[Here’s a link to enjoy the official video for “American Dreaming” by Sierra Ferrell: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=V8e9nbsq-18.]

“It’s so unusual for anyone to win four Grammys in any category,” Larry Groce, producer of the nationally syndicated radio show Mountain Stage on which Ferrell appeared in 2020, told Charleston, WV television station WSAZ3. “We watched her grow up and watched her perform when she was a teenager and watched her grow into what she is now.”

For a profile in Rolling Stone magazine last year, Ferrell –- whose music is an eclectic mix of bluegrass, folk, gypsy jazz, honky-tonk country, and old-time — said: “I want to let other people know, younger generations coming up, that you can do whatever you want… Don’t think you only have to be one way. You can be it all.”

Ferrell’s interest in music was stirred at an early age. Raised by a single mom, she played clarinet and sang in her school choir as a child and was a vocalist with a Grateful Dead cover band during her teens. However, she particularly enjoyed 90s folk-rock while growing up and also picked up the guitar and fiddle. While in her 20s, Ferrell, now 36, traveled cross-country by train — playing freight-train boxcars, truck stops and alleyways, and busking on the streets of New Orleans, Louisiana and Seattle, Washington.

After self-releasing two albums – Pretty Magic Spell (2018) and Washington by the Sea (2019), which she sold while busking and via Bandcamp, she drew the attention of producer Gary Paczosa during one of her frequent live performances during Honky Tonk Tuesdays at Nashville’s American Legion Post 82. With his assistance, she signed to Rounder Records in 2019. Trail of Flowers, released last March, is her second full-length recording for the label following 2021’s critically acclaimed Long Time Coming, an album that also featured Billy Strings and Sarah Jarosz. In addition to those two notable artists, Ferrell has collaborated with The Black Keys, Zach Bryan, Lukas Nelson (Willie’s son), Old Crow Medicine Show, Margo Price, and Post Malone (with whom she is slated to open some shows later this year).

Gillian Welch & David Rawlings, Billy Strings, Kacey Musgraves, and Chris Stapleton Also Win Grammys.

Besides Ferrell, winners in the Grammy Awards’ American Roots Music Field included Gillian Welch & David Rawlings for Best Folk album (Woodland), Billy Strings for Best Bluegrass Album (Live Vol. 1, and Kalani Pe’a for Best Regional Roots Music Album (Kuini). Other roots artists awarded Grammys included Kacey Musgraves for Best Country Song (“The Architect”), Chris Stapleton for Best Country Solo Performance (“It Takes a Woman”), and Ruthie Foster for Best Contemporary Blues Album (Mileage). Musgraves and Stapleton also were among the nominees for Best Country Album, an award that went to Beyonce for Cowboy Carter, while Musgraves also was in the running for Country Solo Performance and with Madi Diaz for Best Americana Performance.

The awards show – hosted by artists Ronnie Bowman and Dan Tyminki – was a highlight of the IBMA’s week-long World of Bluegrass. The show took place at the Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts in Raleigh North Carolina and also was broadcast on SiriusXM’s Bluegrass Junction and streamed via Facebook Live (as was the July 26 awards nominees announcement that was previously reported on by AcousticMusicScene.com.).

A Lansing. Michigan-born and Nashville, Tennessee-based genre-bending flatpicker and singer, Billy Strings received the Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album (Home) last year and was named Pollstar’s Breakthrough Artist of the Pandemic. He was previously honored as both Guitar Player and New Artist of the Year in the 2019 IBMA Bluegrass Music Awards and was named Guitar Player of the Year again in 2021.

[Here’s a link to view the official video for Billy Strings’ recording of “Red Daisy”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmqr0GqnQoE.]

Billy Strings beat out Del McCoury Band, Po’ Ramblin Boys, Sister Sadie, and Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway for the coveted Entertainer of the Year award. Like him, McCoury, a Bluegrass Hall of Fame member, and Sister Sadie are previous recipients of the award. McCoury was named Male Vocalist of the Year, while Tuttle was honored as Female Vocalist of the Year.

The IBMA Bluegrass Music Awards are voted on by the professional membership of the International Bluegrass Music Association (ibma.org), a nonprofit music organization that connects, educates, and empowers bluegrass professionals and enthusiasts, honoring tradition and encouraging innovation in the bluegrass community worldwide.

A complete list of award winners appears below, along with brief information about three Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame inductees.

Entertainer of the Year: Billy Strings
Vocal Group of the Year: Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver
Instrumental Group of the Year: Béla Fleck’s My Bluegrass Heart
New Artist of the Year: Rick Faris
Song of the Year: “Red Daisy”
Artist: Billy Strings, Songwriters: Jarrod Walker/Christian Ward
Label: Rounder Records, Producers: Jonathan Wilson/Billy Strings
Album of the Year: My Bluegrass Heart, Artist: Béla Fleck
Label: Renew Records, Producer: Béla Fleck
Gospel Recording of the Year: “In the Sweet By and By”
Artist: Dolly Parton with Carl Jackson, Larry Cordle, Bradley Walker, and Jerry Salley
Songwriters: S. Fillmore Bennett/Joseph Webster, Label: Billy Blue Records
Producer: Jerry Salley
Instrumental Recording of the Year: “Vertigo”
Artist: Béla Fleck featuring Sam Bush, Stuart Duncan, Edgar Meyer, and Bryan Sutton
Songwriter: Béla Fleck, Label: Renew Records, Producer: Béla Fleck
Collaborative Recording of the Year: “In the Sweet By and By”
Artist: Dolly Parton with Carl Jackson, Larry Cordle, Bradley Walker, and Jerry Salley
Songwriters: S. Fillmore Bennett/Joseph Webster, Label: Billy Blue Records, Producer: Jerry Salley
Male Vocalist of the Year: Del McCoury
Female Vocalist of the Year: Molly Tuttle
Banjo Player of the Year: Béla FleckBass Player of the Year: Jason Moore
Fiddle Player of the Year: Bronwyn Keith-Hynes
Resophonic Guitar Player of the Year: Justin Moses
Guitar Player of the Year: Cody Kilby
Mandolin Player of the Year: Sierra Hull

