974. He sang "I Am a Rock" and noted the song is "short" at less than three minutes.

"Being so short, it's such a great example of how powerful Paul Simon's writing was."

Once again under the simple blue Troubadour neon, stars new and seasoned joined each other on stage, took turns singing and playing, introduced one another and celebrated quite an extraordinary catalog of music.

The Setlist:

• Blind Boys of Alabama / "Love Me Like a Rock"

• Jason Isbell and Sadler Vaden / "Kodachrome"

• Molly Tuttle and Ketch Secor / "Mrs. Robinson"

• Natalia LaFourcade / "You're the One"

• Bobby Rush / "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover"

• Ruthie Foster / "Slip Slidin' Away"

• John Vincent III / "Only Living Boy in New York"

• Brett Dennen / "Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard"

• Larkin Poe / "Poor Boy Blues"

• Susannah Hoffs and Grace Bowers / "Hazy Shade of Winter"

• Silvana Estrada / "If I Could"

• Gaby Moreno / "Late in the Evening"

• Sean and Sara Watkins / "Hurricane Eye"

• Madison Cunningham / "Kathy's Song"

• Andrew Bird / "American Tune"

• Johnnyswim / "Rene and Georgette Magritte"

• Marcus King / "America"

• Allison Russell / "Sounds of Silence"

• Dwight Yoakam / "The Boxer"

• Jackson Browne / "I Am a Rock"

• Rufus Wainwright / "Bridge Over Troubled Water"

• Rodney Crowell / "Graceland"

• Jackson Browne, Johnnyswim, Allison Russell, Rufus Wainwright, Sean Watkins / "You Can Call Me Al"

Melonee Hurt covers music and music business at The Tennessean, part of the USA TODAY NETWORK — Tennessee. Reach Melonee at [email protected], on X @HurtMelonee or Instagram at @MelHurtWrites.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Jason Isbell, Allison Russell, Dwight Yoakam and Rodney Crowell salute Paul Simon