Tag: bluegrass junction

See the Nominees for the 37th Annual IBMA Awards

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

This morning, July 15, 2026, the International Bluegrass Music Association announced the nominees and recipients for the 37th Annual IBMA Bluegrass Music Awards at a special unveiling ceremony at the SiriusXM offices and studios in downtown Nashville, Tennessee. The event was co-hosted by Bluegrass Junction on-air host Joey Black with Alison Brown and Stephen Mougin, and was broadcast live over SiriusXM Bluegrass Junction and the IBMA Facebook page. Artists Mason Via and Bronwyn gave special live performances and each received nominations, too – Via for New Artist of the Year and Bronwyn for Fiddle Player of the Year.

Nominated for Entertainer of the Year, arguably the highest honor each year at the IBMA Awards, are Billy Strings, Alison Krauss & Union Station, Sister Sadie, East Nash Grass, and the Del McCoury Band. Meanwhile, the projects nominated for Album of the Year are Can’t Outrun the Blues (Trey Hensley), All Will Be Well (Sister Sadie), All God’s Children (East Nash Grass), Della Jane’s Heart (Appalachian Road Show), and Songs That Sing Me (Becky Buller).

Bryan Sutton is nominated in a handful of categories: Guitar Player of the Year, Instrumental Recording of the Year (“Grandfather’s Clock” with Sierra Hull), and twice for his hilarious and excellent music video for “The Devil Went Down to Deep Gap,” which gained nominations for Music Video of the Year and Collaborative Recording of the Year. Along with his nomination for Entertainer of the Year, Billy Strings is also included in Sutton’s nominations for “The Devil Went Down to Deep Gap,” on which he’s featured, as well as receiving nominations for Instrumental Group of the Year, Collaborative Recording of the Year (with Tony Trischka on “Gentle on my Mind”), and Guitar Player of the Year.

Steve Martin and Alison Brown’s collaborative album, Safe, Sensible And Sane, garnered a handful of nominations for its tracks as well, including Song of the Year, Instrumental Recording of the Year, Collaborative Recording of the Year, and Music Video of the Year. Sister Sadie earned nominations in quite a few categories, as a group and its individual members as well; along with their Entertainer of the Year and Album of the Year noms they’ve landed in Vocal Group of the Year, Collaborative Recording of the Year, and Music Video of the Year. Meanwhile, Dolly Parton is nominated with the Grascals for their collaborative track, “Broken Angels,” in Song of the Year, Collaborative Recording of the Year, and Music Video of the Year.

Representing the up-and-coming artists keeping the music alive and well, the ballot for New Artist of the Year for 2026 includes Jaelee Roberts, Mason Via, Carson Peters & Iron Mountain, Vickie Vaughn, and Daniel Grindstaff & the Uptown Troubadours. Plus, this year’s class of inductees into the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame include Byron Berline, Nashville Bluegrass Band, Barry Poss, and the Lost & Found.

Find the full list of nominees, inductees, and Distinguished Achievement Awards recipients below. And make your plans now to be there for the “biggest night in bluegrass.” The IBMA Bluegrass Music Awards will be held in the fall in Chattanooga, Tennessee, during the organization’s annual business conference, World of Bluegrass, on Thursday, October 22. Conference passes and awards show and festival tickets are on sale now.

ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR

Billy Strings
Alison Krauss & Union Station
Sister Sadie
East Nash Grass
The Del McCoury Band

VOCAL GROUP OF THE YEAR

Alison Krauss & Union Station
Authentic Unlimited
Sister Sadie
Blue Highway
Red Camel Collective

INSTRUMENTAL GROUP OF THE YEAR

Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper
Billy Strings
The Travelin’ McCourys
East Nash Grass
Appalachian Road Show

SONG OF THE YEAR

“Broken Angels”
Artist: The Grascals and Dolly Parton
Songwriters: Dolly Parton/Jamie Johnson
Producer: Kent Wells
Label: Billy Blue Records

“Can’t Outrun the Blues”
Artist: Trey Hensley
Songwriters: Trey Hensley/Bobby Starnes
Producer: Brent Maher
Label: Pinecastle Records

