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The nominees for the 2024 International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) Awards were revealed on Wednesday (July 17) from the SiriusXM Studios in Nashville.
Hosted by IBMA Executive director Ken White and Bluegrass Junction’s Joey Black, the final nominees unveiling ceremony also featured performances from Missy Raines and Allegheny, as well as Authentic Unlimited, who proved to be one of this year’s frontrunners, earning nominations spanning several categories.
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Additionally, White revealed three inductees into the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame: Alan Munde, Jerry Douglas and Katy Daley. Munde has been a leader in bluegrass music for more than five decades, through work as a banjo player, bandleader and educator. Munde has been part of projects including Poor Richard’s Almanac with Byron Berline, Sam Bush and Wayne Stewart, and has played with Jimmy Martin, the Flying Burrito Brothers and Country Gazette. He was a 2008 recipient of an IBMA distinguished achievement award.
Dobro player Douglas started with the Country Gentlemen in the 1970s and has played as part of J.D. Crowe’s New South and The Whites, before joining Alison Krauss’s Union Station in 1998. In 2014, he launched the Flatt & Scruggs tribute band the Earls of Leister. He’s earned 10 IBMA Awards for dobro player of the year and is a former vice president of the IBMA’s board of directors.
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Daley, a bluegrass music broadcaster, has worked at WAMU and in 1978, collaborated in the 13-part series Bluegrass Anthology. She’s also worked at WMZQ, before joining bluegrasscountry.org, serving as a morning personality. Daley has received two IBMA Awards for bluegrass broadcaster of the year and one for distinguished achievement.
The IBMA distinguished achievement award was given to bluegrass radio presenter Cindy Baucom, fiddler/vocalist/songwriter Laurie Lewis, Bluegrass Omagh music festival leader Richard Hurst, bluegrass music instructional video hub ArtistWorks, and the Dallas/Forth Worth-based Bloomin’ Bluegrass Festival.
The 35th annual IBMA Music Awards will be held Sept. 26 during the 2024 IBMA World of Bluegrass in Raleigh, North Carolina. World of Bluegrass runs from Sept. 24-28 at the Martin Marietta Center for the Performing Arts.
See the full list of nominees below:
Entertainer of the year
Billy Strings
Molly Tuttle and Golden Highway
Del McCoury Band
Sister Sadie
The Po Ramblin’ Boys
Male vocalist of the year
Dan Tyminski
Greg Blake
Del McCoury
Danny Paisley
Russell Moore
Female vocalist of the year
Molly Tuttle
Jaelee Roberts
Dale Ann Bradley
AJ Lee
Rhonda Vincent
New artist of the year
East Nash Newgrass
Brownwyn Keith-Hynes
AJ Lee and Blue Summit
Wyatt Ellis
The Kody Norris Show
Vocal group of the year
Authentic Unlimited
Sister Sadie
Blue Highway
Del McCoury Band
Molly Tuttle and Golden Highway
Instrumental group of the year
Billy Strings
Michael Cleveland and Flamekeeper
Travelin McCourys
East Nash Grass
Molly Tuttle and Golden Highway
Album of the year
City of Gold, Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway
Last Chance to Win, East Nash Grass
Jubilation, Appalachian Road Show
No Fear, Sister Sadie
So Much For Forever, Authentic Unlimited
Song of the year
“Fall in Tennessee,” Authentic Unlimited
“Willow,” Sister Sadie
“Too Lonely, Way Too Long,” Rick Faris with Del McCoury
“Forever Young,” Daniel Grindstaff with Paul Brewster and Dolly Parton
“Kentucky Gold,” Dale Ann Bradley with Sam Bush
Music video of the year
“Alberta Bound,” Special Consensus with Ray Legere, John Reischman, Patrick Sauber, Trisha Gagnon, Pharis & Jason Romero and Claire Lynch
“Willow,” Sister Sadie
“Fall in Tennessee,” Authentic Unlimited
“The City of New Orleans,” Rhonda Vincent and the Rage
“I Call Her Sunshine,” The Kody Norris Show
Guitar player of the year
Billy Strings
Molly Tuttle
Trey Hensley
Bryan Sutton
Cody Kilby
Mandolin player of the year
Sierra Hull
Sam Bush
Ronnie McCoury
Jesse Brock
Alan Bibey
Banjo player of the year
Kristin Scott Benson
Gena Britt
Alison Brown
Bela Fleck
Rob McCoury
Resophonic guitar player of the year
Justin Moses
Rob Ickes
Jerry Douglas
Andy Hall
Gaven Largent
Fiddle player of the year
Jason Carter
Bronwyn Keith-Hynes
Michael Cleveland
Stuart Duncan
Deanie Richardson
Bass player of the year
Missy Raines
Mike Bub
Vickie Vaughn
Todd Phillips
Mark Schatz
Gospel recording of the year
“When I Get There,” Russell Moore and IIIrd Tyme Out
“Thank You Lord For Grace,” Authentic Unlimited
“Just Beyond,” Barry Abernathy with John Meador, Tim Raybon, and Bradley Walker
“God Already Has,” Dale Ann Bradley
“Memories of Home,” Authentic Unlimited
Instrumental recording of the year
“Rhapsody in Blue(grass),” Bela Fleck
“Knee Deep in Bluegrass,” Ashby Frank
“Panhandle Country,” Missy Raines and Allegheny
“Lloyd’s of Lubbock,” Alan Munde
“Behind the 8 Ball,” Andy Leftwich
Collaborative recording of the year
“Brown’s Ferry Blues,” Tony Trischka feat. Billy Strings
“Fall in Tennessee,” Authentic Unlimited with Jerry Douglas
“Forever Young,” Daniel Grindstaff with Paul Brewster and Dolly Parton
“Bluegrass Radio,” Alison Brown with Steve Martin
“Too Old to Die Young,” Bobby Osborne with CJ Lewandowski
The lyrics to hip-hop artist Kid Cudi’s 2009 song “Pursuit of Happiness” include the lines “I’ma do just what I want/ Looking ahead, no turning back.”
