The Gospel Music Association on Friday (2/20) announced the nominations for their forthcoming awards show.
Among the finalists for the 40th Annual Dove Awards are the following nominees in the two bluegrass categories.

Bluegrass Recorded Song (song; album; artist; writer; label)

• Help Is On The Way; Help Is On The Way; Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver; Michael E. Reed; Horizon Records
• I See A Crimson Stream; Sounds Like Sunday; Janet Paschal; Garfield T. Haywood; Vine Records
• The Old White Flag; You Gotta Love It!; Triumphant Quartet; Dianne Wilkinson; Daywind Records
• They’re Holding Up The Ladder; We Are Family; Jeff & Sheri Easter, Lewis Family, Easter Brothers; Russell Easter, James Easter, Edd Easter; Daywind Records
• What Will I Wear?; I Just Wanted You To Know; Kim Hopper; Deborah Bailey; Canaan Records

Bluegrass Album (album; artist; producer; label)

• Bluegrass Worship; Various; Steve Ivey; Star Song Music
• Help Is On The Way; Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver; Doyle Lawson; Horizon Records
• Hymns From Chigger Hill; Chigger Hill Boys & Terri; Mike Richards, Terri Argot Gore, Ricky Gore, Mark Dunham, Bobby Strangenberg, Ethan Blair, Justin Kropf; Daywind Records
• I Don’t Regret A Mile; Larry Sparks; Larry Sparks; Sparks Music
• Pickin’, Praisin’, & Singin’: Hymns From The Mountain; Cody Shuler & Pine Mountain Railroad; Bill McBee, Dale Thomas, Jerry Cole, Cody Shuler, Matt Flake; Rural Rhythm
• We Are Family; Jeff & Sheri Easter, Lewis Family, Easter Brothers; Jeff Easter, Sheri Easter; Daywind Records
• What A Journey; Paul Williams & The Victory Trio; Paul Williams; Rebel Records

Bluegrass artists, musicians, producers and labels are also represented among the nominees in a variety of other categories, most notably in the following …..

Special Event Album (album; artist; producer; label)

• Billy: The Early Years Official Motion Picture Soundtrack; Brooks & Dunn, Mac Powell, Sara Evans, Alan Jackson, China Edelman, Patty Griffin, Brandon Heath, Gregory Page, Michael W. Smith, Melinda Doolittle, Roy Orbison, Brad Paisley, Josh Turner, Sierra Hull, John Cowan, Harry Stinson, Ronnie Bowman, Ronnie McCoury, John Wesley Ryles; Anastasia Brown; Arista Nashville, Essential Records
• Country Bluegrass Homecoming Volume One; Gaither Vocal Band, Marty Stuart & His Fabulous Superlatives, The Grascals, Buddy Greene, The Isaacs, Gordon Mote, Ralph Stanley & The Clinch Mountain Boys, The Booth Brothers, George Jones, Wesley Pritchard, Reggie & Ladye Love Smith, Brittany Allen, Jeff & Sheri Easter, Charlotte Ritchie, Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver, Jimmy Fortune, Dailey & Vincent, Jason Crabb, Rhonda Vincent & The Rage, Ernie Haase & Signature Sound, Cherryholmes, Lisa Daggs-Charette, Vince Gill, Sonya Isaacs, Becky Isaacs Bowman; Bill Gaither; Gaither Music Group
• How Great Thou Art: Gospel Favorites from the Grand Ole Opry; The Charlie Daniels Band, Mac Powell, Alan Jackson, Patty Loveless, Ronnie Milsap, Ricky Skaggs & The Whites, Sara Evans, Brad Paisley, Trace Adkins, Loretta Lynn, Vince Gill, Dierks Bentley, Carrie Underwood; Steve Gibson; Sony BMG Nashville

Long Form Music Video (title; artist; director; producer; production company; label)

• Country Bluegrass Homecoming Volume One; Bill & Gloria Gaither; Doug Stuckey; Bill Gaither; Gaither Television Productions; Gaither Music Group

The recipients will be announced at the televised show on April 23 in Nashville, Tennessee.

