On Thursday 9/18, we attended the IBMA Bluegrass Music Awards Show tonight, a once in a lifetime event! It was co-hosted by Steve Martin and Alison Brown, in the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Auditorium in Chattanooga.Who knew Steve Martin was a Bango player?! Not me! He not only plays the banjo, he has released a Grammy-winning, all-banjo album called "The Crow". He is known for both his 3-finger (bluegrass) and clawhammer styles of playing and has composed original banjo music. Martin also performs banjo with his band, the Steep Canyon Rangers, and co-wrote songs with Edie Brickell for their musical "Bright Star" that prominently feature the banjo.
A little bit about the historic Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Auditorium was dedicated on November 11, 1922, Veterans Day, as Chattanooga and Hamilton County’s living memorial to those who have served in the armed forces. With seating for 3,866, Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Auditorium is a great place for full-scale theatrical productions, music concerts, comedy shows, and community events. Built between 1922 and 1924 by John Parks Company, General Contractors at a cost of $700,000 and designed by noted architect R. H. Hunt, who also designed Chattanooga's lavish Tivoli Theatre, the auditorium honors area veterans of World War I. By the early 1960s, Memorial Auditorium had fallen into disrepair. The building was closed in 1965, and reopened after renovations the following year. It closed again in 1988 for further restoration and modernization. The repairs cost over $7 million, and Memorial Auditorium reopened in 1991.
Two of our favorites played in the beginning of the show. East Nash Grass played the opening performance. A year ago, East Nash Grass was named the 2024 International Bluegrass Music Association New Artist of the Year. This year they are the opening act for the biggest event in bluegrass!
The first award announced was Gospel Recording of the Year. The winner was "He's Gone" by Jaelee Roberts; Songwriter: Kelsi Harrigill; Producer: Byron House; Label: Mountain Home Music Company. Both Jaelee and Kelsi were overjoyed and amazed to be awarded this prestigious award.
Fiddle Player of the Year was the next award up. The winner was Maddie Denton. Maddie Denton is a third-generation fiddle player from Murfreesboro, Tennessee who began playing at the age of five. After a successful tenure as a contest fiddler, winning nationally recognized titles such as the 2016 Grand Master Fiddle Championship, the National Old-time Junior Fiddle Championship, and 14 state championship titles, Maddie now spends her time playing fiddle for East Nash Grass, and formerly The Dan Tyminski Band.
Appalachian Road Show was the next performance. They are a visionary acoustic ensemble, bringing new-generation interpretations of traditional Americana, bluegrass and folk songs, as well as offering innovative original music, all presented with a common thread tied directly to the heart of the Appalachian regions of the United States. GRAMMY-nominated banjoist Barry Abernathy, joins forces with GRAMMY-winning fiddler Jim VanCleve, fresh off of his recent stint touring with multi-platinum country artist Josh Turner, as well as esteemed vocalist and mandolinist Darrell Webb, who has recorded and toured with Dolly Parton and Rhonda Vincent, among many others. The group also includes 26-year-old “old soul” guitarist Zeb Snyder, whose fierce and versatile playing recalls Doc Watson and Norman Blake as readily as it does Duane Allman and Stevie Ray Vaughn.
Next award was for Instrumental Recording of the Year. The winner was "Ralph's Banjo Special" by Kristin Scott Benson, Gena Britt, and Alison Brown; Songwriter: Ralph Stanley; Producer: Alison Brown; Label: Compass Records. Alison alongside Kristin, and Gena on a female-fronted version of this number, a version of the old standby, Daybreak in Dixie, which the Stanleys redubbed for their use in the late 1950s. Using the “more is more” credo, Alison not only uses three banjos, but two fiddles as well, and even includes Dr. Ralph’s vintage Mastertone archtop on the track, which each picker plays for their solo.
Mandolin Player of the Year was the next award. The winner was Sierra Hull. She is widely regarded to be a as a master of her instrument; A two-time Grammy Nominated artist and songwriter. This is her seventh times as the recipient of IBMA’s Mandolin Player of the Year. She was the first woman to ever receive this distinction. A pioneer for acoustic music throughout her already impressive multi-decade career, she has graced the country's most iconic stages, including Carnegie Hall, the Grand Ole Opry, and the White House. Her unique sound is rooted in bluegrass, and she is widely considered one of acoustic music’s most inventive artists.