Those lyrics also serve as a musically freeing anthem for bluegrass artist and banjo virtuoso Trajan “Tray” Wellington, who includes a fleet-fingered, hip-hop-tinted bluegrass version of the tune on his seven-song project, Detour to the Moon, out July 12 via Mountain Home Music Company.
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“I’ve always considered myself an explorer of the banjo. I always try to look at it as exploration within music and always pushing boundaries,” the 25-year-old Wellington tells Billboard. “I think within roots music, a lot of the time it can get stagnant and people feel like they have to do a certain avenue and appeal to this or appeal to that.”
Wellington grew up in Asheville, North Carolina, and counts his grandfather’s CD collection as his first brush with musical infatuation. Initially, Wellington began playing electric guitar, until six months later he found a Doc Watson greatest hits CD in the collection, which inspired him to learn to flat pick guitar. Then Wellington’s middle school had a Mountain Music Club, where his teacher brought out a banjo and began playing the bluegrass standard “Salt Creek.”
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“I had never heard anything like it,” Wellington recalls of picking up the banjo at age 14. “I fell in love with it, and pretty much immediately put the guitar to the side and began learning banjo.”
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His proficiency on the instrument was apparent even before his graduation from East Tennessee State University’s prestigious Bluegrass, Old Time and Country program, as he had already won the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA)’s 2019 momentum award for instrumentalist of the year while performing as part of the group Cane Mill Road (which also earned the IBMA’s momentum band of the year award that same year).
He followed with the independent EP Uncaged Thoughts in 2020, before signing with Mountain Home Music Company later that year. He’s since performed on the IBMA’s World of Bluegrass main stage, hosted the Momentum Awards ceremony and led banjo workshops at Merlefest and Gray Fox music festivals.
Wellington’s music has always carried within it the indelible influence of jazz music, and that is apparent again on his latest outing, with his bluegrass-meets-new age take on Duke Ellington’s “Caravan,” while nodding to bluegrass artist Bill Keith’s 1970s banjo-spotlighting rendition.
“When I was trying to work it out on banjo, I figured out this cool chord voicing for it,” Wellington says. “I was like, ‘This makes it sound almost like a new-age sound,’ so I tried to take that and make it sound even more spacey in a way. My fiddle player at the time, Josiah Nelson, knew ‘Caravan,’ so I asked him to play the melody of ‘Caravan’ over it and it just gave a totally different vibe from any other version I’ve heard.”
Elsewhere, he offers a stunning rendering of John Hiatt’s “Lift Up Every Stone,” but also melds these re-imaginings with originals such as “Spiral Staircase.”
His sound fuses his musically progressive probing with traditional bluegrass elements. In addition to Nelson, joining him are bassist Katelynn Bohn, drummer Mike Ashworth (of Steep Canyon Rangers), singer/guitarist Nick Weitzenfeld, steel guitarist DaShawn Hickman, vocalist Wendy Hickman and Americana artist Kaia Kate. Detour to the Moon was recorded at Arden, North Carolina’s Crossroads Studios, a recording space often utilized by bluegrass luminaries including Bryan Sutton, Lonesome River Band, Doyle Lawson, and Alison Krauss & Union Station member Barry Bales.
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Wellington has also made considerable strides in dismantling musical boundary lines and stereotypes with his music. Most notably with his 2022 debut full-length album Black Banjo, Wellington has been a fierce advocate for increasing diversity and representation within the genre.
“With the Black Banjo project, No. 1 was the idea that Black people invented this music; they belong here,” he says. “No. 2, and one of the biggest things I would say I face sometimes — but not as much anymore — was people trying to tell me what I need to do with my music, like ‘You have to do this as a Black musician,’ or ‘You need to play some songs on the gourd banjo,’ or ‘You need to play these songs by these people from time to time. People feel the need to say that, but it’s a very one-dimensional way of looking at how to showcase Black art in this music. Really, the best way you can do it is letting these Black individuals have prime slots to showcase their talent. I just had to realize that I’m my own musician, with my own set of influences.”
He expanded on the mission of Black Banjo by teaming with three other Black roots musicians late last year — vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Kater, bassist Nelson Williams and fiddler/vocalist Jake Blount — to form the group New Dangerfield. They released their debut single, “Dangerfield Newby,” in April and Wellington says the group is prepping to release another song later this month and are set to head into the studio to record an album later this year.
“We’re four different artists that have different backgrounds, different sets of musical personalities and what we’re trying to do now is figure out how it all works together,” Wellington says.
He says he has seen representation grow in terms of artists of color within the genre, but there is still much work to be done in terms of representation within the bluegrass genre’s audience.
“When I very first started, I don’t remember seeing many people at all that were Black,” Wellington notes. “As I got older, I started realizing a lot more and was like, ‘It is weird how there are not many people that look like me in this music.’ But I think there has been more representation and I think a lot of organizations are doing work to make sure people feel welcomed. But there is still a lot of work that needs to be done, especially within the audience spectrum, especially. I’d love to see that aspect of it grow. Musicians [are] one thing, but still, most places I go, like 95%, it’s primarily a white audience. And I think it’s as much of a mix of the musicians as well as the actual venues themselves, because there are certain places [where] just a bunch of people of different backgrounds don’t feel comfortable going. If you’re walking into a room that’s primarily white, as a person of color, you do feel like an outlier. It’s about making people feel welcome when they come in.”
While he works to advocate for greater diversity within roots music, and expand the genre beyond traditional boundaries, he also has a bucket list of artists he hopes to one day work with — including bluegrasser Billy Strings, Snarky Puppy’s Cory Henry, and singer Bella White.
“While I’m still building and still growing as an artist, I do feel like I’m getting to do a lot of cool things I’ve always wanted to do,” Wellington says. “I just got back from a short tour in Europe, and I was at the airport last night and had the realization, like, ‘Man, I started playing banjo at 14. And 14-year-old me would’ve never thought I’d be doing what I’m doing now.’”
