Tim O’ Brien, bluegrass music’s Male Vocalist of the Year is soon to be inducted into The Wheeling Hall of Fame in his hometown of Wheeling, WV. Tim won a Grammy earlier this year for best traditional folk album with Fiddler’s Green. He also won IBMA’s Song of the Year for Look Down That Lonesome Road from the same CD, as well as the IBMA award for Male Vocalist of the Year.

The induction ceremony is to be held Sunday Nov. 26, 2006 at WesBanco Arena.

I was, of course, very flattered. I rarely perform in Wheeling, so I am unaware of having made an impression there.

Wheeling has lots of low key situations to offer to a young artist. Oglebay Institute art classes with Wes Wagner taught me to think outside of the box. St. Michael Grade School and Linsly in high school provided me with opportunities to challenge myself musically, and to perform and write music, folk masses, musical play and the annual Linsly minstrel shows…

…Even so, it was hard to get on-the-job experience in Wheeling, so I wandered west to the college town of Boulder, Colo., and entered my next phase there,

A very comprehensive history and profile of Tim and his musical career can be found here.