Things are scheduled to kick off officially this coming Monday (9/28) in Nashville, where IBMA takes over the Nashville Convention Center and The Renaissance Hotel for a solid week of bluegrass music and business activity. Until Thursday, the event is more a business conference, though there is plenty of music to be found. Artists, managers, promoters, record labels, radio folks and more all congregate to learn, network and explore new opportunities in an all-bluegrass setting.

Thursday night’s (10/1) gala awards show is always a highlight, with all the bluegrass glitterati in their finest duds for their big night at the historic Ryman Auditorium. It also serves as a transition point for IBMA week, as Friday morning is the kickoff for Fan Fest, a large indoor music festival held in the same location. All of the entertainers donate their time for this event, with proceeds going into a trust fund for bluegrass artists in need.

Attendance has been off substantially at a number of major music festivals and conferences this year, which won’t come as a surprise to anyone struggling with this recessionary environment. Merlefest reported a drop of 17% in ticketed attendance this year, with an overall decrease of 70% in proceeds delivered to the Wilkes Community College with whom they share a home.

Similarly, the Americana Music Conference held in Nashville earlier this month showed a drop-off of 15% from 2008, and area venues that hosted affiliated shows saw a decline as well.

Final numbers won’t be in until the conclusion of all the IBMA festivities, but Executive Director Dan Hays is guardedly optimistic at this point.

“As of September 15, our ticket sales were running 0.4% ahead of last year’s (comparing same date sales), a difference of +5 people. The IBMA Awards Show has less than 150 tickets available as of 9/22 and we anticipate those will be gone well before the night of the show (thus if anyone wants to attend, they should contact the Ryman as soon as possible).

But there’s plenty of room for folks to attend Fan Fest and like many events, a significant portion of our attendees wait to get tickets when they arrive. For example, Fan Fest typically has +60% of sales ‘at the gate.’ The fact that advance sales are steady is encouraging and we have a fantastic lineup and other activities planned that make it a ‘can’t miss’ event.”

It’s an important week in the bluegrass biz, but can also be a dream vacation for anyone who simply loves the music. Full details and schedules for all the IBMA week events can be found on their web site.

In keeping with the success at the Americana award show on September where Robert Plant & Alison Krauss won the Album of the Year and Duo/Group awards, their album Raising Sand came in with third place in the play list.

The top album within mainstream bluegrass is The SteelDrivers eponymous album.

Below is a selective listing of albums in the upper half of the listing, with placement based on reported radio play.

Other albums of interest that appeared in the bottom half of the listing are Darrell Scott Modern Hymns (4,138 plays), Chatham County Line IV (4,047), Dan Tyminski Wheels (3,948), Fred Eaglesmith Tinderbox (3,312) – this album features the writer’s own version of the great tear-jerking song Carter – Duhks Fast Paced World (3,185), The Infamous Stringdusters The Infamous Stringdusters (2,851), Old Crow Medicine Show Tennessee Pusher  (2,841) and Drew Emmitt Long Road  (2,748).

The full listing can be found on The Americana Music Association website.

Alison Krauss and Robert Plant are nominated for Album Of The Year for their duet project, Raising Sand; Jim Lauderdale for Artist Of The Year; Chris Thile and Sam Bush for Instrumentalist Of The Year; Steeldrivers for New Emerging Artist Of The Year; Gone, Gone, Gone by Plant and Krauss for Song Of The Year; and Plant and Krauss for Duo/Group Of The Year.

Read the complete slate of nominees on the AMA web site.

The award winners will be announced on September 18, 2008 at the 7th Annual Americana Honors & Awards Show at The Ryman Auditorium in Nashville.

The show will be broadcast live on XM Satellite Radio, and taped for a later rebroadcast on Sirius Satellite Radio and BBC2 Radio.

Several artists who we cover on The Bluegrass Blog are up for awards from AMA this year. Sam Bush is nominated as Instrumentalists of the Year, and Uncle Earl for New and Emerging Artist. Both The Duhks and Old Crow Medicine Show are nominated as Duo/Group of the Year.

Find out more about the Americana Music Association on their official web site.

Several of the nominees will be familiar to readers of The Bluegrass Blog, including Sam Bush for Instrumentalist, Uncle Earl for New and Emerging Artist, and both The Duhks and Old Crow Medicine Show for Group/Duo.

You can see the complete list of 2007 AMA nominees on their official web site, where you can also find details about the Americana Music Conference, October 31 through November 3, 2007.