Norman Blake, the late Paul “Moon” Mullins, and Peter Rowan were inducted into the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame during the awards show. Blake is a multi-instrumentalist and vocalist and a Grammy and Country Music Association Album of the Year award–winner whose prolific music career spans more than six decades. Paul “Moon” Mullins was a broadcast pioneer and recording artist whose work brought bluegrass music to tens of thousands in Ohio and beyond. Peter Rowan is a Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter and renaissance musician who has been performing for nearly 60 years.

The IBMA Bluegrass Music Awards Show is the centerpiece of World of Bluegrass Week that extends through October 1 in North Carolina’s capital city. IBMA World of Bluegrass also featured a September 27-29 business conference (replete with a wide array of professional development programming, sponsored artist showcases and late-night hospitality functions, and plenty of networking and relationship-building opportunities), the IBMA Bluegrass Ramble (a series of official showcases in downtown Raleigh and the Raleigh Convention Center), and the two-day IBMA Bluegrass Live! festival, September 30-October 1, that draws throngs of music lovers to downtown Raleigh to enjoy more than 100 acts on different stages set up along Fayetteville Street –- from the state capitol to the Duke Performing Arts Center.

Considered the genre’s annual industry gathering and family reunion. IBMA’s annual World of Bluegrass week has taken place in Raleigh since 2013 – apart from 2020 when the trade and professional association for the global bluegrass community shifted to online presentation of its professional development seminars, artist showcases and awards in light of concerns surrounding the Covid-19 pandemic.

“We lost one of the greatest banjo players to ever pick up the five,” tweeted fellow banjoist Bela Fleck, just one of numerous artists who took to social media to share their thoughts about the master of the bluegrass banjo in the days following his passing.

“He was an absolute legend… He will be remembered as one of the greatest to ever play bluegrass music,” maintains acclaimed roots guitarist Billy Strings. “He had tone, taste and timing like no other. The space between the notes he played and the way he rolled them out just kept the band driving, running on all cylinders like a V* engine. He was just the best bluegrass banjo player out there, man,” he tweeted.

In social media posts, Mark O’Connor, a noted roots fiddler and guitarist, who had a brief stint in Crowe’s band when he was just 14 in the mid-1970s, called Crowe “one of the absolute greats in bluegrass, and a really wonderful mentor to me when I was a young boy coming.” In O’Connor’s view, there’s “no better bluegrass banjo player the history [of the genre] other than Earl Scruggs.” Crowe might be considered a disciple of Scruggs and, like him, he played in a three-fingered style. However, although he respected and sought to preserve the tradition and the legacy of the genre, Crowe was not a bluegrass purist. He also experimented and expanded bluegrass music’s traditional boundaries and helped redefine the genre and widen its appeal in the process. His pioneering progressive bluegrass band, J.D. Crowe and the New South, his pioneering progressive bluegrass band featured such notable players as Jerry Douglas, Keith Whitley, guitarist Tony Rice (who died last Christmas), Ricky Skaggs, Phil Leadbetter, and Don Rigsby over the years.

James Dee Crowe was born in Lexington, Kentucky in 1937. While just a teenager and still in school, he performed and toured with acclaimed bluegrass guitarist Jimmy Martin in the mid-1950s. Returning home to Lexington in 1961, he partnered with mandolinist Doyle Lawson and bassist Bobby Sloane to form the Kentucky Mountain Dogs, which became J.D. Crowe and the New South in the 1970s and featured a revolving lineup of players. The group’s 1975 Rounder Records release, The New South, is considered one of bluegrass music’s seminal albums. In 1983, J.D. Crowe and the New South won a Grammy Award for Country Instrumental of the Year for “Fireball.”

Here’s a link to view a video of J.D. Crowe and the New South performing “Fireball”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-2rv9lxNlw

Crowe also formed and recorded with the Bluegrass Album Band featuring Lawson, guitarists Rice and Douglas, fiddlers Vassar Clements and Bobby Hicks, and Todd Phillips and Mark Schatz rotating on bass. He was a recipient of numerous awards and accolades. He was inducted into the Bluegrass Hall of Fame in 2003, received the Bluegrass Star Award in 2011, an honorary doctorate from the University of Kentucky in 2012, and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Lexington Music Awards in 2016. Although he gave up touring in 2019, Crowe had continued to record.

Here’s a link to view a video of the Bluegrass Album Band performing “Big Spike Hammer” during an IBMA Awards Show:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PO__VTOMNJo

Founded by Bobby Powell (guitar and vocals) and Tim Jones (mandolin and vocals) in 2007, Carolina Blue also features James McDowell (banjo and vocals), Reese Combs (upright bass and vocals), and Aynsley Porchak (fiddle). Powell has jokingly referred to the band as “a 12-year overnight success,” noting that just a few years ago Carolina Blue was playing local BBQ restaurants in and around its hometown of Brevard, NC, while it played some 120 shows across he U.S. in 2019 — at festivals and venues that he and his bandmates had previously only dreamed about.

