See the Winners of the 2025 IBMA Bluegrass Music Awards

Tonight, September 18, 2025, the International Bluegrass Music Association held their 36th Annual IBMA Bluegrass Music Awards at the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Auditorium in Chattanooga, Tennessee – the organization’s first awards show presented in their new host city.

The IBMA Awards are designed to be peer-to-peer, voted on by the professional membership of the IBMA, performers, artists, industry professionals, broadcasters, and beyond. As a result, the show this year – which was hosted by the hilarious and talented duo of Steve Martin and Alison Brown – was an evening celebrating mutual admiration, mentorship, sharing, and the diverse ways all of this music’s creators celebrate tradition, and the innovation at its core. That phenomenon has been a hallmark of the IBMA Awards over all of their 36 years. Through the many categories there were a wide array of winners from across generations, styles, and levels of notoriety.

Bluegrass’s most prominent artist at the moment, Billy Strings, took home the night’s highest honor, Entertainer of the Year – his fourth such trophy. Alison Krauss, who recently returned to the road with a brand new album, Arcadia, for the first time in 14 years, received her fifth Female Vocalist of the Year award, her first since 1995. Jason Carter & Michael Cleveland received three awards for their superlative debut album together and its songs including Album of the Year, Song of the Year, and Collaborative Recording of the Year.

Women were represented in force across the many categories this year, remarkable given the sheer number of years where women nominees were absent entirely or merely counted in the single digits. Along with Krauss winning Female Vocalist women took home trophies in many more categories: Gospel Recording of the Year (Jaelee Roberts; writer, Kelsi Harrigill); Instrumental Recording of the Year (Kristin Scott Benson, Gena Britt, Alison Brown); Banjo Player of the Year (Kristin Scott Benson); Bass Player of the Year (Vickie Vaughn); Fiddle Player of the Year (Maddie Denton); and Mandolin Player of the Year (Sierra Hull).

During the IBMA Bluegrass Music Awards, the 2025 class of Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame inductees were honored with speeches, plaque presentations, and incredibly special musical performances. This year’s inductees include Hot Rize, The Bluegrass Cardinals, and Arnold Schultz, the first Black person to ever be elected to the hall, the association’s highest honor, since it was begun in 1991.

IBMA’s World of Bluegrass business conference and IBMA Bluegrass Live! festival continue in Chattanooga through Saturday, September 20. Get more information on the event and purchase tickets for Bluegrass Live! here. Below, check out all of the winners at this year’s 2025 IBMA Bluegrass Music Awards.

(Winners denoted in bold.)

ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR 

Alison Krauss & Union Station
Appalachian Road Show
Billy Strings
East Nash Grass
The Del McCoury Band

SONG OF THE YEAR 

“5 Days Out, 2 Days Back” – Alison Brown, Steve Martin, Featuring Tim O’Brien
Songwriters: Steve Martin, Alison Brown
Producers: Alison Brown, Garry West
Label: Compass Records

“Big Wheels” – Authentic Unlimited
Songwriter: Jerry Cole
Producer: Authentic Unlimited
Label: Billy Blue Records

“Coal Dust Kisses” – The Grascals
Songwriters: Susanne Mumpower, Jerry Salley
Producer: The Grascals
Label: Mountain Home Music Company

“My Favorite Picture of You” – Darin & Brooke Aldridge
Songwriters: Darin Aldridge, Brooke Aldridge, Dennis Duff
Producers: Darin Aldridge, Mark Fain
Label: Billy Blue Records

“Outrun the Rain” – Jason Carter & Michael Cleveland
Songwriters: Terry Herd, Jimmy Yeary
Producers: Jason Carter, Michael Cleveland
Label: Fiddle Man Records

ALBUM OF THE YEAR 

Arcadia – Alison Krauss & Union Station
Producer: Alison Krauss & Union Station
Label: Down the Road Records

Carter & Cleveland – Jason Carter & Michael Cleveland
Producers: Jason Carter, Michael Cleveland
Label: Fiddle Man Records

Earl Jam – Tony Trischka
Producers: Tony Trischka, Lawson White
Label: Down the Road Records

Highway Prayers – Billy Strings
Producers: Billy Strings, Jon Brion
Label: Reprise Records

I Built a World – Bronwyn Keith-Hynes
Producers: Brent Truitt, Bronwyn Keith-Hynes
Label: Sugar Petunia Records

VOCAL GROUP OF THE YEAR 

Alison Krauss & Union Station
Authentic Unlimited
Blue Highway
Sister Sadie
The Del McCoury Band

INSTRUMENTAL GROUP OF THE YEAR 

Billy Strings
East Nash Grass
Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper
Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway
The Travelin’ McCourys

GOSPEL RECORDING OF THE YEAR 

“Blue Collar Gospel” – Jerry Salley Featuring The Oak Ridge Boys
Songwriters: Rick Lang, Bill Whyte, Jerry Salley
Producer: Jerry Salley
Label: Billy Blue Records

“Dear Lord” – Darin & Brooke Aldridge
Songwriter: Daniel Davis
Producers: Darin Aldridge, Mark Fain
Label: Billy Blue Records

“Even Better When You Listen” – Joe Mullins & The Radio Ramblers
Songwriters: Rick Lang, Mark BonDurant
Producer: Joe Mullins & The Radio Ramblers
Label: Billy Blue Records

“He’s Gone” – Jaelee Roberts
Songwriter: Kelsi Harrigill
Producer: Byron House
Label: Mountain Home Music Company

“Wings of Love” – Authentic Unlimited
Songwriters: Jesse Brock, Stephen Burwell, Jerry Cole, Eli Johnston, John Meador
Producer: Authentic Unlimited
Label: Billy Blue Records

INSTRUMENTAL RECORDING OF THE YEAR 

“Bluegrass in the Backwoods” – Jason Carter & Michael Cleveland
Songwriter: Kenny Baker
Producers: Jason Carter, Michael Cleveland
Label: Fiddle Man Records

“The Drifter” – Danny Roberts
Songwriter: Danny Roberts
Producers: Danny Roberts, Andrea Roberts
Label: Mountain Home Music Company

“A Drive at Dusk” – Authentic Unlimited
Songwriter: Jesse Brock
Producer: Authentic Unlimited
Label: Billy Blue Records

“Kern County Breakdown” – Jason Carter & Michael Cleveland
Songwriter: Buck Owens, Don Rich
Producers: Jason Carter, Michael Cleveland
Label: Fiddle Man Records

“Ralph’s Banjo Special” – Kristin Scott Benson, Gena Britt, Alison Brown
Songwriter: Ralph Stanley
Producer: Alison Brown
Label: Compass Records

NEW ARTIST OF THE YEAR 

AJ Lee & Blue Summit
Bronwyn Keith-Hynes
Jason Carter
Red Camel Collective
Wyatt Ellis

COLLABORATIVE RECORDING OF THE YEAR 

“5 Days Out, 2 Days Back” – Alison Brown & Steve Martin Featuring Tim O’Brien
Songwriters: Steve Martin, Alison Brown
Producer: Alison Brown, Garry West
Label: Compass Records

“A Million Memories (A Song for Byron)” – Darin & Brooke Aldridge Featuring Vince Gill
Songwriter: Vince Gill
Producers: Darin Aldridge, Mark Fain
Label: Billy Blue Records

“Cora Is Gone” – Bobby Osborne & C.J. Lewandowski Featuring Rob McCoury, Billy Strings
Songwriter: Mac Odell
Producer: C.J. Lewandowski
Label: Turnberry Records

“Outrun the Rain” – Jason Carter & Michael Cleveland, Jaelee Roberts, Vince Gill
Songwriters: Terry Herd, Jimmy Yeary
Producers: Jason Carter, Michael Cleveland
Label: Fiddle Man Records

“Ralph’s Banjo Special” – Kristin Scott Benson, Gena Britt, Alison Brown
Songwriter: Ralph Stanley
Producer: Alison Brown
Label: Compass Records

MALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR 

Billy Strings
Dan Tyminski
Del McCoury
Greg Blake
Russell Moore

FEMALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR 

AJ Lee
Alison Krauss
Brooke Aldridge
Jaelee Roberts
Sierra Hull

BANJO PLAYER OF THE YEAR 

Alison Brown
Gena Britt
Kristin Scott Benson
Ron Block
Tony Trischka

BASS PLAYER OF THE YEAR 

Barry Bales
Mike Bub
Missy Raines
Todd Phillips
Vickie Vaughn

FIDDLE PLAYER OF THE YEAR 

Bronwyn Keith-Hynes
Jason Carter
Maddie Denton
Michael Cleveland
Stuart Duncan

RESOPHONIC GUITAR PLAYER OF THE YEAR 

Andy Hall
Jerry Douglas
Justin Moses
Matt Leadbetter
Rob Ickes

GUITAR PLAYER OF THE YEAR 

Billy Strings
Bryan Sutton
Cody Kilby
Molly Tuttle
Trey Hensley

MANDOLIN PLAYER OF THE YEAR 

Alan Bibey
Jesse Brock
Ronnie McCoury
Sam Bush
Sierra Hull

MUSIC VIDEO OF THE YEAR 

“5 Days Out, 2 Days Back” – Alison Brown & Steve Martin Featuring Tim O’Brien
Songwriters: Steve Martin, Alison Brown
Producer: Alison Brown, Garry West
Videographer: Joseph Spence
Label: Compass Records

“A Million Memories (A Song for Byron)” – Darin & Brooke Aldridge Featuring Vince Gill
Songwriter: Vince Gill
Producer: Jenny Gill
Videographer: Travis Flynn
Label: Billy Blue Records

“Big Wheels” – Authentic Unlimited
Songwriter: Jerry Cole
Producers: Bryce Free, Kyle Johnson
Videographer: Bryce Free
Label: Billy Blue Records

“Gallows Pole” – Appalachian Road Show
Songwriter: Traditional, arr. Barry Abernathy, Jim VanCleve, Darrell Webb
Producer: Steve Kinney
Videographer: Steve Kinney
Label: Billy Blue Records

“Tennessee Hound Dog” – The Grascals
Songwriter: Felice Bryant, Boudleaux Bryant
Producer: Ty Gilpin
Videographer: Nate Shuppert
Label: Mountain Home Music Company

“The Auctioneer” – The Kody Norris Show
Songwriters: Leroy Van Dyke, Buddy Black
Producer: James Gilley
Videographer: Nate Wiles
Label: Rebel Records


Photo Credit: Billy Strings by Dana Trippe; Jason Carter & Michael Cleveland by Emma McCoury.

IBMA World of Bluegrass Arrives in Chattanooga

After 11 incredibly successful years of partnership with Raleigh, North Carolina, the International Bluegrass Music Association will holds its World of Bluegrass business conference and Bluegrass Live! festival for the first time in Chattanooga, Tennessee, this week. From September 16 to 20 the biggest week in bluegrass will return to Tennessee, this time nestled between the Tennessee River and the mountains, foothills, and ridgetops surrounding this lovely city rich in art, music, food, and culture. Chattanooga has a long history with bluegrass, old-time, and hillbilly music of all strains, so it’s sure to be a perfect home for World of Bluegrass.