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Bluegrass duo Darin & Brooke Aldridge have earned their first Billboard chart No. 1 with their new album Talk of the Town (released via Billy Blue Records), which debuted at the pinnacle of Billboard’s Bluegrass Albums chart for the week dated May 4. The duo has previously notched five top 10 albums on Bluegrass Albums, […]
In this week’s batch of new country music fare, we have country/Americana maestro Charley Crockett’s sterling new album, as well as new songs from Darius Rucker with Jennifer Nettles, as well as Ole 60, Karley Scott Collins, MacKenzie Porter and Karli June. Additionally, bluegrassers The Del McCoury Band offer up new music as well as a collab from Tony Trischka and Vince Gill.
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Charley Crockett, $10 Cowboy
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Over the course of more than a dozen studio albums, Crockett has painstakingly built his reputation as an electrifying live performer, and a kingpin of crafting traditional country tunes, while adroitly enmeshing layers of various styles into his work, including soul, blues, funk, gospel and more. On his latest, there are moments of converging country and R&B, while his penchant for capturing a live performance feel is apparent on $10 Cowboy, which he recorded live to tape in Austin, Texas, with his steady collaborator Billy Horton. Songs such as the horn-driven “America,” the jangly acoustic country of “Hard Luck and Circumstances,” the blues-rock of “Solitary Road” as well as songs such as the title track and “Midnight Cowboy” all pay homage to his skill with keen observations and to his journey from street busker to his current status as acclaimed headliner.
Darius Rucker and Jennifer Nettles, “Never Been Over”
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Two of country music’s strongest, most identifiable voices collide here, as Rucker welcomes Nettles in a reimagined version of this song, which he first recorded for his Carolyn’s Boy album. Nettles joins on the song’s second verse, adding another rich layer of nuance to the tale of a couple unwinding the ties that have bonded them for years. As the song reaches its apex, Nettles sends up some soaring vocals as Rucker holds down the melody. Rucker has one of music’s most commanding voices, but Nettles matches his steady, slightly raspy vocal wondrously with her charismatic soprano. In recent years, Rucker has shifted a bit from some of the uptempo, radio-ready fare he’s become known for and issues some of his strongest performances of late, such as another stellar collaboration, with Dax on “To Be a Man.”
Karli June, “Still Make Cowgirls”
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She’s not afraid to be a fearless, independent-minded cowgirl in a world of followers and she’s fierce enough to dare a potential suitor to ride along. Canada native June is presently celebrated with four CMA Ontario Awards nominations, and follows them with this song she co-wrote with Deric Ruttan. Her twangy vocal also carries a slight edge as it floats over the Western-tinged yet modern sonics.
The Del McCoury Band, “Just Because”
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Since the 1960s, when Del McCoury performed as part of Bill Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys, he has been a torchbearer, both aiding in laying down the prototype for the genre–and pushing beyond its traditional boundaries. The two-time Grammy-winning The Del McCoury Band, led by the Bluegrass Music Hall of Famer, has blended its distinctive sound with a range of musical styles over the years, leading to collaborations and/or performances with artists including Dierks Bentley, Steve Earle and Phish. That genre-spanning intention continues on the band’s latest, as they cover the blues-driven “Just Because,” originally recorded by The California Honeydrops on their 2013 album Like You Mean It. Here, The Del McCoury Band transforms it into an expertly rendered, galloping bluegrass tune, with fleet-fingered picking, winding fiddle and McCoury’s commanding tenor.
Ole 60, “Next to You”
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This Kentucky quintet broke through earlier this year with viral hits “A Smoke & a Light” and the bluesy ballad “Brother Joe.” They follow with “Next to You,” a harmonica and banjo-inflected song starts out with an unhurried, moody ethos, before picking up the pace in the last half of the song, ascending into a plucky, bluegrass-tinged jamband vibe. This indie group, which recently signed with The Neal Agency for booking, keeps its engaging music rolling with this one, which embeds stark details revolving around an on-and-off again relationship. “Fools in love ain’t fools at all/ That’s why I pick up ever time that you call,” frontman Jacob Young sings, continuing, “Pack of Marlboro Lights and some Adderall/ I’ll be on my way.”
Tony Trischka and Vince Gill, “Bury Me Beneath the Willow”
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From Trischka’s upcoming project Earl Jam: A Tribute to Earl Scruggs (out June 7), this track features a top-shelf assortment of premier bluegrassers, including Trischka, Vince Gill, Michael Cleveland, Brittany Haas, Dominick Leslie and Mike Bub. Together, they offer an exemplary latticework mandolin, guitar, banjo and fiddle on this classic from the country music canon, popularized by The Carter Family and recorded by the familial group during country music’s “Big Bang,” the Bristol Sessions, in 1927. The fiddle lines from Cleveland and Haas are superb, bolstered by Trischka’s banjo picking and topped off by Gill’s high-caliber vocal.
Karley Scott Collins (feat. Charles Kelley), “How Do You Do That”
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Collins teams with Lady A’s Charles Kelley on this pulsating collaboration, which puts their tight-knit harmonies in focus and delves into the moments of a fissured relationship that leave one questioning everything they knew about an ex-lover. Kelley’s soulful country voice is in top form, while Collins’ rangy, grit-meets-silk vocal offers a remarkable, dynamic foil. Collins wrote this track with Kelley, Jordan Reynolds and Tom Jordan.
MacKenzie Porter, “Foreclosure”
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MacKenzie Porter made her American country radio breakthrough with her Dustin Lynch collaboration, the multi-week No. 1 “Thinkin’ Bout You.” But she’s out to showcase her own singer-songwriter talents and perspective on her newly-issued debut Big Loud album Nobody’s Born With a Broken Heart. Porter’s warm, soft-focus voice is bolstered by a pop-aimed, sleek production on this standout track, which she wrote with Luke Niccoli, Lydia Vaughan, Parker Welling.
