This just came out from IBMA…

Dailey & Vincent, Russell Moore, Sam Bush, Michael Cleveland & The Grascals Lead Nominees

Nashville, Tenn. – IBMA is proud to announce the nominees for the 21st annual International Bluegrass Music Awards, scheduled for Thursday, September 30, 2010, at Nashville, Tennessee’s historic Ryman Auditorium.

It’s been an interesting year for bluegrass—from Bean Blossom to Bonnaroo—and the 2010 IBMA Award Show celebrates the strength and popularity of the genre both inside the bluegrass world and beyond, as the nominees reach out to new audiences with new music and interesting collaborations.

Reigning two-time Entertainers of the Year Dailey & Vincent released an a cappella gospel project, Singing from the Heart, as well as Dailey & Vincent Sing the Statler Brothers, a bluegrass tribute to the legendary country music quartet. The latter CD is distributed solely by Cracker Barrel Old Country Stores, and Dailey & Vincent added a bass singer to the band to present their new material. The group tops the list of nominees with 10 nods for Entertainer of the Year, Vocal Group, Album of the Year and Best Graphic Design (Dailey & Vincent Sing The Statler Brothers), Song of the Year (“Elizabeth”), Recorded Event (“Give This Message to Your Heart” with Larry Stephenson) and Gospel Recorded Event (“Don’t You Wanna Go to Heaven”), along with nominations in the Male Vocalist (Dailey), Bass Player (Vincent) and Best Liner Notes categories (Fred Bartenstein, for the album Singing from the Heart).

Longtime favorites Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out, now signed to the Rural Rhythm label, are catching a career “second wind” and bringing their trademark sound to a new generation of fans. Two-time Male Vocalist of the Year, Moore (1994 & 1997) and his band, IIIrd Tyme Out, are nominated in six categories: Entertainer of the Year, Song of the Year [“Hard Rock Mountain Prison (‘Till I Die)”], Album of the Year (IIIrd Tyme Out), Male Vocalist, Gospel Recorded Performance (“The Eastern Gate”) and Vocal Group of the Year—an award the band received seven times from 1994-2000.

Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper, Sam Bush and The Grascals racked up five nominations each. Cleveland, the seven-time Fiddle Player of the Year who could match Stuart Duncan’s eight-year record in this category in 2010, leads a band nominated for Entertainer of the Year, Instrumental Group, Bass Player (Marshall Wilborn), Mandolin (Jesse Brock) and Fiddle Player of the Year.

Recognized as the “Father of Newgrass,” Sam Bush returned to his musical roots for his latest album, Circles Around Me, nominated for Album of the Year. Sam and his band are also nominated for Instrumental Group of the Year, Instrumental Recorded Performance (“Blue Mountain”), Mandolin Player of the Year, and Song of the Year for “The Ballad of Stringbean and Estelle”—composed by Bush with Guy Clark and Verlon Thompson about the 1973 murder of Grand Ole Opry star David “Stringbean” Akeman and his wife by burglars in their rural Tennessee home.

The Grascals borrowed a pop song from The Monkees, “Last Train to Clarksville,” and ‘grassed it up as the first radio single and video from their fourth album, The Famous Lefty Flynn’s. They’ve been opening for the Hank Williams “Rowdy Friends” tour along with Jamey Johnson, Eric Church, Gretchen Wilson and Sunny Sweeney, among others. Bocephus also recorded a duet that his father co-wrote with Bill Monroe, “I’m Blue, I’m Lonesome,” for the new Grascals album. The Grascals, nominated for Entertainer and Album of the Year (The Famous Lefty Flynn’s), are also recognized in the Instrumental Recorded Performance and Recorded Event categories with “Blue Rock Slide” and “I’m Blue, I’m Lonesome.” Two-time Banjo Player of the Year, Kristin Scott Benson, is nominated again for the award.

Along with the Grascals/Hank, Jr. collaboration, several interesting cross-genre compositions show up in the IBMA Recorded Event of the Year category: Blue Highway with Americana star Darrell Scott, Larry Stephenson with legendary country music couple Marty Stuart and Connie Smith, and Claire Lynch with singer/songwriter icon Jesse Winchester.

The Gibson Brothers were nominated in four categories; and the Josh Williams Band, Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder and The Del McCoury Band received three nods each.

After celebrating 50 years in the music business with a boxed set of newly recorded favorites, nine-time Entertainer of the Year Del McCoury is still going strong. In addition to touring and recording with Del, brothers Rob & Ronnie McCoury and the band are performing together as “The Travelin’ McCourys,” playing a string of gigs with the Lee Boys—a group that blends R&B, gospel, hip-hop, rock and steel guitar-drenched country. Del’s band also backed up country star Dierks Bentley on a nation-wide tour in support of his new bluegrass/acoustic album, Up on the Ridge.

Award-winning bands like the Infamous Stringdusters continue to evolve and define their own original bluegrass-based sounds, and comedian/movie star Steve Martin took his banjo on the road this year to tour with the Steep Canyon Rangers. Larry Stephenson celebrated 20 years in the business with his most successful album ever, Blue Highway released an impressive 15th anniversary compilation, and both The Gibson Brothers and Junior Sisk gathered new momentum, powered by strong releases on Compass and Rebel Records, respectively.

The bluegrass industry’s highest honors of the year go to the new members of the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame. This year’s inductees are singer/songwriter, banjo and fiddle stylist John Hartford and the pioneering business manager of Flatt & Scruggs, The Earl Scruggs Revue and Earl Scruggs Family & Friends, Louise Scruggs. Hartford passed away in 2001, and we lost Mrs. Scruggs in 2006. To learn more about this year’s Hall of Fame inductees, please click here.

IBMA’s Distinguished Achievement Award is an honor which recognizes individuals, groups and businesses for ground-breaking work and fostering the music’s image and accessibility. This year’s recipients are bluegrass fiddler, songwriter and mentor Benjamin F. “Tex” Logan; long-time radio broadcaster and emcee from Mt. Airy, North Carolina, Sherry Boyd; singer, multi-instrumentalist and band leader Lynn Morris; Bear Family Records’ Richard Weize of Germany, and Pete “Dr. Banjo” Wernick, who served 15 years as IBMA’s president, along with playing banjo in the legendary band Hot Rize and leading scores of instructional camps and workshops around the world. To learn more about this year’s recipients, pleasc

Tickets for the IBMA Awards, bluegrass music’s most exciting night of the year, are available at 888-438-4262, (615) 256-3222 and www.ibma.org. Tickets are also on sale at the Ryman Auditorium box office.

The IBMA Awards will be broadcast live on Sirius XM Satellite Radio (Bluegrass Junction, Channel 14) and will also be syndicated to more than 300 U.S. markets and 14 foreign networks thanks to the sponsorship of Martha White, GHS Strings, Sugar Hill Records, Deering Banjos and the International Bluegrass Music Museum. Program directors and station managers may sign up to be affiliates online at www.ibma.org.

The International Bluegrass Music Awards are voted on by the professional membership of the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA), which serves as the trade association for the bluegrass music industry. The IBMA Award Show is the centerpiece of the World of Bluegrass week, including the industry’s Business Conference and Bluegrass Fan Fest, which takes place September 27 – October 3 in Nashville. For a full list of the 2010 nominees, please click here.

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For general information, please contact:
Nancy Cardwell
IBMA
nancyc@ibma.org
615.256.3222