Annual IBMA Awards Thread [Archive]

sgarrity

Sep-27-2012, 11:24pm

The usuals as I recall. How many times does this make for Steffey? And I love Doc as much as anybody, but guitar player of the year??? For what exactly?? I was happy to see the Gibson Brothers win for Entertainer of the Year AND Gospel Song. Singing As we Rise written by Joe Newberry is a simply wonderful song. And Junior Sisk won for best album and song. It seems that the voters had a slightly more traditional bend this year.

Mike Bunting

Sep-27-2012, 11:56pm

I can certainly do without Steffey but great for Junior Sisk,one of my favs and hooray for Joe Newberry.

Jeff Budz

Sep-28-2012, 4:53am

Steffy is really good, but why keep giving it to the same guy?

45ACP-GDLF5

Sep-28-2012, 8:30am

Big congrats to my good friend Doyle Lawson, for being inducted into the IBMA Hall of Fame!!! WAY WAY past due IMO!!!

mandopete

Sep-28-2012, 9:48am

Paul Merlo

Sep-28-2012, 9:57am

Anyone else here catch the live webcast on Bluegrass Today? The sound and lighting were pretty bad, but it was great to actually get to see the show. FWIW I thought Frank Solivan and Dirty Kitchen tore it up! I also see that Adam Steffey was playing some sort of new F-style mando, think it was a Northfield.

As for the awards they were pretty predictable as always.

I caught the end of it on the way home from an open mic night. I heard the Entertainer of the Year award, Steve Martin's tribute to Earl Scruggs, and the last 2 songs played on stage. I was rooting for Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers to win and really enjoyed the live pickin' too.

David

Sep-28-2012, 11:46am

I didn't watch the award show but I do live in Nashville and went to see some of the free showcases down on Broadway on Tuesday night. The best was seeing the Del McCoury Band at Robert's Western World (my favorite honky tonk in town) with special guests Sam Bush, Doyle ("Dole") Lawson, and Michael Cleveland. As I was walking out the back entrance to go next door and see Town Mountain (my favorite new BG band) I passed right by Steve Martin as he was going in to hang out with the band.

It is sad that IBMA is moving to Raleigh because these kinds of nights are just not going to happen there, Nashville is loaded with real-deal bluegrass musicians who can come out for stuff like this and Raleigh will not be able to match up.

Jeff Budz

Sep-30-2012, 6:40am

Sigh, I think I need to plan a trip to Nashville.

Scott Tichenor

Sep-30-2012, 7:40am

I'd be interested in hearing what attendance was like. Read a comment online somewhere that it appeared to be down again from the previous year--making that... a lot of years in a row down. The move out of Nashville has been given the spin treatment but I can't believe anyone thinks this is a sign of growth and prosperity for the organization. I'm not rooting against them, but it seems they've fallen on hard times. Lots of red ink that hasn't yet stopped flowing. I wish them well.

re simmers

Sep-30-2012, 8:18am

It's always subjective, but IMHO there are only a few grassers who could get entertainer of the year; Steve Martin & SCR, or Mountain Heart. They actually "entertain" with more than just "banjo kickoff, verse/chorus, fiddle, verse/chorus, mandolin, verse/chorus,banjo ending, capo change, mumble about the great crowd, etc.."

Top vocalist, there's no one in the same category as J Daley and R Moore. I love a good baritone, but Charlie Waller is gone, and everyone today wants to sing 2 keys higher than they're capable.

But, I still love grass!

Bob

Adam Steffey

Sep-30-2012, 12:02pm

I can certainly do without Steffey but great for Junior Sisk,one of my favs and hooray for Joe Newberry.

Thanks Mike!!:)

Mike Bunting

Sep-30-2012, 1:57pm

Thanks Mike!!:)
:) Not denying obvious talent, just that my tastes run in a different direction. Certainly didn't mean it as a slag.

Rosemary Philips

Sep-30-2012, 3:49pm

Too funny!!!

re simmers

Sep-30-2012, 5:03pm

Is Mountain Heart NOT considered bluegrass? I'm trying to understand why they weren't even nominated for entertainer of the year.

Considering the very few recordings or appearances of some of the nominees..........what was the criteria for nomination (all categories)? If we're reaching back for sentimental reasons, why not nominate Tom Gray for bass player? I heard him several times this past year. Wow! He is still in the top 4 or 5, if not the top 2. (no offense to Marshall Wilborn, the other of the top 2).

Bob

PS - Congrats to Adam Steffey, who somehow gets that same deep, big, woody sound out of every mandolin with his phenomonal right hand.

doc holiday

Sep-30-2012, 6:44pm

Simmers, please accept my remarks here as my personal opinion. Mountain Heart is really much closer to rock music & farther from Bluegrass, especially traditional Bluegrass. I had the opportunity to see them in Texas, where they followed Peter Rowan, & Tony Rice w/
Tim O'Brien playing fiddle & singing harmony & Billy Bright on mandolin. The contrast was huge. Mountain Heart was loud with little in the way of dynamics. To be honest we watched a few tunes & left, & then again Peter R & Tony with Tim would be a very hard act to follow. But then that's the way I like my music. & I did buy every Lynrd Skynrd album back in the day.....

re simmers

Sep-30-2012, 7:01pm

Doc, it's been 2 yrs since I saw Mt Heart at Gettysburg. They played 2 shows on stage and one at the workshop tent and they were spell-binding, but they were grass. I didn't realize they went that far over the line.

