IBMA Bluegrass Music Awards
The Del McCoury Band, Molly Tuttle and Authentic Unlimited were among the big winners during the 35th annual IBMA Bluegrass Music Awards held Thursday evening (Sept. 26).
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The Del McCoury Band was named entertainer of the year, while Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway’s City of Gold project was named album of the year. Authentic Unlimited picked up the lion’s share of the accolades, winning song of the year (for “Fall in Tennessee”), vocal group of the year and tying for music video of the year. The group’s Jesse Brock was also named mandolin player of the year.
The John Cowan and Missy Raines-hosted ceremony was held at the Martin Marietta Center for the Performing Arts in Raleigh, North Carolina.
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In addition to this year’s winners, previously announced inductees into the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame Katy Daley, Jerry Douglas and Alan Munde were celebrated.
See the full list of this year’s IBMA Bluegrass Music Awards winners below:
Entertainer of the year: The Del McCoury Band
Vocal group of the year: Authentic Unlimited
Instrumental group of the year: The Travelin’ McCourys
Song of the year: “Fall in Tennessee,” recorded by Authentic Unlimited; written by John Meador & Bob Minner; produced by Authentic Unlimited; Billy Blue Records
Album of the year: City of Gold, recorded by Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway; produced by Jerry Douglas & Molly Tuttle; Nonesuch Records
Gospel recording of the year: “God Already Has,” recorded by Dale Ann Bradley; written by Mark “Brink” Brinkman & David Stewart; produced by Dale Ann Bradley; Pinecastle Records
Instrumental recording of the year: “Knee Deep in Bluegrass,” recorded by Ashby Frank; written by Terry Baucom; produced by Ashby Frank; Mountain Home Music Company
New artist of the year: East Nash Grass
Collaborative recording of the year: “Brown’s Ferry Blues,” recorded by Tony Trischka with Billy Strings; written by Alton & Rabon Delmore; produced by Béla Fleck; Down the Road Records
Male vocalist of the year: Danny Paisley
Female vocalist of the year: Jaelee Roberts
Banjo player of the year: Rob McCoury
Bass player of the year: Vickie Vaughn
Fiddle player of the year: Deanie Richardson
Resophonic guitar player of the year: Gaven Largent
Guitar player of the year: Cody Kilby
Mandolin player of the year: Jesse Brock
Music video of the year (tie):
“Fall in Tennessee,” Authentic Unlimited
“Alberta Bound,” Special Consensus with Ray Legere, John Reischman, Patrick Sauber, Trisha Gagnon, Pharis & Jason Romero, and Claire Lynch
As the International Bluegrass Music Association’s annual IBMA Week launches in Raleigh, North Carolina, Jerry Douglas is among the storied honorees: The 30-time IBMA Award recipient will be inducted into the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame on Thursday (Sept. 26) by fellow bluegrass luminary and 2023 honoree Sam Bush.
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Over the course of nearly five decades, Douglas’s contributions and influence on genres including bluegrass, country and Americana have been indelible, thanks to his masterful, pioneering musicianship on the dobro, as well as his work as a producer (on more than 100 albums), bandleader, and songwriter.
“It’s not something you expect,” Douglas, 67, tells Billboard of the induction. “I was shocked, surprised, and humbled, all those things. It’s the acceptance that’s really cool about it, being accepted in a place along with Bill Monroe and Earl Scruggs [both members of the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame’s inaugural class in 1991]. You don’t think about your name being mentioned in the same paragraph as those guys, but sometimes it happens.”
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The Bluegrass Hall of Fame honor isn’t the only award he could take home Thursday evening: he’s nominated in other three IBMA categories, including album of the year (for co-producing Tuttle’s City of Gold), resophonic guitar player of the year and collaborative recording of the year (for Authentic Unlimited with Jerry Douglas’ Fall in Tennessee).
The induction comes a week after his Sept. 20-released new album The Set (out on Nolivian Records), marking the 16-time Grammy winner’s first album in seven years.
