Movies have the Oscars, and popular music has the Grammys.
Bluegrass music has its top awards too, which are awarded every October at the
annual Bluegrass Music Awards Show and held during the International Bluegrass
Music Association's annual conference in Nashville. The awards show is held at
the historic home of the Grand Ole Opry, the Ryman Auditorium, and is quite the
show. As a new board member of IBMA, I had the privilege of attending the
pre-awards banquet and meeting some of the stars of the show, which, of course,
I attended. If you missed it, you can hear a re-broadcast of the show on Wayne
Rice's "Bluegrass Special" on KSON radio, 97.3, and in North County on 92.1FM
on Sunday, November 9, 10pm-midnight.. Check his website for specifics at
http://kson.com/bluegrass.
This year's
show was hosted by the great Del McCoury, who looked resplendent in his tux,
flashing his patented smile. The evening's highest award, Entertainer of the
Year, was presented by Vince Gill. Along with the awards presentations, the
show presented live top bluegrass music by Blue Highway, Daley and Vincent,
Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder, the Infamous Stringdusters, the Del McCoury
Band, and more. It was a great show! But, before I tell you who won, you may
have noticed that bluegrass does not have a nickname for its award, so some
discussion has been going on about that. Some suggest that we call the award
the "grassies" or maybe the "monroes" or the "billies." If you have thoughts
about what to name it, let me know at sdbsinfo@socalbluegrass.org. If I get
some good suggestions, I'll run them in a future column.
The
Winners: Daley and Vincent, comprised of Jamie Daley, who played with Doyle
Lawson and Quicksilver for years as his high tenor, and Darrin Vincent, brother
of Rhonda Vincent and long-time member of Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder
were the hot item for the night. Not only did Daley and Vincent win Entertainer
of the Year - an unusual feat for a band out in only its first year - but they
also won Vocal Group of the Year, Emerging Artist of the Year, Album of the
Year for their first album, Daley and Vincent, on Rounder Records, won Gospel
Song of the Year for "By the Mark" from their album, and Jamie Daley took honors
for Best Male Vocalist of the Year. Quite a haul for this first-year band, but
they deserve it! If you haven't heard them, go get their album; or better yet,
attend the Blyth Festival in January and see them in person.
Other
Winners: Instrumental Group of the Year - Michael Cleveland and Flamekeeper;
Female Vocalist of the Year saw a repeat win for Dale Ann Bradley; Blue Highway
took the honors for Song of the Year with their "Through the Window of a Train"
from their latest album of the same name on Rounder Records. Recorded Event of
the Year went to Everett Lilly and Everybody and their Brother, featuring a
cast of stars too long to list; and Andy Hall of the Infamous Stringdusters
took the award for Instrumental Album of the Year for his solo release entitled
Sound of the Slide Guitar on Sugar hill records,
Individual
instrument awards went to Kristen Scott Benson (banjo - only the third woman to
win an instrument award, following multi-year winner Missy Raines on bass and
Alison Brown on banjo); Barry Bales finally won Bass Player of the Year after
playing for many years with Alison Krauss and Union Station and playing this
last year during the one year hiatus for AKUS with the Dan Tyminski Band.
Michael
Cleveland again took the award for Best Fiddle Player, and the amazing Rob
Ickes of Blue Highway took Dobro Player of the Year honors. This marks the
tenth -count 'em ten - times Rob has won the award for Dobro Player of the Year
and this win gives him more wins in a single category than anyone in the
history of the IBMA Awards. Quite a feat. Josh Williams took the prize for
Guitar Player of the Year, and Adam Steffey again took the honors for Mandolin
Player of the Year.
Along with
these awards to active musicians, the IBMA inducted Bill Clifton and Charles K.
Wolfe into the IBMA Hall of Fame for their lifetime of achievements. On a local
note, San Diego's Chris Stuart of Chris Stuart and BackCountry took the award
for Best Print Media Person of the Year. Chris also served as scriptwriter for
the show. You can visit the IBMA web site at www.ibma.org to read more about
these and the other awards and about the winners.