Featuring lots of fiddlin’ and mandolin work, as well as three-part harmonies, Carolina Blue presents primarily original music in the style and format of Bill Monroe, the father of bluegrass and the group’s biggest influence. Last year, Carolina Blue was nominated for three International Bluegrass Music Awards by the IBMA: Album, New Artist and Instrumental Recording of the Year. Porchak, its fiddle player, was a recipient of the IBMA’s Momentum Instrumentalist Award in 2018.

Here’s a link to view the official video for “Rusty Rails,” one of the songs on Carolina Blue’s award-winning album: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2w48WJfdC4.

A complete listing of 2020 SPBGMA Bluegrass Music Award-Winners follows:

Bluegrass Album of the Year – I Hear Bluegrass Calling Me – Carolina Blue on Pinecastle
Song of the Year – “Next Train South” – Po’Ramblin’ Boys on Rounder Records
Entertainer(s) of the Year – Carolina Blue
Bluegrass Band of the Year – Carolina Blue
Instrumental Group of the Year – Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper
Vocal Group of the Year – Carolina Blue
Bluegrass Gospel Group of the Year – The Farm Hands
Female Vocalist of the Year – Dale Ann Bradley
Male Vocalist of the Year – Russell Moore
Bluegrass Songwriter of the Year – Larry Cordle
Bluegrass Radio Station of the Year – Sirius XM 62
Bluegrass DJ of the Year – Kyle Cantrell – Sirius XM
Bluegrass Promoter of the Year – D.A. Callaway

Tim Graves, The Farm Hands’ Grammy Award-winning resophonic guitarist and a member of SPBGMA’s Hall of Greats, hosted the SPBGMA’s awards show and also was presented with a Masters Gold Award in recognition of his 13 previous wins as Dobro Performer of the Year.

In a Facebook post, Amy Rigby, a singer-songwriter who was sharing the stage with Olney and Scott Miller as part of a song swap, wrote:

“David Olney, a beautiful man, a legend, a songwriting poet died last night. I was sitting next to him in the round, had been so honored and looking forward to getting to trade songs with him and Scott Miller. Olney was in the middle of his third song when he stopped, apologized and shut his eyes. He was very still, sitting upright with his guitar on, wearing the coolest hat and a beautiful rust suede jacket we laughed about because it was raining like hell outside the boathouse where we were playing- I just want the picture to be as graceful and dignified as it was, because it at first looked like he was just taking a moment. Scott Miller had the presence of mind to say we needed to revive him. Doctors in the audience and 30A folks were all working so hard to get him to come to. It’s hard to post about this because I can’t really believe he’s gone. I am so sorry for his wife and family and friends and all the people who loved him and his music. Even those who never heard of him. We all lost someone important last night.”

Here’s a link to a nearly 30-minute Acoustic Interlude session featuring David Olney that was recorded during the 2020 30A Songwriters Festival:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxF6WXW4Hq0&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR0ADwrIUBizMkjE2EbVfBGJEjcnVE1QI0CVPplVN9hyJlX1Vou3SClU8po

Based in Nashville since 1973, the Lincoln, Rhode Island native, who was born on March 23, 1948 and moved to Music City after briefly studying English at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, had quickly become part of a like-minded group of songwriters that included Guy Clark, Townes Van Zandt and Rodney Crowell. “Anytime anyone asks me who my favorite music writers are, I say Mozart, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Bob Dylan, and David Olney,” Van Zandt once said. “David Olney is one of the best songwriters I’ve ever heard – and that’s true. I mean that from my heart.” That quote appears in the liner notes for Olney’s 1991 release, Roses.

After fronting a band, The X-Rays, who recorded two albums for Rounder Records, Olney released his first solo album, Eye of the Storm, in 1986. His 1988 sophomore release, Deeper Well, featured his song “Jerusalem Tomorrow” that Emmylou Harris covered on her 1993 album, Cowgirl’s Prayer; she also covered its title track on 1995’s Wrecking Ball. Of Olney, Harris had said: “David Olney tells marvelous stories, with characters who cling to he hope of enduring love, all the while crossing the deep divide into that long, dark night of the soul.”

Here’s a link to a video of David Olney performing “Jerusalem Tomorrow”:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQcX_rv20dk

Olney, whose last album, This Side or the Other, was released in 2018, was a prolific songwriter and a mainstay of the Nashville music community. He also was a cinematographer and helped to produce a number of short films and documentaries.

Facebook, the online social network, was replete with online tributes to and remembrances of Olney, beginning shortly after his death.

“I’m in shock. Devastated that my friend, songwriter David Olney has passed away,” wrote singer-songwriter Abbie Gardner in a Jan. 19 post. “We were supposed to write together next week. I spent the morning watching videos of him just trying to turn back the clock and spend some more time listening to his stories and grumbly voice… I always tucked away ideas I thought he would like and saved them for our co-writes. I don’t know what I’ll do with the one I’d hoped to share with him next week. There’s one of our songs on his last record ironically called “Death Will Not Divide Us.” Listening to that now is heartbreaking and healing all at once. I hope you’re right, David, I really hope you’re right.”

Here’s a link to view the official music video for “Death Will Not Divide Us”:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uA2AEyo74ds

Dan Navarro, a fellow singer-songwriter, noted that he was on the same stage, The Boathouse at Watercolor, in a round just before Olney. “I greeted and hugged him as I came offstage, as he was prepping to go on,” Navarro posted. “I hadn’t seen him in a year… He was sweet and I thought he looked great, with his long white beard, which was not so long last year. I complimented him on his cool suede jacket, and he prepped to go on. About ten minutes later, he was seated onstage checking, and I went up to say bye bye. An hour later he was gone. What a shocking heartbreaking loss.”

