Many of the Nashville area’s finest bluegrass musicians are up for awards at the 2012 International Bluegrass Music Awards, set to take place at Ryman Auditorium
on Sept. 27. The International Bluegrass Music Association announced
this year’s nominees Wednesday night at a press conference
held at the
Loveless Barn in Nashville.
Georgia-based group Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out and Nashville’s own Alison Krauss & Union Station
top the list of nominees with nine and eight nominations, respectively —
including entertainer of the year, album of the year and nods for the
groups’ individual performers.
Moore was surprised to learn that he and his band were this year’s top nominees, as the singer explained to The Tennessean, he hadn’t been keeping score.
“We just all strive hard to do our own thing, and do it to the best
of our ability,” he said. “Now, having said that, I would be lying if I
said that I don’t want to take any of these awards home ... but we’re
totally excited about being nominated, and they put us in a nice class
of nominees.”
Moore and Krauss are trailed by
Kingsport, Tenn.’s Blue Highway (with seven nominations including both
vocal and instrumental group of the year) and bluegrass supergroup the
Boxcars with six nods.
Wednesday’s gathering wasn’t just about awards, as the IBMA also
revealed the 2012 inductees into the International Bluegrass Music Hall
of Fame: bluegrass veteran Doyle Lawson (of Doyle Lawson &
Quicksilver fame) and late musician, curator and folklorist Ralph
Rinzler.
Lawson was in attendance Wednesday and received a standing ovation from his peers.
“It’s pretty awesome,” he said after the press conference. “I’ve
often stated that I never have done it or ever will do it for the
awards, but you know, when you have your peers show their appreciation,
it’s almost indescribable. I know this: I’ll be in there with a lot of
my heroes.”
The awards show is the main event of the International Bluegrass
Music Association’s annual “World of Bluegrass” week, which has taken
place in Nashville since 2005. In May, the IBMA announced that “World of
Bluegrass” and the awards show would move to Raleigh, N.C., in 2013 for
a three-year run.
Moore said he was looking forward to this year’s festivities in Nashville and was optimistic about the IBMA’s future plans.
“Things change, and you have to roll with the flow,” he said. “So
we’re looking forward, also, to the move to Raleigh and we’re supporting
it. We support IBMA and we’ll do what we can to make the transition as
smooth as possible.”
Dailey and Vincent, The Gibson Brothers and Steve Martin & The
Steep Canyon Rangers also are nominated for the entertainer of the year
award.
