Bluegrass music awards

The International Bluegrass Music Awards were held last night at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee by the International Bluegrass Music Association. This is an annual event and was the 21st anniversary of the association's awards show. Dailey & Vincent garnered the big award, Entertainer of the Year as a repeat of last year's award. The duo also won the Vocal Group of the Year award. Long time bluegrass music artists Claire Lynch took home best female vocalist and Russell Moore of Russell Moore and IIIrd Tyme Out took the male vocalist awards.

This year's awards held some surprised and also some repeat award winners. The treasured Entertainer of the Year award was again taken home by Dailey & Vincent who also won last year's trophy. New names to the awards roster included both the female and the male vocalists of the year. Claire Lynch and Russell Moore won their respective titles. Claire Lynch also won the award in 1997 and Russell Moore has won his title in 1994 and 1997.

The Emerging Artist of the Year is a favorite of many bluegrass music fans and this year the competition was tight. The Josh Williams Band won the title. Josh Williams 'Down Home' was his debut solo release this year and is an awesome album. Others up for the award included Balsam Range, Sierra Hull & Highway 111, Danny Paisley & The Southern Grass, and Junior Sisk & Ramblers Choice.

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.

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.