“New Cluck Old Hen”
Artist: Steve Martin and Alison Brown (Feat. Della Mae)
Arrangement: Steve Martin/Alison Brown
Producers: Alison Brown/Garry West
Label: Compass Records

“Cost of Living”
Artist: Authentic Unlimited
Songwriter: Jerry Cole
Producer: Authentic Unlimited
Label: Edisonic Records

“Finding Your Way Home”
Artist: Red Camel Collective
Songwriters: Heather Berry Mabe/Joseph Scott Patrick
Producer: Red Camel Collective/Stephen Burwell
Label: Pinecastle Records

ALBUM OF THE YEAR

Can’t Outrun the Blues
Artist: Trey Hensley
Producer: Brent Maher
Label: Pinecastle Records

All Will Be Well
Artist: Sister Sadie
Producer: Deanie Richardson
Label: Mountain Home Music Company

All God’s Children
Artist: East Nash Grass
Producers: Jake Stargel/East Nash Grass
Label: Mountain Fever Records

Della Jane’s Heart
Artist: Appalachian Road Show
Producer: Appalachian Road Show
Label: Billy Blue Records

Songs That Sing Me
Artist: Becky Buller
Producer: Stephen Mougin
Label: Dark Shadow Recording

GOSPEL RECORDING OF THE YEAR

“I Will Someday”
Artist: NewFound Road
Songwriters: Ronnie Bowman/Garnet Bowman/Chris Stapleton/Morgane Stapleton
Producer: Tim Shelton
Label: Billy Blue Records

“Where the Soul Never Dies”
Artist: Bobby Osborne & C.J. Lewandowski
Songwriter: William M. Golden
Producer: C.J. Lewandowski
Label: Turnberry Records

“Some Day”
Artist: Blue Highway
Songwriters: Olive Stockton/Tim Stafford
Producer: Blue Highway/Dan Boner
Label: Rounder Records

“You Don’t Knock”
Artist: Darin & Brooke Aldridge with John Cowan
Songwriters: Cedar Walton/Wesley Westbrooks
Producer: Mark Fain/Darin Aldridge
Label: Billy Blue Records

“Two Old Church Pews”
Artist: Danny Paisley
Songwriters: Mark “Brink” Brinkman/Daryl Mosley
Producer: Greg Cole
Label: Pinecastle Records

INSTRUMENTAL RECORDING OF THE YEAR

“Grandfather’s Clock”
Artist: Bryan Sutton and Sierra Hull
Songwriter: Henry Clay Work arr. Bryan Sutton/Sierra Hull
Producer: Bryan Sutton
Label: Mountain Home Music Company

“Big Daddy Rabbit”
Artist: Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper (Feat. Nathan Livers)
Songwriter: Nathan Livers
Producer: Michael Cleveland
Label: Yeah, Man Records

“Cacklin’ Hen”
Artist: Deanie Richardson and Kimber Ludiker
Songwriter: Traditional
Producer: Deanie Richardson
Label: Mountain Home Music Company

“Let’s Get Out of Here”
Artist: Steve Martin and Alison Brown
Songwriters: Alison Brown/Steve Martin
Producers: Alison Brown/Garry West
Label: Compass Records

“Tom & Jerry”
Artist: Andy Leftwich
Songwriter: Traditional
Producer: Andy Leftwich
Label: Mountain Home Music Company

NEW ARTIST OF THE YEAR

Jaelee Roberts
Mason Via
Carson Peters & Iron Mountain
Vickie Vaughn
Daniel Grindstaff & the Uptown Troubadours

COLLABORATIVE RECORDING OF THE YEAR

“Broken Angels”
Artist: The Grascals and Dolly Parton
Songwriters: Dolly Parton/Jamie Johnson
Producer: Kent Wells
Label: Billy Blue Records

“Gentle on My Mind”
Artist: Tony Trischka and Billy Strings
Songwriter: John Hartford
Producer: Tony Trischka/Lawson White
Label: Down the Road Records

“New Cluck Old Hen”
Artist: Steve Martin and Alison Brown (Feat. Della Mae)
Songwriters: Arr. Steve Martin/Alison Brown
Producers: Alison Brown/Garry West
Label: Compass Records

