The International Bluegrass Music Association announced its award nominations today in Nashville, and it’s a pretty awesome mix of old-skool and new-fangled acts. If you don’t like something in this list, well, I’m afraid you just don’t like bluegrass. Bless your heart.
(Photo: The Boxcars lead the nominations with 10, both for the band and individual members.)
The winners will be announced at an awards show in Raleigh Oct. 2, part of IBMA’s annual World of Bluegrass event.
Without further ado, the envelope, please …
ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR
Balsam Range
Blue Highway
Dailey & Vincent
The Gibson Brothers
The Del McCoury Band
VOCAL GROUP OF THE YEAR
Balsam Range
Blue Highway
Dailey & Vincent
The Gibson Brothers
Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver
INSTRUMENTAL GROUP OF THE YEAR
Balsam Range
Blue Highway
The Boxcars
The Del McCoury Band
Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen
SONG OF THE YEAR
“Dear Sister” – Claire Lynch (artist), Claire Lynch and Louisa Branscomb (writers)
“Grandpa’s Way of Life” – The Spinney Brothers (artist), Mark ‘Brink’ Brinkman (writer)
“It’s Just a Road” – The Boxcars (artist), William Keith Garrett (writer)
“The Game” – Blue Highway (artist), Shawn Lane and Barry Bales (writers)
“You Took All The Ramblin’ Out of Me” – The Boxcars (artist), Jerry Hubbard (writer)
ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Hall of Fame Bluegrass – Junior Sisk and Joe Mullins (artist), Junior Sisk and Joe Mullins (producers), Rebel Records
It’s Just A Road – The Boxcars (artist), The Boxcars (producer), Mountain Home
Noam Pikelny Plays Kenny Baker Plays Bill Monroe – Noam Pikelny (artist), Gabe Witcher (producer), Compass Records
Streets of Baltimore – The Del McCoury Band (artist), Del McCoury (producer), McCoury Music
The Game – Blue Highway (artist), Blue Highway (producer), Rounder Records
GOSPEL RECORDED PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR
“Love Does” – Darin and Brooke Aldridge (artist), Flying (album), Jamie Johnson, Suzanne M. Johnson and Jenee Fleenor (writers), Darin and Brooke Aldridge (producers), Organic Records
“The Day We Learn to Fly” – Volume Five (artist), The Day We Learn To Fly (album), Stacy Richardson and Leroy Drumm (writers), Volume Five (producers), Mountain Fever
“Wait A Little Longer Please Jesus” – Donna Ulisse (artist), I Am a Child of God (album), Hazel Marie Houser (writer), Bryan Sutton and Donna Ulisse (producers), Hadley Music Group
“When Sorrows Encompass Me Around” – The Boxcars (artist), It’s Just A Road (album), Paul Edgar Johnson (writer), The Boxcars (producer), Mountain Home
“Won’t It Be Wonderful There” – Dailey & Vincent (artist), Brothers of the Highway (album), Mildred Styles Johnson (writer), Jamie Dailey and Darrin Vincent (producers), Rounder Records
INSTRUMENTAL RECORDED PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR
“Five Miles to Milan” – The Grascals (artist), When I Get My Pay (album), Danny Roberts (writer), The Grascals (producer), Mountain Home
“Graveyard Fields” – Steep Canyon Rangers (artist), Tell The Ones I Love (album), Mike Guggino (writer), Larry Campbell (producer), Rounder Records
“Johnny Don’t Get Drunk” – Adam Steffey (artist), New Primitive (album), Public Domain, Adam Steffey (producer), Organic
“Skillet Head Derailed” – The Boxcars (artist), It’s Just a Road (album), Ron Stewart (writer), The Boxcars (producer), Mountain Home
“Thank God I’m A Country Boy”- Special Consensus with Buddy Spicher, Michael Cleveland and Alison Brown (artists), Country Boy: A Bluegrass Tribute to John Denver (album), John Martin Sommers (wrtier), Alison Brown (producer), Compass Records
RECORDED EVENT OF THE YEAR
“American Pickers”- The Grascals with Dierks Bentley (artists), The Grascals (producer), Mountain Home
