Bonnie Raitt

The award for lifetime artistic achievements will also recognize jazz trumpeter, pianist and composer Arturo Sandoval. The Apollo Theater will receive a special Honors as "an iconic American institution."

This year artists working within the orbit of the unstable category "roots music" got personal even as they explored complex cultural lineages and challenged the rules of established scenes and forms.

Raitt says she has long admired artists who continued to stretch well into their careers. On her latest album, she does the same, acknowledging the passage of time without surrendering to nostalgia.

NPR's Lulu Garcia Navarro speaks with musician Bonnie Raitt and Amy Allison about the new album, If You're Going to the City: A Tribute to Mose Allison.