As we like to do each year going into the week of events, music, and jamming we all colloquially refer to as “IBMA,” below you’ll find our preview of World of Bluegrass, Bluegrass Live!, the IBMA Bluegrass Music Awards, and the move to Chattanooga. You’ll find information on the festival lineup, official showcase artists playing the Bluegrass Ramble, the layout of the festival and conference footprint, and more. Plus, we’ll have a few tips and tricks for local attractions and must-do/must-see activities while you’re in the River City.

Not able to attend IBMA World of Bluegrass this year? Never fear! Select events and programs from the packed-full conference slate will be livestreamed. You can find info on how to tune in – and what you’ll be able to see – below.

We hope that we’ll see you in Chattanooga this week for IBMA World of Bluegrass!

The Footprint

You gotta know how to get around the new host city, right?! If, like us, you had gotten used to the layout and logistics of Raleigh over more than a decade of conferences held there, IBMA wants to give you a head start on getting around their lovely new territory in downtown Chattanooga. The convention center, awards show venue, and Bluegrass Ramble venues may be a bit more spread out than in Raleigh, but there are plenty of excellent bars, restaurants, and attractions to explore above, below, and in between so keep your eyes peeled as you stroll.

Don’t forget that the convention center itself is also a Bluegrass Ramble venue! The other handful of Bluegrass Ramble venues are just a couple of blocks away to the south. Plus, the five stages for the weekend festival, Bluegrass Live!, are just around the corner from the convention center, too, where the exhibit hall, workshop stage, and international stage will all be hoppin’ with activity.

Put on your explorer hat and your favorite step-tracking device, we’ve got ground to cover!

What To Do

The Tennessee Aquarium (Photo by Kelley Lacey).

While in Chattanooga, you simply must take advantage of the many first-rate and world-class attractions that stud the city like jewels downtown, on the outskirts, and on the mountaintops overlooking the city and Tennessee River. The Tennessee Aquarium, situated along the riverbanks just a handful of blocks from the conference and festival, is a beloved and award-winning non-profit institution that perfectly showcases the aquatic ecosystems of Appalachia, Tennessee, and the world. Their work through the Tennessee Aquarium Conservation Institute directly benefits the habitats you can see just outside their doors – that kind of local impact is something special. From sturgeon and hellbenders that call the waters around Chattanooga home to oceanic species of fish and jellyfish to exotic birds and reptiles, the Tennessee Aquarium is certainly worth a visit while you’re enjoying a week full of bluegrass.

The Lookout Mountain Incline Railway descends from Lookout Mtn. to Chattanooga. (Photo by Kelley Lacey).

There are far too many amazing Chattanooga-area attractions to list here, but your shortlist for off-site, non-bluegrass activities for the week of World of Bluegrass certainly ought to include Lookout Mountain (especially the Lookout Mountain Incline Railway), Ruby Falls, Rock City, the Creative Discovery Museum, the Hunter Museum of American Art, the Chattanooga Choo Choo Historic District, and many, many more.

Ruby Falls, an underground waterfall, on Lookout Mountain in Chattanooga.

World of Bluegrass

Now, don’t forget, IBMA World of Bluegrass is work. (Even if it doesn’t feel like it!) Don’t miss the many opportunities for networking, professional development, education, creative cross-pollination, and more during the business conference portion of World of Bluegrass, held Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday this week at the Chattanooga Convention Center.

The full schedule for the conference – with panels, showcases, luncheons, awards presentations, and much more – can be found here, so you can sketch out your priorities and must-sees.

A few highlights and standouts we see on the schedule that might inspire you: Jim Lauderdale himself leads Tai Chi each day, so you can start your day connecting with your body and warming yourself up after all-night jamming. On Tuesday, learn about ReString Appalachia, a non-profit program helping put instruments back in the hands of victims of Hurricane Helene. Plus, don’t miss the ever-popular Gig Fair that afternoon, too.

We’re especially excited for the keynote address on Tuesday evening, as our own podcast host and CBC broadcaster Tom Power interviews Billy Strings, with a performance by Junior Sisk to kick off the event. We’re excited to bring you the keynote conversation in the near future as a bonus episode of Toy Heart with Tom Power.

On Wednesday, up-and-comers in the IBMA scene will be honored at the Momentum Awards Luncheon, as well as mentors and industry players. It’s always an exciting and energetic event that celebrates talent, skill, and effort at all levels in bluegrass. Elsewhere in the afternoon, archivist, historian, and musician Jen Larson will dive into the legacy and impact of Bluegrass Hall of Famer Hazel Dickens with her presentation titled “Hazel Dickens, A Bluegrass Life and Legacy at 100.”

There will be town hall meetings throughout the week, as well, where IBMA members can voice their feedback, ideas, and concerns and take an active role in the organization’s future. On Wednesday, the DEI Town Hall will be held at 4:20 p.m. and on Thursday the general IBMA Town Hall will be held at 9 a.m.

Of course, Thursday is chocked full of great programming, too, but we’d be remiss if we did not point out Dom Flemons’ panel, “Rooted Rhythms: African American Contributions to Bluegrass Music.” The first panel of its sort at IBMA, there’s plenty to be learned about the true multi-ethnic origins of bluegrass at this presentation. Don’t miss the Industry Awards Luncheon, the IBMA Songwriter Showcase, and the Women’s Council Meeting on Thursday, too. And, of course, the conference all culminates Thursday night with the IBMA Bluegrass Music Awards show, held just up the road at the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Auditorium. Hosted this year by Steve Martin and Alison Brown, it promises to be an exciting and engaging celebration of bluegrass music and its makers yet again.

There’s so much more going on throughout the conference, so don’t forget to dive into the full schedule so you don’t miss a thing.

The Bluegrass Ramble

Now, how about some music!? On Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, IBMA Official Showcasing artists and bands will descend on Chattanooga for the Bluegrass Ramble, a series of performances held around official conference venues that will highlight the depth and breadth of the bluegrass scene while spotlighting artists and musicians with new albums, new shows, and new opportunities for bookers, promoters, industry professionals – and fans, of course!

Check out the full lineup of Bluegrass Ramble artists below, but here are a few we’re excited to catch while we’re in Chattanooga: fiddler and dancer Hillary Klug, who recently toured with Cirque du Soleil’s country show, Songblazers (watch above). There’s certainly a reason she’s amassed thousands and thousands of followers online. If you haven’t caught her electric and joyful show before, now is the time.

Some of the best bluegrass being made today is actually old-time, so we’re glad to see plenty of old-time, hillbilly, and mountain music represented throughout the week of World of Bluegrass and on Bluegrass Live! – we’re especially excited to catch showcases by George Jackson & Brad Kolodner.

Mountain Grass Unit are all the rage these days and if you haven’t yet had the chance to catch them live, don’t let your Bluegrass Ramble opportunities slip by. The cutting edge of jamgrass’s second (or third?) generation, these are shredders who can and will transport you beyond the bluegrass veil and into new horizons. These guys are going places and Chattanooga is just one stop on their journey to the stratosphere.

And what about the future of bluegrass? Oh yes, it’s in good hands, as nearly everyone declares when they encounter the picking and singing of young Wyatt Ellis and his band. Maybe “prodigy” is a tired description, but it’s certainly accurate in this case. We’ve covered Wyatt quite a bit over the years and always enjoy watching him grow, mature, and find himself in his music and picking style.

There are many more acts you won’t want to miss during the Bluegrass Ramble, of course! Here’s the full list of showcasing artists, duos, musicians, and bands at this year’s World of Bluegrass: Backline, Burnett Sisters Band, Caroline Owens & New Company, Darin & Brooke Aldridge, Foggy Mountain Spaceship, George Jackson & Brad Kolodner, Greenwood Rye, Hillary Klug, Jackson Hollow, Mark Schatz & Bryan McDowell, Mason Via, Michael Prewitt & CrunchGrass Supreme, Mike Mitchell Band, Mountain Grass Unit, Remedy Tree, Seth Mulder & Midnight Run, Special Consensus, The Faux Paws, The Foreign Landers, The Sentimental Gentlemen, The Sullivan Sisters, The Tennessee Bluegrass Band, The Unfaithful Servants, Under the Rocks, Veranda, Vickie Vaughn, and Wyatt Ellis.

How To Livestream

Tune in from afar, if you can’t be in Chattanooga with us! You can catch several events from World of Bluegrass streamed online for free! The keynote address with Billy Strings in conversation with Tom Power, the IBMA Momentum Awards, and the IBMA Industry and Distinguished Achievement Awards will all be livestreamed on IBMA’s Facebook page and YouTube Channel. Like/follow or subscribe now so you don’t miss a single stream: IBMA Facebook; IBMA YouTube.

The IBMA Bluegrass Music Awards, one of the most exciting nights of the year in bluegrass, will be carried exclusively by Volume.com. But don’t worry, livestream tickets are free! Tune in for once-in-a-lifetime performances, Hall of Fame inductions, and all of your favorite bands and instrumentalists taking home awards – as voted on by their peers and colleagues!

These livestreams are a great way to participate from afar while you plan your journey to join us in Chattanooga next year.

Bluegrass Live! 

On Friday and Saturday, September 19 and 20, IBMA Bluegrass Live! will bring the best in bluegrass, old-time, Americana, and beyond to the downtown streets of Chattanooga, superlative roots music wafting throughout the River City. Though you may be disappointed by the last minute headliner swap – Sierra Ferrell recently announced she wouldn’t be able to perform at IBMA – you should not despair, as this lineup boasts the absolute best in bluegrass from top to bottom and bottom to top. Gillian Welch & David Rawlings, direct from their Americana Honors & Awards win of Duo/Group of the Year, will be stepping in to fill Sierra Ferrell’s slot – what a pair of pinch hitters! Attendees will also enjoy performances by the Wood Brothers, Sierra Hull, Alison Brown, Sister Sadie, Michael Cleveland & Jason Carter, East Nash Grass, Bronwyn Keith-Hynes, and so many more.

Overwhelmed by your options here, too? We don’t blame you! There’s so much you won’t want to miss, so here’s the full schedule for IBMA Bluegrass Live! to help make your plans:

Tennessee Sounds Perfect Stage, located in Miller Park – Friday, September 19

2:05PM – 3:20PM Alison Brown
4:30PM – 5:45PM Jim Lauderdale & The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys
7PM – 8:15PM Sierra Hull
8:45PM – 10:15PM The Wood Brothers

Saturday, September 20

2:05PM – 3:20PM AJ Lee & Blue Summit
4:30PM – 5:45PM Michael Cleveland & Jason Carter
7PM – 8:15PM The Infamous Stringdusters
8:45PM – 10:15PM Gillian Welch & David Rawlings

Pinnacle Financial Partners Stage, located in Miller Plaza – Friday, September 19

1PM – 2PM DownRiver Collective
3:25PM – 4:25PM Mason Via
5:50PM – 6:50PM Trey Hensley

Saturday, September 20

1PM – 2PM The Often Herd
3:25PM – 4:25PM Wyatt Ellis
5:50PM – 6:50PM Mountain Grass Unit

Visit Chattanooga Stage, located in Patten Square – Friday, Saturday 19

1PM – 2PM Kids on Bluegrass
2:30PM – 3:30PM Peter Rowan Bluegrass Band
4PM – 5PM Missy Raines & Allegheny
5:30PM – 6:30PM Woody Platt & The Bluegrass Gentlemen
7:15PM – 8:45PM East Nash Grass

Saturday, Saturday 20

1PM – 2PM Kids on Bluegrass
2:30PM – 3:30PM Authentic Unlimited
4PM – 5PM Unspoken Tradition
5:30PM – 6:30PM Bronwyn Keith-Hynes
7:15PM – 8:45PM Sister Sadie

Don’t have your tickets yet? It’s not too late! Click here to purchase single and two-day tickets to Bluegrass Live! The festival will also include free programming on several stages, too, so there are options to enjoy for fans and audience members at all levels.