Singer-Songwriter Amy Speace also posted on Jan. 19: “11 or 12 years ago I got an email from Mary Sack saying that David Olney had heard me at the Folk Alliance and wanted me to join him in a 9pm round at The Bluebird Cafe. It was my first time there. It felt like I’d been handed a secret key to a kingdom. He was one of my first calls when I moved to East Nashville and we had coffee at Bongo and talked about Shakespeare and folk music and touring in Holland. He was welcoming. He was unpretentious and kind. A true master. I saw him only a week or so ago at The Five Spot sounding on top of his game. Word spread quickly at this festival that he died on stage tonight and it doesn’t seem real. The last Bluebird Round I hosted, he was my first call and I got the chance to sit next to him and hear him play all those songs and thank him for graciously opening the door for me years ago. I hope he knew how much that invitation meant. I hope he feels that the tribe won’t sleep tonight. This is one of my favorites. My heart is with his family and his close friends.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxF6WXW4Hq0&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR0ADwrIUBizMkjE2EbVfBGJEjcnVE1QI0CVPplVN9hyJlX1Vou3SClU8po

Olney was to have showcased his talents and been part of a Wisdom of the Elders panel discussion at the annual Folk Alliance International Conference in New Orleans later this week. In addition to an official juried showcase, he was slotted to play Acoustic Chaos: The Georgia Room on Thursday, Jan. 23, at 11 p.m. The room’s host, Jill Kettles, Olney’s ‘on-again and off-again publicist,’ has invited conference attendees to come to the room during that time and sing their favorite David Olney song or talk about him as a friend, a colleague, or as an inspiration.

Olney leaves behind his wife, Regine, daughter, Lillian, and son, Redding, as well as many friends in the music community. Memorial services have not yet been planned.

Featuring songs penned by Martin, The Long Awaited Album is the second album that the 72-year old, comedian, actor, clawhammer-style banjoist, and multiple Grammy Award-winner has recorded with the Grammy-winning North Carolina-based bluegrass group. Their first album together, Rare Bird Alert, was recorded in 2010. Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers earned the bluegrass music industry’s top honor in 2011 when they were named Entertainer of the Year during the 22nd Annual International Bluegrass Music Awards.

“Wildflowers” is one of a dozen tracks on Bidin’ My Time, the first studio album in more than a decade by country-rock pioneer Hillman – a founding member of the Byrds, Flying Burrito Brothers, Manasas, and the Desert Rose Band. It was produced by the late Tom Petty, who also is featured on the album, along with former members of the Byrds and Desert Rose Band.

The October 2017 FOLKDJ-L charts are based on 13, 841 airplays from 136 different DJs. Label and release date appear in brackets below, while the number of reported spins is shown in parentheses. The top albums and songs charts are posted on AcousticMusicScene.com, with permission.