“Keepin’ It Between the Lines (Old School)” – Peter Rowan with Bobby Osborne, Jesse McReynolds, Ronnie McCoury and Del McCoury (artists), Alison Brown (producer), Compass Records
“Martha White, Lester & Earl” – Terry Baucom with Marty Raybon & Buddy Melton (artists), Terry and Cindy Baucom (producers), John Boy and Billy Records
“Wild Montana Skies” – Special Consensus with Claire Lynch & Rob Ickes (artists), Alison Brown (producer), Compass Records
“Wild Mountain Honey” – Junior Sisk and Joe Mullins (artists), Junior Sisk and Joe Mullins (producers) Rebel Records
EMERGING ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Detour
Flatt Lonesome
The Spinney Brothers
Town Mountain
Volume Five
MALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR
Del McCoury
Buddy Melton
Tim O’Brien
Frank Solivan
Dan Tyminski
FEMALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR
Dale Ann Bradley
Alison Krauss
Claire Lynch
Amanda Smith
Rhonda Vincent
INSTRUMENTAL PERFORMERS OF THE YEAR
BANJO
Jens Kruger
Mike Munford
Noam Pikelny
Sammy Shelor
Ron Stewart
BASS
Barry Bales
Mike Bub
Missy Raines
Mark Schatz
Darrin Vincent
FIDDLE
Jason Carter
Michael Cleveland
Stuart Duncan
Bobby Hicks
Ron Stewart
DOBRO
Jerry Douglas
Andy Hall
Rob Ickes
Randy Kohrs
Phil Leadbetter
GUITAR
Tony Rice
James Alan Shelton
Kenny Smith
Tim Stafford
Bryan Sutton
MANDOLIN
Sam Bush
Sierra Hull
Frank Solivan
Adam Steffey
Chris Thile
2014 INTERNATIONAL BLUEGRASS MUSIC SPECIAL AWARD NOMINATIONS
BLUEGRASS BROADCASTER OF THE YEAR
Kyle Cantrell, Bluegrass Junction, Sirius XM
Steve Fisher, Bluegrass Sessions at Ironwood Stage & Grill (Calgary, AB, Canada)
Chris Jones, Bluegrass Junction, Sirius XM
Al Weekly, KRVN; musicchartsmagazine.com
Tim White, Song of the Mountains, PBS
BLUEGRASS EVENT OF THE YEAR
Bloomin’ Bluegrass Festival, Farmers Branch, Texas
Bluegrass Underground, McMinnville, Tennessee
FreshGrass 2013, North Adams, Massachusetts
Jenny Brook Bluegrass Festival 2013, Tunbridge, Vermont
Minnesota Bluegrass & Old-Time Music Festival 2013, Richmond, Minnesota
BEST GRAPHIC DESIGN FOR A RECORDED PROJECT
Lou Everhart (designer), Lonely Comes Easy, Chris Jones & The Night Drivers, Rebel Records
Josh Gibson, Keesha Dickel (designers), No More Rain, The Steel Wheels Josh Gibson, Dough Seymour (designers), Echo Sessions, The Stray Birds
Josh Gibson, Scott Simontacchi (designers), Carnival, Nora Jane Struthers, Blue Pig Music
Lynn Weathers (designer), Flying, Darin & Brooke Aldridge, Organic Records
BEST LINER NOTES FOR A RECORDED PROJECT
David Freeman, Hall of Fame Bluegrass!, Junior Sisk and Joe Mullins, Rebel Records
Fred Jasper and Derek Halsey, The Definitive Doc Watson, Doc Watson, Sugar Hill Records and Vanguard Records
Randy Pitts, Three Chords and the Truth, James King, Rounder Records
Neil V Rosenberg, Noam Pikelny Plays Kenny Baker Plays Bill Monroe, Noam Pikelny, Compass Records
Dave Royko, Country Boy: A Bluegrass Tribute to John Denver, Special Consensus & Friends, Compass Records
BLUEGRASS PRINT/MEDIA PERSON OF THE YEAR
Derek Halsey, writer for the Herald Dispatch in Huntington, West Virginia, Bluegrass Unlimited magazine, and The Bluegrass Situation
Chris Jones, writer for Bluegrass Today John Curtis Goad, writer for Bluegrass Today
Daniel Mullins, writer for Bluegrass Today
Ted Lehmann, blogger for Ted Lehmann’s Bluegrass, Books & Brainstorms
BLUEGRASS SONGWRITER OF THE YEAR
Becky Buller
Mark ‘Brink’ Brinkman
Jerry Salley
Tim Stafford
Donna Ulisse
2014 HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES
The Original Seldom Scene
Neil Rosenberg
2014 DISTINGUISHED ACHIEVEMENT AWARD RECIPIENTS
Deering Banjo Company
The Delmore Brothers
European Bluegrass Music Association
Hillbilly at Harvard
Bill Keith