Willie Poole

Sep-30-2012, 9:47pm

I have been saying on here for years that bluegrass is going the way country music went, too many promoters wanting to get rich and advertising everything as "Bluegrass" and what better place to do this than IBMA, real die hard bluegrassers are tired of the way this is heading, I can only speak for my self but that is what I think the problem is....

Why would a good band need to get a high rated movie star to play banjo for them? To get some publicity of course, Steve Martin is a good banjo played but how can he flourish at both careers at the same time? how long will he play with that band? I wonder....

Willie

Mike Bunting

Sep-30-2012, 10:17pm

To be fair, I believe that the movie star got a good bluegrass to play with him and he used to hang with the old Nitty Gritty Dirt band back before they went to Gnashville and were basically playing rootsy acoustic music. Not that I don't believe that any of what you say may happen but in this case I trust the integrity of Steve Martin. Perhaps he is doing more to raise the public's awareness of bluegrass music far more than the IBMA is.

JeffD

Sep-30-2012, 10:20pm

Steve Martin. Perhaps he is doing more to raise the public's awareness of bluegrass music far more than the IBMA is.

Unfortunately I think this is likely true. IBMA presents to the choir, but nobody outside the BGbubble ever heard of IBMA.

Ivan Kelsall

Oct-01-2012, 4:15am

Well, i've not attended a Nashville IBMA,so i can't speak from experience. As Scott implies,the Nashville IBMA Festival has been loosing attendees for a while now.I certainly know that some of the builders quit years back because of the high cost of setting up a booth.
I did however attend the IBMA Festival in Owensboro,KY back in '92 & thought that it was as good as it could ever be. A relatively small venue with a superb trade show & lots of Bluegrass musicians buzzing around. In the evening,the general gatherings in the hospitality suites was like Bluegrass heaven. I can only hope that maybe the proposed move to Raleigh NC will provide more focus on the music /musicians than the actual venue,& again hopefully,the costs might come down a bit & attract the builders back.
Over here in the UK i'm too far away from the coal face to understand 'absolutely' what's going on,but i think that the IBMA maybe tried too hard to promote Bluegrass for financial reasons,rather than for the benefit of the music/musicians themselves.
Meanwhile congrats. to Adam Steffey on winning once again - i really must try to figure out that 'run down' in ''Green's Fees'',:disbelief:
Ivan

mandopete

Oct-01-2012, 12:49pm

So I take it the relocation is a cost-cutting measure, correct? If that's so then I think it's a good thing. While I like Nashville for what it represents, putting the event into an area that has a lower cost structure and possibly boosting that area's economy sounds like a win-win situation.

I don't know about attendance, but sounds like it's been going the wrong way and perhaps next year I'll try to find a way to go and boost it by 1!

Willie Poole

Oct-01-2012, 12:50pm

You could be right Mike about them wanting to give bluegrass a shot in the arm but there is also the thought that after those stars have lost there drawing power they seem to go to another form of music to get some bookings, a lot of the Nashville regulars are not as popular as they were in days past so they are calling their music bluegrass, Not that it isn`t good music its just that when bluegrass needed a shot in the arm they were not to be found, only doing country or pop music...Quite a few of them are recording bluegrass CD`s now days and hope to get bookings on bluegrass festivals...That is the take I have anyway, could be a little of both, I`m sure some of them are really bluegrass lovers but found that there was more money to be made in country or pop music....

Don`t feel bad, Adam steffy got on me one day for posting that I couldn`t hear any melody in a song that he was playing, he is still one of the best but I have to agree that maybe the awards should be passed around a little bit and only let a picker win so many times, like three....

Willie

pickloser

Oct-01-2012, 2:26pm

I'll drive several hours and pay cash money to see Adam Steffey play.

I'm happily anticipating the IBMA event in Raleigh. It will be good to hear bluegrass for hours without having to sit in a lawn chair. I too hope costs are kept down for booths; I would love the opportunity to hear the work of so many of the builders I read about on the Cafe. With three major universities very nearby (NC State, Carolina, and Duke), Raleigh could work out well as a showcase for live acoustic music, and it's an opportunity to draw younger fans to bluegrass. But mostly, it's gonna work out well for me.

No "real deal" bluegrass musicians in North Carolina? . . . hmmph! Maybe a fair few work some in Nashville, but about half of those come home to NC. ;)

Mike Bunting

Oct-01-2012, 3:06pm

I'll drive several hours and pay cash money to see Adam Steffey play.

Several hours, ha!, I drove 6400 km (return) to see and take lessons from Mike Compton et al.! :)

greg_tsam

Oct-01-2012, 3:23pm

And I love Doc as much as anybody, but guitar player of the year??? For what exactly??

