2008 IBMA Award Winners

Image via WikipediaTHE 2008 IBMA AWARDS WINNERS

BLUEGRASS HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES
Bill Clifton
Charles K. Wolfe


ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR
Dailey & Vincent


VOCAL GROUP OF THE YEAR
Dailey & Vincent


INSTRUMENTAL GROUP OF THE YEAR
Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper


MALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR
Jamie Dailey


FEMALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR
Dale Ann Bradley

SONG OF THE YEAR
"Through The Window Of A Train," Blue Highway (artists), Tim Stafford & Steve Gulley (songwriters)


ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Dailey & Vincent, Dailey & Vincent (artists), Jamie Dailey & Darrin Vincent (producers), Rounder Records


RECORDED EVENT OF THE YEAR
Everett Lilly & Everybody and Their Brother, Featuring Everett Lilly, Bea Lilly, Charles Lilly, Daniel Lilly, Mark Lilly, Marty Stuart, Rhonda Vincent, Billy Walker, Ronnie McCoury, Rob McCoury, David Ball, Charlie Cushman, Larry Stephenson, Joe Spivey, Eddie Stubbs, Jason Carter, Dickey Lee, Freddy Weller, Mike Bub, Rad Lewis, Andy May, Darrin Vincent, Marcia Campbell, Clay Rigdon, Eric Blankenship & Bill Wolfenbarger (artists), Charles Lilly & Bill Wolfenbarger (producers), Swift River Music


INSTRUMENTAL ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Sound of the Slide Guitar, Andy Hall (artist & producer), Sugar Hill Records


GOSPEL RECORDED PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR
"By The Mark," Dailey & Vincent (artists), Jamie Dailey & Darrin Vincent (producers), Rounder Records


EMERGING ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Dailey & Vincent


INSTRUMENTAL PERFORMERS OF THE YEAR

BANJO
Kristin Scott Benson

BASS
Barry Bales

FIDDLE
Michael Cleveland

DOBRO
Rob Ickes

GUITAR
Josh Williams

MANDOLIN
Adam Steffey


Distinguished Achievement Award Recipients

• Bill Harrell
• The Banjo Newsletter
• Art Menius
• The Ernest Tubb Record Shop
• Joe Carr & Alan Munde

Bluegrass Broadcaster of the Year:
Kyle Cantrell; Bluegrass Junction, XM Satellite Radio


Print Media Person of the Year:
Chris Stuart, freelance writer for Bluegrass Unlimited


Best Liner Notes for a Recorded Project:
Gary Reid, The Stanley Brothers: The Definitive Collection
(1947-1966), The Stanley Brothers, Time Life


Best Graphic Design for a Recorded Project:
Greg Carr & Sarah Holman, What The, Pete Wernick & Flexigrass, Niwot Records


Bluegrass Event of the Year Award:
29th Annual Thomas Point Beach Bluegrass Festival; Brunswick, Maine; Aug. 30-Sept. 2, 2007

New Album from Nathan Blake Lynn

Yesterday Nathan Blake Lynn stopped by the studio with Clayton Campbell (fiddler for The Gibson Brothers) to promote his new album 2 Catfish and a Bluegill. What was planned to be a few songs turned into an hour and a half of a great Saturday morning on the Front Porch.

Lynn's new album comes chock full of 18 tracks (17 originals) that span from straight-up storytelling folk music to more bluegrass flavored hopping stompers.

As always with Lynn come the historically spun ballads such as "Alben William Barkley" that tells the political life story of the 35th vice-president of the United States who just so happened to have been born in Graves County, KY before spending much of his life in Paducah, KY which is a region that Lynn knows well. Lynn's guitar lays the steady rhythm for a fiddle melody that supports Lynn's appealing-yet-loose vocals that are rock solid throughout the album. Vocals that fit on every song yet still have enough ragged edges to lend flavor and add interest to already engaging lyrics.

Lynn weaves humor into the lyrics of his music that compliment jumpy melodies as evident in "Dancin' Across Your TV Screen" which gets stripped down to just Lynn and his 6-string. There's something about a song that refers to watching Larry King on the tube while sitting on the "john". Humor and irony spill together at times as Lynn sings about how our country shipped TV's to countries short on food... "Old Uncle Sam, he shipped them on down south, talked about people who ain't got food in their mouths... I guess that's a way to provide relief, they ain't got clean water but they got Opera Winfrey at 3."

"Heading Up 26" brings in Tyler Grant's steady banjo work to provide flavor to one of my favorite tracks on the album. The ballad speaks Johnny Cash to me but definitely sows its own seeds. The storyline emanates through the eyes of a weary traveller both longing and admiring a love from afar. A steady melody gives way to a swaying chorus that brings both your tapping feet and swaying head together before rolling you back to the rhythmic 1 and a 2 bounce of the verse.

This album is crammed full of great stories paired to incredible melodies like a full bodied glass of Merlot to a tender filet mignon. You'll find plenty of variety to keep your interest peaked and incredible musicianship to wow you.

Explore and find more at http://nathanblakelynn.com where you can also pick up the album.

Nathan Blake Lynn on Myspace.