“I wasted all my good faith,” Porter sings, the slightly husky tremor in her voice acutely embodying both the hope and heartbreak on a song that chronicles a couple’s journey from buying a home together to later watching the relationship falter — so they put up the foreclosure sign, moving out and moving on.
Sierra Ferrell and Steep Canyon Rangers will spearhead the annual International Bluegrass Music Association’s IBMA Bluegrass Live! festiavl powered by PNC when it returns to downtown Raleigh, North Carolina, on Sept. 27-28.
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Also on the main stage are special guests Chatham County Line, Sierra Hull, Sam Bush, Rhonda Vincent & The Rage, Danny Paisley, Amythyst Kiah and Crying Uncle.
Ferrell just released her new album Trail of Flowers, while Steep Canyon Rangers’ 2023 album Morning Shift is at No. 9 on Billboard‘s Bluegrass Albums chart.
IBMA, teaming with local host PineCone (Piedmont Council of Traditional Music), will return to the Raleigh Convention Center, the Martin Marietta Center for the Performing Arts, the Red Hat Amphitheater and other venues. The festival will be held at Red Hat Amphitheater, as well as on six additional stages throughout downtown Raleigh.
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The performance lineup for the two-day festival also highlights the talents of Balsam Range; Barefoot Movement; Broken Compass; Compton & Newberry; Chris Jones & the Night Drivers; Country Current (US Navy Band); Dewey & Leslie Brown; Earl White String Band; Evans, Smith & May, Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen; From China to Appalachia (Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer with Chao Tian); Golden Shoals, The Gospel Jubilators; The Gravy Boys; Hank, Pattie & the Current; Henhouse Prowlers; Jacob Jolliff Band; Jake Blount; Jake Leg; Jim Lauderdale; Junior Appalachian Musicians; Kaia Kater; Laurie Lewis & the Right Hands; Liam Purcell & Cane Mill Road; New Dangerfield; Nixon; Blevins & Gage; Raised in Raleigh All Star Jam; Sister Sadie; Songs From the Road Band; The Tan & Sober Gentlemen; Tray Wellington Band; Union Grove Old Time Fiddlers’ Convention 100th Anniversary; Unspoken Tradition; The Williamson Brothers; Wyatt Ellis; and more.
“This is our favorite time of year. I just love seeing everyone coming down to Raleigh with guitars and banjos slung over their shoulders,” David Brower, festival producer and executive director of PineCone, said in a statement. “In addition to all the bands playing the big stages, there’s also something special for the everyday pickers. We’re dedicating a stage to celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the Union Grove Old Time Fiddlers Convention. We’ll have contests for fiddlers, banjo, mandolin and guitar players, plus a great big square dance to cap off the afternoon each day. Lifting up North Carolina’s musical traditions is something we’ve been proud to do with the festival over the last decade.”
IBMA Bluegrass Live! is part of the annual five-day IBMA World of Bluegrass, which also includes the IBMA Business Conference, the IBMA Bluegrass Ramble showcase series and the 35th annual IBMA Bluegrass Music Awards, with the run of events slated for Sept. 24-28 in Raleigh.
Last year, Billy Strings led the IBMA Bluegrass Music Awards winners, picking up the entertainer of the year honor, while Molly Tuttle and Golden Highway won album of the year for Crooked Tree and song of the year for the album’s title track, while Tuttle was named female vocalist of the year.
Tickets and hotel reservations for IBMA’s World of Bluegrass will open to IBMA members starting May 8, and will open to the general public on May 15.
Billy Strings wants a second chance.
Last year, the 31-year-old Strings played two headlining shows at Nashville’s 18,500-capacity Bridgestone Arena, and followed with a show at country music’s “Mother Church,” the Ryman Auditorium. Tonight (Feb. 23), he returns to Music City for a repeat trio — two headlining stints at Bridgestone (Feb. 23-24), followed by a sold-out headlining set at the Ryman (Feb. 25).
“Bridgestone last year was sort of like a fickle mistress or something,” Strings tells Billboard. “I don’t think we blew Bridgestone up. The show was good, but as soon as I played the gig, I was instantly like, ‘We need to come back and try again.’ I just want to blow the roof off of Bridgestone. I’ve done a year of playing arenas now and Bridgestone is really important, because I live here [in Nashville]. That’s where I see all the bands that I like, that’s where I go see $UICIDEBOY$, it’s my hometown arena. So I put a lot of pressure on myself about Bridgestone.”
Strings, who won a Grammy for best bluegrass album for his 2021 album Home and reigns as both the current entertainer of the year at the International Bluegrass Music Awards (IBMA) and artist of the year at the Americana Music Awards, advanced to playing arenas over the past year. His current trek includes multiple nights at arenas in Atlanta (State Farm Arena), New Orleans (UNO Lakefront Arena) and Pittsburgh (Petersen Events Center).
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According to figures reported to Billboard Boxscore, Strings — who since 2017 has been one of the key leaders in the ongoing progression of bluegrass, with his expansive guitar playing and quick-fire improvisational style — grossed $10.8 million and sold 174,000 tickets across 28 reported concerts in 2023, with many of those being arena shows. Those figures average out to $386,000 and 6,200 tickets per show.
The notion of a bluegrass picker ascending to performing multiple nights at arenas places this guitar master on a level of some bold name country and rock acts who regularly pull such double-headers. But a glimpse into Strings’s genre-eschewing shows offers a reasoning behind his appeal as an artist, one who has grown beyond a strictly bluegrass audience. A freewheeling, genre-melting show where Strings is just as likely to deliver a bluegrass standard as throw out a transcendent, high-octane, metal-infused guitar riff — and often in the same song. That’s by design, says the Michigan-raised Strings.
“Growing up, I listened to heavy metal, I listened to bluegrass, jazz, rock and rap,” he explains. “I’m not trying to be bluegrass. I’m not trying to be this or that, I’m just playing. I grew up playing bluegrass, so that’s kind of the medium I paint with — but I just play music, and whatever comes out is what happens. I don’t know what the hell kind of music it is.”
