Ava Rose Johnson, an 18-year-old Osage and Cherokee native from Oklahoma, has been nominated for Best Country Recording and Best Music Video for her song, “Sweet Home Oklahoma” and she couldn’t be more grateful. Previously she won the coveted Native American Music Awards (NAMA) Best Female Artist of the Year, which she still says has been one of the biggest highlights of her career thus far.
Of course Ava is no stranger to the music awards since she made history in 2019 as the youngest person ever to win a Native American Music Award for her song, “Heaven’s Window” that she co-wrote with Billy Dawson, Lainey Edwards and Sean Fuller. At age 12, winning the Best Independent Recording by a New Artist was just the beginning of her musical journey.
Besides being the youngest ever nominated and winning a Native American Music Award, Johnson was also the youngest to win in The Performing Arts category of the NextGen Under 30 in Oklahoma. Ava’s talents seem to just keep getting better with age and she gives all the glory back to God.
Her debut single, “There’s A Boy” charted at #2 on the SiriusXM Indigenous Music Countdown (IMC) and her next single, ”You Were Just A Dream” hit #5 on the IMC Countdown. So it is no surprise that her latest release “Sweet Home Oklahoma” is receiving rave reviews and is up for Best Music Video. Currently Ava’s music is being played in 68 countries and she has performed all over the state and abroad. Some of the most amazing venues she has had the opportunity to sing at range from the Oklahoma City Thunder game to Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Good Morning America and the Good Morning America Summer Concert Series Stage in Central Park.
The Native American Music Awards was originally formed in 1998, first as a grassroots organization which quickly grew into a national organization committed to traditional and contemporary Native American music. Nominations for the Annual Native American Music Awards (NAMA) reflect the highest quality of recordings by music makers throughout North America and were selected by the combined votes of a national Advisory Board Membership Committee General Public Voting is now open at: www.NAMALIVE. com.
