`:While I was considering the next comment, I noticed yours and would like to add this. Americana is a concoction, like Triple-A, that was cooked up by radio programmers in an attempt to package and sell a format of somewhat related artists and styles. Its origins, circa the late 1980s, were in the South, where Triple-A was considered too Eastern-urban-liberal and where Memphis and Austin were more relevant than Boston, Seattle and New York. But ultimately, it's an artificial label that means little to most readers. More meaningful, then, were the existing, widely understood terms (though roots could go), because they represent the genius of what The Band did: demonstrate the connections between blues, R&B;, folk, and country. The term is also an anachronism, unless we want to mention that The Band invented Americana, which essentially they did, but I'm certain they weren't aiming to create an ``amalgam.`` BTW, it's an interesting subject, and yes, it should be addressed.     `