IBMA Awards 2009

Here are the 2009 International Bluegrass Music Award.  Ceremonies took place in Nashville on Thursday, October 1st.

 

MRBA Alumni, Ivan Rosenberg, c-owrote the Song of the Year.

 

Congratulations to all.

 

Phyllis

 

 

International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame – The Lonesome Pine Fiddlers, The Dillards

Distinguished Achievement Award Recipients – The Lonesome Pine Fiddlers, The Dillards

Entertainer of the Year – Dailey & Vincent

Male Vocalist of the Year – Dan Tyminski

Female Vocalist of the Year – Dale Ann Bradley

Album of the Year – Wheels, The Dan Tyminski Band, produced by Dan Tyminski, Rounder Records

Vocal Group of the Year – Dailey & Vincent

Instrumental Group of the Year – Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper

Song of the Year – “Don’t Throw Mama’s Flowers Away,” by Danny Paisley & the Southern Grass (artist), Chris Stuart & Ivan Rosenberg (writers)

Recorded Event of the Year – “Proud to Be a Daughter of Bluegrass” featuring Dale Ann Bradley, Heather Berry, Lisa Martin, Gloria Belle, Sierra Hull, Rhonda Vincent, Lisa Ray, Linda Lay, Sally Jones, Jeanie Stanley, Carol Lee Cooper, Sonya Isaacs, Becky Isaacs Bowman, Michelle Nixon, Jeanette Williams, Sophie Haislip, Louise Tomberlain, Mindy Rakestraw, Lizzy Long, Frances Mooney, Lorraine Jordan, Annette Kelley, Lilly Lieux, Dixie Hall, Judi Marshall, Melissa Lawrence, Beth Lawrence, Rebecca Frazier, Donica Christensen, Lisa Maning & Jenni Lyn Gardner (artists); Dixie Hall, Paula Wolak & Frances Money (producers); Blue Circle Records

Instrumental Recorded Performance of the Year – “Jerusalem Ridge,” Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper (artist), Bill Monroe (writer), Jeff White & Michael Cleveland (producers), Rounder Records

Gospel Recorded Performance of the Year – “On the Other Side;” Dailey & Vincent (artists), Jimmy Fortune, Kevin Denney & Tom Botkin (writers); Jamie Dailey & Darrin Vincent (producers); Rounder Records

Emerging Artist of the Year – The SteelDrivers

Instrumental Performers of the Year:

Banjo – Kristin Scott Benson

Fiddle – Michael Cleveland

Dobro – Rob Ickes

Mandolin – Jesse Brock

Bass – Marshall Wilborn

Guitar – Josh Williams

Bluegrass Event of the Year – Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival; Oak Hill, New York; July 2008

Bluegrass Broadcaster of the Year – Katy Daley; HD Radio WAMU 88.5 Channel 2, 105.5 FM & www.bluegrasscountry.org; Washington, D.C.

Print Media Person of the Year – Roger Siminoff; Siminoff’s Luthiers Glossary, Banjo Newsletter and Bluegrass Breakdown

Best Liner Notes for Recorded Project – Steve Martin (writer), The Crow, Steve Martin (artist), 40 Share Productions (label)

Best Graphic Design for Recorded Project – Greg Carr & Salli Ratts (designers), The Crow, Steve Martin (artist), 40 Share Productions (label)

Sierra Hull – Bluegrass Headliner at Butte Folk Festival

Montana bluegrass fans are in for a real treat this summer with the appearance of Sierra Hull at the Butte Folk Festival.  She’s the young mandolin sensation that Alison helped launch her career with the invitation to join the AK and Union Station band on stage at the Grand Ole’ Opry when Sierra was in the 6th grade. 

Here are a couple of clips from that performance:

and her she is smokin’ on “Virgil Calhoun” at MerleFest last summer

and recently in an interview about her latest Rounder project

Helena Standard article on Butte Folk Festival

Here’s a copy of a nice write-up about the Butte Folk Festival that was printed in the Montana Standard

Folk Festival readies for 2nd year

 

By Kahrin Deines Associated Press Writer – 05/25/2009

HELENA — The lineup for the second National Folk Festival taking place in “Butte, America” this summer stars about 250 singers, dancers and other artists, along with hoofed performers from all over Montana.
The three-day multicultural event, which is riding with a theme of Western horse culture, is expected to bring about 150,000 visitors — double the number visiting last year — to the old mining center nestled near the mountains of the Continental Divide. Plateau, Appaloosa and other Montana-bred horses will also be in attendance to prance in a parade and participate in arena demonstrations, from trick roping to draft-team driving.

The festival, taking place July 10-12, is in its second year of a three-year engagement with Butte, which was chosen over 22 other cities to host the event by the National Council for the Traditional Arts. Since 1934, the council has chosen 26 communities across the nation to present artwork and performances that celebrate American folk culture.

“This will be the only time the festival will be out West perhaps in our lifetime,” said Barbara Miller, director of fundraising for the event.

Denver was the last Western city visited by the gala in 1966.

For its return to the West last year, thousands of dollars were spent reinforcing a headframe at a former mine yard turned 10,000-seat amphitheater that serves as the event’s main stage.

A marketplace was organized to showcase the work of Montana’s Native American artists and other regional craftspeople. And the arrival of an estimated 75,000 people revived the copper mining town’s heyday as a major destination on the vaudeville circuit, when it attracted such marquee names as Charlie Chaplin, W.C. Fields and Clark Gable.

“Butte used to be called the Las Vegas of Montana. There were five train routes coming from all directions,” said George Everett, the festival’s director.

For this year’s festival, 21 separate acts will be performing on six separate stages.

Although special attention falls to Western culture during its Butte incarnation, visiting artists will roll in from all over the country, bringing everything from the sounds of bluegrass and gospel, to Mariachi music, a Finnish kantele harp musician and the traditional sounds of Balkan tambaritza as played by Eastern European immigrants in the Midwest.

Last year the festival cost an estimated $1.4 million, but a survey completed by the University of Montana found it generated about $8 million in revenues for businesses in the region, Miller said.

Organizers estimate they must raise about another $200,000, of a total $1.2 million, to stage the festival for the second time this year.

“This is the year of the great recession, so of course it’s been a great challenge, but there’s way more folks coming forward with smaller amounts this year,” Miller said.

The fundraising crunch also eased a bit when the Montana Legislature approved spending $200,000 in state money on the event over the next two years. And The Dennis and Phyllis Washington Foundation, which is funded by a group of companies headquartered throughout Montana, recently made a grant of $100,000, which is 10 times what it contributed last year.

The event also requires an army of close to 1,000 volunteers. Many of them contribute a four-hour shift and then set off to explore the festival.

“It’s a great opportunity to have a great time in your own backyard and we’re hoping people in the area will stop by on their way to Yellowstone and Glacier,” Everett said.

 

According to the festival Web site, www.nationalfolkfestival.com, the lineup of more than 250 acts will include: Magic Slim & the Teardrops, Beausoleil Avec Michael Doucet, fiddler Texas Shorty, North Bear (Northern Plains drumming group) and Sierra Hull & Highway 111.