The luck of the Irish connection

Dailey & Vincent (centre and right) at IBMA's Fan Fest; photo by Thierry Schoysman

The Awards Show at IBMA's World of Bluegrass 2008 in Nashville has already been called the best ever. After two years in Opryland, the show was back again in the historic Ryman Auditorium, a short walk from the rest of the WOB week proceedings. One aspect that may be overlooked in other accounts is the number of participants who've played in Ireland - starting with the show's host, Del McCoury.

The big news this year was the six awards won by Dailey & Vincent (Jamie Dailey was at the Omagh festival in 2006 as lead singer with Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver). After only a year together as a band and one CD, they came away with the awards for Emerging Artist, Gospel Recorded Performance, Male Vocalist, Vocal Group, Album, and Entertainer of the Year. To their credit, they could still thank new people even in their sixth acceptance speech.

Female Vocalist of the Year, for the second consecutive year, was Dale Ann Bradley, who topped the bill at Omagh a few years ago. The fiddler in her band then was Michael Cleveland, who this year won Fiddle Player of the Year for the sixth time, while his band Flamekeeper (headliners at Omagh this year) were Instrumental Group of the Year for the second time running.

The Bass Player and Mandolin Player of the Year awards went to Barry Bales and Adam Steffey respectively, both of whom have been here with Alison Krauss & Union Station. And the Guitar Player award went to Josh Williams, who made several tours here as mandolinist with Greg Cahill's Special Consensus. Josh's appearances with his own fine band during WOB week proved that he's also an outstanding lead singer and bandleader (his bass player is Tim 'Dish' Dishman, another Special C. alumnus).

One of the two Hall of Fame inductees this year was the legendary Bill Clifton, a great ambassador of bluegrass outside the US, whom our older readers may remember as a visitor to Dublin in the 1960s.

Awards presenters included Lynn Morris & Marshall Wilborn (Athy 1995, and Marshall was here in Flamekeeper this year), Tony Trischka (a Longford veteran), and the G2 Bluegrass Band (Omagh 2008); while the musical performances between awards were kicked off by the Steep Canyon Rangers (Omagh 2007) and included Dale Ann Bradley and her band and Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder (most recently here at the Dungannon Countryfest this year).