Together with his Jerry Douglas Band cohorts — Mike Seal (guitar), Christian Sedelmyer (fiddle) and Daniel Kimbro (bass) — Douglas offers up reimaginations of six beloved older songs alongside five new compositions. The album takes its name from Douglas’ intent to capture more of the essence of the group’s live shows.
The songs on The Set span decades and styles, such as “From Ankara to Izmir,” which Douglas had previously included on his 1987 album Changing Channels.
“When I cut the song, I envisioned it as a different thing,” he says. “When you write a song and record it soon after, you don’t really know that song. It takes on different features and becomes something different than it started as. I originally cut it with lap steel and made it tougher sounding. Later on, I started playing it on dobro instead. Now, it’s a combination of electric guitar, bass, dobro, upright bass, and fiddle. It covers all the bases, but we have space in there, too.”
The lead single from The Set is a rendition of The Beatles’ 1968 song “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.” Songs written by each bandmember are also featured including Sedelmyer’s “Deacon Waltz,” Kimbro’s “Loyston,” and Seal’s “Renee.”
“This is a band record. Everybody had a hand in it,” Douglas says. “I may have picked the songs and produced it, but everybody’s personality and music are on the record.”
Ohio native Douglas moved to Music City in 1978, initially to play for the country vocal group The Whites. He released his first solo album, Fluxology, a year later. His first Grammy nomination came in 1982 for his work on The Whites’ album You Put the Blue in Me.
“I moved to Nashville at a good time,” he recalls. “It was right after what we called ‘The Urban Cowboy Scare,’ when everyone had a mechanical bull and bruises. But when I got to Nashville, Ricky [Skaggs] broke out and Emmylou [Harris] and Randy Travis and all these traditional artists and I was playing so many of those records and dobro was on radio.”
His musical dexterity made Douglas an in-demand session musician; he’s played on over 1,500 albums including projects for George Jones, Garth Brooks, Paul Simon, Emmylou Harris, Sierra Ferrell, Dierks Bentley and James Taylor. He’s earned the Country Music Association Awards’ musician of the year honor three times.
He’s also seen the ebbs and flows of music emanating from Nashville — for better and for worse. “The music is cyclical and here in Nashville I’ve seen it turn over three or four times. The last one was the bro-country movement, which is finally dead, thank God. It resides along with disco in hell somewhere. Now we’ve entered a totally new [time] where so many people are coming from different genres to country music.”
Over the decades, in addition to serving as band leader for his own group and the Grammy-winning The Earls of Leicester, he played as part of The Country Gentlemen while still a teen and has been part of bands including Boone Creek and J.D. Crowe and The New South (his work with the group earned Douglas his first Grammy win). He’s been a member of Alison Krauss and Union Station since 1998 and earned a wellspring of attention thanks to his work on the RIAA-certified eight-time multi-platinum soundtrack O Brother, Where Art Thou?.
Along the way, Douglas says he’s gleaned wisdom in the finer points of pulling together a group that heightens the musicians’ individual strengths.
“It’s all in the cocktail. How does this person support this other person? And that’s what it’s all about in a band — support. You can’t be practicing your next solo while someone else is soloing. I’ve seen that happen onstage. The cardinal rule is to listen to who’s playing before you. Listen to everything that’s going on around you, because you can pull all those things together and go in different directions. Just things you pick up along the way, like J.D. Crowe, when he would sing, he did not play, and then he would play coming out of that [singing] and that was like he’d just signed his name.”
Elsewhere on The Set, with “Something You Got” Douglas revisits his collaboration with Eric Clapton from Douglas’ 2012 Traveler album, with Douglas offering up lead vocals this time around.