In fact, it’s not too late to line up admission for any part of World of Bluegrass, from the conference to the Bluegrass Ramble to the awards show to Bluegrass Live! You do want to join us in Chattanooga for the first year in this brand new beautiful host city, right? Get all the info on World of Bluegrass here and make your plans to join us – the fun gets officially going tomorrow, September 16, in the Scenic City.


Photos courtesy of Chattanooga Tourism Co., photo credits as marked. Lead image: Downtown Chattanooga by Kelley Lacey.

Graphics and logos courtesy of the International Bluegrass Music Association.

Molly Tuttle Always Leaves a Mark

Fresh off two back-to-back GRAMMY-winning albums, guitar virtuoso, songwriter, and artist Molly Tuttle is heading in bold new directions with her fifth solo release, So Long Little Miss Sunshine. A California native now based in Nashville, Tuttle embodies many sides of herself while staying rooted in where she comes from – both musically and geographically.

Already highly decorated as an instrumentalist (including two International Bluegrass Music Association awards for Guitar Player of the Year and the Americana Music Association’s Instrumentalist of the Year), Tuttle continues to captivate with her signature tone while stretching the boundaries of the genre that launched her. And she does it all with reverence and a playful sense of self-exploration.

From the scorching opener “Everything Burns” to the crush-worthy pop bop “That’s Gonna Leave a Mark” (co-written with Better Than Ezra frontman Kevin Griffin), the album weaves together personal reflections and observations of the world around her. It’s a colorful puzzle that reveals the many pieces of Tuttle.

When BGS sat down with her to discuss the album via Zoom, it was clear that her boundless curiosity about life and what’s next musically fuels everything she does. She spoke about her songwriting process, her reverence for her roots, the inspiration behind the album’s visual aesthetic, and how she’s already working on her next project.

You’ve called this record a departure, but to me it also feels like a distillation of all the people you’ve been, all the places you’ve gone, and all of who you are. Even though you’re experimenting with different genres, it feels cohesive—like you’re telling a story about yourself over a really diverse musical bed. Almost as diverse as the wigs on the cover of the record. Was there a lightbulb moment when this project came to life for you, or was it more of a gradual process?

Molly Tuttle: It was kind of a gradual idea. About a year ago, I was finishing the songs for this record. The first one I wrote was “Golden State of Mind,” a few years back, but for a long time, I just had this big batch of songs that didn’t feel like a cohesive grouping. Then last year, there was a light bulb moment where suddenly the songs really started flowing again, and it felt like I’d found this new voice – though it still connected to earlier songs like “Golden State of Mind” and “Everything Burns.” I reworked those older ones and then wrote about two-thirds of the record in the last year.

Making Crooked Tree and City of Gold helped me gain the confidence to do something different this time and not feel tethered to any particular style or genre. Those bluegrass records were me paying tribute to the music I grew up with, and once I did that, I felt free to branch out—try something bold and ambitious sonically while still tying it back to where I came from. I wanted to tie it to my past work but also really spring forward and try something new.

Did you have any trepidation about that shift?

I wasn’t really nervous, but we did have a lot of conversations about it – mainly between me and Jay Joyce, who produced the record. He first saw me play at the Ryman with Golden Highway, which was a bluegrass show, though we always stretched the boundaries a bit. The next day, he called me and said, “I think we should still incorporate your banjo playing and some acoustic elements.” That’s when we brought in Ketch [Secor] to play fiddle, banjo, and mandolin.

We wanted to make sure it didn’t feel like too far of a departure and that it still sounded like me. So we decided to make this a guitar record. Every song has guitar solos and I’m the only soloist on the album. That was new for me, and really exciting.

How did you end up working with Jay? Did you seek him out? Were you a fan of his work?

I actually wasn’t super familiar with him at first. I’d heard music he’d produced, but hadn’t connected it to him by name. During the pandemic, my manager, Ken Levitan, suggested I meet with Jay. Ken thought we’d work well together since Jay’s not only a producer, but also a great guitarist.

I played him some songs and liked his vibe, but at the time, I felt pulled to make Crooked Tree because I had those songs ready to go. Still, I always kept Jay in the back of my mind and really wanted to work with him eventually. Last year it fell into place: I sent him my new songs, we met again, and then started pre-production in the fall. I’m glad that I’d had that rapport with him for the last few years rather than just meeting him when we started making the record.

What was the studio experience like? Did it feel different from your past records?

Very different. We spent so much time on pre-production – more than I ever had before. We worked on arrangements, added solos, and rewrote bridges. By the time we brought in the band for a week of tracking, we already had these really fleshed-out demos. I’d played and sung a lot of my parts. Jay had been programming and I think Ketch had even played some of his parts already. We had a ton of tracks ready to go when we went into record.

Some of my demo takes even made it onto the final record, because I was just so relaxed, not feeling the pressure of having a set number of days to get it all done.

Much of this album was co-written with your partner, Ketch. What does writing with someone who knows you so well unlock for you?

Over time, we’ve developed a shared voice that feels like both of us. Earlier songs sometimes sounded more like his voice or mine, but now it feels like ours. He sees my daily life, so he can suggest ideas I might not have thought of, and that keeps the process flowing and honest.

Are you approaching the tour for this record differently than past tours?

It is going to be a little different. We’ve got some amazing special guests and openers joining us, and I’m excited to collaborate with them onstage.

The band is also super versatile: Ellen Angelico plays pedal steel, Dobro, banjo, and more, and Mary Meyer plays fiddle, mandolin, keys, and guitar. That range allows us to move between full-on rock moments and stripped-down acoustic sets, which fits perfectly with the mix of songs from this new record and my older ones.

The visual aesthetics of this record are striking. How did you land on the album cover concept?

Honestly, I didn’t have an idea at first. I was brainstorming on Pinterest and even asked a friend to pull tarot cards about it. She told me, “I think you already know the cover in your mind – you just need to uncover it.” Around that time, my friend Fletcher Moore sent me this grid of women with different hairstyles, and I was also looking at Let It Be by the Beatles. I thought, “What if I did something like that?”

This is the first time I’ve appeared without a wig on an album cover. I’ve worn wigs on all my past covers, but I wanted this one to feel more personal, like, “Hey, this is the real me.” At the same time, wigs are still a part of who I am. I wear them often, sometimes multiple in a day if I’m going to different things. What once felt like a source of insecurity when I was a kid now feels like a source of creativity.

So that inspired the cover, along with my song “Old Me, New Wig.” We had fun tying different hairstyles to songs – like a hippie look for “Summer of Love,” a goth look for “The Arsonist,” and even a Dolly Parton-inspired one. It was really fun but at the same time, I’m always nervous. I don’t want to distract from the music by making it all about the hair, but I like to have fun and experiment with it. It is something that feels unique to who I am.

That’s amazing. What inspired you musically and otherwise while making this record?

Playing with people like Sheryl Crow and Dave Matthews over the past few years has been hugely inspiring. I think you can hear echoes of artists like them.

As for books, I love California literature and that ends up inspiring some of the songs on the record. Angle of Repose [by Wallace Stegner] inspired some of this record and City of Gold. Joan Didion is another big one for me – her writing about California is just gorgeous.

You’re clearly prolific. Are you already working on what’s next?

After I finish a record, I usually take a little break from writing, just to focus on preparing the new music for live shows. But now I’m back at it – I’ve got about two-thirds of another record written already. I love being in the studio and I’m always chasing that feeling of making an even better record than the last. Touring slows down my writing a bit, but when I’m home, I’m already dreaming about what’s next.

Last question: from what I can tell, some fans feel a sense of ownership over your bluegrass identity. How has the reaction been to this new music?

Mostly supportive and loving, especially when I play the songs live. But yeah, when I released the first single, “That’s Gonna Leave a Mark,” probably the poppiest track on the record, some people online were like, “Oh my God, Taylor Swift!”

And it is not like I am never playing bluegrass again. Our shows are still half, if not more, bluegrass! I’ve stopped looking at online comments, because it’s not a real snapshot of what people are thinking and feeling.

But this is what I wanted to do. I wanted to shake things up. I feel like this record is full of little surprises. And if people are talking, that means they are paying attention. It means they care. If nobody said anything, I would be worried.


All photos by Ebru Yildiz.

See All the Nominees for the 36th Annual IBMA Awards

Today, July 16, 2025, the nominees, inductees, and recipients of the 36th Annual IBMA Bluegrass Music Awards were announced in Nashville, Tennessee at a special live event broadcast from SiriusXM’s studios co-hosted by Sierra Hull and Bluegrass Junction radio host and programmer Joey Black. The announcement broadcast also featured live on-air performances by Hull and the Travelin’ McCourys.

Alison Krauss & Union Station lead the nominations following the release of their first album in over a decade, Arcadia. Between Krauss, and Union Station’s band members, the group have amassed nine nominations, including Entertainer of the Year – for which their last win was in 1995 – Album of the Year, and Vocal Group of the Year. Billy Strings, who last took home an Entertainer of the Year trophy in 2023, received five nominations – for Entertainer of the Year, Album of the Year, Instrumental Group of the Year, Male Vocalist of the Year, and Guitar Player of the Year.

Alison Brown & Steve Martin have racked up a handful of nominations between them this year, too, and Jason Carter & Michael Cleveland’s excellent new duo album – and the pair of fiddlers themselves – appear all across the nominees list, the duo collecting nine nominations together and separately.

And, for the first time in the nearly 40-year history of the IBMA, a Black person will be inducted into the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame. Arnold Schultz, a seminal figure in bluegrass, blues, and old-time credited with greatly influencing the Father of Bluegrass, Bill Monroe, will be the first non-white member of the genre’s hall of honor.

“Our mission is to inspire innovation by recognizing the great work done by artists this past year and to honor tradition by inducting new members into the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame,” said Ken White, executive director of IBMA, via press release. “The early influence of Arnold Shultz on Bill Monroe continues to shine through in the playing of even the youngest member of Kids on Bluegrass.”

Joining Schultz in this year’s class of Hall of Fame inductees are the Bluegrass Cardinals and Hot Rize. Additionally, IBMA announced 2025 recipients of their Distinguished Achievement Award, including Alan Arthur Knoth, Penny Parsons, Ron Thomason, Sidney Austin, LLP, and Missy Raines.

IBMA’s annual conference, World of Bluegrass, the IBMA Bluegrass Music Awards, and the organization’s annual festival, IBMA Bluegrass Live! will take place this year in a brand new host city, Chattanooga, Tennessee. The conference will run September 16-18 at the Chattanooga Convention Center; the IBMA Bluegrass Ramble, the event’s showcase series, will also run Sept. 16-18 in local venues. The 36th Annual IBMA Bluegrass Music Awards, where the winners, recipients, and inductees will be honored by their peers and fans, is scheduled for Thursday evening, Sept. 18; IBMA Bluegrass Live! will be held Sept. 19-20.