The Guitar Player of the Year was awarded to Trey Hensley. Trey Hensley is a GRAMMY-nominated musician and singer/songwriter who was also the 2023 Guitar Player of the Year by the IBMA. He has been referred to as “Nashville’s hottest young player.” In addition to a storied solo career and a duo career with award-winning resophonic guitarist Rob Ickes, Trey has worked with a diverse list of artists including Johnny Cash, June Carter Cash, Marty Stuart, Earl Scruggs, Dolly Parton, Taj Mahal, Tommy Emmanuel, Rodney Crowell, Old Crow Medicine Show, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Little Feat, Leftover Salmon and REO Speedwagon.
Steve Martin and Alison Brown brought us the next live performance.
Everyone was a winner tonight, but the BIG winners were bluegrass virtuosos Jason Carter and Michael Cleveland’s “Outrun the Rain.” It picked up two awards, Song of the Year and Collaborative Recording of the Year. The song is from their 2025 "Carter & Cleveland" album, which won Album of the Year. Jason Carter is best known for his work with the Del McCoury Band and the Travelin' McCourys.
Michael Cleveland is a Grammy-winning bluegrass fiddler and the youngest person to be inducted into the National Fiddler Hall of Fame. Born blind in Henryville, Indiana, Cleveland began playing the fiddle at age four and quickly gained recognition for his talent. He has won the International Bluegrass Music Association's Fiddler of the Year award 12 times, the most of any recipient.
Make Vocalist of the Year award went to Greg Blake, a member of Special Consensus. When he sings, you can hear a voice that connects to the grand old generations of mountain singers, invested with a rich twang and rumbling drawl and the kind of eerily powerful high tenor cry that first inspired the 'high, lonesome sound,' a distinctive vocal style in bluegrass music characterized by its haunting, emotional quality. Greg was also the winner of the 2023 IBMA Male Vocalist of the Year Award. In addition, he is a five-time winner of the Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music in America Guitarist of the Year Award and received a 2024 nomination. He is twice nominated for the SPBGMA Traditional Male Vocalist of the Year Award, and is the winner of the Kansas State Flatpicking championship.
The winner of the Resophonic Guitar (Dobro) Player of the Year was Justin Moses. A prominent Nashville session musician, he has appeared on stage or in the studio with an endless diverse list of artists such as Alison Krauss, Del McCoury, Garth Brooks, Emmylou Harris, Brad Paisley, Vince Gill, Bruce Hornsby, Béla Fleck, Peter Frampton, Rosanne Cash, Marty Stuart and Barry Gibb among many others. Persistence pays off, he has been named Dobro Player of the Year by the International Bluegrass Music Association five times and once by the SBGMA, and was nominated for Musician of the Year by the Americana Music Association in 2022.
The nominees for Banjo Player of the Year, was a who's who of pickers. The winner was Kristin Scott Benson. She was a Six-time International Bluegrass Music Association's Banjo Player of the Year, now she is a Seven-time! 2018 Steve Martin Prize for Excellence in Banjo and Bluegrass, and 2024 inductee into the American Banjo Hall of Fame. Since 2008, she has been a member of Grammy-nominated and two-time IBMA Entertainers of the Year, The Grascals. Kristin is one of the nation's top bluegrass banjo players, exhibiting impeccable taste, timing, and tone. With an attentive ear to back-up, she is known and respected as a true team player among her peers.
The Instrumental Group of the Year winner was The Travelin' McCourys. The McCoury brothers, Ronnie and Rob, were born into the bluegrass tradition. Their father, Del, is among the most influential and successful musicians in the history of the genre. Years on the road with Dad in the Del McCoury Band honed their knife-edge chops, and encouraged the duo to imagine how traditional bluegrass could cut innovative pathways into 21st century music. With fiddler Jason Carter, bassist Alan Bartram, and latest recruit Cody Kilby on guitar, they assembled a group that could take what they had in their DNA, take what traditions they learned and heard, and push the music forward. In fact, the band became the only group to have each of its members recognized with an International Bluegrass Music Association Award for their instrument at least once.
The Female Vocalist of the Year was awarded to Alison Krauss. She is on tour with Union Station. We are seeing them in a week at the St Augustine Amphitheater with Sheryl and Gary!
During the Awards Show, the 2025 inductees into the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame were honored. The pioneering bluegrass band Hot Rize. Hot Rize got their name from Martha White flour! Three of its original members were there. Brian Sutton who replaced a founding member, Charles Sawtelle, who passed from Lukemia in 1999, was there too.
The Bluegrass Cardinals, celebrated for its flawless harmonies, virtuoso playing, and original material. The founding member, Don Parmley's son, David, was there and paid homage to his Dad's legacy.