Douglas says of Clapton, “He’s very, very philanthropic. It’s great meeting these fellows late [in life] like this. With James Taylor and Eric Clapton, those guys at one point, you wouldn’t have been able to get close to ’em, just because of the way they were. But through all of that, they are very well-read, intelligent people, and it’s wonderful to be around them. There’s so much history whenever you talk with those guys because they’ve been there and done everything you can do in the music business. I just happened to be lucky enough to hang around them once in a while. And icons like [guitarist, Country Music Hall of Fame inductee and “Nashville Sound” architect] Chet Atkins, I loved being around Chet. You’d just hang on every word he said because everything he said had like three meanings and they were all good. But he had done everything, too. How many people produced the Everly Brothers, Elvis Presley and Dolly Parton?”
The new version of “Something You Got” is notable, as Douglas is known as a performer who often sings lead vocals.
“I sang when I was a kid, until I started playing dobro and it just took over. I can find parts pretty easy, baritone and low tenor and things like that, but I wasn’t as comfortable in the lead role until I had a band and somebody needed to sing, so I was going to try it first. It’s funny how it surprises people when they do hear me sing, but I’ve been listening to the best singers on earth for 50 years and I know what not to do. I’m not a singer like Alison [Krauss] or Vince Gill. I’ll have them sing and I’ll play, because what I’m most comfortable doing is backing a singer.”
As he has looked up to his musical forebears, Douglas has also been a mentor and champion for artists including Tuttle and Billy Strings, as the sound of bluegrass continues to broaden and evolve.
“Historically, [bluegrass and jazz] come from the same place, but with jazz it’s more complicated while bluegrass is more rooted in the rudimentary chords, not a lot of diminished minors. Bluegrass music is more about social context in a way, but the social context that it was based on was a long time ago, and things have changed. That’s why now women are so well represented in the music. Growing up, as a kid, I didn’t see that many women [playing bluegrass], and if they did play, they were delegated to play the bass, which is a very important part of the music, but usually, it doesn’t really present you as the star on stage. I mean, some people can pull that off.
“But Missy Raines [the first woman musician to win the IBMA bass player of the year honor in 1998] turned it into a completely different thing. She has such a vocabulary with her bass [playing] that is different. And she’s a strong person who stuck it out when she was just kind of looked over when she shouldn’t have been [looked over]. The same with Molly [Tuttle] and [banjo virtuoso] Alison Brown. I like that it’s becoming more inclusive for everybody because back in Bill Monroe’s early days, it wouldn’t have been.”
Part of that evolution is being led by a new generation of bluegrass artists, including Strings, Tray Wellington, Wyatt Ellis and more.
“If it didn’t evolve, it would fade,” Douglas says. “The kids coming up who are playing are just incredible, and I know the internet has a lot to do with it. I had to sit there and listen to a record player, and I couldn’t slow my record player down either. So I had to put an ear on what was happening and try to figure it out. I didn’t have anything to see to give me an idea of what to do next. I didn’t even know if I had the thing tuned right at first. Now, you can study your favorite player online and pick up little things from that.”
Molly Tuttle, a two-time Grammy winner and the first woman to win the IBMA’s guitar player of the year honor (she won in both 2017 and 2018), has become one of Nashville’s most coveted musicians and a mainstay in the bluegrass scene.
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But Tuttle and her group Golden Highway — who’ve issued five albums since 2017 — have also leaned closer to musical troubadours rather than devout traditionalists, melding bluegrass with a range of styles. The group continues that ethos on the wide-ranging new EP Into The Wild, out Sept. 20 on Nonesuch Records.
“It’s a reflection of the last few years and what we’ve worked on as a band,” Tuttle tells Billboard.
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But the six-song EP, which follows the group’s 2023 Grammy-winning City of Gold, also nods to Tuttle’s northern California roots, where the Santa Clara-born Tuttle spent much of her youth practicing guitar and attending bluegrass and folk music festivals. At age 13, she recorded The Old Apple Tree, a collection of duets with her father. By 15, she had joined her family band The Tuttles, along with friend A.J. Lee.
She was inspired to write the EP’s title track with her partner Ketch Secor (of Old Crow Medicine Show), after spending a week in California’s Redwood National Forest. Far from a typical ode to the enduring nature of beauty, “Into the Wild” also offers a searing message, on the lines, “Times ain’t like they used to be/ The wilderness is hard to find at all/ The magic slipped way and the fires start in May/ Making way for another shopping mall.”
