Americana is a loose subset of American roots music, that is perhaps best defined as "classic American music" - ranging in style from folk, country blues, bluegrass, alternative country, rockabilly, neotraditional and roots rock. Americana music is one of the focuses of the bi-monthly U.S. magazine No Depression.
In recent years, the genre can be seen as being typified by artists such as Dave Alvin, The Band, Susan Cowsill, The Creekdippers, the Derailers, Bob Dylan, Steve Earle, Emmylou Harris, The Jayhawks, Jim Lauderdale, Will Oldham (a.k.a. Bonnie 'Prince' Billy), Otis Johnson Band, Tom Russell, Michelle Shocked, Son Volt, Uncle Tupelo, Lucinda Williams, Victoria Williams, Neil Young, and Martin Zellar, each of whom incorporate themes of cultural Americana in their songwriting.
Americana music is more likely to be played on Triple-A, Internet radio or noncommercial college radio stations than on commercial country radio.
More and more people are tuning into alternative country, roots and folk, which all fit into Americana. In addition to the the above mentioned artists there are many more newer and older artists who can be classified as Americana John Prine, Todd Snider, Jeff Finlin, Telegraph Canyon, Shelby Lynne, Johnny Cash, Rodney Crowell, Hayes Carll, Adam Caroll, Sara Petite, Graham Weber, Wrinkle Neck Mules, Marty Stuart, Kris Kristofferson, Jim Lauderdale, Sunny Sweeney, Carrie Rodriguez, Eve Selis, Loretta Lynn, Iris Dement, Gillian Welch, Mary Gauthier, Darrell Scott and more....artists do not have to be American.
Typically Americana Music contains in its structure, references to styles of music that originated in America.......country, gospel, blues, soul, folk, bluegrass, jazz, cajun, zydeco etc.......the lyrics also represent association with American culture.
Many artists who have been mainly associated with one particular style of music for most of their career, often cross into Americana at a later stage. The Holmes Brothers would be an example.
www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Americana_music