Bluegrass Ridge TV, a trailblazing weekly television program marks its 25th year of production in 2025. The largest broadcast show dedicated to bluegrass music in the world, Bluegrass Ridge showcases bluegrass music videos, exclusive artist interviews, and behind-the-scenes content.
Barry Poss, co-founder and longtime owner of Sugar Hill Records –- an influential independent label whose roster included numerous notable bluegrass, Americana, old-time and roots music artists –- died on May 13, 2025. He was 79 and had been battling cancer for years.
J.D. Crowe, an influential and visionary bluegrass banjo player, who plied his craft for more than 60 years, died on Dec. 24. The Lexington, Kentucky native and Grammy Award-winning artist was 84.
Tony Rice, an influential acoustic guitarist and 2013 inductee into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame, died on Christmas Day, Dec. 25, 2020 at his home in Reidsville, North Carolina. He was 69. [To continue reading this article, click on the headline.]
Entertainer of the Year, the top honor in the 29th Annual International Bluegrass Music Awards – presented Sept. 27 at Raleigh, North Carolina’s Duke Energy Center for the Arts – went to the Tar Heel State’s own Balsam Range. The five-member acoustic ensemble previously won this award in 2014. Balsam Range’s Buddy Melton was voted 2018 IBMA Male Vocalist of the Year, while Tim Surrett was named Bass Player of the Year. [To continue reading this article – including a listing of all the 2018 award-winners – click on the headline.]
Winners were named in the 24th Annual Chris Austin Songwriting Contest, hosted by MerleFest 2016, following performances by finalists on April 29 during the popular roots-oriented music festival held at the campus of Wilkes Community College in Wilkesboro, North Carolina. [To continue reading this article, click on the headline.]
Popular bluegrass duo Dailey & Vincent will host a television show beginning this fall. The Dailey & Vincent Show, filmed before a live audience at the historic Franklin Theatre in Franklin, Tennessee, debuts on Saturday, September 5 at 9:30 p.m. EST/8:30 p.m. CST on cable network RFD-TV. [To continue reading this article, click on the headline.]
Ralph Stanley, a leading exponent of traditional Appalachian music and a founding father of bluegrass, was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences In Cambridge, Massachusetts on Oct. 11. Founded in 1780 to recognize America’s foremost “thinkers and doers,” the Academy counts more than 250 Nobel laureates and 60 Pulitzer Prize-winners among its members. [To continue reading the article, click on the headline.]
Finalists have been named in the 22nd annual Chris Austin Songwriting Contest, hosted by MerleFest 2014, the popular roots-oriented music festival that takes place April 24-27 on the campus of Wilkes Community College in Wilkesboro, North Carolina. [To continue reading the article, click on the headline.]
The Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music of America (SPBGMA) presented its 40th Annual Bluegrass Music Awards on February 2, 2014 at the Sheraton Music City Hotel in Nashville, Tennessee. Winners in 23 categories were honored during an awards show that capped the nonprofit organization’s national convention. [To read the full article and see the list of winners, click on the headline.]
The Gibson Brothers were named Entertainer of the Year during the 24th Annual Bluegrass Music Awards show on Thursday night, Sept. 26, at Memorial Auditorium in Raleigh, North Carolina. It was the second straight year that the quintet from upstate New York received the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA)’s top honor. [To read the entire article and see who else received awards and honors, click on the headline.]
Banjo player Jessie Baker, formerly part of Michael Cleveland and Flamekeeper, has joined bluegrass band Sierra Hull & Highway 111. “I’m really excited to be playing with such a talented group of musicians and singers,” said Baker in a prepared statement. “I’ve been a fan of Sierra’s since I saw her onstage with Ricky Skaggs playing “Boston Boy” at my first IBMA FanFest in Louisville, KY. I’m looking forward to being part of Highway 111.” [To read the entire article, click on the headline.]