Find more information on IBMA and all of this year’s World of Bluegrass events in Chattanooga here and find the full list of nominees, recipients, and inductees below.

ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR 

Alison Krauss & Union Station
Appalachian Road Show
Billy Strings
East Nash Grass
The Del McCoury Band

SONG OF THE YEAR 

“5 Days Out, 2 Days Back” – Alison Brown, Steve Martin, Featuring Tim O’Brien
Songwriters: Steve Martin, Alison Brown
Producers: Alison Brown, Garry West
Label: Compass Records

“Big Wheels” – Authentic Unlimited
Songwriter: Jerry Cole
Producer: Authentic Unlimited
Label: Billy Blue Records

“Coal Dust Kisses” – The Grascals
Songwriters: Susanne Mumpower, Jerry Salley
Producer: The Grascals
Label: Mountain Home Music Company

“My Favorite Picture of You” – Darin & Brooke Aldridge
Songwriters: Darin Aldridge, Brooke Aldridge, Dennis Duff
Producers: Darin Aldridge, Mark Fain
Label: Billy Blue Records

“Outrun the Rain” – Jason Carter & Michael Cleveland
Songwriters: Terry Herd, Jimmy Yeary
Producers: Jason Carter, Michael Cleveland
Label: Fiddle Man Records

ALBUM OF THE YEAR 

Arcadia – Alison Krauss & Union Station
Producer: Alison Krauss & Union Station
Label: Down the Road Records

Carter & Cleveland – Jason Carter & Michael Cleveland
Producers: Jason Carter, Michael Cleveland
Label: Fiddle Man Records

Earl Jam – Tony Trischka
Producers: Tony Trischka, Lawson White
Label: Down the Road Records

Highway Prayers – Billy Strings
Producers: Billy Strings, Jon Brion
Label: Reprise Records

I Built a World – Bronwyn Keith-Hynes
Producers: Brent Truitt, Bronwyn Keith-Hynes
Label: Sugar Petunia Records

VOCAL GROUP OF THE YEAR 

Alison Krauss & Union Station
Authentic Unlimited
Blue Highway
Sister Sadie
The Del McCoury Band

INSTRUMENTAL GROUP OF THE YEAR 

Billy Strings
East Nash Grass
Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper
Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway
The Travelin’ McCourys

GOSPEL RECORDING OF THE YEAR 

“Blue Collar Gospel” – Jerry Salley Featuring The Oak Ridge Boys
Songwriters: Rick Lang, Bill Whyte, Jerry Salley
Producer: Jerry Salley
Label: Billy Blue Records

“Dear Lord” – Darin & Brooke Aldridge
Songwriter: Daniel Davis
Producers: Darin Aldridge, Mark Fain
Label: Billy Blue Records

“Even Better When You Listen” – Joe Mullins & The Radio Ramblers
Songwriters: Rick Lang, Mark BonDurant
Producer: Joe Mullins & The Radio Ramblers
Label: Billy Blue Records

“He’s Gone” – Jaelee Roberts
Songwriter: Kelsi Harrigill
Producer: Byron House
Label: Mountain Home Music Company

“Wings of Love” – Authentic Unlimited
Songwriters: Jesse Brock, Stephen Burwell, Jerry Cole, Eli Johnston, John Meador
Producer: Authentic Unlimited
Label: Billy Blue Records

INSTRUMENTAL RECORDING OF THE YEAR 

“Bluegrass in the Backwoods” – Jason Carter & Michael Cleveland
Songwriter: Kenny Baker
Producers: Jason Carter, Michael Cleveland
Label: Fiddle Man Records

“The Drifter” – Danny Roberts
Songwriter: Danny Roberts
Producers: Danny Roberts, Andrea Roberts
Label: Mountain Home Music Company

“A Drive at Dusk” – Authentic Unlimited
Songwriter: Jesse Brock
Producer: Authentic Unlimited
Label: Billy Blue Records

“Kern County Breakdown” – Jason Carter & Michael Cleveland
Songwriter: Buck Owens, Don Rich
Producers: Jason Carter, Michael Cleveland
Label: Fiddle Man Records

“Ralph’s Banjo Special” – Kristin Scott Benson, Gena Britt, Alison Brown
Songwriter: Ralph Stanley
Producer: Alison Brown
Label: Compass Records

NEW ARTIST OF THE YEAR 

AJ Lee & Blue Summit
Bronwyn Keith-Hynes
Jason Carter
Red Camel Collective
Wyatt Ellis

COLLABORATIVE RECORDING OF THE YEAR 

“5 Days Out, 2 Days Back” – Alison Brown & Steve Martin Featuring Tim O’Brien
Songwriters: Steve Martin, Alison Brown
Producer: Alison Brown, Garry West
Label: Compass Records

“A Million Memories (A Song for Byron)” – Darin & Brooke Aldridge Featuring Vince Gill
Songwriter: Vince Gill
Producers: Darin Aldridge, Mark Fain
Label: Billy Blue Records

“Cora Is Gone” – Bobby Osborne & C.J. Lewandowski Featuring Rob McCoury, Billy Strings
Songwriter: Mac Odell
Producer: C.J. Lewandowski
Label: Turnberry Records

“Outrun the Rain” – Jason Carter & Michael Cleveland, Jaelee Roberts, Vince Gill
Songwriters: Terry Herd, Jimmy Yeary
Producers: Jason Carter, Michael Cleveland
Label: Fiddle Man Records

“Ralph’s Banjo Special” – Kristin Scott Benson, Gena Britt, Alison Brown
Songwriter: Ralph Stanley
Producer: Alison Brown
Label: Compass Records

MALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR 

Billy Strings
Dan Tyminski
Del McCoury
Greg Blake
Russell Moore

FEMALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR 

AJ Lee
Alison Krauss
Brooke Aldridge
Jaelee Roberts
Sierra Hull

BANJO PLAYER OF THE YEAR 

Alison Brown
Gena Britt
Kristin Scott Benson
Ron Block
Tony Trischka

BASS PLAYER OF THE YEAR 

Barry Bales
Mike Bub
Missy Raines
Todd Phillips
Vickie Vaughn

FIDDLE PLAYER OF THE YEAR 

Bronwyn Keith-Hynes
Jason Carter
Maddie Denton
Michael Cleveland
Stuart Duncan

RESOPHONIC GUITAR PLAYER OF THE YEAR 

Andy Hall
Jerry Douglas
Justin Moses
Matt Leadbetter
Rob Ickes

GUITAR PLAYER OF THE YEAR 

Billy Strings
Bryan Sutton
Cody Kilby
Molly Tuttle
Trey Hensley

MANDOLIN PLAYER OF THE YEAR 

Alan Bibey
Jesse Brock
Ronnie McCoury
Sam Bush
Sierra Hull

MUSIC VIDEO OF THE YEAR 

“5 Days Out, 2 Days Back” – Alison Brown & Steve Martin Featuring Tim O’Brien
Songwriters: Steve Martin, Alison Brown
Producer: Alison Brown, Garry West
Videographer: Joseph Spence
Label: Compass Records

“A Million Memories (A Song for Byron)” – Darin & Brooke Aldridge Featuring Vince Gill
Songwriter: Vince Gill
Producer: Jenny Gill
Videographer: Travis Flynn
Label: Billy Blue Records

“Big Wheels” – Authentic Unlimited
Songwriter: Jerry Cole
Producers: Bryce Free, Kyle Johnson
Videographer: Bryce Free
Label: Billy Blue Records

“Gallows Pole” – Appalachian Road Show
Songwriter: Traditional, arr. Barry Abernathy, Jim VanCleve, Darrell Webb
Producer: Steve Kinney
Videographer: Steve Kinney
Label: Billy Blue Records

“Tennessee Hound Dog” – The Grascals
Songwriter: Felice Bryant, Boudleaux Bryant
Producer: Ty Gilpin
Videographer: Nate Shuppert
Label: Mountain Home Music Company

“The Auctioneer” – The Kody Norris Show
Songwriters: Leroy Van Dyke, Buddy Black
Producer: James Gilley
Videographer: Nate Wiles
Label: Rebel Records

HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES

Hot Rize
The Bluegrass Cardinals
Arnold Schultz

DISTINGUISHED ACHIEVEMENT AWARD RECIPIENTS

Alan Arthur Knoth
Penny Parsons
Ron Thomason
Sidney Austin, LLP
Missy Raines


The 36th Annual IBMA Bluegrass Music Awards will be held September 18, 2025 in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Tickets and more information here.

Photo Credit: Alison Krauss by Randee St. Nicholas; Billy Strings by Dana Trippe.

Artist of the Month: Sister Sadie

Sister Sadie, one of the most electrifying, interesting, and resonant bands in bluegrass today, have just released their latest album, All Will Be Well, via Mountain Home Music Company. The award-amassing collective of impeccably talented women have once again raised the bar for themselves, offering an LP with limitless star power, heart, and unapologetic grit – musically and otherwise.

Over the years since their origin – a one-off supergroup-style show in 2012 at the World Famous Station Inn in Nashville – Sister Sadie have undergone quite a few metamorphoses. As is the case for many bluegrass groups, where band names may be retained as lineups constantly change, members leaving, returning, and swapping out, the ensemble has seen many a superlative woman picker join or leave their ranks over the last decade plus. Somehow, over these many transitions, the group has emerged with a cogent, cohesive sound – and a brand and sense of identity that remain indelible, whomever they may boast among their members at any given time.

It’s remarkable that this musical identity and their mission statement can be so clear, but is no surprise with stalwarts fiddler Deanie Richardson and banjoist Gena Britt as the sole remaining original members of the group. It’s even more remarkable that this new project, All Will Be Well, truly feels like the most true and one-for-one representation of the band recorded and released to date. No matter what changes may come for this assemblage of women, their perspective – as a band, as songwriters, as collaborators and peers, as first-rate bluegrass pickers – comes more and more into focus. As a result, All Will Be Well shines, tackling generational and familial trauma, highlighting class and social stratifications, uplifting women, femme folks, and the narratives that touch on their lives, all while welcoming and engaging all of their fans, no matter who they are or how they came to love this music.

Most of all, though, this album is pure fun. Redemptive and forward-looking? Yes. Intricate, detail-oriented, and technically on point? For sure. Cerebral, heartfelt, and emotive? That, too. But is it also down-to-earth, danceable, and rowdy? Oh, of course!

Sister Sadie are a bluegrass band, but they’re so much more. The mantle they take up with their music, recordings, and live performances was perhaps lifted in portions from the shoulders of the Chicks, and Alison Krauss, and Lynn Morris, and Ashley McBryde. These songs would feel equally at home on mainstream country radio or your local, once-a-week bluegrass radio show. As driving and barn-burning as they can be, there are as many moments of tenderness, embodied love, tearful compassion, and boundless empathy – for ourselves and for each other. For every sort of “Goodbye Earl” winking moment there are equal touches of “When You Say Nothing At All” and “I Never Wanted To Be That Girl” and “Wrong Road Again.” Whether soaring, blazing, or slowly smoldering, this band moves in and out of each texture with ease.

As for any/all of the all-women groups that have been born of bluegrass, Sister Sadie could have at any point across their lifespan rested on the perceived “novelty” of being a band comprised of all women pickers, singers, and songwriters. Instead, they know firsthand that the reality for women in roots music is one that requires superlative skills, ardent commitment, and a polish and care often not mandatory for the cis, straight, male bands occupying similar niches. Sister Sadie are diamonds forged by such pressure, though, not just rising up to industry expectations, but exceeding them – while finding self expression, originality, and insight in their work. A novelty group this is not. A “mere” supergroup? Not that, either. This is a band, not just a collection of last names and ampersands.