The Bluegrass Cardinals were a Bluegrass band from Los Angeles, California. They were formed in 1974 and disbanded in 1997. The group is credited with being the first bluegrass band to record bluegrass gospel in a cappella. The was a performance that paid tribute to them.
Influential African American musician Arnold Shultz, whose influence shaped the development of bluegrass music was honored too. His great-nephew accepted the award for him.
There was an interpretive performance of what the picking style of Arnold Shultz would have sounded like. Though Shultz was never recorded, his blues playing made a powerful influence. Bill Monroe, who was formative in the development of bluegrass music, has openly cited Shultz as an influence on his playing.
There was a performance by Della Mae, it was a tribute to Hazel Dickens. Della Mae is a GRAMMY-nominated, all-women string band made up of founder and fiddle player Kimber Ludiker, lead vocalist/guitarist Celia Woodsmith, guitarist Avril Smith, and bassist Vickie Vaughn. Though Hazel Dickens is best known as a pioneering woman of bluegrass and for her powerful labor songs advocating for working people, she was one of those working people she sang about, juggling her music with full-time jobs until late in her career. The tribute was extra special, because it included Hazel's duo partner, 91-year old, Alice Gerrard.
Bass Player of the Year was the next award. The winner was Vickie Vaughn, the bassist for Della Mae. When they announced her name, she had just come off the stage from playing in the Hazel Dickens tribute. She did not even have time to set the bass down! In 2023 and 2024, she was named the International Bluegrass Music Association’s Bass Player of the Year, that makes this her third year in a row for this honor. Vaughn will be releasing her debut solo record, produced by Sister Sadie’s Deanie Richardson, in 2025.
The New Artist of the Year award went to Red Camel Collective. They are one of my favorites! Their sound and their story! Red Camel Collective is also Junior Sisk’s band. Wait, Junior Sisk is not a new artist, how can his band be a new artist? Easy, when thye are not playing with Junior, they are doing their own thing as Red Camel Collective. It is Heather Berry Mabe on guitar, Tony Mabe on banjo, Jonathan Dillon on mandolin, and Curt Love on bass. The band's name pays tribute to the man who brought them together and encourages them to branch out. Their name is taken from Junior’s song, The Man in Red Camels.
The Del McCoury Band gave us an awesome performance of a traditional Del McCoury sound! Almost unimaginable, McCoury’s sixth decade in a half-century of bluegrass bliss brings new triumphs, new collaborations, and new music. With but a single change in membership in twenty seven years The Del McCoury Band shows unprecedented stability as well as garnering the respect and admiration of the industry for its unmistakable work: ten IBMA Entertainer of the Year trophies (most recently in 2024); in 2003, Del’s awarded membership in the cast of the legendary Grand Ole Opry; the band’s first Best Bluegrass Album Grammy award, in ’05, followed by a second Grammy win in 2014, (not to mention double-digit nominations).
The Music Video of the Year was awarded to The Auctioneer by The Kody Norris Show. Songwriters: Leroy Van Dyke & Buddy Black; Producer: James Gilley; Videographer: Nate Wiles; Label: Rebel Records. The Kody Norris Show is on tour, but the Producer accepted the award and called Kody. His response was "Awesome! But, I am trying to drive the bus in traffic!"
Vocal Group of the Year went to Authentic Unlimited. They are a dynamic bluegrass band that blends rich harmonies with skillful instrumentation to create a sound that is both timeless and innovative. Comprised of seasoned musicians, including former members of the legendary Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver, the band brings a deep-rooted passion for traditional bluegrass, infused with fresh energy. The band’s talent and dedication to their craft is widely celebrated in the bluegrass community. Their heartfelt lyrics and soulful melodies resonate with audiences, offering an authentic musical experience that speaks to both old and new generations of bluegrass fans.
We enjoyed another performance by Steve Martin and Alison Brown.
Bluegrass innovator and superstar Billy Strings was named Entertainer of the Year. This is his fourth Entertainer of the Year award; his past wins came in 2021, 2022 and 2023. Billy Strings gained fame through a combination of viral social media content, a unique blend of traditional bluegrass with rock and jam influences, and captivating live performances that resonated with a growing fanbase. His career took off after a 2019 viral video of him performing "Dust in a Baggie" garnered millions of views, propelling him to headline festivals. His 2021 Grammy-winning album, Home, solidified his status as a major figure, and his ability to draw diverse fans to large venues.
What a spectacular night! WOW! Stay tuned for more #TwoLaneAdventures
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