“We felt really inspired by the natural setting, but the song is also about the effect humans have on nature and how we need to protect these wild spaces,” Tuttle says.
Thus, “Into the Wild” also connects to another song on the project: a rendition of the late California folk singer Kate Wolf’s 1981 song “Here in California.”
“She’s someone who writes a lot about the natural world, and she’s one of my absolute favorite songwriters,” Tuttle says of Wolf, noting also the influence of the Kate Wolf Music Festival, held from 1996-2022 in northern California. “Her music kind of echoed throughout the Bay Area music scene and people were always jamming on her songs. She’s just very beloved in that area.
“I never got to go to that festival, and I remember writing emails to the festival every year asking them to book me,” Tuttle continues. “But I met a lot of people who played with her, like Nina Gerber, who was one of my first mentors who was a female lead guitarist.”
Tuttle considered a few Wolf songs to include on the album, but when she thought of “Here in California” and began researching versions of the song, she realized just how deep Wolf’s influence is embedded in her own musical history.
“I was like, ‘I want to cover a Kate Wolf song on this album,’ and I sent a few different songs to the band. When I Googled to find some live versions of [‘Here in California’], I actually found a video of myself playing it at age 15 and I forgot that I ever played it live before — but it was a video of me, my dad and AJ Lee performing it. Here I thought I had this new idea about covering this Kate Wolf song, but I had already covered it. It was kind of uncanny to see a video of myself playing it. But I loved how this version turned out. We got the old family band harmonies going again and A.J. is singing a verse, and it sounds amazing.”
Into The Wild’s eclectic set also spans covers of Jefferson Airplane’s “White Rabbit” and a glistening pop punk-meets-bluegrass rendering of Olivia Rodrigo’s “Good 4 U,” (which features Sierra Hull on mandolin) — a song Tuttle previously recorded as part of the Spotify Singles campaign. The EP also nods to City of Gold with an alternate version of “Stranger Things.” The new version is pared back, with Tuttle joined by mandolin player Dominick Leslie and cello/synth player Nathaniel Smith.
From those early bluegrass festivals, Tuttle’s journey has taken her to Boston, where she majored in guitar performance at Berklee College of Music, before moving to Nashville in 2015. She had released two projects of pop-tilted music before teaming with bluegrass legend Jerry Douglas, who co-produced the group’s albums Crooked Tree and City of Gold (both sets earned Grammy accolades for best bluegrass album).
Into the Wild releases just a week prior to this year’s International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) Awards, set for Sept. 26 in Raleigh, North Carolina, where Douglas will be inducted into the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame.
“I am so proud to have worked with him and just count him as a mentor and a friend, and someone who I really look up to,” Tuttle says. ‘I feel lucky to have made so much music with him, and he’s so deserving of this achievement. I’m really happy to see his name up there.”
Leading into this year’s ceremony, Tuttle and her Golden Highway bandmates — fiddler Bronwyn Keith-Hynes, Leslie, bass player Shelby Means and banjo player Kyle Tuttle (no relation)– are also foremost nominees, up for a total of eight accolades, including entertainer of the year, vocal group of the year, instrumental group of the year and album of the year (City of Gold). Tuttle is up for female vocalist of the year and guitar player of the year, while bandmate Keith-Hynes is up for fiddle player of the year and new artist of the year.
“For me, when I’m making an album, I’m not thinking ‘Oh, I hope this wins a bunch of awards,’” she explains. “But then, when it’s out there in the world, you do hope people are resonating with it — and something like being nominated for the IBMA Awards is just that kind of affirmation that people are listening to it and liking it. I grew up going to the IBMAs and seeing so many of my heroes on stage there. So we’re excited to play a song off our latest record and it’s going to be a fun night. It always feels like a family reunion-meets-prom night, since we’re all dressed up.”