Top Albums of October 2017

1: The Long-Awaited Album, Steve Martin And The Steep Canyon Rangers [Rounder, 9/17] (103)
2: Bidin’ My Time, Chris Hillman [Rounder, 9/17] (87)
3: Echo In The Valley, Bela Fleck And Abigail Washburn [Rounder, new] (74)
4: Turmoil And Tinfoil, Billy Strings [Apostol, 9/17] (73)
5: Fifteen, The Wailin’ Jennys [Red House, 10/17] (69)
5: Letters Never Read, Dori Freeman [Free Dirt, 10/17] (69)
7: Edge Of America, Crowes Pasture [crowespastureduo.com, 9/17] (56)
8: Small Believer, Anna Tivel [Fluff And Gravy, 9/17] (52)
9: Folksinger, Vol. 2, Willie Watson [Acony, 9/17] (49)
10: Happy Little Trees, KC Groves [thebluegrassgirl.com, 9/17] (45)
11: A Hand Full Of Songs, Jim Page [jimpage.net, 10/17] (44)
11: Lead Belly, Baby!, Dan Zanes And Friends [Smithsonian/Folkways, 9/17] (44)
13: Spaghettification, Christine Lavin [christinelavin.com, 8/17] (42)
14: Short Stories, Beppe Gambetta [Borealis, new] (36)
15: The Laughing Apple, Yusuf (Cat Stevens) [Decca, 9/17] (35)
15: Peaceful Easy Feeling, Jack Tempchin [Blue Elan, 8/17] (35)
15: Solid Ground: The Songs Of Fred Alley, Katie Dahl, Eric Lewis And Rich Higdon [Leaky Boat, 8/17] (35)
18: Any Port In A Storm, Mark Stepakoff [markstepakoff.com, new] (34)
18: Grace, Lizz Wright [Concord, 9/17] (34)
18: Night Tree, Night Tree [nighttreemusic.com, 9/17] (34)
18: The Oxygen Girl, Jeni Hankins [Jewel Ridge, 6/17] (34)
22: Headwaters, Misner And Smith [misnerandsmith.com, 10/17] (33)
22: The Quiet Places, Terry Kitchen [Urban Campfire, new] (33)
22: Same As I Ever Have Been, Matt Patershuk [Black Hen, new] (33)
22: Undone, Sean McConnell [Rounder, 9/17] (33)
22: Worth, Emily Mure [emilymure.com, 9/17] (33)
27: Poor David’s Almanack, Dave Rawlings [Acony, 8/17] (32)
28: Eric Gerber Three, Eric Gerber [Scruffy Dog, new] (30)
28: One Go Around, Jeffrey Martin [Fluff And Gravy, new] (30)
30: On That Other Green Shore, John Reischman And The Jaybirds [Corvus, 6/17] (29)
30: The Wild, Kris Delmhorst [Blue Blade, 9/17] (29)
32: California Calling, Laura Cortese And The Dance Cards [Compass, 10/17] (28)
33: Jump In, The Railsplitters [Self, new] (27)
34: Rise, Molly Tuttle [Self, 6/17] (26)
35: At The End Of The Day, Bett Padgett [Self, new] (25)
35: Some Distant Shore, Bill Booth [Wheeling, 3/17] (25)
35: Southern Blood, Gregg Allman [Rounder, 9/17] (25)
38: On To Something Fine, Leah Kaufman [Boojum, 8/17] (23)
39: Folk Hotel, Tom Russell [Frontera, 9/17] (22)
39: Mother Lion, May Erlewine [Earthwork, new] (22)
41: Down Hearted Blues, Eilen Jewell [Signature, 9/17] (21)
41: Freedom Highway, Rhiannon Giddens [Nonesuch, 2/17] (21)
43: Middle Of Nowhere, Folkapotamus [Phatcat, 9/17] (20)
43: Bone On Bone, Bruce Cockburn [True North, 9/17] (20)
43: Crazy If You Let It, Thomm Jutz [Mountain Fever, new] (20)
43: Painting Tomorrow’s Skies Blue, Hank Stone Band [Self, new] (20)
43: Songs From The Dog House, Dennis Dougherty [Thinking Dog, new] (20)
48: Chase The Sun, The Early Mays [Bird On The Wing, 8/17] (19)
48: Wake Up Call, Michael Veitch [Burt Street, new] (19)
48: What If, The Jerry Douglas Band [Rounder, 8/17] (19)
51: The Femme Fatale Of Maine, The Jeremiahs [thejeremiahs.ie, 7/17] (18)
51: Forest Fire, Shawna Caspi [shawnacaspi.com, 9/17] (18)
51: Horizon Lines, Matthew Byrne [matthewbyrne.net, 8/17] (18)
51: The Nashville Sound, Jason Isbell And The 400 Unit [Southeastern, 6/17] (18)
51: Play Guitar In 7 Days, Jim Lloyd [Self, 9/17] (18)
51: Run Away, Rebekah Long [LUK, 9/17] (18)
51: Waitin’ For The Sun, Rusty Young [Blue Elan, 9/17] (18)
58: All American Made, Margo Price [Third Man, new] (17)
58: An American Troubadour: The Songs Of Steve Forbert, Various Artists [Blue Rose, 10/17] (17)
58: Come Back Coming On, Young And Rusty [Motherlotus, 8/17] (17)
58: Wildflower Blues, Jolie Holland And Samantha Parton [Cinquefoil, 9/17] (17)
62: Three Black Crows, Hope Dunbar [Self, new] (16)
62: An American In Havana, Susan Werner [Self, 9/17] (16)
62: The Conversation, Pete’s Posse [Epact, 8/17] (16)
62: For You To See The Stars, Radney Foster [Devil’s River, 9/17] (16)
66: Alastair Moock, Alastair Moock [moock.com, 6/17] (15)
66: Ghost On The Car Radio, Slaid Cleaves [Candy House Media, 7/17] (15)
66: Midnight And Dawn, Deer Creek Boys [Mountain Fever, new] (15)
66: Not My Monkey, Fiddle Whamdiddle [Self, 7/17] (15)
66: Portraits In Fiddles, Mike Barnett [Compass, new] (15)
66: Time Captain, Ragged Union [Self, new] (15)

Top Songs of October 2017

1. “Wildflowers” (29)
by Chris Hillman
from Bidin My Time
2. “Wildflowers” (25)
by The Wailin’ Jennys
from Fifteen
3. “Edge Of America” (17)
by Crowes Pasture
from Edge Of America
4. “Caroline” (15)
by Steve Martin And The Steep Canyon Rangers
from The Long-Awaited Album
4. “Santa Fe” (15)
by Steve Martin And The Steep Canyon Rangers
from The Long-Awaited Album
6. “Bells Of Rhymney” (14)
by Chris Hillman
from Bidin My Time
6. “Peaceful Easy Feeling” (14)
by Jack Tempchin
from Peaceful Easy Feeling
8. “Don’t Let It Bring You Down” (13)
by Bela Fleck And Abigail Washburn
from Echo In The Valley
8. “Enjoy It While It Lasts” (13)
by Terry Kitchen
from The Quiet Places
10. “Nothing Rhymes With Orange” (12)
by Jim Page
from A Hand Full Of Songs
10. “Pledging Allegiance” (12)
by Michael Veitch
from Wake Up Call
12. “America” (11)
by Misner And Smith
from Headwaters
12. “By My Silence” (11)
by Mara Levine with Gathering Time
from Facets Of Folk (preview)
12. “Catch The Wind” (11)
by Crowes Pasture
from Edge Of America
12. “Gypsy” (11)
by Matt Patershuk
from Same As I Ever Have Been
12. “If I Could Make You My Own” (11)
by Dori Freeman
from Letters Never Read
12. “Midnight Train” (11)
by Dave Rawlings
from Poor David’s Almanack
12. “My Home’s Across The Blue Ridge Mountains” (11)
by Bela Fleck And Abigail Washburn
from Echo In The Valley
12. “Poor Man” (11)
by Jeffrey Martin
from One Go Around
12. “Promontory Point” (11)
by Steve Martin And The Steep Canyon Rangers
from The Long-Awaited Album
12. “Take Me To Harlan” (11)
by Bela Fleck And Abigail Washburn
from Echo In The Valley
22. “Road To Nowheresville” (10)
by Folkapotamus
from Middle Of Nowhere
22. “Cat Stevens” (10)
by Yusuf
from Mary And The Little Lamb
22. “Alleyway” (10)
by Anna Tivel
from Small Believer
22. “Loves Me Like A Rock” (10)
by The Wailin’ Jennys
from Fifteen
22. “On The Line” (10)
by Billy Strings
from Turmoil And Tinfoil
22. “Rock Island Line” (10)
by Dan Zanes And Friends
from Leadbelly Baby!
22. “Salty Sheep” (10)
by Billy Strings
from Turmoil And Tinfoil