He’s also collaborated with everyone from mainstream country artists Dierks Bentley and Luke Combs to R&B artist RMR and rock band Fences. Combine that with the freewheeling, jamband feel his shows put forth, and it’s understandable that a Strings show draws a wide spectrum of concertgoers, from bluegrass aficionados to Deadheads, teens and older hippies.
“It might be young folks that are just getting into bluegrass and people who are into psychedelia, it’s all over the board,” Strings says. “You look out and see a guy headbanging wearing a Slayer shirt at a bluegrass concert. That’s freakin’ cool.”
The buildup to playing arenas has been steady, and conscientiously through out.
“We’ve always tried to be careful,” Strings says. “We toured in a van for as long as we could before moving to a bus, just stuff like that. I think we could probably play two or three nights at some of these places — but we choose to do only two, just to make sure they are full.”
Though Strings playing the 2,362-capacity Ryman is an underplay at this point, he says performing at the 132-year-old historic venue is always special. “Last time, we did all bluegrass songs, wore suits and played a bluegrass concert, which was so fun,” Strings recalls. “This year, I don’t know what we’ll do. Maybe an MTV Unplugged vibe, something stripped down. That’s what’s so cool about Nashville — like last year, we went from Bridgestone to the Ryman and then to Roberts [Western World on Lower Broadway]. So it goes from the biggest stuff ever to the funnest stuff ever.”
He also notes that, as with nearly any solid Nashville show, fans can expect some surprises. “We’ve got some friends coming down,” Strings teases.
Longtime Strings fans and music aficionados might also notice some fresh nuances to his guitar playing–the results of this naturally-talented, playing by ear guitarist taking his first-ever guitar lessons.
“Last April, I started getting sick of myself and felt like I was on a plateau,” Strings says. “I’ve never taken lessons, I don’t know anything about music theory, and I’m in these sessions with Bela Fleck and people who are very well-versed in harmony and theory — and I’m just sitting here, some old country bumpkin, playing by ear, which is great. But now I have a guitar teacher and he’s got me learning jazz and classical and Charlie Parker tunes, stuff I never really play as a bluegrass musician, and it’s opening up my brain to different harmonic avenues. I can feel my fingers starting to reach for notes that weren’t there before. I never had a deliberate practice routine, ever, but I was building a career. Now that I have a career, it’s like, ‘There’s so many people that have practiced more than me and I’ve just been out here ripping gigs.’ So I’m having fun kind of starting over from the beginning.”
It is likely that somewhere in his three-night span of shows, Strings’ setlist will include his Grammy-nominated Willie Nelson collaboration, “California Sober,” which Strings released in honor of Nelson’s 90th birthday last year, and which marked Strings’ first release since partnering with Reprise Records, following a long association with Rounder. Strings says the collaboration was set in motion after Strings performed as part of Nelson’s Outlaw tour nearly two years ago.
“I got to hang out with him on that tour, and I was so inspired just by being around him,” he says. Later, Strings wrote the song and realized, “This is such a Willie song that I can’t record it without him.” He sent the song to Nelson, who agreed to record it. Strings went down to Luck while Nelson recorded his vocal.
“Just sitting there in the studio and making the song was amazing,” says Strings, noting that they followed the session with a game of poker at Nelson’s house. “He took a thousand bucks from me, real quick … I had no idea what I was doing, and he had no problem with that. His wife was like, ‘Man, this is gross. This poor kid doesn’t even know how to play poker.’ And Willie’s like, ‘Well, he shouldn’t have sat down.’ I would’ve spent another thousand just to sit there at that table.”
While Strings’ current tour runs through May, followed by some summer festivals, Strings has also been in the studio recording and says a new album is likely on the way this year.
“We got a record coming out probably in the fall,” he says. And it sounds like those sessions –- just like his live shows — are centered on chasing the muse and challenging himself musically.
“I’ve been working on it a little bit between touring. I’m recording at home for the first time ever. Me and the band, sometimes we’ll work for 12 hours, sometimes we’ll work for three. Not having a time limit, no restraints, has been awesome, just for the vibe.”
Billy Strings won entertainer of the year for the third year in a row at the 34rd Annual IBMA Bluegrass Music Awards. The show was held on Thursday (Sept. 28) at Martin Marietta Center for the Performing Arts in Raleigh, N.C.
Strings, 30, is the first artist to take entertainer three years in a row since Earls of Leicester achieved the feat from 2015 to 2017. Before that, the Del McCoury Band and Dailey & Vincent both did it. Strings won a Grammy for best bluegrass album three years ago for Home.
But in many ways, it was Molly Tuttle’s night. Tuttle, who is also 30, and Ketch Secor co-hosted the show. Tuttle also won three key awards. “Crooked Tree,” which she co-wrote with Melody Walker, won song of the year. The song was the title track of Tuttle & Golden Highway’s album, which won album of the year. Tuttle’s third award was female vocalist of the year.
Crooked Tree won a Grammy for best bluegrass album in February. Tuttle was also nominated for best new artist at that show but lost to Samara Joy.
Authentic Unlimited won two awards at the IBMA Awards – vocal group of the year and new artist of the year.
Jason Carter also won two awards – instrumental recording of the year (“Kissimmee Kid”) and fiddle player of the year. Carter, 50, has won three Grammys for best bluegrass album as a member of the Del McCoury Band and the Travelin’ McCourys.
In a sign of changing times, three of the six winners in the instrumentalist of the year categories were women – Kristin Scott Benson (banjo player of the year), Vickie Vaughn (bass player of the year) and Sierra Hull (mandolin player of the year).
This year’s inductees into the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame – Sam Bush, known as “The King of Newgrass”; Wilma Lee Cooper, one of bluegrass’ most important early women musicians; and David Grisman, an influential mandolin player – were also honored during the show.
Awards were voted on by the professional membership of the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA).
The show aired on SiriusXM’s Bluegrass Junction channel and was livestreamed on IBMA’s Facebook Live.