Oh my. Really?

greg_tsam

Oct-01-2012, 3:30pm

I can certainly do without Steffey but great for Junior Sisk,one of my favs and hooray for Joe Newberry.

Thanks Mike!!:)

ROFLMAO!!! Oh My God!!! hahaha.... It took me 5 minutes to stop laughing. Great zinger, Adam! :))

David

Oct-01-2012, 3:42pm

Danny Clark

Oct-01-2012, 4:29pm

I have been every year since 2006 ,for some reason it was harder to park this year than usual maybe other stuff going on most lots were full ,some sort of festival down at the river ,and Martina was at the Ryman friday night , i would guess inside about 65% of last years attendance ,fewer booths too
Gibson was back at Fanfest ,they only had a few mandolins tho
,Red Diamond had 4 at the Morgan Music booth,all were great sounding mandolins,Ellis had 2 F-5s and two of the new Pavas.they were all great as well ,also Steve Sorensen had 2 and a guitar ,very nice mandolins ,he had the first non-traditional mandolins that have ever got my attention,nice stuff !!
Elderly booth was as expected great,always nice stuff there
Danny

sgarrity

Oct-01-2012, 4:54pm

Oh my. Really?

Yeah, really. Why did he win? Did he put out a recording in the last year? Was he touring? No. I own the majority of the records Doc put out over the years and I count him as a musical influence. I never got to see him live and that is a major regret. But if they want to honor Doc, that's awesome. Give him a lifetime achievement award or put him in the hall of fame if he's not already. The player of the year awards should be for people that are out there playing.

re simmers

Oct-01-2012, 7:29pm

Steve Martin is the best front man since Duffey. I personally know many people who were not grass fans, who will pay 'whatever' and go 'wherever' to see Steve Martin pick the banjo.

NOT to hijack the thread, but........
I saw Doc about 5 yrs ago, the only time I ever saw him in person. He brought the house down. I really liked his rendition of the old bluegrass tune, "Nights in White Satin."

The passing of Doc Watson, if you check youtube, probably promoted bluegrass guitar more than any other this past year. And if you go by that, maybe Earl Scruggs should have been Banjo player of the year. Something to ponder.

Bob

greg_tsam

Oct-01-2012, 10:33pm

Yeah, really. Why did he win? Did he put out a recording in the last year? Was he touring? No. I own the majority of the records Doc put out over the years and I count him as a musical influence. I never got to see him live and that is a major regret. But if they want to honor Doc, that's awesome. Give him a lifetime achievement award or put him in the hall of fame if he's not already. The player of the year awards should be for people that are out there playing.

Well, first, I agree with you. I also thought he should been given a lifetime achievement award versus player of the year. But, I understand why they gave it to him. They wanted to honor him and that much is fitting and warranted. I figured they didn't have a lifetime achievement award so he got what he got.

But Doc did play this past year at MerleFest although I doubt he toured much further than that event, he was 89 after all.

The other nominees were Tony Rice, Kenny Smith, Bryan Sutton and Josh Williams.

mandopete

Oct-03-2012, 3:31pm

This article sums up the organization's troubles, 5 years in the red, a refusal to embrace newer non-traditional bands, and an outdated organizational model. Raleigh is the death knell.

http://nashvillecitypaper.com/content/city-news/high-costs-low-attendance-leads-world-bluegrass-week-pull-stakes-raleigh

Thanks for the link! I don't however agree that a move to Raleigh is a death knell. I think it's a great move that could re-start this event. I like the analogy used in the article...

Not only does Raleigh provide cheaper lodging, but it also allows the World of Bluegrass event to be “a bigger fish in a medium-sized pond rather than being in a large pond in Nashville,” Cardwell said.

This really makes sense when you think about the general appeal of bluegrass, which is pretty marginalized anyway.

On a side note we kind of experienced the opposite here in the Pacific Northwest when Wintergrass (www.wintergrass.com) moved from Tacoma to Bellevue (agruably a much more expensive location). The hotel and city embraced the event as it added new revenue and they did their part to keep the costs down.

Jeff Rose

Oct-08-2012, 9:45pm

The keynote at IBMA WOB was super cool. I highly recommend it to anyone who likes/loves bluegrass. A summary can be found here: http://bluegrasstoday.com/a-tag-team-call-for-diversity

As to the ongoing debate about Owensboro, Louisville, Nashville, Raleigh... I plan to keep showing up wherever there is a week of jamming, workshops and performances by so many sensational musicians, singers and songwriters. BG Ahead

Benjamin T

Oct-09-2012, 8:42am

Just a thought, maybe Bluegrass will have a sense of home coming to NC?

mandopete

Oct-09-2012, 9:38am

The keynote at IBMA WOB was super cool. I highly recommend it to anyone who likes/loves bluegrass. A summary can be found here: http://bluegrasstoday.com/a-tag-team-call-for-diversity

“It’s not about me crossing over,” he said on the video Chris and Missy offered. “It’s getting (listeners) to cross over.”

Excellent - thanks for the link!

BTW Jeff - I have enjoyed your playing with Detour, keep it up!