WMOT 89.5 | LISTENER-POWERED RADIO INDEPENDENT AMERICAN ROOTS
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Béla Fleck's Bluegrass Heart Is The Pulse of the 2022 IBMA Awards

Guitar-playing jamgrass juggernaut Billy Strings was named Entertainer of the Year at the 33rd annual IBMA Bluegrass Music Awards for the second year in a row, but Thursday was an even bigger night for banjo innovator Béla Fleck.

The 64-year-old Nashvillian has won only a handful of IBMA Awards over more than 30 years. While he's long been regarded as the most advanced and wide-ranging master of his instrument, he's spent most of his career painting outside the bluegrass lines. On this night though, he took Album of the Year for the 19-track, 105-minute opus My Bluegrass Heart, while its opening track "Vertigo" was named Instrumental Recording of the Year. Fleck's touring band supporting the project was named Instrumental Group of the Year. And he was named Banjo Player of the Year for the first time since his lone win in 1990.

"Thanks for making me look so good to my son Juno over here. He's really impressed," Fleck said in short remarks upon winning his third award of the night. "This is an incredible honor. Thank you for a beautiful experience."

Fleck recruited numerous leading instrumentalists from varied generations for the album, and that was reflected on the stage of the Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts, as he led the tune "Strider," with album alums Molly Tuttle on guitar, Michael Cleveland on fiddle, Dominic Leslie on mandolin, Jerry Douglas on dobro and Mark Schatz on bass.

Strings, who also won the Americana Artist of the Year two weeks ago in Nashville, was likewise not on hand to accept his prize. He also won the IBMA Award for Song of the Year for "Red Daisy" from his nominated album Renewal.

The IBMA's New Artist of the Year is Topeka's Rick Faris, a talented guitarist, singer and songwriter signed to Nashville's Dark Shadow Recordings. "To say I wasn't expecting this would be an understatement," Faris said. "Never did I think I'd be here being acknowledged by a wonderful community that's fostered me along the way. I'm so grateful to be part of it."

In absentia but certainly popular with the community was double winner Dolly Parton who took awards for the song "In The Sweet By And By" recorded with Carl Jackson, Larry Cordle, Bradley Walker, and Jerry Salley. It was named Collaborative Recording and Gospel Recording of the Year. Producer and Billy Blue label owner Jerry Salley told the crowd that "The greatest honor of my life was working on this record with Dolly. She has a real heart for bluegrass. That's how she grew up."

In a breakthrough moment, young star Molly Tuttle was named Female Vocalist of the Year. Her project Crooked Tree marked the first full-length all-bluegrass album of her career, and her tour has been one of the year's most acclaimed. Meanwhile, veteran Del McCoury was named Male Vocalist of the Year for the sixth time.

In the instrumental categories, Sierra Hull took her fifth Mandolin Player of the Year award, while her husband Justin Moses won his fourth in the category of resophonic guitar. Bronwyn Keith-Hynes, who has toured all year with Molly Tuttle, won her first Fiddle Player of the Year Award. Also winning for the first time was Cody Kilby, member of the Travelin' McCourys, in the Guitar Player category. The Bass Player of the Year announcement brought emotion to the proceedings early, as winner Jason Moore, a member of the band Sideline, died of a heart attack last November at age 47. His wife accepted the award with family by her side.

Three hugely influential artists were inducted into the Bluegrass Hall of Fame on Thursday night: fiddler and broadcaster Paul "Moon" Mullins, guitarist and songwriter Norman Blake, and multi-genre innovator Peter Rowan. More background on them can be found here.

The show was hosted by distinguished artists and former bandmates Ronnie Bowman and Dan Tyminski. A complete list of IBMA Award winners follows, including Wednesday's Momentum Awards for up and coming talent.

ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR: Billy Strings

VOCAL GROUP OF THE YEAR: Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver

INSTRUMENTAL GROUP OF THE YEAR: Béla Fleck My Bluegrass Heart

SONG OF THE YEAR: “Red Daisy” - Billy Strings - Written by Jarrod Walker/Christian Ward

ALBUM OF THE YEAR: My Bluegrass Heart

Béla Fleck

GOSPEL RECORDING OF THE YEAR: “In the Sweet By and By”

Dolly Parton with Carl Jackson, Larry Cordle, Bradley Walker, and Jerry Salley

INSTRUMENTAL RECORDING OF THE YEAR: “Vertigo”

Béla Fleck featuring Sam Bush, Stuart Duncan, Edgar Meyer, and Bryan Sutton

NEW ARTIST OF THE YEAR: Rick Faris

COLLABORATIVE RECORDING OF THE YEAR: “In the Sweet By and By”

Dolly Parton with Carl Jackson, Larry Cordle, Bradley Walker, and Jerry Salley

FEMALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR: Molly Tuttle

MALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR: Del McCoury

BANJO PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Béla Fleck

BASS PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Jason Moore

RESOPHONIC GUITAR PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Justin Moses

FIDDLE PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Bronwyn Keith-Hynes

GUITAR PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Cody Kilby

MANDOLIN PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Sierra Hull

2022 Momentum Awards

Industry Involvement: Lillian Werbin

Mentor: Kimber Ludiker

InstrumentalistsGeorge Jackson and Harry Clark

Vocalist: Rebekka Nilsson

Band: Full Cord

Craig Havighurst is WMOT's editorial director and host of The String, a weekly interview show airing Mondays at 8 pm, repeating Sundays at 7 am. He also co-hosts The Old Fashioned on Saturdays at 9 am and Tuesdays at 8 pm. Threads and Instagram: @chavighurst. Email: craig@wmot.org