Here’s a complete list of nominees and winners for the 2023 IBMA Bluegrass Music Awards:
Entertainer of the year
Appalachian Road Show
WINNER: Billy Strings
Del McCoury Band
Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway
The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys
Album of the year
WINNER: Crooked Tree – Artist: Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway; Label: Nonesuch Records; Producer: Jerry Douglas and Molly Tuttle
Lovin’ of the Game – Artist: Michael Cleveland; Label: Compass Records; Producers: Jeff White, Michael Cleveland, and Sean Sullivan
Lowdown Hoedown – Artist: Jason Carter; Label: Fiddle Man Records; Producers: Jason Carter and Brent Truitt
Me/And/Dad – Artist: Billy Strings and Terry Barber; Label: Rounder Records; Producers: Billy Strings and Gary Paczosa
Radio John: The Songs of John Hartford – Artist: Sam Bush; Label: Smithsonian Folkways; Producer: Sam Bush
Song of the year
“Blue Ridge Mountain Baby” – Artist: Appalachian Road Show; Songwriters: Barry Abernathy/Jim VanCleve; Label: Billy Blue Records; Producer: Appalachian Road Show
WINNER: “Crooked Tree” – Artist: Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway; Songwriters: Molly Tuttle/Melody Walker; Label: Nonesuch Records; Producers: Jerry Douglas and Molly Tuttle
“Diane” – Artist: Sister Sadie; Songwriters: Jeffrey Nath Bhasker/Samuel Tyler Johnson/Cameron Marvel Ochs; Label: Mountain Home; Producer: Sister Sadie
“Heyday” – Artist: Lonesome River Band; Songwriters: Barry Huchens/Will Huchens; Label: Mountain Home Music Company; Producer: Lonesome River Band
“Power of Love” – Artist: Rick Faris; Songwriters: Johnny Colla/Huey Lewis/Christopher Hayes; Label: Dark Shadow Recording; Producer: Stephen Mougin
Male vocalist of the year
WINNER: Greg Blake
Del McCoury
Danny Paisley
Larry Sparks
Dan Tyminski
Female vocalist of the year
Brooke Aldridge
Dale Ann Bradley
Jaelee Roberts
WINNER: Molly Tuttle
Rhonda Vincent
Vocal group of the year
WINNER: Authentic Unlimited
Balsam Range
Blue Highway
Del McCoury Band
Sister Sadie
Instrumental group of the year
Billy Strings
Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper
The Infamous Stringdusters
Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway
WINNER: The Travelin’ McCourys
New artist of the year
WINNER: Authentic Unlimited
East Nash Grass
Henhouse Prowlers
The Tennessee Bluegrass Band
Tray Wellington
Collaborative recording of the year
WINNER: “Alberta Bound” – Artist: Special Consensus with Ray Legere, John Reischman, Tisha Gagnon, Claire Lynch, Pharis & Jason Romero; Songwriter: Gordon Lightfoot; Label: Compass Records; Producer: Alison Brown
“Big Mon” – Artist: Andy Leftwich with Sierra Hull; Songwriter: Bill Monroe; Label: Mountain Home Music Company; Producer: Andy Leftwich
“Foggy Morning Breaking” – Artist: Alison Brown with Steve Martin; Songwriter: Alison Brown/Steve Martin; Label: Compass Records; Producer: Alison Brown and Garry West
“For Your Love” – Artist: Michael Cleveland with Billy Strings and Jeff White; Songwriter: Joe Ely; Label: Compass Records; Producer: Jeff White, Michael Cleveland, and Sean Sullivan
“From My Mountain (Calling You)” – Artist: Peter Rowan with Molly Tuttle and Lindsay Lou; Songwriter: Peter Rowan; Label: Rebel Records; Producer: Peter Rowan
Gospel recording of the year
“The Glory Road” – Artist: Joe Mullins & The Radio Ramblers; Songwriters: Paul Martin/Harry Stinson/Marty Stuart; Label: Billy Blue Records; Producers: Joe Mullins and Adam McIntosh
“Jordan” – Artist: Darin & Brooke Aldridge with Ricky Skaggs, Mo Pitney and Mark Fain; Songwriter: Fred Rich; Label: Billy Blue Records; Producer: Darin Aldridge and Mark Fain
WINNER: “The Scarlet Red Lines” – Artist: Larry Sparks; Songwriter: Daniel Crabtree; Label: Rebel Records; Producer: Larry Sparks
“Take a Little Time for Jesus” – Artist: Junior Sisk; Songwriter: David Marshall; Label: Mountain Fever Records; Producers: Junior Sisk and Aaron Ramsey
“Tell Me the Story of Jesus” – Artist: Becky Buller with Vince Gill and Ricky Skaggs; Songwriter: Fanny Crosby, arrangement by Becky Buller; Label: Dark Shadow Recording; Producer: Stephen Mougin
Instrumental recording of the year
“Contact” – Artist: Michael Cleveland with Cody Kilby, Barry Bales, and Béla Fleck; Songwriter: Michael Cleveland; Label: Compass Records; Producer: Jeff White, Michael Cleveland, and Sean Sullivan
“Foggy Morning Breaking” – Artist: Alison Brown with Steve Martin; Songwriters: Alison Brown/Steve Martin; Label: Compass Records; Producers: Alison Brown and Garry West
“Gold Rush” – Artist: Scott Vestal’s Bluegrass 2022; Songwriter: Bill Monroe; Label: Pinecastle Records; Producer: Scott Vestal
WINNER: “Kissimmee Kid” – Artist: Jason Carter; Songwriter: Vassar Clements; Label: Fiddle Man Records; Producers: Jason Carter and Brent Truitt
“Scorchin’ the Gravy” – Artist: Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen; Songwriter: Frank Solivan; Label: Compass Records; Producer: Frank Solivan
Banjo player of the year
WINNER: Kristin Scott Benson
Alison Brown
Béla Fleck
Ned Luberecki
Scott Vestal
Bass player of the year
Mike Bub
Todd Phillips
Missy Raines
Mark Schatz
WINNER: Vickie Vaughn
Fiddle player of the year
WINNER: Jason Carter
Michael Cleveland
Stuart Duncan
Bronwyn Keith-Hynes
Deanie Richardson
Resophonic guitar player of the year
Jerry Douglas
Andy Hall
Rob Ickes
Matt Leadbetter
WINNER: Justin Moses
Guitar player of the year
Chris Eldridge
WINNER: Trey Hensley
Billy Strings
Bryan Sutton
Molly Tuttle
Mandolin player of the year
Alan Bibey
Jesse Brock
Sam Bush
WINNER: Sierra Hull
Ronnie McCoury
Music legend Willie Nelson may be best known for as a country superstar, but some might not realize he’s visited many other Billboard album genre charts outside of the Top Country Albums chart — where’s racked up a record 53 top 10s, with 18 of them hitting No. 1. Over the years, Nelson has placed high-charting efforts on these genre-specific album rankings: Blues Albums, Kid Albums, Reggae Albums, Traditional Jazz Albums, Jazz Albums, Americana/Folk Albums and Top Christian Albums.