A complete list of nominees and more information about the GMA and the Dove Awards is available online.

Blueridge Guitars is set to introduce a limited edition, signature model guitar for Larry Sparks, honoring a true trend-setter among bluegrass flatpickers.

It will be designated as the Blueridge BR-3060, and styled after Larry’s legendary early 1950’s D-28, including the distinctive double pickguard.

Specifications for the BR-3060:

• Select solid Sitka spruce top
• White body binding – with characteristic W/B/W purfling
• Select solid East Indian rosewood back and sides
• Select mahogany neck with ebony fingerboard and mother of pearl position markers
• Ebony Bridge with mother of pearl dots and maple bridge plate
• Bone nut and Saddle
• Characteristic single-ply double pickguard
• Vintage-style, nickel-plated round button tuners
• Larry’s signature on the peghead
• A signed and numbered certificate of authenticity and soundhole label

Blueridge is a subsidiary of Saga Musical Instruments, and the Larry Sparks BR-3060 will be available from any the many Saga dealers starting in February ‘09. There is no information yet on the Blueridge web site about this guitar, but David Gartland with Saga gave us a rundown on how it came to be…

“Being huge fans of Larry’s and thankful for his valuable contribution to the Stanley Brothers and Bluegrass music, we felt it only natural to pay tribute to our own personal hero and this Bluegrass legend.  As you may already know, we had already set a precedent for creating special guitars, notably the BR-1060P Carter Stanley Memorial Blueridge Guitar, and we thought that recreating Larry’s unmistakable guitar was the perfect next step. Truly an honor for us.

An integral part of the process has been our ability to work hand in hand with Mr. Sparks to produce a guitar that will stand up to his unique style of play and remain true to his original instrument.

Our primary objective for Larry and the Saga team was to maintain the highest level of quality using only the best materials; while at the same time trying to making it more affordable.

It is a truly an amazing instrument.”

The suggested retail price for the BR-3060 will be $1395.

Larry Sparks has announced that he will be introducing his own signature set of guitar strings.

Most bluegrass fans know Larry primarily as among the most soulful and expressive singers in bluegrass music, but guitar players and pickers in general recognize him as a strong and influential rhythm guitarist as well.

He has been working with the Mapes Piano String Company to develop a wrap that will reduce string breakage, and has been using a string manufactured with this process for the past few years. Larry reports that he has only broken two strings in the past five years and wants to share this discovery with the rest of the guitar world.

Mapes manufactures wire for nearly all the major string companies, so if you play a stringed instrument, odds are that you use their product.

The new Sparks strings will be packaged in three gauges (light, medium, heavy) and are expected to be available starting in November. We’ll get a few sets from Larry when they arrive and let you know how they hold up.

The Richmond Indiana-based Palladium-Item reported on Sunday that bluegrass veteran Larry Sparks is to receive the Legacy Continues Award from the Starr-Gennett Foundation.

Sparks who has enjoyed over 40 years as a professional bluegrass musician, beginning when he started high school and was at the same time working for the Stanley Brothers. Subsequently, he formed his own band, The Lonesome Ramblers.

Twice he has been named the International Bluegrass Music Association’s Male Vocalist of the Year (2004 and 2005) and was honoured for Album of the Year and Recorded Event of the Year (both for 40; 2005).

Sparks is headlining the foundation’s Walk of Fame Musical Festival on September 6, when the award will be made.

To read the full story go to the Pal-Item website.

The Starr-Gennett Foundation Inc. is dedicated to preserving and promoting the legacy of Gennett Records and its parent organization, the Starr Piano Company. The Foundation is working to save this important legacy and foster worldwide appreciation for this remarkable piece of American popular music history.

For information about the Starr-Gennett Foundation, the arrangements for the day’s events (on September 6), including a concert appearance by Mike Compton and David Long, and the evening Larry Sparks concert visit the Starr-Gennett Foundation website.

Larry Sparks latest CD is the Gospel collection I Don’t Regret A Mile (Sparks Music), the first release on his own label.