It’s an obvious, forest-for-the-trees sort of statement, but these women are certainly greater than the sum of their parts. With mandolinist Rainy Miatke, guitarists and singer-songwriters Dani Flowers and Jaelee Roberts, who often split frontwoman and lead singer duties, and bassist Katie Blomarz-Kimball currently filling out the band, Richardson and Britt demonstrate time and time again that there are always more women to call who are qualified and interesting and engaging enough to join the ranks of Sister Sadie. And they clearly haven’t even begun to exhaust those resources.

The central messages of All Will Be Well are incredibly apt and well-timed for this particular social and political moment, as well. It’s striking to find these women, as on “Let the Circle Be Broken,” offering and accepting redemption from themselves and each other, instead of any external force or power. Perhaps, in that truth is where they also find their greatest strengths within the music industry, too.

From their GRAMMY nominations to their many (individual and collective) IBMA Awards, this jaw-dropping band truly does not need any external factor to validate their music, their mission, or their existence. It’s how they started, too, a simple pick-up gig at the Station isn’t a particularly ambitious origin story, it’s even passé. Usual. But, from the outset then, the foundation of Sister Sadie hasn’t been one of ladder climbing, belt notching, or industry achievement. It’s been about expressing themselves, making great music, and having a whole hell of a lot of fun.

It’s no wonder, then, that with an album like All Will Be Well, they continue following in the exact trail they’ve blazed for themselves, being, becoming, or striving to arrive at the best version of Sister Sadie possible in each and every present moment, with whomever they find among their ranks. And, above all else, doing it for their own edification and joy before any other purpose. That’s what makes this band a true supergroup. Sister Sadie knows that All Will Be Well, because they are determined to make that reality so.

We are so proud to have Sister Sadie return for their second stint as Artist of the Month. Enjoy our Essential Sister Sadie Playlist below and read an all-skate interview feature with the entire band here. Plus, we’ll be dipping back into the BGS archives for all of the many times we’ve covered and collaborated with this incredible group. So follow along right here on BGS and on social media as we celebrate Sister Sadie for the entire month of July.


Photo courtesy of the artist.

Bringing ‘Arcadia’ to Life, Alison Krauss Saw Its Songs Like Movies in Her Head

From her early days as a young fiddler picking up prizes at youth fiddle competitions, accomplishment has defined Alison Krauss’ career. She’s cleaned up on trophies from the Recording Academy, the International Bluegrass Music Association, and numerous other acronymned institutions, and earned the highest civilian honor in her birth state of Illinois last year. She continues to rack up the achievements at an easy clip: Arcadia, her newest album with Union Station and their first together in 14 years, debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s bluegrass chart.

Amid a return to themes of yearning love and rich storytelling, Arcadia marks a new chapter for Union Station with a changing of the guard. Dan Tyminski, the group’s longtime vocalist and himself a heavily decorated picker, revealed his departure from the band late last year. The ensemble – with Jerry Douglas, Barry Bales, and Ron Block still in the fold – enlisted bluegrass veteran Russell Moore to step in with them to sing, along with fiddler Stuart Duncan joining them on the road. Krauss recalls first encountering Moore and his singular voice at a Kentucky Fried Chicken bluegrass festival as a 14-year-old, and she’s been a devoted fan ever since. As a part of Union Station, Krauss sees Moore as an enlivening addition, and her admiration for her colleague hasn’t waned. “He’s like a nightingale!” she exclaims.

The time between Union Station records has manifested both another solo album, 2017’s Windy City, and the more recent Robert Plant reunion, 2021’s Raise the Roof. In the years prior, Krauss had to recuse herself from singing due to a bout with dysphonia, which had stricken her hero, Tony Rice, too. Her fight, in turn, inspired Rice to rally his voice in her honor when he was inducted into the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame in 2013 (Krauss was inducted herself in 2021).

As she stares down a strident tour schedule that extends through the end of the summer, Krauss remains careful to protect the instrument that has connected her to millions of people over her decades in the bluegrass business. Pausing amid Union Station rehearsals ahead of their run together, Krauss unravels some of her thinking around Arcadia, and how songs transport her through time and memory.

What made you feel like the time was right for another Union Station record?

Alison Krauss: ​​It’s always a process to get the right songs together. I’ve been looking for songs since we made Paper Airplane. I’m sure if COVID wouldn’t have happened, we probably would have been in there sooner. I sent out a group message in the beginning of 2021, like, “I think we’ve got some good songs here, we want to get together and listen.” Whenever we record, we find the first song that sounds like the opening to the record and have one that feels like that for a while. Then you find another one that might feel that way. When I heard “Looks Like the End of the Road,” it really felt like, for a listener, an introduction to new music.

You’ve talked about the record snapping into place around “Looks Like the End of the Road” elsewhere, too. What about it made you feel that way?

When you hear them, you just see [them], it’s like a movie. They just come alive. You see the story, and it’s spontaneous thought. You know you can’t control it and you’re a passenger to the story, and that’s what happens with things. It happened with that tune, “Looks like the End of the Road,” the first half, the first verse, when I heard it, I was like, “Oh boy, here we go.”

I think I wrote [the band] the next day. But then everything, all the stuff I’ve been holding on to, just fell into place. It was great. Luckily, when we played everything for the guys, they felt good about it. If they were in disagreement, it wouldn’t have worked.

On Arcadia, you’ve got “The Hangman” about resisting evil, “Granite Mills” about workers dying in a factory fire, and the lament for a young soldier in “Richmond on the James.” To what extent did these songs come from a sense of historical resonance with our present day?

It’s strange, you find you gravitate to certain things, and then you go, “Well, here’s the pattern.” It’s not beforehand, at least for myself. The songs find you and then you kind of find a pattern within them, how they fit together.

I’m not a songwriter. A songwriter, they’re writing how they feel, and if you gather tunes from when they’re writing during a certain time in their life, there’s going to be similarity in there. After we’re collecting these things, you do find a thread.

As a listener, what makes a song stick in your memory?

Anything that makes you daydream. You automatically go there. It’s so personal, those thoughts that you have regarding music, regarding any art. It makes one person feel some certain way, another will feel another. The things that come into your mind that are only for you. I love that private, personal experience you have with these things. I always think about what makes a person who they are, what they daydream about. Songs are more powerful than political people, when you look at it—they start movements, they change the way people see themselves.

It’s been like that throughout history. It has a way of changing the atmosphere, how you feel in three minutes, and the way your day goes. The whole thing is important to people and how they get around. You may need joy. You may need to have someone sing your story for you. You may not have known that this was your story.

It’s a magical thing, music in general, and to be a part of it is a really powerful experience. I find it – I don’t know what other word to use, other than magical. It’s costly to your emotions. Done well, you’ll feel it. That’s what we’re here to do.

Why does daydreaming hold such importance for you, when we’re so often discouraged from it as adults?

It has possibilities in every area of how you see yourself, how you see others, how you see the world. You may have an understanding of another person you didn’t have, because some musical moment took you some place you didn’t think it would. You have things you’re familiar with that will take you to the same place.

I’m careful with certain records because, when I hear them again, I don’t want them to change where they took me as a kid. I’ll go, “I’m gonna listen to this today, and I’m gonna put it away again, because I want to keep that place that it takes me for myself.” I don’t understand why it works that way, but it does. I always feel like you’ve got to be really careful with the words that come out of your mouth when you’re singing, because they’re powerful. You know you have to be in agreement, in your mind and in your heart, about what words are coming out of your mouth, because you are in agreement with them.

I’ve felt that way about records, where it’s like I don’t want to “tape over” whatever memories or feelings I already have associated with them.

It’s the same with me: “I’d love to hear that, but I’m gonna wait.” I don’t want to mix my life up with what that [music] did back then. I go watch YouTube, which is the greatest invention. Just the other day, I watched Nashville Bluegrass Band from 1985 or something. You watch that stuff, and it’s just so emotional. It’s costly when you remember hearing something for the first time, and you go back. It’s so bittersweet, so inspiring, and sad, because you can’t go back. The only thing that lets you go back is hearing these tunes again.

Looking back on your experience with dysphonia, and the time you took away from recording and public performance, what do you see about that period now that you couldn’t see while you were going through it?

Years ago, the only time you thought about your voice, really, is if you got the flu or something. I had never had that happen, where the throat would tighten up. It was disturbing. I went to the same voice teacher I see now, who helped me through that. He said, “You’ve got to clean off your desk,” which was really funny, because anytime I’d go to the studio, I used to literally clean the desk off. He’s like, “No, you’ve got too many other things on your mind. It has to be free.”

When there’s grief or too much stress, your throat tightens up, like if you want to cry or you’re angry, and it stays like that. How can you move through it? I try to stay on it, try to find other ways to make sure I don’t get bogged down. But you can’t always control it.

My voice teacher says some really funny stuff at times that I probably can’t repeat. I go see him pretty regularly to get ready. When you count on [your voice] and it goes away one time, you don’t feel so secure anymore. It’s maintenance. I went back to him one time, like, “I’m worried, why is this happening again?” And he goes, “Well, you don’t sweep the floor one time and it’s done forever. You gotta keep sweeping the floor.” That helped.

I’ve got to keep sweeping the floor.


Continue exploring our Artist of the Month content featuring Alison Krauss & Union Station here.

Photo Credit: Randee St. Nicholas

See the Winners of the 35th Annual IBMA Bluegrass Music Awards

Last night, the International Bluegrass Music Association announced the winners of their 35th Annual Bluegrass Music Awards in Raleigh, North Carolina, the final awards show held in Raleigh before IBMA’s move to Chattanooga, Tennessee next year. The star-studded, three-hour awards show was hosted by bassists John Cowan and Missy Raines and featured performances by many nominees and featured special guests and collaborations.

Billy Strings, Sister Sadie, Authentic Unlimited, and Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway lead the nominations going into the evening. Authentic Unlimited walked away with the most trophies, with the group as a whole landing three awards – including a tie for Music Video of the Year with Special Consensus. Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway took home the honor for Album of the Year, while Billy Strings’ sole win of the night was for his feature on Tony Trischka’s collaborative Earl Jam track, “Brown’s Ferry Blues.”

Also honored during the event were this year’s Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame inductees. Entered into the Hall of Fame – the highest honor awarded by IBMA and its membership – were Jerry Douglas, Katy Daley, and Alan Munde.

Find the full list of winners and recipients of this year’s IBMA Awards below. Congratulations to all of the nominees, bands, artists, labels, and industry stakeholders represented at this year’s awards.

ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR
Billy Strings
Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway
Del McCoury Band
Sister Sadie
The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys

VOCAL GROUP OF THE YEAR
Authentic Unlimited
Sister Sadie
Blue Highway
Del McCoury Band
Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway

INSTRUMENTAL GROUP OF THE YEAR
Billy Strings
Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper
Travelin’ McCourys
East Nash Grass
Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway

SONG OF THE YEAR
“Fall in Tennessee” – Authentic Unlimited
Songwriters: John Meador/Bob Minner
Producer: Authentic Unlimited
Label: Billy Blue Records

“Willow” – Sister Sadie
Songwriter: Ashley McBryde
Producer: Sister Sadie
Label: Mountain Home

“Too Lonely, Way Too Long” – Rick Faris with Del McCoury
Songwriter: Rick Faris
Producer: Stephen Mougin
Label: Dark Shadow Recording

“Forever Young” – Daniel Grindstaff with Paul Brewster & Dolly Parton
Songwriters: Jim Cregan/Kevin Savigar/Bob Dylan/Rod Stewart
Producer: Daniel Grindstaff
Label: Bonfire Music Group

“Kentucky Gold” – Dale Ann Bradley with Sam Bush
Songwriters: Wayne Carson/Ronnie Reno
Producer: Dale Ann Bradley
Label: Pinecastle

ALBUM OF THE YEAR
City of Gold – Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway
Producers: Jerry Douglas/Molly Tuttle
Label: Nonesuch

Last Chance to Win – East Nash Grass
Producer: East Nash Grass
Label: Mountain Fever

Jubilation – Appalachian Road Show
Producer: Appalachian Road Show
Label: Billy Blue Records

No Fear – Sister Sadie
Producer: Sister Sadie
Label: Mountain Home

So Much for Forever – Authentic Unlimited
Producer: Authentic Unlimited
Label: Billy Blue Records

GOSPEL RECORDING OF THE YEAR
“When I Get There” – Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out
Songwriter: Michael Feagan
Producer: Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out
Label: Independent

“Thank You Lord for Grace” – Authentic Unlimited
Songwriter: Jerry Cole
Producer: Authentic Unlimited
Label: Billy Blue Records

“Just Beyond” – Barry Abernathy with John Meador, Tim Raybon, Bradley Walker
Songwriters: Rick Lang/Mike Richards/Windi Robinson
Producer: Jerry Salley
Label: Billy Blue Records

“God Already Has” – Dale Ann Bradley
Songwriter: Mark “Brink” Brinkman/David Stewart
Producer: Dale Ann Bradley
Label: Pinecastle

“Memories of Home” – Authentic Unlimited
Songwriter: Jerry Cole
Producer: Authentic Unlimited
Label: Billy Blue Records

INSTRUMENTAL RECORDING OF THE YEAR
“Rhapsody in Blue(grass)” – Béla Fleck
Songwriter: George Gershwin arr. Ferde Grofé/Béla Fleck
Producer: Béla Fleck
Label: Béla Fleck Productions/Thirty Tigers

“Knee Deep in Bluegrass” – Ashby Frank
Songwriter: Terry Baucom
Producer: Ashby Frank
Label: Mountain Home

“Panhandle Country” – Missy Raines & Allegheny
Songwriter: Bill Monroe
Producer: Alison Brown
Label: Compass Records

“Lloyd’s of Lubbock” – Alan Munde
Songwriter: Alan Munde
Producer: Billy Bright
Label: Patuxent

“Behind the 8 Ball” – Andy Leftwich
Songwriter: Andy Leftwich
Producer: Andy Leftwich
Label: Mountain Home

NEW ARTIST OF THE YEAR
East Nash Grass
Bronwyn Keith-Hynes
AJ Lee & Blue Summit
Wyatt Ellis
The Kody Norris Show

COLLABORATIVE RECORDING OF THE YEAR
“Brown’s Ferry Blues” – Tony Trischka featuring Billy Strings
Songwriters: Alton Delmore/Rabon Delmore
Producer: Béla Fleck
Label: Down the Road

“Fall in Tennessee” – Authentic Unlimited with Jerry Douglas
Songwriters: John Meador/Bob Minner
Producer: Authentic Unlimited
Label: Billy Blue Records

“Forever Young” – Daniel Grindstaff with Paul Brewster, Dolly Parton
Songwriters: Jim Cregan/Kevin Savigar/Bob Dylan/Rod Stewart
Producer: Daniel Grindstaff
Label: Bonfire Music Group

“Bluegrass Radio” – Alison Brown and Steve Martin
Songwriters: Steve Martin/Alison Brown
Producers: Alison Brown/Garry West
Label: Compass Records

“Too Old to Die Young” – Bobby Osborne and CJ Lewandowski
Songwriters: Scott Dooley/John Hadley/Kevin Welch
Producer: CJ Lewandowski
Label: Turnberry Records

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

BANJO PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Kristin Scott Benson
Gena Britt
Alison Brown
Béla Fleck
Rob McCoury

BASS PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Missy Raines
Mike Bub
Vickie Vaughn
Todd Phillips
Mark Schatz

FIDDLE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Jason Carter
Bronwyn Keith-Hynes
Michael Cleveland
Stuart Duncan
Deanie Richardson

RESOPHONIC GUITAR PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Justin Moses
Rob Ickes
Jerry Douglas
Andy Hall
Gaven Largent

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

MUSIC VIDEO OF THE YEAR
“Willow” – Sister Sadie
Label: Mountain Home

“Fall in Tennessee” – Authentic Unlimited
Label: Billy Blue Records (TIE)

“The City of New Orleans” – Rhonda Vincent & The Rage
Label: Upper Management Music

“I Call Her Sunshine” – The Kody Norris Show
Label: Rebel Records

“Alberta Bound” – Special Consensus with Ray Legere, John Reischman, Patrick Sauber, Trisha Gagnon, Pharis & Jason Romero, and Claire Lynch
Label: Compass Records (TIE)

BLUEGRASS MUSIC HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES
Alan Munde
Jerry Douglas
Katy Daley

DISTINGUISHED ACHIEVEMENT AWARD RECIPIENTS
Cindy Baucom
Laurie Lewis
Richard Hurst
ArtistWorks
Bloomin’ Bluegrass Festival


Photo Credit: Authentic Unlimited with special guest Jerry Douglas perform at the IBMA Awards show. Shot by Dan Schram.

First & Latest: 34 Years Later, Alison Brown Still Finds ‘Simple Pleasures’ on Banjo

In 1990, when banjo player Alison Brown released her debut album, Simple Pleasures, she had no idea where her career could or would lead. GRAMMY nominations, IBMA Awards, touring and performing with Alison Krauss, Michelle Shocked, the Indigo Girls, Steve Martin, and many more, founding a record label that would become a keystone in roots music – none of these impressive accomplishments were on her horizons, literal or hypothetical. Brown just wanted to play the banjo.

She had recently left her job in investment banking and wanted to give her musical career a legitimate go of it. Tasking herself with intentionally writing an album’s worth of original tunes, over the years from 1988 to the project’s release on Vanguard Records in ‘90, Brown pushed herself sonically, aesthetically, and compositionally. The result was demonstrably spectacular and effortlessly cutting-edge.

Simple Pleasures, which was produced by David “Dawg” Grisman and included Alison Krauss, Mike Marshall, Joe Craven, and more among its cast of collaborators, would help launch Brown’s now decades-long career as a bluegrass and roots music multi-hyphenate and business leader. Simple Pleasures broke the ground, fertilized it deeply, and helped cultivate one of the most innovative and forward-looking careers ever accomplished by a five-string picker.

Now, some 34 years after its original release, that debut album has been reissued – on vinyl and digital, with a handful of digital-exclusive bonus tracks recovered from a cassette tape of demos. The project is a delightful time capsule and a perfect representation of the vast and varied musical ground Brown has covered over the intervening years. She may not have known it then – she readily admits, as a picker in her twenties, she was just taking this “banjo thing” day by day – but Simple Pleasures would lay the groundwork for all of her many successes in the music industry and in bluegrass.

For a special edition of First & Latest, we spoke to Alison Brown by phone about her first release and her latest – which just so happen to be the same album, the original and the new reissue. It’s essential listening for bluegrass, banjo, and roots music fans.

Simple Pleasures was originally released in 1990, 34 years ago. I wanted to start by asking you about your frame of mind now versus then, about what’s changed in the interim. What’s changed regarding how you view yourself as a creator and as a banjo player? Looking back, in retrospect, do you recognize the person you were then? What do you remember about your frame of mind when you first put the album out?

Alison Brown: It was this time in my life during which I was writing this music and then trying to get a record deal; I had just left my investment banking job and had taken this bizarre leap of faith, which I didn’t necessarily get a lot of support for. My parents weren’t saying, “Hey, I think you should quit your investment banking job to play banjo.” [Laughs] It really was a leap of faith.

I just couldn’t stop thinking about the banjo. So, I gave myself the challenge of seeing if I could write an album’s worth of music that would hold up and just try to make a record. And then, in the course of working on that, I wrote these tunes and joined Alison Krauss & Union Station. By the time we recorded the tunes, I’d been in her band for a year. I was really at the beginning of what has become my career path since then, but when I was doing it, I didn’t really know how it would be received or if it would get any props or even if it would be any good. All the validation that came on the heels of releasing this, and then everything since then, has made me a much more confident musician than I was when I wrote the music and recorded the record.

Before this album, were you already writing tunes? Was that something that you always did? Or was this an intentional practice shift for you? Was making an album of your own tunes something you had always been working towards or was it part of that purposeful transition from investment banking to banjo?

That is a really good question. I had never written much music up until that point, but I’d always wanted to. Stuart Duncan and I did a record called Pre-sequel. That was like a teen record, but we had a couple original tunes, stuff like “Possum Gravy on Grandma’s Beard” and “The Great Lasagna Rebellion.” It was like teen stuff.

Anyways, I really had wanted to challenge myself to see if I could write some “real music” – that isn’t really quite the right word, but some more substantial tunes and some tunes that really took the instrument maybe to a new place, which took my voice to a new place. That was a lot of this exercise and those 12 tunes. I didn’t know if I could write them or even if they would be any good, but that was like the beginning of this kind of process of self discovery.

When you look at the credits list – Mike Marshall and David Grisman and Alison Krauss and more – you can see some of the fingerprints of you and your community, but it was a kind of a longer process of you writing and getting to the point of recording, right?

I’m trying to remember… yeah, probably from the time I started writing the tunes was maybe middle of 1988 and then we recorded them beginning in 1990. So yeah, there was definitely some time in there–

Was there some extrapolating in your head of, “What are these songs going to sound like? Who is going to play them?” What do you remember about deciding on how you were going to make the tunes and who was going to make them with you? Because I have a feeling that was just as important a part of the process as having the material to record.

Once the door opened for me to work with David Grisman, to produce the record and play on it, then I was pretty much like, “What do you think, David?” But I knew I wanted to have Alison on the record and I knew I wanted to have Mike, ‘cause I love his music no matter what he’s playing. I’m the head of the “Mike Marshall Plays Guitar Fan Club.” [Laughs] I love his guitar playing. And Mike was in the Bay Area, so that made perfect sense.

But then, in terms of bringing in the flute or percussion, I hadn’t really thought about those things. When I listen to this record now, it’s surprising really how much of a footprint the record created for what we’re doing now. ‘Cause we’ve got a rhythm section and flute in the band. In some ways, it feels like after all this time we’ve come full circle, at least back to the seed that record planted, sonically, for the music.

That’s so interesting, to be able to look back and trace that throughline, when at that point it may have felt like a one-off to have those instruments and those styles represented in the music. And now it’s present through lots of your work.