Thanks to Tuttle’s skills as a writer, musician and vocalist, she has become not only a multi-award winner, but an in-demand collaborator, recording and/or performing with artists including Jason Isbell, Lainey Wilson, Bela Fleck, Old Crow Medicine Show, Billy Strings, Yola, Bobby Osborne and Emmylou Harris. In 2018, she also teamed with Missy Raines, Alison Brown, Sierra Hull and Becky Buller for the supergroup First Ladies of Bluegrass.
But given the ample talent in Nashville, there are still plenty of artists on Tuttle’s bucket list. “I feel fortunate to have gotten to play with so many of my heroes,” she says. “One person who I’ve always wanted to sing with is Alison Krauss. That would be super fun.”
Ahead, in addition to a slate of tour dates, Tuttle says she’s in the “writing phase” of her next record. “I’m not sure what it will turn into yet, but I’m always working on new stuff and looking to go into the studio soon and hopefully have something out next year,” she says.
If she does release a new project next year, she’ll likely be performing some of that new music at next year’s IBMA Awards, which will relocate from Raleigh to a new venue in Chattanooga, Tenn.
“We were just in Chattanooga on Sunday and it’s such a great city,” Tuttle says. “I’m really excited that it’s going to be closer to Nashville, although I do love Raleigh. I just thought Raleigh was a great place for it to be. There were such great venues for bands to get to play all throughout Raleigh and then the Street Fest was really fun. So I hope that Chattanooga has kind of a similar setup. I think that works really well to have a few stages outdoors on the streets so that people can just walk around and enjoy music. Hopefully Chattanooga’s going to embrace IBMA in the same way and celebrate this big week that we have every year. But as a city, I’m really looking forward to spending time there for IBMA and seeing what it turns into.”
The International Bluegrass Music Association‘s five-day World of Bluegrass event will move to Chattanooga, Tennessee, for 2025-2027, with the inaugural Chattanooga event taking place Sept. 16-20, 2025. World of Bluegrass will feature a convention, tradeshow, the annual IBMA Awards show, artist showcases and a two-day live music festival featuring top bluegrass artists. No specific Chattanooga venue has been revealed as of yet.
“In our mission to spread the music, IBMA considered 30+ destinations for a new home. While other cities could offer the necessary commitment, the passion and enthusiasm of the people of Chattanooga truly stood out. We are incredibly grateful for the support from the state of Tennessee and the welcoming spirit of Chattanooga. This city’s unique charm and hospitality makes it a perfect home for WOB artists and guests,” Ken White, executive director of IBMA, said in a statement.
The IBMA announced the new home for World of Bluegrass in partnership with the Chattanooga Tourism Co., the General Assembly, and the Tennessee Department of Tourist Development. Chattanooga was also revealed as the first recipient of the Tennessee Special Event Fund, with The Chattanooga Tourism Co. using the award to invest in supporting and growing the World of Bluegrass event. In 2022, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee partnered with the General Assembly to assign $25 million in the state budget for a fund designed to attract large-scale events expected to generate at least $10 million in visitor spending and $1 million in state and local taxes.
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“Tennessee is proud to welcome IBMA’s World of Bluegrass to Chattanooga. This event is not only a testament to our state’s vibrant cultural heritage but also a significant economic driver for our communities,” said Chairwoman Patsy Hazlewood via a statement. “We are excited to support this event that will bring Bluegrass enthusiasts together in our city and give us an opportunity to showcase Tennessee and Chattanooga to an audience coming from literally around the world.”
Barry White, president and CEO of the Chattanooga Tourism Co., added, “The Tourism Co. is honored to be the first recipient of Tennessee’s new Special Event Fund and to welcome the WOB to Chattanooga. We are extremely excited to bring this event to Chattanooga and highlight our city’s flourishing cultural scene, while also generating economic returns to our community.”
According to a release, the Chattanooga Tourism Co. estimates that the 2025 World of Bluegrass event will bring more than 18,000 overnight visitors and more than 45,000, including day visitors, to generate more than $30 million in economic impact and yield $1.1 million in state tax revenue, with visitor spending supporting local jobs and additional tax revenues, benefiting industries beyond tourism.