The Earls of Leicester, which also was the top winner in the 2015 International Bluegrass Music Awards, pay homage to the musical legacy of Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs and their band, the Foggy Mountain Boys. Besides being named Entertainer of the Year again, the bluegrass supergroup’s bandleader, Jerry Douglas, was again named Dobro Player of the Year, while bandmate Barry Bales repeated as Bass Player of the Year and Charlie Cushman was named Banjo Player of the Year.

Last year, The Earls of Leicester also took home trophies for Album of the Year for its self-titled debut release, Instrumental Group of the Year and Gospel Recorded Performance of the Year, while member Shawn Camp was named Male Vocalist of the Year. Also in the group is Johnny Warren (fiddle).

Flatt Lonesome has been garnering considerable attention, accolades and radio airplay. Launched in 2011 by siblings Kelsi Robertson Harrigil (mandolin), Buddy Robertson (guitar), and Charli Robetrtson (fiddle), along with neighbor Dominic Illingworth (bass) and longtime friend Michael Stockton (dobro), and joined by Paul Harrigil (banjo) the following year, the band released its eponymous debut album in 2013.

During the awards show, members of Flatt Lonesome expressed thanks to their parents for teaching them how to sing. “We wouldn’t be Vocal Group of the Year without them,” said Charli Robertson, while twin brother Buddy remarked: “I’ve spent a lot of hours picking in the house with dad growing up and if it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t be who I am today.” Commenting on winning Album of the Year, older sister Kelsi Harrigill said: “This is our first album to have the majority of material to be all original and that is a huge deal to us. We want to pay tribute to those who came before us but we also want to show people what’s in our hearts…”

Earlier this year, Flatt Lonesome was named Best Overall Bluegrass Band and took home Album of the Year honors during the 42nd annual SPBGMA Awards.

A listing of all the award winners appears below.

2016 International Bluegrass Music Awards

Entertainer of the Year: The Earls of Leicester
Female Vocalist of the Year: Becky Buller
Male Vocalist of the Year: Danny Paisley
Vocal Group of the Year: Flatt Lonesome
Instrumental Group of the Year: Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen
Song of the Year: “You’re the One,” Flatt Lonesome
Album of the Year: Runaway Train, Flatt Lonesome
Gospel Recorded Performance of the Year: “All Dressed Up,” Joe Mullins and the Radio Ramblers
Instrumental Recorded Performance of the Year: “Fireball,” Special Consensus featuring Rob Ickes, Trey Hensley and Alison Brown
Emerging Artist of the Year: Mountain Faith
Recorded Event of the Year: Longneck Blues, Junior Sisk and Ronnie Bowman
Banjo Player of the Year: Charlie Cushman
Bass Player of the Year: Barry Bales
Dobro Player of the Year: Jerry Douglas
Fiddle Player of the Year: Becky Buller
Guitar Player of the Year: Bryan Sutton
Mandolin Player of the Year: Sierra Hull

Inductees into the Bluegrass Hall of Fame: Clarence White; the Rounder Founders: Ken Irwin, Marian Leighton Levy and Bill Nowlin

Distinguished Achievement Awards: Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine, Boston Bluegrass Union, SiriusXM Radio’s Bluegrass Junction, Bill Emerson, Jim Rooney


The International Bluegrass Awards Show was a centerpiece of the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA)’s five-day World of Bluegrass, which is considered the genre’s annual industry gathering and family reunion. Held in Raleigh for the fourth consecutive year, World of Bluegrass also featured a wide array of professional development seminars, meetings and forums, artist showcases and late-night hospitality functions, an exhibit hall, plenty of networking and relationship-building opportunities, and the Wide Open Bluegrass Music Festival.

A Massachusetts native, Keith was born in Boston in December 1939 and graduated from Amherst College in 1961. During his youth, he played with a few Dixieland bands before acquiring an interest in folk music through listening to Pete Seeger and Earl Scruggs, among others. Inspired by them and eager to play fiddle tunes on the banjo, he began developing his own picking style. He and fellow Amherst student Jim Rooney teamed up in the late 1950s to play on campus and at local coffeehouses and also partnered in launching the Connecticut Folklore Society. Keith was a member of Bill Monroe’s Bluegrass Boys for a short while in the early 1960s. During that brief stint of recording and performing, Keith left an indelible mark on banjo playing, while his melodic style – a variation on the then-popular “Scruggs style” that would later become known as “Keith style” – has influenced many banjoists.

Shortly after leaving the Bluegrass boys, Keith joined and spent four years with the Jim Kweskin Jug Band. He later played with Ian and Sylvia before moving to Woodstock, New York in 1970 and playing with Jonathan Edwards for a year. During the 1970s, he recorded for Rounder Records and also played with Judy Collins and was part of the Woodstock Mountain Revue. In the years since then, he also performed with Muleskinner (featuring David Grisman, Peter Rowan and Clarence White) and Tony Trischka, among others.