Yeah, it is really interesting. There’s obviously things that weren’t included [on Simple Pleasures]. We’ve had piano in the band pretty much since the beginning and we didn’t have piano on that record, obviously. But I don’t know, somehow that doesn’t seem as much of a template thing, the idea of percussion elements and certainly the flute. David really brought that – and the idea of incorporating cello. I’m not sure I was really thinking about those things. My thinking was probably more in the bluegrass-rooted box.

One of the things that’s definitely changed from the original Simple Pleasures to the reissue over those 30-some years is these bonus tracks that you’ve added – such a time capsule. I wanted to ask you about their… I want to say provenance, but I don’t mean to be that formal. Like, how did you hold onto the demos over time, did you always have them in your back pocket?

You know, as we were working on re-master I kept thinking I knew I had a cassette of the demos. I just dug around and I found it! That’s where the actual takes came from, but that between-take talking, to me, is my favorite part of the whole thing. Just hearing Mike and David and Richard Greene, who produced those demos, talking to each other – I just think that’s the coolest thing. That came off the 2-inch tapes that we had. But the 2-inch tapes, we didn’t have the final mixes of the demos. So, it just worked out that we dumped the cassette tapes into this computer and tried to sweeten it a little bit and that’s what we used.

Looking back, this was a big transition point for you with a GRAMMY nomination, winning IBMA Banjo Player of the Year as the first woman to win an instrumental award. Of course this would end up a seminal album and was a really important kickstart for your incredible career. But at that point, back in 1990, were you worried about it? What was your frame of mind as far as expectations for what this album could do and where it could go?

I’m sure that I had no expectations. [Laughs] It was just something that I really wanted to do myself. I wanted to see, could I write a bunch of music and would it stick together? And, can I get some great people to play on it? I was just happy that all those things came together and I got it on a label.

It was just so cool to be on Vanguard Records. The Welk Music Group had bought that catalog and they had just started signing artists. I was one of the first artists they signed to the Vanguard imprint. All that was enough, but then to get a GRAMMY nomination was completely a surprise. I didn’t expect that at all, or the IBMA recognition. That validation was huge, obviously, and it would be for anybody, but for me it was just so huge. I actually took my parents with me to Radio City Music hall for the GRAMMYs and that went a long way toward them accepting my career 180. [Laughs]

It seems like this was definitely proof of concept for, “I can do this banjo thing. I can make banjo records. I can do this as a career.”

And in retrospect, I completely agree. In the moment, none of those things [were certain]. That’s what they say, “Hindsight’s 20/20.” And that’s so true; when you’re in the moment, you just don’t know how it’s going to turn out. Then it turned out great! I feel so lucky every day that I get to play music or create music or help somebody else create music, all that is just such a gift. Because it was not a foregone conclusion, I could easily have gone back to investment banking or something else with my tail between my legs. I’m just so grateful that isn’t the case.

At this point in your career, people think of you as a multi-hyphenate, as somebody who runs a label, is so active in the industry, and picks a really mean banjo. But this project predated Compass Records by several years. Were you already planning that sort of multi-prong, multi-hyphenate approach then? Or do you think it would be a surprise to 1990 Simple Pleasures Alison that you are the multi-hyphenate you are now?

Yeah no, I did not know it was [in my future], I think I was really just taking it a step at a time. At that particular point in time, my goal was just to write tunes and play in Alison [Krauss’] band. Then, when I left her band, I was really at this juncture again. My parents kept saying, “We really think you’d enjoy going to law school!” I was on the edge of applying to Vanderbilt Law School when I got a call from Michelle Shocked looking for a band leader for her world tour in 1992.

So no, I definitely didn’t have the multi-hyphenate, as you put it, plot hatched at all yet. That’s really something that came during that time that I spent with Michelle and then Garry West, who was playing bass in the band [with her as well]. We connected on a personal level, on a business level, and we started talking about “the good life.” Like, how do you make a life out of music? That’s when we started envisioning the different spokes of the wheel, and one of them was a record label and one of them was playing banjo and touring. That 1990s Alison was really just taking in a day at a time.

There’s this quality that musicians talk about a lot, almost to trope-ish levels, of not liking listening to themselves, not liking going back and hearing their own musical ideas or their own creativity from the past. It can be cringey! When you hear your young adult voice on the banjo now, what’s your reaction? Do you bristle at it? Do you feel inspired by it or do you have a moment where you’re like, “I can’t believe that I played that or I did that”? You’ve been inhabiting these tunes to remix and re-master them, not just rubber stamping a reissue. What does that feel like, to be going back and forth between who you are now and who you were then?

I really thought it was going to be like a lot of cringey stuff, like listening to those tracks and thinking, “Oh god, why did I play that?” Instead, I had a completely different feeling, because I felt like I could hear and really remember both the joy of figuring out that I could do this thing and the uncertainty of, “I don’t know if it’s any good or if it’s going to connect with anybody at all.” I can hear both of those things, but at the end of the day, what I felt most was just wishing I could reach back in time and give myself a pat on the back [and say,] “It’s going to work out okay and you’re on the right path.”

Because I think that’s the thing, we’re all looking for our true path. Sometimes it’s really hard to see, and for me, it was definitely hard to see. I really thought that I would be like a respectable business person and instead – well, I hope I’m a respectable business person, but it’s certainly not what I expected to be! [Laughs] I really thought, banker, lawyer, doctor, that kind of thing.

Your portfolio as a banjo player, label head, and producer is so diverse. And I wondered if you feel that’s directly correlated to being a woman who plays the banjo, or if you think there’s something else that’s driven that or informed that? Because I firmly believe marginalized folks in roots music – really anyone who’s not a straight white man – we often have to have very diverse career paths just to make a living, to make ends meet.

One thing I do notice is that big opportunities that opened up for me early on, they were all created for me by other women. That’s really not lost on me – whether it was Alison Krauss or Michelle Shocked. It wasn’t a male band leaders inviting me in. I think that’s really significant and that’s one of the things that I think is interesting about the times we’re in now, the fact that there’s much more diversity – even though it’s not as much as we would like to see. But there are women peppered throughout the ecosystem of the bluegrass community. We’re really in a position to empower and bring up the next generation, where we weren’t so much before. That makes it a really exciting time. I know that’s something that I love to look for opportunities to do.

If I’m producing a record, I want to bring those other voices into the room and let’s raise the next generation. ‘Cause when you come out of investment banking, you can see how adept the guys are at bringing on the next generation of guys, but women in corporate situations just historically haven’t [had the same access]. There are many reasons, it’s not their shortcoming. I think it’s just the circumstances, but now it doesn’t have to be that way. I find that particularly exciting.

34 years later, these folks who played on Simple Pleasures are still part of your community and are collaborators of yours. Back then, were you thinking, “All right, these are my ride or dies! We’re going to go the distance together.” Or was it like, “I can’t believe I get to be in a room with these folks and I hope we can do it again”? How does it feel now to look back and have decades-long relationships with these folks that you made the album with and to have that community be such a present part of the music that you continue to make and the records that you put out?

It’s amazing to look back and to think about the fact that I’ve known Mike Marshall since, gosh, I think I was a teenager the first time I met Mike? To have 50-year-long relationships with some of these people, it’s an amazing thing and it’s such a gift. I think one of the best things about our community is that people can have careers that extend over decades and you can have friendships with people that extend over half a century or more. I’ve known Stuart Duncan since he was 10, so I’ve known him for half a century. It’s crazy and wonderful too. And it’s such an amazing aspect of our community.

I don’t know if it’s the same in other kinds of music, but I think the intergenerational aspect of bluegrass music and roots music just creates for some amazing lifelong friendships. I think it’s not uncommon for people to start when they’re 10 years old – or, Stuart started playing this music when he was six or seven. When I met him when he was 10, he was already a hotshot fiddle player. The fact that you can get into this music as such a youngster, keep playing it, and there’s room for you even when every hair on your head is gray, it’s just a great thing. I think in popular music the window is more narrow.

But in this music, people want to see you play your music whether you’re six or whatever age. How old was Bobby Osborne? He was 92! The record that I did with Bobby, Original, we was 86/87-years-old when we recorded that record. You wouldn’t see an 87-year-old pop artist probably making a record.


35th Annual IBMA Bluegrass Music Awards Nominations Announced

Earlier today, the International Bluegrass Music Association announced their nominees, recipients, and inductees to be honored at the 35th Annual Bluegrass Music Awards show to be held on September 26 in Raleigh, North Carolina. The nominations and honorees were revealed at a radio broadcast at SiriusXM in downtown Nashville, Tennessee that featured live performances by nominees Missy Raines & Allegheny and Authentic Unlimited.

Billy Strings, Sister Sadie, Authentic Unlimited, and Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway lead the nominations. Also announced during the event were this year’s Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame inductees and Distinguished Achievement Awards Recipients. Entering the Hall of Fame – the highest honor awarded by IBMA and its membership – are Jerry Douglas, Katy Daley, and Alan Munde.

Find the full list of nominees, inductees, and recipients below and make plans now to attend the IBMA Bluegrass Music Awards on Thursday, September 26, at the Martin Marietta Center for the Performing Arts in Raleigh, North Carolina during IBMA’s headline event of the year, their World of Bluegrass business conference and Bluegrass Live! festival.

ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR
Billy Strings
Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway
Del McCoury Band
Sister Sadie
The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys

VOCAL GROUP OF THE YEAR
Authentic Unlimited
Sister Sadie
Blue Highway
Del McCoury Band
Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway

INSTRUMENTAL GROUP OF THE YEAR
Billy Strings
Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper
Travelin’ McCourys
East Nash Grass
Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway

SONG OF THE YEAR
“Fall in Tennessee” – Authentic Unlimited
Songwriters: John Meador/Bob Minner
Producer: Authentic Unlimited
Label: Billy Blue Records

“Willow” – Sister Sadie
Songwriter: Ashley McBryde
Producer: Sister Sadie
Label: Mountain Home

“Too Lonely, Way Too Long” – Rick Faris with Del McCoury
Songwriter: Rick Faris
Producer: Stephen Mougin
Label: Dark Shadow Recording

“Forever Young” – Daniel Grindstaff with Paul Brewster & Dolly Parton
Songwriters: Jim Cregan/Kevin Savigar/Bob Dylan/Rod Stewart
Producer: Daniel Grindstaff
Label: Bonfire Music Group

“Kentucky Gold” – Dale Ann Bradley with Sam Bush
Songwriters: Wayne Carson/Ronnie Reno
Producer: Dale Ann Bradley
Label: Pinecastle

ALBUM OF THE YEAR
City of Gold – Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway
Producers: Jerry Douglas/Molly Tuttle
Label: Nonesuch

Last Chance to Win – East Nash Grass
Producer: East Nash Grass
Label: Mountain Fever

Jubilation – Appalachian Road Show
Producer: Appalachian Road Show
Label: Billy Blue Records

No Fear – Sister Sadie
Producer: Sister Sadie
Label: Mountain Home

So Much for Forever – Authentic Unlimited
Producer: Authentic Unlimited
Label: Billy Blue Records

GOSPEL RECORDING OF THE YEAR
“When I Get There” – Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out
Songwriter: Michael Feagan
Producer: Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out
Label: Independent

“Thank You Lord for Grace” – Authentic Unlimited
Songwriter: Jerry Cole
Producer: Authentic Unlimited
Label: Billy Blue Records

“Just Beyond” – Barry Abernathy with John Meador, Tim Raybon, Bradley Walker
Songwriters: Rick Lang/Mike Richards/Windi Robinson
Producer: Jerry Salley
Label: Billy Blue Records