Now, Nelson’s new Bluegrass album, released on Sept. 15, appropriately debuts at No. 1 on Billboard’s Bluegrass Albums chart (dated Sept. 30), marking his first appearance on the 21-year-old tally. On the album, Nelson reinterprets a dozen of his older songs, joined by a bluegrass ensemble. Billboard’s Bluegrass Albums chart ranks the top-selling bluegrass albums of the week in the U.S., based on traditional album sales, as tracked by Luminate. In the week ending Sept. 21, Nelson’s Bluegrass sold 3,000 copies.
Below is a recap of Nelson’s history on Billboard’s major album genre charts, aside from Top Country Albums. (In addition, Nelson has logged 83 entries on the all-genre Billboard 200 chart.)
Chart NameAlbum Title, Peak Position, Peak Date
Blues AlbumsMilk Cow Blues, No. 2, Oct. 7, 2000
Kid AlbumsRainbow Connection, No. 7, June 30, 2001
Reggae AlbumsCountryman, No. 1 (nine weeks at No. 1), July 30, 2005
Traditional Jazz AlbumsTwo Men With the Blues (Nelson and Wynton Marsalis), No. 1 (four weeks), July 26, 2008Here We Go Again: Celebrating the Genius of Ray Charles (Nelson & Wynton Marsalis featuring Norah Jones), No. 1 (five weeks), April 16, 2011Summertime: Willie Nelson Sings Gershwin, No. 1 (five weeks), March 19, 2016My Way, No. 2, Sept. 29, 2018That’s Life, No. 1 (two weeks), March 13, 2021
Jazz AlbumsTwo Men With the Blues (Nelson and Wynton Marsalis), No. 1 (four weeks), July 26, 2008Here We Go Again: Celebrating the Genius of Ray Charles (Nelson & Wynton Marsalis featuring Norah Jones), No. 2, April 16, 2011Summertime: Willie Nelson Sings Gershwin, No. 1 (three weeks), March 19, 2016My Way, No. 2, Sept. 29, 2018That’s Life, No. 1 (two weeks), March 13, 2021
Americana/Folk AlbumsLast Man Standing, No. 1, May 12, 2018Ride Me Back Home, No. 1, July 6, 2019First Rose of Spring, No. 1, July 18, 2020The Willie Nelson Family, No. 12, Dec. 4, 2021A Beautiful Time, No. 3, May 14, 2022
Top Christian AlbumsJust As I Am: 18 Hymns and Gospel Favorites (Willie Nelson and Bobbie Nelson), No. 37, Aug. 27, 2022
Bluegrass AlbumsBluegrass, No. 1, Sept. 30, 2023
Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway is nominated in three marquee categories – entertainer, album and song of the year – for the 2023 IBMA Bluegrass Music Awards. Appalachian Road Show and Billy Strings are each nominated in two of those three categories.
Strings, who won entertainer of the year the last two years in a row, is nominated again this year. Other nominees in that category are the Del McCoury Band, which has won a record nine times (from 1994-2004), The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys (their third nod in the category), Tuttle & Golden Highway (their second) and Appalachian Road Show (their first).
The multitalented Steve Martin, a 2023 Primetime Emmy nominee for his work on Only Murders in the Building, is nominated in two categories – collaborative recording of the year and instrumental recording of the year for “Foggy Morning Breaking,” which he recorded with Alison Brown.
Also announced were three inductees into the Bluegrass Hall of Fame: Sam Bush, known as “The King of Newgrass”; Wilma Lee Cooper, one of bluegrass’ most important early women musicians; and David Grisman, an influential mandolin player.
Additionally, The Bluegrass Situation, Tom Ewing, Red Wine, Terry Baucom, and Carl Goldstein were named as recipients of the Distinguished Achievement Award.
Awards are voted on by the professional membership of the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA), the professional nonprofit association for the bluegrass music industry.
Results of the balloting will be revealed at the IBMA Bluegrass Music Awards on Thursday, Sept. 28, at the Martin Marietta Center for the Performing Arts in Raleigh, N.C. Tickets are now on sale for the 34th annual IBMA Bluegrass Music Awards, and for all IBMA World of Bluegrass events; visit worldofbluegrass.org for details.
