The Grascals, Dailey & Vincent and Rhonda Vincent & The Rage top the list of nominees in the Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music in America (SPBGMA) 37th Annual Bluegrass Music Awards. Winners will be announced during an awards show on February 6 at the Sheraton Music City Hotel in Nashville, Tennessee that caps the organization’s national convention, February 3-6. [To read the entire article, click on the headline.]
Hawksley Workman, Amelia Curran and Drew Jacobs are among the winners in the 15th Annual USA Songwriting Competition. Workman and Curran, of Toronto, Canada, captured first place in the Folk category for their co-write “The Mistress,” while Jacobs of Latham, New York, took top honors in the Novelty/Comedy category for “”I’m Allergic to My Job.” The Overall Grand Prize went to Rock/Alternative category winners Alannah Myles and Nancy Simmonds, of Toronto, for “Give Me Love.” [To read the entire article, click on the headline.]
Nominees in more than 100 categories have been named for the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards, to be broadcast live from the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California on Sunday, Feb. 13, 2011 on CBS. [To read the article, including a list of nominees in select categories, click on the headline.]
Entries are now being sought for the 2011 Grassy Hill Kerrville New Folk Competition for Emerging Songwriters to be held on Saturday and Sunday, May 28 and 29, during the 39th Annual Kerrville Folk Festival. The first 800 entries received via the mail or online by March 15, 2011 will be accepted. 32 finalists will be selected in April to perform the following month at the Threadgill Theater on the Quiet Valley Ranch Campgrounds in the Texas Hill Country. Six will be named as 2011 New Folk Winners. [To read the entire article, click on the headline.]
The 2010 Canadian Folk Music Awards were presented in Winnipeg, Manitoba on Saturday evening, Nov. 20. Winners were named in 19 categories during a gala at the Pantages Playhouse that was hosted by Benoit Bourque of La Bottine Souriante and CBC Radio’s Sheilagh Rogers. [To view the list of winners, click on the headline.]
RUNA, a Celtic vocal and instrumental ensemble from the Philadelphia area, was the top winner in the 2010 Montgomery Bucks Music Awards held Nov. 8 at the Triumph Brewing Company in New Hope, Pennsylvania. [To read the entire article, click on the headline.]
Lehigh Valley Music Awards for Best Live Acoustic Performance and Best Acoustic Song were won by folksinger Dave Fry and singer, guitarist and upright bass player Peter Scapegrace during a competition hosted by Listen Live! Music in Zionsville, Pennsylvania, on Nov. 6, 2010. [To read the entire article, click on the headline.]
Entries are being accepted through Dec. 10 for The Great American Song Contest sponsored by the Portland, Oregon-based Songwriters Resource Network. Forty-five awards will be presented in nine different categories – including contemporary acoustic/folk, instrumental, special category music and lyrics only. [To read the short article in its entirety, click on the headline.]
John McEuen, founding member of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, instigator of Will the Circle Be Unbroken -- which Rolling Stone called “The most important record to come out of Nashville” -- and producer of Steve Martin’s 2010 Grammy Award-winning bluegrass album, The Crow, received a 2010 Best of the West award on Oct. 23, during the Folk Alliance Region-West (FAR-West) Conference in Santa Clara, California. Also honored with a Best of the West award was Cloud Moss, founder and director of both the Kate Wolf Memorial Music Festival and the Sebastopol Celtic World Music Festival held in Northern California, who also has produced more than 30 other festivals during his career. [To read the entire article, click on the headline.]
Amber Rubarth, a 28-year-old, Brooklyn NY-based singer-songwriter, is the grand-prize winner in the 2010 Mountain Stage NewSong Contest. The international finals for the noted performing songwriter contest -- presented by the live performance radio show and produced by the independent music organization NewSong Music -- took place on Friday afternoon, October 22, at the World Financial Center’s Winter Garden in New York City. John Platt, host of “Sunday Breakfast” on New York’s WFUV, served as emcee for the event. [To read the entire article, click on the headline.]
The Foundation for Bluegrass Music has established a one-time general grant request deadline of Dec. 15, 2010, for projects planned for the calendar years of 2011 or 2012. Grant awards will be announced by March 15, 2011. The Foundation’s general grant budget for 2011 is $10,000, with the goal of funding four projects at an average of $2,500 each. In addition to the general grant category, a one-time exceptional grant request application with the same deadline has been announced for projects that will celebrate the Bill Monroe Centennial and focus on educational efforts that involve young people during the 2011 calendar year. [To read the entire article, click on the headline.]
Dailey & Vincent were named Entertainer of the Year for the third consecutive time during the 21st Annual International Bluegrass Music Awards show on Thursday, Sept. 30, at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee. The duo also was named Vocal Group of the Year for the third consecutive time and received a second Album of the Year award for Dailey & Vincent Sing the Statler Brothers, a bluegrass tribute to the legendary country music quartet. [To view the entire article and a list of other winners, click on the headline.]