Keith also is credited with designing a specialized type of banjo tuning peg — now known as Keith Pegs — that enables players to change quickly from one open tuning to another. His invention – which he continued to market and manufacture through his Beacon Banjo Company (now run by his son, Martin) until his death –was an improvement over a previous design by Earl Scruggs.

The newest of the five regional affiliates of Folk Alliance International, SERFA (www.serfa.org) seeks to promote, develop and celebrate the diverse heritage of roots and indigenous music, dance, storytelling and related arts in the southeastern United States. Its annual conference is a primary means of doing that. This is the fifth consecutive year that it is being held at the same location — a beautiful and tranquil spot nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

“SERFA provides an annual gathering, a place to gather each year at the same time and often at the same place to connect and reconnect, to celebrate and mourn, to feel that special sense of community and solidarity, of mutual concern and respect, that those who practice a trade, a craft, an art recognize in each other,” says Si Kahn, a renowned folksinger, songwriter, author and community activist who will have a major presence this year. He describes the conference as “a family reunion that reminds us we are not alone, that we have not just a common trade, but a common purpose; and that together we can raise our voices not just in song, but in the hope of a better, kinder and more just world.”

The conference opens with lunch on Thursday, followed by an opening reception, workshops, group mentor sessions, dinner, three-hours of official showcases and nearly three-and-one-half-hours of late-night guerilla showcases. It concludes on Sunday morning with breakfast and SERFA’s annual general meeting. For those opting to arrive early for the conference, there also will be a buffet dinner, a one-woman show: Precious Memories by Kahn and featuring Sue Massek, and a two-hour informal open mic on Wednesday evening, May 13.

Honoring Folks for Outstanding Contributions to Music and Culture in the Southeast

Special guests at this year’s conference include Kahn, Alice Gerrard and the founders of Rounder Records (Ken Irwin, Bill Nowlin, Marian Leighton Levy) – all of whom will share the second annual Kari Estrin Founding President’s Award for Outstanding Contributions to Music and Culture in the Southeast, to be presented on Friday afternoon. In addition, they will take part in a 90-minute “Wisdom of the Elders” panel discussion moderated by Art Menius on Saturday.

Gerrard is one of the pioneering women in bluegrass and old-time music. Rounder Records, a leading American roots music label founded in 1970 and acquired by the Concord Music Group in 2010, has released more than 3,000 albums in such genres as bluegrass, Americana, Cajun and Zydeco, folk, singer-songwriter, and children’s music. Rounder also has been in the forefront of the preservation and re-release of historic recordings by the likes of Woody Guthrie, Lead Belly, the Carter Family, Jimmie Rodgers, and Mississippi John Hurt, as well as a number of anthologies from the Library of Congress and the Alan Lomax Collection.

(The inaugural award was presented last year to The Highlander Research and Education Center, which serves as a catalyst for grassroots organizing and movement building in Appalachia and the South and integrates music with social change.)

“That’s very similar to what SERFA has done. It’s become a place where musicians who are just starting out can connect as equals with artists who, like Alice Gerrard, have been working at this time-honored trade for 60 years a and more.”

Kahn also will lead a “Music Can Make a Difference” workshop and participate in a “Theater for Folk Musicians” workshop during the conference. Singer-songwriter Tish Hinojosa will speak on “From Major to Indie;” Tim Grimm and Jim Photoglo will conduct songwriting workshops; and Cosy Sheridan will lead a performance master class. Graphic design and imaging, harmony, “The Herstory of Oppression and Resistance in Appalachia,” international touring, performance rights organizations (PROs), and sound are among the other workshop topics. A series of group and one-on-one mentoring sessions also are on the conference agenda, as are participatory instrumental and dance clinics.

Artists to Showcase Their Talents on Thursday, Friday and Saturday Nights

The following artists and bands present official showcases on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights following dinner: The Barrel Jumpers, Bobtown, Mary Bragg, Shawna Caspi, The Early Mays, Angela Easterling, Wyatt Easterling, Kala Farnham, Tim Grimm, Tish Hinojosa, Kaia Kater, Paddy Mills, Danielle Miraglia, The Misty Mountain String Band, Zoe Mulford, Matt Nakoa, Jim Photoglo, Bruce Piephoff, Jefferson Ross, Sheltered Turtle, Cosy Sheridan, Underhill Rose, Dan Weber, The Yes Team, and Zoe & Cloyd. Nothing else is scheduled during these showcases, which are also open to the local community. Persons not registered for the conference can attend these juried showcases for $10 each night or $25 for all three nights (cash only). Tickets will be available on-site at the Assembly Inn Convocation Hall.

Following the official showcases, eight meeting rooms will be abuzz with late-night guerilla showcases that extend until 2 a.m. AcousticMusicScene.com, which has had a presence at the SERFA Conference for the past four years, will host late-night showcases on Thursday, May 13, overnight in Room 230. These will take the form of song swaps.

AcousticMusicScene.com showcase schedule:

10:40: Sharon Goldman, Bev Grant
11:00: Si Kahn Sing-along with Kari Estrin
11:30: Rob Lytle, Kipyn Martin and Paddy Mills
12:00: Mary Bragg, Shawna Caspi and Matt Nakoa
12:30: Redneck Mimosa: Todd Hoke, Carmody & Carver
1:00: Harmonic Convergence: The Early Mays and Underhill Rose
1:30: Blues & Roots: Lorraine Conard, Danielle Miraglia, Jon Shain

Editor’s Note: In addition to hosting an AcousticMusicScene.com showcase, I will be part of a concert and festival presenters panel discussion and will join Lorraine Conard in a group mentoring session on Performers and Presenters Partnering in Promotion. I’ll also offer some one-on-one mentoring on public relations, strategic communications, artist bios and one-sheets, website content and social media, and other topics of interest to artists and presenters.

