No… these are a different sort of awards.

After winning several armloads of trophies at IBMA 2008, Dailey & Vincent may be accustomed to walking off stage with major awards. But handing them out, not so much.

But that’s just what they’ve done. After the success of their self-titled debut release, and the ‘09 follow-up, Brothers From Different Mothers, the boys wanted to show some appreciation to people who have opened doors for them in the music business.

They presented a Door Opener Award to WSM and The Grand Ole Opry’s Eddie Stubbs on July 30 after their performance at the Springer Mountain Farms Bluegrass Nights at the Ryman show. Stubbs was brought out on stage to accept this expression of gratitude for the support he has shown Dailey & Vincent.

Then  two weeks later on August 11, they presented a similar trophy to Pete Fisher, General manager of The Grand Ole Opry, after their Tuesday Opry show. The duo had played their very first live performance at The Opry on December 29, 2007, and thanked Fisher for having booked them on the show.

We understand that Dailey & Vincent is back in the studio again this summer, working on a Statler Brothers tribute album. Their next Rounder CD is scheduled to be an all a capella project.

No resting on their laurels for these fellas!

The Grascals will join Eddie Stubbs tomorrow night (1/10) on WSM for a special 2 hour live radio show from the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville.

They will appear from 8:00-10:00 p.m. (EST) on An Intimate Evening with Eddie Stubbs, a WSM feature that mixes interviews – and occasionally live performance – before a studio audience. Previous guests have included Earl Scruggs, Marty Stuart, George Jones, Joe Nichols and Diamond Rio.

You can catch the show over the air in the Nashville market on WSM AM 650, and simulcast worldwide via live online streaming at wsmonline.com.

XM channel 10 will rebroadcast the show on Friday (1/11) at midnight (EST), and it may also show up in the WSM program archives after the fact.

XM Satellite Radio has announced that they will begin carrying the WSM radio’s Eddie Stubbs Show and the Tuesday, Friday and Saturday broadcasts from The Grand Ole Opry starting in October.

The shows will be carried live on XM Track 11 (Nashville), and XM also plans to make individual Opry performances available for broadcast on other channels that feature country and bluegrass music – like Bluegrass Junction (track 14).

The Opry shows will air each Tuesday evening at 8:00 p.m., on Fridays at 9:00 p.m. and Saturdays at 7:30 and 10:30 p.m. All times are eastern. They will encore on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 10:00 a.m. on XM’s classic country channel, America (track 10).

The Opry on XM will debut on October 20, which will be their 82nd Opry Birthday Bash. More details are expected soon as to the start of The Eddie Stubbs Show, which airs on WSM weeknights from 7:00 p.m. to midnight (Friday 9:30-12:30, after The Opry).

Here’s the second part of late night wanderings around the showcases. There was some really great music being played late last night, and I didn’t even make it to any of the jam sessions happening on various floors of the hotel. Here are a few more photos and some impressions of last night’s events.

It appeared as if Eddie Stubbs sat in one place for the entire day doing live interviews and broadcasts for WSM. At some point I stumbled across Byron House and Cody Kilby out in the hall working up a tune. Moving the other direction down the hall I spotted Chris Jones deep in conversation. Then I heard Don Rigsby & Midnight Call throwing down on some hard driving bluegrass.

Eddie Stubbs	Byron & Cody	Chris Jones	Don Rigsby

I headed back toward the PineCastle showcase room and caught a jam in hall with Carl Jackson and some others. I finally did make to the PineCastle room which is where I spent the remainder of my evening. The first act I saw was the John Cowan Band. John was great as usual. I spent some time talking with Barry Scott in hall and then went back in and sat down to watch John Cowan and Ronnie McCoury accompany Pat Flynn on a set.

Carl Jackson	John Cowan Band		Ronnie McCoury

After that Blueridge took the stage. I may be a little biased since these guys are friends of mine, but I say with all honesty that it was the best performance I saw last night. The group as a whole is just incredible, they are tight and rehearsed, they know their arrangements, and the material is wonderful. In addition to all that, Alan Bibey is simply one of the best mandolin players in the business and Junior Sisk has got to be the most soulful singer I know. When he sings a song, you believe him. It’s always a great performance, but it’s also completely heartfelt. They really are a great traditional band, though Alan is certainly capable of so much on the mandolin that I hate to qualify him that way. If you can’t tell, I like these guys’ music. Check them out when you get a chance.

BlueRidge	Alan & Junior	Alan Johnson	Alan Bibey

That’s it for now, but we have more photos of the event from contributing photographers and we’ll try and get some more galleries up soon.