“The Devil Went Down to Deep Gap”
Artist: Bryan Sutton with Billy Strings
Songwriters: Tom Crain/Charlie Daniels/Taz DiGregorio/Fred Edwards/Charlie Hayward/James W. Marshall adapted by Bryan Sutton/Billy Strings
Producer: Bryan Sutton
Label: Mountain Home Music Company

“Just a Holler Over”
Artist: Sister Sadie and The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys
Songwriters: Robin Macy/Deanie Richardson
Producer: Sister Sadie/C.J. Lewandowski
Label: Mountain Home Music Company

MALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR

Dan Tyminski
Russell Moore
Greg Blake
Del McCoury
Trey Hensley

FEMALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR

Alison Krauss
Jaelee Roberts
Heather Berry Mabe
Sierra Hull
AJ Lee

BANJO PLAYER OF THE YEAR

Kristin Scott Benson
Gena Britt
Ron Block
Alison Brown
Tony Trischka

BASS PLAYER OF THE YEAR

Mike Bub
Vickie Vaughn
Missy Raines
Barry Bales
Alan Bartram

FIDDLE PLAYER OF THE YEAR

Michael Cleveland
Jason Carter
Bronwyn Keith-Hynes
Deanie Richardson
Andy Leftwich

RESOPHONIC GUITAR PLAYER OF THE YEAR

Justin Moses
Jerry Douglas
Rob Ickes
Andy Hall
Matt Leadbetter

GUITAR PLAYER OF THE YEAR

Trey Hensley
Billy Strings
Bryan Sutton
Cody Kilby
Molly Tuttle

MANDOLIN PLAYER OF THE YEAR

Sierra Hull
Ronnie McCoury
Jesse Brock
Sam Bush
Alan Bibey

MUSIC VIDEO OF THE YEAR

“Broken Angels”
Artist: The Grascals and Dolly Parton
Videographer: Natalie Simmons
Producer: Olly Rowland

“The Devil Went Down to Deep Gap”
Artist: Bryan Sutton with Billy Strings
Animator: Pat Bradley, SpringShoe Animation
Producer: Josh Serrato

“Ralph’s Banjo Special”
Artist: Kristin Scott Benson, Gena Britt, & Alison Brown
Videographer: Joseph Spence
Producer: Alison Brown

“New Cluck Old Hen”
Artist: Steve Martin, Alison Brown (Feat. Della Mae)
Videographer: Drew Levin
Producer: Alison Rose Gregory/Scott Roberts

“Let the Circle Be Broken”
Artist: Sister Sadie
Videographer: David Rossow
Producer: Joshua Britt/Neilson Hubbard

BLUEGRASS MUSIC HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES

Byron Berline
Nashville Bluegrass Band
Barry Poss
The Lost & Found

DISTINGUISHED ACHIEVEMENT AWARD RECIPIENTS

Gallagher Guitars
Matt Glaser
Derek Halsey
Marshall Family
Gary Reid

Photo Credit: Steve Martin and Alison Brown by Beth Herzhaft; Bryan Sutton courtesy of the artist; Jamie Johnson and Dolly Parton via Billy Blue Records. 

LISTEN: Chris Jones & The Night Drivers, “Step Out in the Sunshine”

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Artist: Chris Jones & The Night Drivers
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “Step Out in the Sunshine”
Album: Pages In Your Hand
Release Date: October 6, 2023
Label: Mountain Home Music Company

In Their Words: “Ralph Stanley’s early 1970s Clinch Mountain Boys lineup of Roy Lee Centers, Jack Cooke, Curly Ray Cline, Keith Whitley, and Ricky Skaggs was a golden era for his band, in my opinion, and in my mid-teens their music was a major influence on me as I was just getting serious about playing music. The gospel album they did, Cry From the Cross, was and remains my favorite bluegrass gospel album of all time. It inspired my lead singing and guitar playing, and without consciously trying to do it, I learned to sing the baritone harmony part from Jack Cooke.

