Molly Tuttle, Becky Buller Lead 2018 Bluegrass Award Nominations

Artists representing traditional, contemporary and boundary-stretching styles are among the list of this year’s nominees for the International Bluegrass Music Awards, announced today at a Nashville press conference. In another banner year for women in bluegrass, the top nominees, with an impressive six nods each, are fiddle-playing singer-songwriter Becky Buller, the first-ever woman named IBMA Fiddle Player of the Year in 2016, and Molly Tuttle, who in 2017 earned an IBMA honor as Guitar Player of the Year, the first female artist to win in that category.

Also recognized among the nominees were enduring bluegrass bands Special Consensus and the Del McCoury Band/the Travelin’ McCourys, each earning five nominations. Other acts with multiple mentions include Rhonda Vincent, the Earls of Leicester, Balsam Range, Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver, Darin and Brooke Aldridge, the Sam Bush Band, Michael Cleveland, the Gibson Brothers, Sierra Hull, the Infamous Stringdusters, Lonesome River Band, Mile Twelve, Joe Mullins & the Radio Ramblers, Punch Brothers, Missy Raines and Sister Sadie. Nominations were also garnered by artists already enshrined in the International Bluegrass Music Association Hall of Fame, with Doyle Lawson, Del McCoury, Bobby Osborne and the late John Hartford, all vying for honors this year.

Bluegrass icon Ricky Skaggs, who earned election into the Country Music Hall of Fame earlier this year, will now also be a member of the IBMA’s Bluegrass Hall of Fame. Musician and songwriter Paul Williams, a one-time member of bluegrass pioneer Jimmy Martin’s Sunny Mountain Boys, and influential songwriters Tom T. Hall and his wife, the late Dixie Hall, will also be inducted into the Hall of Fame. The IBMA also announced several Distinguished Achievement Award recipients, including Nickel Creek and Punch Brothers member Chris Thile, who in recent years took over hosting duties of the historic public-radio series A Prairie Home Companion, now known as Live From Here.

The IBMA Awards will take place Thursday, September 27th, at the Duke Energy Performing Arts Center in Raleigh, North Carolina. The event will be broadcast live on Sirius XM’s Bluegrass Junction channel beginning at 7:30 p.m. ET, and streamed via Facebook Live. Tickets for the IBMA Awards show and the annual World of Bluegrass music festival and business conference are on sale now.

Entertainer of the Year
Balsam Range
Del McCoury Band
Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver
The Earls of Leicester
Gibson Brothers

Vocal Group of the Year
Balsam Range
Flatt Lonesome
Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver
Gibson Brothers
I’m With Her

Instrumental Group of the Year
Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper
Sam Bush Band
The Travelin’ McCourys
Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder
Punch Brothers

Emerging Artist of the Year
Mile Twelve
Molly Tuttle
Po’ Ramblin’ Boys
Billy Strings
Jeff Scroggins & Colorado
Sister Sadie

Song of the Year
“Calamity Jane” – Becky Buller (artist), Becky Buller/Tim Stafford (writers)
“If I’d Have Wrote That Song” – Joe Mullins & the Radio Ramblers (artist), Larry Cordle/Larry Shell/James Silvers (writers)
“Swept Away” – Missy Raines (artist), Laurie Lewis (writer)
“Way Down the River Road” – Special Consensus (artist), John Hartford (writer)
“You Didn’t Call My Name” – Molly Tuttle (artist), Molly Tuttle (writer)

Album of the Year
Life Is a Story, Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver
Mayhayley’s House, Lonesome River Band
Rise, Molly Tuttle
Rivers & Roads, Special Consensus
The Story We Tell, Joe Mullins & the Radio Ramblers

Gospel Recorded Performance of the Year
“I’m Going Under,” Darin & Brooke Aldridge
“Little Girl,” Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver
“Speakin’ to That Mountain,” Becky Buller
“Travelin’ Shoes,” Special Consensus
“When God’s in It,” Joe Mullins & the Radio Ramblers

Instrumental Recorded Performance of the Year
“Lynchburg Chicken Run,” The Grascals
“Medley: Sally in the Garden/Big Country/Molly Put the Kettle On,” Bela Fleck & Abigail Washburn
“Sirens,” Infamous Stringdusters
“Squirrel Hunters,” Special Consensus with John Hartford, Rachel Baiman & Christian Sedelmyer and Alison Brown
“Wickwire,” Mile Twelve

Recorded Event of the Year
“Calamity Jane,” Becky Buller with Rhonda Vincent
“I’ll Just Go Away,” Dale Ann Bradley & Vince Gill
“The Rebel and the Rose,” Becky Buller with Sam Bush
“She Took the Tennessee River,” Special Consensus with Bobby Osborne
“Swept Away,” Missy Raines with Alison Brown, Becky Buller, Sierra Hull, and Molly Tuttle

Male Vocalist of the Year
Shawn Camp
Buddy Melton
Del McCoury
Russell Moore
Tim O’Brien

Female Vocalist of the Year
Brooke Aldridge
Dale Ann Bradley
Becky Buller
Molly Tuttle
Rhonda Vincent

Banjo Player of the Year
Kristin Scott Benson
Gina Clowes
Ned Luberecki
Noam Pikelny
Sammy Shelor

Bass Player of the Year
Barry Bales
Mike Bub
Missy Raines
Mark Schatz
Tim Surrett

Fiddle Player of the Year
Hunter Berry
Becky Buller
Jason Carter
Michael Cleveland
Stuart Duncan

Dobro Player of the Year
Jerry Douglas
Andy Hall
Rob Ickes
Phil Leadbetter
Justin Moses

Guitar Player of the Year
Kenny Smith
Billy Strings
Bryan Sutton
Molly Tuttle
Josh Williams

Mandolin Player of the Year
Sam Bush
Jesse Brock
Sierra Hull
Ronnie McCoury
Frank Solivan