“God Already Has” – Dale Ann Bradley
Songwriter: Mark “Brink” Brinkman/David Stewart
Producer: Dale Ann Bradley
Label: Pinecastle

“Memories of Home” – Authentic Unlimited
Songwriter: Jerry Cole
Producer: Authentic Unlimited
Label: Billy Blue Records

INSTRUMENTAL RECORDING OF THE YEAR
“Rhapsody in Blue(grass)” – Béla Fleck
Songwriter: George Gershwin arr. Ferde Grofé/Béla Fleck
Producer: Béla Fleck
Label: Béla Fleck Productions/Thirty Tigers

“Knee Deep in Bluegrass” – Ashby Frank
Songwriter: Terry Baucom
Producer: Ashby Frank
Label: Mountain Home

“Panhandle Country” – Missy Raines & Allegheny
Songwriter: Bill Monroe
Producer: Alison Brown
Label: Compass Records

“Lloyd’s of Lubbock” – Alan Munde
Songwriter: Alan Munde
Producer: Billy Bright
Label: Patuxent

“Behind the 8 Ball” – Andy Leftwich
Songwriter: Andy Leftwich
Producer: Andy Leftwich
Label: Mountain Home

NEW ARTIST OF THE YEAR
East Nash Grass
Bronwyn Keith-Hynes
AJ Lee & Blue Summit
Wyatt Ellis
The Kody Norris Show

COLLABORATIVE RECORDING OF THE YEAR
“Brown’s Ferry Blues” – Tony Trischka featuring Billy Strings
Songwriters: Alton Delmore/Rabon Delmore
Producer: Béla Fleck
Label: Down the Road

“Fall in Tennessee” – Authentic Unlimited with Jerry Douglas
Songwriters: John Meador/Bob Minner
Producer: Authentic Unlimited
Label: Billy Blue Records

“Forever Young” – Daniel Grindstaff with Paul Brewster, Dolly Parton
Songwriters: Jim Cregan/Kevin Savigar/Bob Dylan/Rod Stewart
Producer: Daniel Grindstaff
Label: Bonfire Music Group

“Bluegrass Radio” – Alison Brown and Steve Martin
Songwriters: Steve Martin/Alison Brown
Producers: Alison Brown/Garry West
Label: Compass Records

“Too Old to Die Young” – Bobby Osborne and CJ Lewandowski
Songwriters: Scott Dooley/John Hadley/Kevin Welch
Producer: CJ Lewandowski
Label: Turnberry Records

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

BANJO PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Kristin Scott Benson
Gena Britt
Alison Brown
Béla Fleck
Rob McCoury

BASS PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Missy Raines
Mike Bub
Vickie Vaughn
Todd Phillips
Mark Schatz

FIDDLE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Jason Carter
Bronwyn Keith-Hynes
Michael Cleveland
Stuart Duncan
Deanie Richardson

RESOPHONIC GUITAR PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Justin Moses
Rob Ickes
Jerry Douglas
Andy Hall
Gaven Largent

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

MUSIC VIDEO OF THE YEAR
“Willow” – Sister Sadie
Label: Mountain Home

“Fall in Tennessee” – Authentic Unlimited
Label: Billy Blue Records

“The City of New Orleans” – Rhonda Vincent & The Rage
Label: Upper Management Music

“I Call Her Sunshine” – The Kody Norris Show
Label: Rebel Records

“Alberta Bound” – Special Consensus with Ray Legere, John Reischman, Patrick Sauber, Trisha Gagnon, Pharis & Jason Romero, and Claire Lynch
Label: Compass Records

BLUEGRASS MUSIC HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES
Alan Munde
Jerry Douglas
Katy Daley

DISTINGUISHED ACHIEVEMENT AWARD RECIPIENTS
Cindy Baucom
Laurie Lewis
Richard Hurst
ArtistWorks
Bloomin’ Bluegrass Festival


Photo Credit: Billy Strings by Jesse Faatz; Sister Sadie by Eric Ahlgrim.

With a New Album, ‘No Fear,’ Sister Sadie Once Again Go “All In”

Last month, Sister Sadie took the stage at Nashville’s Station Inn to showcase and celebrate their latest album, No Fear. And although the title itself could be an ode to the group’s unrelenting urge to hop genre fences – from bluegrass to country to pop and back again – it’s also a nod to the resiliency of the band itself.

With No Fear, Sister Sadie showcase three-part, songbird harmonies backed by a keen musical aptitude that’s equally distributed throughout the quintet. The 13-song LP combines the “high, lonesome sound” of bluegrass with a blend of country and pop sensibilities a la The Chicks, Little Big Town, or Pistol Annies.

“There’s a space for bluegrass meets Americana meets country meets pop — that’s what I’m manifesting,” says fiddler and de facto band leader, Deanie Richardson.

To note, the Station Inn appearance was a full-circle sort of thing for the ensemble. First coming together at the storied venue by pure happenstance in December 2012, Richardson, banjoist Gena Britt, and former members guitarist Dale Ann Bradley, bassist Beth Lawrence, and mandolinist Tina Adair were simply a collection of pickers and singers from different circles in Music City.

That initial gig went extremely well, so much so that more shows were booked and things started to unfold into a full-fledged band – albeit one where the members still held day jobs and were raising families. But, the music felt right and so did the performances, so why not tempt fate and see where this ride may go?

Well, what a ride it has been thus far. Appearances on the Grand Ole Opry. Three IBMA awards for Vocal Group of the Year (2019, 2020, 2021) and one for Entertainer of the Year (2020), with Richardson taking home Fiddle Player of the Year in 2020. And a Grammy nomination for Best Bluegrass Album for the 2018 release, Sister Sadie II.

But, in recent years, three of those founding members — Bradley, Lawrence, and Adair — left to pursue other projects, which, in turn, posed one lingering question to Richardson and Britt — where to from here?

“When we started 12 years ago, when we hit that first note at the Station Inn, we felt this magical chemistry in the band,” Richardson says. “Somehow, every time we reinvent this [band], I still feel that magical chemistry when we play music.”

Instead of throwing in the towel and saying it was good while it lasted, Richardson and Britt forged ahead, come hell or high water. They regrouped and reemerged into this next, unknown chapter. Soon, Jaelee Roberts and Dani Flowers came into the fold, both bringing songwriting prowess as well as providing guitar and vocal harmonies to ideally complement Britt. Then, in 2023, bassist Maddie Dalton hopped onboard.

“It’s an eclectic group of ladies and of musical tastes,” Richardson says. “Our home, our hearts and our souls are in bluegrass music. That’s what we love, that’s our passion, but there’s a lot of room for growth there.”

The new album, it’s not bluegrass. It’s not country. It’s just good music. In my opinion, it would be a shame to pigeonhole your music.

Deanie Richardson: Well, that would be our dream, Garret, for someone to not try to put some sort of label or pigeonhole it into somewhere. But, unfortunately, it happens. We went in there with great tunes and just let them arrange themselves, let them work themselves out in the studio. And this is what we got. So, I didn’t go in with bluegrass in mind. I didn’t go in with country in mind. I just went in with all my pals, people I love — great players and great songs.

Is that more by design or just how things have evolved?

DR: I think that’s how it’s evolved. That was not the original [Sister] Sadie. That’s this combination of girls right here. When you have personnel changes like we’ve have along the way, the energy changes — everything shifts.

Gena Britt: You have to reinvent yourself.

DR: You’ve got to figure out where you land when Jaelee Roberts comes in and changes everything. And then you’ve got to figure out where you land when Dani Flowers comes in. And Maddie Dalton. We’ve had three new members. That changes the energy. It changes the vibe. It changes the feel. It changes the vocals. It changes everything. This whole band has grown organically over the last 12 years. This is just where it is right now. We’re about to go in and record a new one and, shoot, it may sound like ZZ Top. I don’t know — you never know.

And I have a lot of solidarity with that, the attitude of just go in and see what happens, see what sticks and see what works.

Dani Flowers: Every single person in this band is a big fan of good writing and good songs. Just trying to serve the song and make sure it had what it needed rather than trying to put any one certain song in a box that it might not fit in.

How does that play into personal goals with the band’s expectations? There’s a lot of a crossover factor in the music. I hear just as much country as I do bluegrass in there.

GB: We’re just going for what we feel. We want to be excited about the song as we want everybody that’s listening to be excited. When we’re in the studio, these songs were brought to life in such a great way.

With the new members, what was kind of the intent coming into the group?

Jaelee Roberts: When I was asked to audition, I was kind of flabbergasted, because I looked up to Sister Sadie. These are all my heroes playing together in a band. And I had grown up around them. It was such a surreal feeling to get to audition. I get to not only learn more from them than I was already learning from them, but I get to part of that and grow with them, bring my spin on stuff.

DF: It was definitely a no-brainer for me when it came to joining the band. I’ve known Deanie since I was 16 or 17, Gena since I was 19 or 20. I’ve always admired them both. They’re incredible at what they do. It was really great for me. I was in the music industry for a while. I had a record deal. I wrote for a publishing company. And then, I had a kid and kind of stopped doing it all for a while. So, to join a band full of women that I already love was a great way to get back into playing music.

And with founding members of a band leaving, there’s this creative vacuum that can occur, where maybe there are more opportunities for other people to step up.

DR: Oh, that’s so great, because it’s true. With the personnel changes we’ve had, there’s been more opportunities for different styles, different vocalists, different everything. It’s crazy how that energy shift just redirects everything. You find a new tunnel or rabbit hole to go down or a new vision. It’s super fun to hear those potential songs and figure out whose voice is going to work. If you listen to a song, it actually tells you where it wants to go.

GB: This band is kind of a melting pot. We all bring such different things to the band. And then, when you put it all together and mix it all together, it’s this great recipe for things that are magical. It’s just heartwarming, too. We actually hangout together when we’re not playing on the road — not a lot of bands do that.

With the band shakeup and everything that’s happened to Sister Sadie in recent years — winning the IBMA for Entertainer of the Year, switching record labels to Mountain Home — what made you decide to keep it going? Was there a moment of maybe shutting it down and doing something else?

DR: One hundred percent. You’re on it. With the last personnel change, Gena and I were on the phone like, “We’re 10 years into this thing. Is it time to call it? Maybe it’s just time.” This band happened by just a group of friends getting together and playing the Station Inn. Then, “Hey, that went really well. Let’s playing the Station Inn again.” Then, Gena starts getting calls from promoters. Do a few shows. Then, Pinecastle says, “Hey, let’s do a record.” We do a record. We do another record. We get nominated for a Grammy.

But, we’ve never really gone in 100 percent. It’s just been organic. I’ve got a ton of things going on. I’ve got a seven-year-old. Gena’s got a job and two kids. It’s never like, “Let’s form a band and let’s go do this.” It was always sort of The Seldom Scene thing — we’ll play when it makes sense. And then, I was like, “What if we give this thing everything we’ve got? What if we put in one 110 percent? What if we got a team? What if we got a manager? What if we got a new record label? What if we got a booking agent? Let’s devote one year to this 110 percent and see what happens” — that’s where we are.

I’m 52 years old. I’ve been doing this and on the road since I was 15. This is the best record we’ve ever done. Going all in was the best choice that we could’ve made.


Photo Credit: Eric Ahlgrim