Alison Krauss and Union Station received twelve nominations for the 2002 International Bluegrass Music Awards, to lead all acts. Krauss and Co. earned noms for Entertainer of the Year, Instrumental Group, Song of the Year (for the Robert Castleman-penned "The Lucky One") and Album of the Year for last year's New Favorite.

Union Station earned several nods of their own. Singer/guitarist Dan Tyminski, who provided the vocal on O Brother, Where Art Thou?'s "hit" single, "Man of Constant Sorrow," was nominated for Male Vocalist and Guitar Player; Ron Block was nominated for Banjo Player and Gospel Recorded Performance (for his solo debut, Faraway Land; Barry Bales was nominated for Bass Player, and Jerry Douglas, who joined the band on New Favorite received yet another nomination for Dobro Player. Krauss also earned a solo nod for Female Vocalist.

Whatever nominations were left were mostly gobbled up by the Del McCoury Band, which received eleven nods, including Entertainer, Vocal Group, Instrumental Group and Song of the Year, for their cover of Richard Thompson's "1952 Vincent Black Lightning." Ronnie McCoury (mandolin), Rob McCoury (banjo) and Mike Bub (bass) also received nods in their respective instrumental categories.

Mountain Heart, Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver, IIIrd Tyme Out and Rhonda Vincent and the Rage also received multiple nominations.

The event is scheduled for October 17th at the Kentucky Center for the Arts in Louisville and will be co-hosted by Ricky Skaggs and Patty Loveless. Skaggs and his band Kentucky Thunder are also nominated in six categories including Entertainer of the Year, Instrumental Group, Album of the Year (for History of the Future, and several instrumental categories.

The IBMAs are part of the World of Bluegrass Week, which runs October 14-20th in Louisville. The event falls during a high time for the genre, which is riding a wave of popularity sparked by the O Brother soundtrack, which has sold more than 4 million copies and remains a Top Twenty-five fixture on the pop charts. "It's almost like a new habit," Skaggs told Rolling Stone of the surge in interest. "These people are going out on a quest now and starting to look. Something like O Brother opens the doors for what else is out there."

Ronnie McCoury suggested that bluegrass interest might also be related to a lack of genuine country music. "It's really such a low time in country music," he said. "You start looking and bluegrass is as close to real country, if you want to call it that, as you can get. And its got all this other stuff in it, kind of jazzy thing to it, with the tight harmonies and it's just a person and their instrument, nobody's plugged in and it's difficult to play. But it sounds good."

Other events scheduled for bluegrass week include a trade show and the Bluegrass Fan Fest, which will feature appearances by all of the bands mentioned above, along with J.D. Crowe and the New South, Tim O'Brien, Old Crow Medicine Show and numerous others.

ANDREW DANSBY
(August 16, 2002)