After AMERICANAFEST 2026: 3 Emerging Artists to Hear Next

AMERICANAFEST’s September 15–19, 2026 dates are behind us, but its lineup remains a useful place to find your next artist. Start with Ken Pomeroy, Boy Golden and Crowe Boys: three names on both the festival’s official showcase list and the Americana Honors & Awards Emerging Act nominee list, with recordings you can explore right now.

This Next Up dispatch turns those discovery signals into a listening route. It draws on the official festival program, award nominations and artist and label releases. The selections are editorial picks; the order does not represent sales, streams or an awards result.

Ken Pomeroy: an original song, then the songs behind it

Ken Pomeroy gives you two distinct starting points. Cruel Joke, released May 16, 2025, is also a 2026 Album of the Year nominee. Coyote, her collaboration with John Moreland, introduces the Oklahoma songwriter through a song her official biography connects with Native storytelling and self-reflection.

Her newer release, Tonight’s News, arrived on August 21, 2026. Rounder’s recording notes describe six songs recorded in one day at Chicago’s Wilco Loft with producer Tom Schick, with the musicians playing live and no overdubs. The selections include Look at Miss Ohio, This Old Guitar and Late for the Sky.

Start here: follow Coyote with a track from Tonight’s News, using Pomeroy’s official music page. Moving between her writing and the songs she chose to reinterpret gives the new EP a context beyond its release date.

Boy Golden: follow Pity into an October release

Boy Golden has a clear next chapter to follow. Six Shooter Records announced Pity on September 10, alongside an October 16, 2026 release date for Best of Our Possible Lives (Deluxe). The announcement describes 12-string guitars, fretless bass and FONTINE’s backing vocals, and includes a Canadian headline tour in November.

The Winnipeg artist’s original Best of Our Possible Lives arrived on February 13, 2026. His earlier albums include Church of Better Daze, For Jimmy and For Eden, so the emerging-act nomination is a discovery opportunity within an existing catalog. There is already more to explore if the current single catches your attention.

Start here: listen to Pity through the artist’s official link, then open the album on his Bandcamp. Come back to the deluxe edition when it is released to see how the added material changes the route through the record.

Crowe Boys: start at the beginning of Made to Wander

Crowe Boys offer a different entrance: a debut album built from the lives of Louisiana brothers Ocie and Wes Crowe. Their official biography identifies Ocie on acoustic guitar and Wes on mandolin, and connects the ten originals on Made to Wander with the family’s experiences.

Bootstraps opens that record. In the duo’s account, the song grew from a period of financial uncertainty as Ocie’s family expected another child. Their biography also traces Where Did I Go Wrong to a turning point toward writing more directly about their own lives.

Start here: use the official Crowe Boys music links to play Bootstraps, then continue through Made to Wander. Following an opener into the full album is a simple way to give a new act more room than a single playlist slot.

Keep the discovery going

• For a recent EP: Ken Pomeroy’s Tonight’s News offers six songs and a documented recording story.
• For the next release date: Boy Golden’s deluxe album is announced for October 16, 2026.
• For a first-album introduction: Crowe Boys’ Made to Wander gives you ten original songs to explore.

Save whichever recording makes you curious, then follow the artist’s own release and tour pages. Our Next Up desk connects these first listens with future dispatches and artist profiles, so a festival name can become the beginning of a longer listening habit.