“I still have and cherish the original LP that I bought when I was around 15, though the jacket is a little battered and my name is written in brown magic marker on the back — because, you know, other kids in high school were likely to try to steal my Ralph Stanley records. I wanted to record a song from the album that I hadn’t heard anyone else do and that hadn’t become a Ralph Stanley standard, and so I was drawn to ‘Step Out in the Sunshine.’ We rearranged it slightly to fit our sound but it remains a tribute to the Stanley original.” – Chris Jones

Track Credits:
Chris Jones – acoustic guitar, lead vocal
Marshall Wilborn – bass
Mark Stoffel – mandolin, harmony vocal
Grace van’t Hof – banjo, harmony vocal

Photo Credit: Sandlin Gaither

The Dead South Have a Message for Bluegrass Purists

Posted on by Editor

The Dead South is actually from up north, but the Canadian band has cultivated a following in stateside circles too. With a raucous approach to roots music, they’ve been guests of SiriusXM’s Bluegrass Junction, showcased at IBMA’s World of Bluegrass, and recorded their newest album, Sugar & Joy, in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. Upon its release, they debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s top bluegrass albums chart.

That grand entrance is setting the stage for significant touring over the winter, with West Coast dates starting in November, followed by Midwest gigs in December. They’ve already confirmed European dates for February through May 2020.

Formed in 2012, the band is back in its original lineup of Nate Hilts (vocals, guitar, mandolin), Scott Pringle (guitar, mandolin, vocals), Danny Kenyon (cello, vocals) and Colton Crawford (banjo). Maybe it’s important to note that there’s neither a fiddle player nor a drummer in this band — or you know, maybe it doesn’t matter one bit. Hilts and Crawford chatted with BGS during some downtime at IBMA’s World of Bluegrass business conference.

BGS: “Diamond Ring” but doesn’t end well for one of the characters, which is common in bluegrass. What story were you trying to tell in this song?

Nate Hilts: It’s a story of a man who’s trying to appease his partner. She finds that a diamond ring would make her happy and so he is going to do whatever he can to make sure that he gets that diamond ring for her. And it turns out to be a tragic ending, of course. Just like all of the songs I write. [Laughs]

Did you know it would end so gruesome?

NH: You know what, no! But when you’re doing a video it’s like, yeah, we need a body count!

Videos have been a crucial part of your career. Do you find that that’s been a good way to be introduced to new fans?

Colton Crawford: Yeah, I think so. We had our first big splash with the “In Hell I’ll Be In Good Company” video. So I think a lot of our fans discover us through YouTube. I think like our songs work well with music videos, too. They’re cinematic and “soundtrack-y.” We’re definitely inspired by film soundtracks and Tarantino and Spaghetti Westerns.

Are there filmmakers that inspire you or that really resonate with you?

CC: Clint Eastwood for sure. Tarantino for sure. Even those old B horror films, Wes Craven and that kind of stuff.

NH: You could give us an array of movies and we’ll find stuff that we like about it. Who did Drive?

CC: That was Nicholas Winding Refn. That movie is all about the atmosphere. I think our songs are kind of like that too.

Was there a certain encounter that triggered you to write “Blue Trash”?

CC: Lyrically, yes. [Laughs]. This one was a lot of fun for me because the verses and the chorus are the same banjo part. It’s just the choruses are played in halftime with that shuffle feel, but it’s the same thing. I do a couple of different bends and stuff like that. I came up with that slow part first and wanted to “Scruggs-ify” that slow part, so it was a lot of fun.

NH: But lyrically that song was triggered by listening to a purist group on Bluegrass Junction [that was dismissing] bands like us, who aren’t quite pure. You know, we stem from bluegrass, but we do our own thing with it. And this song we heard was basically telling us to go away.

CC: “Blue Trash” is sort of like a cheeky love letter to bluegrass. It’s a bit of a response to that.

NH: It’s not a hateful or hurtful response. It’s more like, you know what, we’re here and we love bluegrass music.

So what’s your response when someone’s like, “Well, they don’t play bluegrass…”?

