Indigo Girls, OKAN, Crys Matthews, Susan Werner Win International Folk Music Awards in Montreal

The 2025 International Folk Music Awards were held last night (Feb. 19) at Montreal’s Queen Elizabeth Hotel as part of the 37th annual Folk Alliance International (FAI) Conference, the largest international gathering of the folk and roots music community.

Honoured with a lifetime achievement award were ground-breaking and Grammy-winning U.S. folk duo Indigo Girls, comprising Amy Ray and Emily Saliers. Accepting the award, Ray pleaded “Please stand up with us and make your voice be heard in these times. Gather together with other people. Raise your voice. Stand up strong. Day by day, song by song, we can make this world a better place.”

Her sentiments were echoed on the night by other award winners. Peoples Voice Award victor Gina Chavez declared “We’re all light. The world needs our voices, more than ever."

Other major winners included Crys Matthews as Artist of the Year, Susan Werner for Album of the Year (Halfway to Houston) and Tom Prasada-Rao for Song of the Year (“$20 Bill (for George Floyd),” as recorded by Javiva Magness and Dan Navarro).

Werner could not attend the ceremony, but her noted folk peer, Dar Williams, read out Werner’s witty acceptance speech. Presenting in that category was celebrated Canadian singer-songwriter Ron Sexsmith, who stated "I am an album artist in a random shuffle world. We keep doing it because we love it."

Providing Canadian content in the winners circle were Toronto-based Afro-Cuban duo OKAN, cited in the Rising Tide award category. In their acceptance video, they stated that “We want to create a community of people who look like us, so they can feel represented."

Another Canadian winner was Spirit of Folk Award recipient Tom Power, a roots musician and CBC radio host for the show Q. In his acceptance speech, he stated "as someone cares a lot about the traditions of Newfoundland and Labrador, I stand on the shoulders of the giants of the folks who preserved the music long before me." Power also passionately defended the CBC, which he termed "an organization that aims to tell the stories of Canadians to other Canadians."

Other Spirit of Folk honourees were folk and country songwriter and author Alice Randall, Midwest Folk Alliance stalwart Annie Capps and Quebec’s Innu Nikamu festival, recognized for "its commitment to the promotion and preservation of Indigenous culture through music and community building for over thirty years."

Joining Indigo Girls as Lifetime Achievement Awards recipients were African-American folk musician Lesley Riddle and roots music publication Songlines.

Amongst those performing on the Awards show were top Canadian folk/roots artists Rose Cousins and Le Vent du Nord (both double Juno winners) and Toronto roots troubadour Julian Taylor.

FAI’s 37th annual conference features over 175 artists, representing 38 countries of origin, `9 U.S. states, and all 13 Canadian provinces and territories, one of the larger slates of showcases in the conference’s history. The conference is being held at Montreal’s Sheraton Hotel. Here is the complete list of Official Showcase artists.

Here are the nominations in the three “Best of 2024” categories, with winners marked, followed by a list of this year’s special award honourees.

International Folk Music Awards Winners

Artist of the Year

Flamy Grant
Sarah Jarosz
Kaïa Kater
Nick Lowe
WINNER: Crys Matthews
Allison Russell

Album of the Year

Sierra Ferrell, Trail of Flowers (Rounder Records)
The Heart Collectors, The Space Between (Spins the Gold Records)
Kaïa Kater, Strange Medicine (Free Dirt Records)
Aoife O’Donovan, All My Friends (Yep Roc Records)
Ordinary Elephant – Ordinary Elephant (Berkalin Records)
WINNER: Susan Werner, Halfway to Houston (self-released)

Song of the Year

“Tenzin Sings with Nightingales,” written by Tenzin Choegyal, performed by Tenzin Choegyal and Michael Askill
“How I Long for Peace,” written by Peggy Seeger, performed by Rhiannon Giddens, Crys Matthews, and the Resistance Revival Chorus
“Woman Who Pays,” written and performed Connie Kaldor
WINNER: “$20 Bill (for George Floyd),” written by Tom Prasada-Rao, performed by Dan Navarro & Janiva Magness
“Ukrainian Now,” written and performed by Tom Paxton & John McCutcheon
“Love Letters,” written by Julian Taylor, Tyler James Ellis, performed by Julian Taylor

Honourees

Lifetime Achievement Award – Living: Indigo Girls

Lifetime Achievement Award – Legacy: Lesley Riddle

Lifetime Achievement Award – Business: Songlines Magazine

People’s Voice: Gina Chavez

Rising Tide: OKAN

Clearwater Award: River Roads Festival (Easthampton, Mass.)

Spirit of Folk: Tom Power, Alice Randall, Annie Capps, Innu Nikamu festival

Folk Radio DJ Hall of Fame Inductees: Archie Fisher (BBC Scotland), Mary Sue Twohy (SIRIUS XM), Taylor Caffery (WRKF-FM, Baton Rouge, La.), Matthew Finch (posthumous, KUNM-FM, Albuquerque, N.M.), Chuck Wentworth (posthumous, WRIU-FM, Rhode Island)