Commissioner Mark Ezell of the Tennessee Department of Tourist Development added, “We are ready to welcome the world’s largest events to Tennessee stages. IBMA’s World of Bluegrass is a great way to showcase our rich musical heritage, and the very goal of the Special Event Fund is to support local partners as they pursue and secure high-value events like this that represent tremendous economic benefit for Tennessee businesses.”
The announcement follows the recent reveal of this year’s IBMA Awards nominees. The 2024 IBMA World of Bluegrass will be held Sept. 24-28 in Raleigh, North Carolina.
The International Bluegrass Music Association has revealed the nominees for this year’s IBMA Industry Awards and IBMA Momentum Awards, which will be presented at the upcoming IBMA World of Bluegrass conference, slated for Sept. 24-28 in Raleigh, North Carolina.
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The IBMA Industry Awards, which honor outstanding work in various disciplines including broadcasting, live events, graphic design, writing, photography, songwriting and sound engineering, will be awarded on Sept. 26, while the Momentum Awards, which recognize musicians and industry professionals who are offering considerable contributions to, or are having a significant influence on, the genre of bluegrass music, will be awarded on Sept. 25.
Nominees for the Momentum Awards are selected by committees made up of top bluegrass musicians and industry leaders. The Industry Awards nominations are chosen through appointed committees made up of bluegrass music professionals, with each recipient being decided on by the panel of electors, an anonymous group of veteran bluegrass music professionals selected by the IBMA Board of Directors.
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These nominations follow the recent IBMA Awards nominations announcement, led by bluegrass artist nominees including Billy Strings, Molly Tuttle, Authentic Unlimited and Sister Sadie. The 35th annual IBMA Music Awards will be held Sept. 26 during the 2024 IBMA World of Bluegrass in Raleigh, North Carolina.
See the full slate of nominees below:
Writer of the year
Stacy Chandler
Garret K. Woodward
David Menconi
Craig Havighurst
Bill Amatneek
Event of the year
Bluegrass in La Roche, La Roche-sur-Foron, France
Doc at 100, Various locations
Earl Scruggs Music Festival, Mill Spring, North Carolina
High Mountain Hay Fever, Westcliffe, Colorado
Industrial Strength Bluegrass Festival, Wilmington, Ohio
Sound engineer of the year
Ben Surratt
Clay Miller
David Glasser
Dewey Boyd
Scott Barnett
Songwriter of the year
Carley Arrowood
David Stewart
Jerry Cole
Milan Miller
Rick Faris
Broadcaster of the year
Barb Heller
Cindy Baucom
Matt Hutchinson
Michelle Lee
Peter Thompson
Graphic designer of the year
Gina Dilg
Grace van’t Hof
Hannah Tatum Norris
Heather Moulder
Rebekah Speer
Liner notes of the year
Daniel Mullins, Industrial Strength Bluegrass – Southwestern Ohio’s Musical Legacy [Expanded Vinyl Edition]
Daniel Mullins, Lonesome State of Mind – Blue Highway
Ted Olson, Nothing But Green Willow – The Songs of Mary Sands and Jane Gentry – Martin Simpson and Thomm Jutz
Photographer of the year
Jay Strausser
Jeff Fasano
Jeromie Stephens
Laci Mack
Madison Thorn
Band
DownRiver Collective
Jackson Hollow
JigJam
Jake Leg
The Price Sisters
Industry involvement
Katie Kirchner
Austin Scelzo
Joe Dan Cornett
Josh Ulbrich
Mary Beth Martin
Instrumentalist
Anthony Howell
Wyatt Ellis
Bailey Warren
Gibson Davis
Sam Stage
Steven Moore
Dylan McCarthy
Mentor
Louisa Branscomb
Scott Napier
Tony Watt
Rick Lang
Ruth McLain Smith
Vocalist
Ali Vance
Adam Miller
Heather Berry Mabe
Carly Greer
Caroline Owens
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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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 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
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
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