NH: “Yes, you’re absolutely right, but what do you want us to do?” We’re not saying that we’re playing bluegrass. We love bluegrass. The reason that this band was started was bluegrass. And here’s what we do with bluegrass. We take our parts of it. Colton on the banjo, he’s playing better than half the folks you hear on Bluegrass Junction, and [it’s] fantastic that we can have those elements, but we’re not claiming to be the best, or to be stealing it. We’re just trying to be a part of the community and play music.

Tell me about what you mean when you say the band started because of bluegrass.

NH: Oh, when I first met Colton, I was listening to a lot of Old Crow Medicine Show and Trampled By Turtles and listening to some older bluegrass. Colton had just got a banjo, started playing.

CC: Steve Martin was the first actual banjo player that I listened to. Actually there were indie bands that I was into in high school and university, like Modest Mouse — their one record Good News For People Who Love Bad News, there’s a lot of banjo on that. I always just loved the sound of it. And then I discovered that Steve Martin was a world class picker.

I was always a metal guitarist. So there was actually a lot of crossover. I just love that fast picking style… Growing up, my guitar lessons were all classical fingerstyle guitar, but then I played in metal bands in high school. So the banjo is like the perfect middle ground between an acoustic fingerstyle guitar and metal guitar.

Colton, did you take some time off?

CC: I did, yeah. When we first started the band, we just hit the ground running with the touring and we were making no money. So we’d be on the road for a month and a half to two months at a time in a minivan, playing every single day. … I’ve always had this tough time sleeping, but I had a year of really, really bad insomnia. I think the worst part about insomnia is that you’d think at a certain point you get so exhausted that your body would just pass out and you’d have a great sleep. But the thing with insomnia is the more tired you get, the less likely you are to sleep. It’s the worst, it’s just hell.

I went through a year of that and I just said, OK, I’ve got to step away from this. And of course, like two weeks after I left, “In Hell I’ll Be In Good Company” got posted to Reddit and everything started to blow up. But I was still really good friends with Nate, kept in touch with the guys all the time, always figured that’d be part of writing the next record regardless. And then I got some help and figured it out a little bit. Then sort of approaching it a couple of years later, I just said, you know, I want to take another swing. Thankfully these guys, they could’ve told me to fuck off, but they didn’t. So I’m grateful for that.

NH: Yeah, Colton wouldn’t even look me in the eyes when he sat down with me. He was doing a lot of this [looking down]… “I’ve been thinking…” and just staring at the table and I’m like, “What’s he going to say? What’s coming?”

CC: I had no idea how you guys were going to react at all.

NH: He said, “Hey, we should go for a beer, I want to talk about something.” I was like, “I think he’s going to come back.” [Laughs]. In our minds I was like, he’s probably never coming back because we travel a lot and that was a big, big part of it. So what do you do? Unless we stop traveling as much as we focus just on writing or something.

CC: It’s not realistic.

NH: Yeah, for what we do, besides YouTube content, the way that we’re able to function so well is by touring.

CC: Yeah. Our main product is our live show. I love our records but definitely our show is what we do.

Tell me about when you’re off stage. What is your dynamic like?

CC: It’s pretty much just like this. Just hanging out and everyone gets along pretty well for the most part, which is really nice. We’ve been a band for almost seven years now and we still like being around each other, so that’s good. Yeah, it’s a lot of fun. We always say we’re friends first, a band second, and a business third, so we try and keep that in mind.

What do you hope people will take away from that experience of seeing you guys play live?

CC: I think most people show up for a really, really good time, and that’s what we’re trying to do. We’re not a political band. We don’t really have any kind of message. I think our main focus with the live show is just fun. It’s a weird thing because it’s almost frowned upon in the arts. You know, [the perception is that] if something’s fun, it can’t really be true art. We don’t agree with that at all. I don’t think there’s enough fun these days. Everything’s so serious all the time, so we just want people to come and enjoy themselves and have some fun.

It stands out when a band’s having fun, because there’s a lot of serious songwriting and sadness out there.

NH: We write tragically, but a lot of times we have humorous spins on stuff, or the song sounds super cheery but it’s actually quite sad. But we still have fun with it. We don’t take ourselves too seriously.

Photo credit: Brandon White