The global performing arts marketplace and conference featured more than 1000 artist showcases (music, theatre, dance, comedy and more), a large EXPO Hall with nearly 400 exhibitors, daily plenary sessions and keynote speakers, and a wide array of professional development workshops and forums. It is hosted by APAP, a Washington, D.C.-based national service, advocacy and membership organization dedicated to developing and supporting a robust performing arts presenters field and the professionals who work within it. 9Last year’s APAP Conference featured a professional development session on Presenting Bluegrass: Engaging New Audiences. An article on that is archived on AcousticMusicScene.com and may be viewed by clicking on this link:

From the moment Balsam Range kicked off its showcase at the New York Hilton, the conference’s host hotel, with “Moon Over Memphis,” it seemed clear that the group that has headlined concert halls, theaters and festivals throughout North America since its formation eight years ago was doing just that.

Commenting on the accolades and success that Balsam Range has achieved to date, Tim Surrett (bass and dobro) said: “It’s amazing. We would have laughed if you would have told us eight years ago that this would happen.” Surrett, who also co-founded the Mountain Home Music Company (the label for which Balsam Range records) noted that although the group’s members all hail from the same county and live just 15 minutes from each other in western North Carolina, they had been playing in different bands and touring all over the world. “We just got together to pick a little.” The group takes its name from a mountain range in NC’s Smoky Mountain region.

The Depue Brothers Band, Matuto, and Mipso mixed things up a bit during their respective showcases. The DePue Brothers Band perform what they call “Grassical” music – fusing bluegrass and classical, along with elements of jazz, blues and rock. Matuto is a New York City-based ensemble fronted by guitarist Clay Ross. The band plays what it calls Brazilian bluegrass — a lively and very danceable blend of northeastern Brazil’s infectious folkloric rhythms and rootsy Americana (including bluegrass, swampy Louisiana two-steps and spirituals). Besides Ross on guitar and vocals, Matuto features violin, accordion, bass, drums and various Brazilian percussive instruments. The band has been an international musical ambassador through American Music Abroad – a partnership between American Voices and the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Mipso, which bills itself as North Carolina’s renegade traditionalists performing ‘dark holler pop,’ is comprised of four recent college graduates – three of whom grew up with the bluegrass tradition but who, along with their fiddler, give it a little bit of a twist. The quartet’s sound is a blend of bluegrass, contemporary country, folk, gospel and pop.

Bluegrass Sampler Platter Showcase Provides Some Tasty Morsels

The Gibson Brothers, Sierra Hull, Tim O’Brien, Bryan Sutton and The Travelin’ McCourys were part of an extended four-hour Bluegrass Sampler Platter showcase that drew a large crowd (not limited to APAP attendees) to Manhattan’s City Winery.

Opening the show, top-notch guitarist Bryan Sutton, who hails from the mountains of western North Carolina near Asheville, exclaimed: “It sort of feels like a New York City on Sunday night – a place where I don’t have to worry and don’t have to hurry.” Sutton showed off the guitar chops and intricate finger-play that have earned him much critical acclaim and numerous awards (including a Grammy and being named three times as IBMA Guitarist of the Year). Although best known for his flat-picked acoustic guitar playing, Sutton also played banjo on a couple of numbers – while Rob McCoury joined him on banjo on another.

Next up was Sierra Hull, a classy young mandolinist with a beautiful, crystalline voice. Accompanied by Ethan Jodziewicz on stand-up bass, she moved effortlessly between instrumentals and songs during her set. Now in her early 20s, Hull has gravitated more towards the singer-songwriter side of Americana roots music from the more traditional bluegrass of her teen years – although her repertoire reflects a wide range of musical styles. Like Matuto, she was an international cultural ambassador last year through the American Music Abroad program sponsored by the U.S. Department of State.

Hailed in bluegrass music circles for their tight vocal harmonies, The Gibson Brothers have received numerous International Bluegrass Music Awards – including Entertainer of the Year (2012 and 2013) and Vocal Group of the Year (2011 and 2013). Although guitar-playing brothers Eric and Leigh Gibson perform a lot of original material with band-mates Mike Barber (bass), Jesse Brock (mandolin) and Clayton Campbell (fiddle), their set was heavily sprinkled with renditions of songs by such other notable brother acts as The Everly Brothers, The Louvin Brothers (whom Leigh calls “kind of the gold standard of brother acts in terms of country music”) and the Monroe brothers. The Gibson Brothers signed to Rounder Records last summer and their first release for the label, Brotherhood, due out in February, pays homage to the brother acts that have inspired them since growing up on a diary farm in upstate New York.

Tim O’Brien has been a key player on the American roots music scene for years. An acclaimed singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, the Grammy Award-winner and two-time IBMA Male Vocalist of the Year also has had his songs recorded by numerous other artists. But this was his night to shine, and so he did – primarily on guitar and vocals. Noted mandolinist, clarinetist and composer Andy Statman joined him for a few songs from a new Superstring Theory album featuring The Andy Statman Trio with O’Brien and fiddler Michael Cleveland. A lightning-fast-paced number featuring dueling mandolins was among the set’s highlights.

The Travelin’ McCourys – featuring the sons of Del McCoury and their band-mates – closed out the evening with a varied set of music that ranged from songs with four-part harmonies and a high & lonesome sound to more straight-ahead bluegrass and break-neck speed instrumentals during which each player was afforded an opportunity to lead. Enhancing the sound throughout the set was Bryan Sutton on guitar, while all of the evening’s artists were invited on stage to close out the night with a little pickin’ party.