Here’s the complete list of nominations for the 2023 IBMA Bluegrass Music Awards:
Entertainer of the year
Appalachian Road Show
Billy Strings
Del McCoury Band
Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway
The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys
Album of the year
Crooked Tree – Artist: Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway; Label: Nonesuch Records; Producer: Jerry Douglas and Molly Tuttle
Lovin’ of the Game – Artist: Michael Cleveland; Label: Compass Records; Producers: Jeff White, Michael Cleveland, and Sean Sullivan
Lowdown Hoedown – Artist: Jason Carter; Label: Fiddle Man Records; Producers: Jason Carter and Brent Truitt
Me/And/Dad – Artist: Billy Strings and Terry Barber; Label: Rounder Records; Producers: Billy Strings and Gary Paczosa
Radio John: The Songs of John Hartford – Artist: Sam Bush; Label: Smithsonian Folkways; Producer: Sam Bush
Song of the year
“Blue Ridge Mountain Baby” – Artist: Appalachian Road Show; Songwriters: Barry Abernathy/Jim VanCleve; Label: Billy Blue Records; Producer: Appalachian Road Show
“Crooked Tree” – Artist: Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway; Songwriters: Molly Tuttle/Melody Walker; Label: Nonesuch Records; Producers: Jerry Douglas and Molly Tuttle
“Diane” – Artist: Sister Sadie; Songwriters: Jeffrey Nath Bhasker/Samuel Tyler Johnson/Cameron Marvel Ochs; Label: Mountain Home; Producer: Sister Sadie
“Heyday” – Artist: Lonesome River Band; Songwriters: Barry Huchens/Will Huchens; Label: Mountain Home Music Company; Producer: Lonesome River Band
“Power of Love” – Artist: Rick Faris; Songwriters: Johnny Colla/Huey Lewis/Christopher Hayes; Label: Dark Shadow Recording; Producer: Stephen Mougin
Male vocalist of the year
Greg Blake
Del McCoury
Danny Paisley
Larry Sparks
Dan Tyminski
Female vocalist of the year
Brooke Aldridge
Dale Ann Bradley
Jaelee Roberts
Molly Tuttle
Rhonda Vincent
Vocal group of the year
Authentic Unlimited
Balsam Range
Blue Highway
Del McCoury Band
Sister Sadie
Instrumental group of the year
Billy Strings
Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper
The Infamous Stringdusters
Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway
The Travelin’ McCourys
New artist of the year
Authentic Unlimited
East Nash Grass
Henhouse Prowlers
The Tennessee Bluegrass Band
Tray Wellington
Collaborative recording of the year
“Alberta Bound” – Artist: Special Consensus with Ray Legere, John Reischman, Tisha Gagnon, Claire Lynch, Pharis & Jason Romero; Songwriter: Gordon Lightfoot; Label: Compass Records; Producer: Alison Brown
“Big Mon” – Artist: Andy Leftwich with Sierra Hull; Songwriter: Bill Monroe; Label: Mountain Home Music Company; Producer: Andy Leftwich
“Foggy Morning Breaking” – Artist: Alison Brown with Steve Martin; Songwriter: Alison Brown/Steve Martin; Label: Compass Records; Producer: Alison Brown and Garry West
“For Your Love” – Artist: Michael Cleveland with Billy Strings and Jeff White; Songwriter: Joe Ely; Label: Compass Records; Producer: Jeff White, Michael Cleveland, and Sean Sullivan
“From My Mountain (Calling You)” – Artist: Peter Rowan with Molly Tuttle and Lindsay Lou; Songwriter: Peter Rowan; Label: Rebel Records; Producer: Peter Rowan
Gospel recording of the year
“The Glory Road” – Artist: Joe Mullins & The Radio Ramblers; Songwriters: Paul Martin/Harry Stinson/Marty Stuart; Label: Billy Blue Records; Producers: Joe Mullins and Adam McIntosh
“Jordan” – Artist: Darin & Brooke Aldridge with Ricky Skaggs, Mo Pitney and Mark Fain; Songwriter: Fred Rich; Label: Billy Blue Records; Producer: Darin Aldridge and Mark Fain
“The Scarlet Red Lines” – Artist: Larry Sparks; Songwriter: Daniel Crabtree; Label: Rebel Records; Producer: Larry Sparks
“Take a Little Time for Jesus” – Artist: Junior Sisk; Songwriter: David Marshall; Label: Mountain Fever Records; Producers: Junior Sisk and Aaron Ramsey
“Tell Me the Story of Jesus” – Artist: Becky Buller with Vince Gill and Ricky Skaggs; Songwriter: Fanny Crosby, arrangement by Becky Buller; Label: Dark Shadow Recording; Producer: Stephen Mougin
Instrumental recording of the year
“Contact” – Artist: Michael Cleveland with Cody Kilby, Barry Bales, and Béla Fleck; Songwriter: Michael Cleveland; Label: Compass Records; Producer: Jeff White, Michael Cleveland, and Sean Sullivan
“Foggy Morning Breaking” – Artist: Alison Brown with Steve Martin; Songwriters: Alison Brown/Steve Martin; Label: Compass Records; Producers: Alison Brown and Garry West
“Gold Rush” – Artist: Scott Vestal’s Bluegrass 2022; Songwriter: Bill Monroe; Label: Pinecastle Records; Producer: Scott Vestal
“Kissimmee Kid” – Artist: Jason Carter; Songwriter: Vassar Clements; Label: Fiddle Man Records; Producers: Jason Carter and Brent Truitt
“Scorchin’ the Gravy” – Artist: Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen; Songwriter: Frank Solivan; Label: Compass Records; Producer: Frank Solivan
Banjo player of the year
Kristin Scott Benson
Alison Brown
Béla Fleck
Ned Luberecki
Scott Vestal
Bass player of the year
Mike Bub
Todd Phillips
Missy Raines
Mark Schatz
Vickie Vaughn
Fiddle player of the year
Jason Carter
Michael Cleveland
Stuart Duncan
Bronwyn Keith-Hynes
Deanie Richardson
Resophonic guitar player of the year
Jerry Douglas
Andy Hall
Rob Ickes
Matt Leadbetter
Justin Moses
Guitar player of the year
Chris Eldridge
Trey Hensley
Billy Strings
Bryan Sutton
Molly Tuttle
Mandolin player of the year
Alan Bibey
Jesse Brock
Sam Bush
Sierra Hull
Ronnie McCoury
Bluegrass musician Bobby Osborne, who helped popularize the song “Rocky Top,” died early Tuesday, according to a statement from the college where he worked. He was 91. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Osborne and his brother Sonny made up The Osborne Brothers, and their version of […]