The Farm Hands were the top winners in the 43rd Annual Bluegrass Music Awards presented by The Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music of America (SPBGMA) at the Sheraton Music City Hotel in Nashville, Tennessee on Sunday, February 5. Winners in 19 categories were honored during an awards show that capped the nonprofit organization’s 34th national convention.

The Farm Hands

The Farm Hands

A multi-award-winning Nashville-based quartet, The Farm Hands was again named Entertainers of the Year and Bluegrass Gospel Group of the Year. Its third Pinecastle Records release, Dig in the Dirt, took home Album of the Year honors, while the title track was awarded Song of the Year. Tim Graves, the quartet’s Grammy Award-winning resophonic guitarist, was named Dobro Performer of the Year for the ninth consecutive year and the 12thh time. Overall. He was inducted into SPBGMA’s Hall of Greats in 2015. The Farm Hands’ In A Country Town was voted Album of the Year in 2014. Since forming in 2010, The Farm Hands have been playing about 150 dates a year.

Flatt Lonsesome was named both Band of the Year (Overall) and Vocal Group of the Year. Last year, the young band (both in its age and that of its members) also was named Band of the Year and had the Album of the Year (Runaway Train). Although Charli Robertson of Flatt Lonesome ended Rhonda Vincent’s winning streak as Female Vocalist of the Year, Rhonda Vincent & The Rage retained the title as Instrumental Group of the Year. Band members Hunter Berry and Josh Williams were named Fiddle Player of the Year and Guitar Player of the Year, respectively. Vincent, a 2014 inductee into SPBGMA’s Hall of Greats, had also been named Entertainer of the Year multiple times. Junior Sisk was named Male Vocalist of the Year, an honor that Russell Moore had received for the previous two years. Daryl Mosely was named Songwriter of the Year for the second consecutive year. Sirius XM’s Bluegrass Junction continued as Bluegrass Radio Station of the Year, while the satellite radio station’s Kyle Cantrell retained the title of Bluegrass DJ of the Year

A complete list of SPBGMA’s Bluegrass Music Awards winners follows.

Promoter of the Year: DA Callaway (for the second consecutive year)
Radio Station of the Year: Sirius XM 061-Bluegrass Junction
DJ of the Year: Kyle Cantrell Sirius XM 061
Songwriter of the Year: Daryl Mosely
Album of the Year: Dig in the Dirt by The Farm Hands on Pinecastle Records
Bass Fiddle Performer of the Year: Mickey Harris
Dobro Performer of the Year: Tim Graves
Guitar Performer of the Year: Josh Williams (for the second consecutive year)
Fiddle Performer of the Year: Hunter Berry
Banjo Performer of the Year: Aaron McDaris
Mandolin Performer of the Year: Larry Stephenson and Danny Roberts (tie!)
Female Vocalist of the Year (Overall): Charli Robertson
Male Vocalist of the Year (Overall): Junior Sisk
Bluegrass Gospel Group of the Year: The Farm Hands
Vocal Group of the Year: Flatt Lonesome
Instrumental Group of the Year: Rhonda Vincent & The Rage
Band of the Year (Overall): Flatt Lonesome
Entertainer(s) of the Year: The Farm Hands
Song of the Year: “Dig in the Dirt” by The Farm Hands on Pinecastle Records