Adam Steffey: IBMA mandolin award winner

[MK in NC]

For those of you who aren't at the ceremony or watching/listening online.

I'm looking forward to seeing his free live show with the Boxcars at 7:45 p.m. Friday.

[Gary Watkins]

He just won "mandolin player of the year", for the ninth year in a row!!!!

[Clement Barrera-Ng]

He just won "mandolin player of the year", for the ninth year in a row!!!!

Wow. Congrats Adam. I knew he's one of the 'winningest' player out there, but nine year in a row is a whole lotta something else. Well Done.

[Pete Counter]

Where is this free show? more info please?

[Bernie Daniel]

That is a lot of years! Anyone know off hand what percent of the total score for "mandolin player of the year" (or any of the other IBMA annual awards) comes from the fan votes and what percent from a panel or some objective measure like records etc.?

[sgarrity]

Adam is a great player and I admire his musical ability. I've never met him in person but he seems like a genuine, sincere guy that loves acoustic music and mandolins. But 9 years in a row? C'mon IBMA voters......y'all need to branch out and listen to some more mandolin pickers! No offense to Adam but there's a lot of good talent out there you could start to recognize!

[Milan Christi]

I know I'm getting older, so I could be wrong, but I recall meeting Jesse Brock at the '09 IBMA and congratulating him for player of the year. Am i really getting that old?

(Or did he get busted for using mando-performance enhancing drugs and have his title stripped???)

[45ACP-GDLF5]

Steffey has won "Mandolin Player of the Year" ten times, but not all in a row. All the winners at the IBMA win by a very slim margin every year.

[Ivan Kelsall]

Adam Steffey is a terrific player for sure,one of the 'cleanest' out there & one of my favourite players. I think that his popularity has followed on from lots of exposure with his own band & his work with other bands which has been a lot in recent years. Also,compared with all the other top players worthy of this award,Adam's 'profile' has been pretty high of late - which begs the question,where's Chris Thile in all this ?. Surely there's no mandolin player on the planet who's more prominent & more 'in the news' so to speak. Anyway,well done to Adam,
Ivan

[M.Marmot]

Its getting so that we should just pin a permanent 'Congratulations Adam Steffey: IBMA award winner to the top of the forum.

Well done that man

[Bradley]

I love Adam Steffey and like everyone says what a player he is, what a lover of traditional music he is, and most importantly what a great guy he is. His style of playing has almost transformed everyone beneath him as most if not all younger players copy his style or Thile's and it almost has made players like Doyle, Herschel and Skaggs fall into the "has been category"...Let's make sure we never forget the older guys that didn't play 1354 notes per second, but played with heart and feeling.

[Herbm55]

I love Adam Steffey and like everyone says what a player he is......Let's make sure we never forget the older guys that didn't play 1354 notes per second, but played with heart and feeling.

[Charles E.]

Where is this free show? more info please?

Pete, the Boxcars will be playing at 7:45, on the City Plaza stage on Fayettville street, down town. There are three stages plus a kids stage and dance tent (our band playes the first dance at noon today), all of it free.

[Bradley]

Ha, touché !

[Rex Hart]

From everything I have heard about Adam, I bet he is even embarrassed by this in a way. He has always shown great humility when concerning his talent. I would however, like to see some new (or old) talent recognized. The Bluegrass awards are almost as bad as the Grammys.

[Jonathan James]

Adam was very gracious in his acceptance speech last night and said if he played his last note and keeled over on stage, he'd die a happy fella! Lots of great mandolin picking last night at the IBMA awards, including Brock, Skaggs, McCoury and others. One of the highlights for me was seeing Rice, Skaggs, Bush, Phillips, etc. play "Old Train" from the Manzanita album after Tony Rice accepted his IBMA Hall of Fame award and spoke clearly to the audience for about 10 minutes...phenomenal!!

[palmettobum]

Any way to hear the tony rice speech? I am very interested. Thanks!

[Pete Counter]

Try to keep in mind fellas the IBMA wont nominate anyone who doesnt play bluegrass.. which Thile doesnt!

[Pete Counter]

That being said, I dont know anyone who plays Bluegrass better than Compton and I dont know that he's ever won!

[Stephen Cagle]

Congrats Adam you are one heck of a mandolin player!
From Banjo.com congrats again!
Stephen Cagle

[loess]

Any way to hear the tony rice speech? I am very interested. Thanks!

A 3 minute crowd-shot video clip showed up on YouTube last night

Also John Lawless over at bluegrasstoday.com says that they should have video up soon.

[Nick Triesch]

I think some of the reasons that Adam keeps winning this award is because the guy is a very clean player and has a pick style that folks just love to hear. Sure he is fast but also very smooth. He is also really fun to watch on stage. A funny guy who knows how to work the crowd. There are a lot of great players. But a lot of those players cannot do all those things. We are in a new era. People now demand clean, fast, clear individual notes played with great skill.

[sgarrity]

.......We are in a new era. People now demand clean, fast, clear individual notes played with great skill.

As opposed to what, exactly?

[Ivan Kelsall]

From Nick - " Sure he is fast but also very smooth.". Since hearing a lot of Adam's playing ( & appreciating his technique more) since i began mandolin,i've taken a couple of steps back & practiced with more emphasis on playing 'clean,well defined notes,than on my speed - not easy to do with tendonitis in both hands,but if you don't try you don't get !,
Ivan

[EggerRidgeBoy]

Adam is an amazing musician and - from what I can tell - a great guy who clearly deserves to have won the award many times. But between them he and Ronnie McCoury (who is also very deserving) have won the title 18 of the 24 times it has been awarded. Sam Bush received it four times, Chris Thile and Jesse Brock once each. For the good of the genre, I do wish the awards weren't so dominated year in and year out by the same nominees and winners. The dobro award is an even more extreme case, with only three winners in 24 years - Phil Leadbetter once, Jerry Douglas eight times, and Rob Ickes 15 times. The banjo category has had the most variety, with twelve winners in 24 years, none more than six times (Jim Mills).

I realize that many people argue that if a player is the best in a given year, he or she should get the award no matter what. But "best" is always subjective, and it seems as if at times part of the reasoning behind labeling someone the best is that they have been labeled the best multiple times already.