Looking back on this year’s award show, my first comment is to give a big nod to the producers, Cindy Baucom and Ned Luberecki. This was absolutely the best IBMA award show I’ve attended. Everything ran smoothly. The concepts were great. Cindy and Ned, you guys did a wonderful job. The rest of what I have to say praising other people also reflects on these two, as they were responsible for putting together the rest of the talent and organizing the whole thing.

Chris Stuart, who earlier in the day won the Print Media Person of the Year award, did a great job writing the script for this show. It was well written and appropriate. The jokes were good, and each person’s part suited them well.

The set design was outstanding. I thought this show looked spectacular. The design was classy, artful, pleasant to look at, but non-assuming. You’ll get a chance to see some of the set design in the photos John is currently working on.

One more shout out. The artwork this year comes from Robert Yonke, The Bluegrass Painter. His watercolors have graced all the IBMA materials this week, including on-screen graphics in the ballroom and the Ryman.

Now, to the awards…

UPDATE: Thanks to the readers who commented, and Shari Lacy who emailed, for pointing out that Alison Brown actually won the banjo award in 1991. It was a long week with little sleep. No excuse though. You all win Fact Checker of the Year awards!

A couple of firsts this year.

Kristin Scott Benson became the first woman to be awarded won Banjo Player of the Year. While still young, Kristin is certainly not new to the scene. She has been performing professionally for a number of years and working hard to create great bluegrass music. She seemed genuinely surprised to hear her name called. Congratulations Kristin!

The other first this year is the big story. Dailey & Vincent! Their first year together as a band and look what these guys have done.

Six awards! Is that a sweep?

They began with the first award presented this evening, Emerging Artist of the Year. They went on to win five other awards, including the last three awards of the evening, making history as the first band to win both Emerging Artist and Entertainer of the Year in the same year.

John is working hard to get a bunch of photos put together. He’ll have those posted soon, and I’m sure he’ll share his thoughts on the evening as well. And keep an eye out for our upcoming Dailey & Vincent video feature!