Billy Strings, Molly Tuttle, and Dolly Parton Are All Nominees at the 2022 Bluegrass Awards

Billy Strings, Molly Tuttle, and Dolly Parton were among the names called when the 33rd annual IBMA Bluegrass Music Awards were announced on Tuesday in Nashville. Strings will compete in six categories, Tuttle in five, and Parton in two when the 2022 IBMAs are held Sept. 29 at the Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Strings and Tuttle compete against each other in four categories: Guitar Player of the Year, Album of the Year, Instrumental Group of the Year, and the top prize of Entertainer of the Year. The Del McCoury Band, the Po’ Ramblin’ Boys, and Sister Sadie round out the Entertainer field.

Parton, a Country Music Hall of Fame member and soon-to-be inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, is being recognized for her gospel recording of the hymn “In the Sweet By and By,” which is up for Gospel Recording of the Year and Collaborative Recording of the Year.

Along with the nominations, the IBMA also announced the new crop of inductees into the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame. Norman Blake, Paul “Moon” Mullins, and Peter Rowan will join the hall during the Bluegrass Music Awards ceremony in September.

Strings, who was named Entertainer of the Year at the 2021 Bluegrass Awards, talked at length with IndieLand about how the genre shaped him during a recent interview. “My childhood, my most formative years, was surrounded by bluegrass music, banjos, hanging out down by the river getting grubby with the other kids. Blue Moon of Kentucky,’ that’s the soundtrack to my childhood,” he said.

ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR
Billy Strings
The Del McCoury Band
The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys
Sister Sadie
Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway

VOCAL GROUP OF THE YEAR
Balsam Range
Blue Highway
Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver
Del McCoury Band
Sister Sadie

INSTRUMENTAL GROUP OF THE YEAR
Billy Strings
Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper
Béla Fleck’s My Bluegrass Heart
The Travelin’ McCourys
Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway

NEW ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Rick Faris
Fireside Collective
Laura Orshaw
Jaelee Roberts
Tray Wellington

SONG OF THE YEAR
“Blink of an Eye,” Danny Paisley & The Southern Grass (Robert Amos)
“Deep River,” Rick Faris (Rick Faris/Brink Brinkman)
“I’ll Take the Lonesome Every Time,” Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver (Glen Duncan/Jerry Salley)
“Red Daisy,” Billy Strings (Jarrod Walker/Christian Ward)
“Riding the Chief,” Chris Jones & The Night Drivers (Chris Jones/Thomm Jutz)

ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Bluegrass Troubadour, Danny Paisley & The Southern Grass
Crooked Tree, Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway
My Bluegrass Heart, Béla Fleck
Never Slow Down, The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys
Renewal, Billy Strings

GOSPEL RECORDING OF THE YEAR
“A Little More Faith in Jesus,” Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver
“He’s Gettin’ Me Ready,” Darin & Brooke Aldridge with The Oak Ridge Boys
“In the End,” Dale Ann Bradley
“In the Sweet By and By,” Dolly Parton with Carl Jackson, Larry Cordle, Bradley Walker, and Jerry Salley
“See You on the Other Side,” Rick Faris featuring Sam Bush
“Traveling the Highway Home,” The Grascals

INSTRUMENTAL RECORDING OF THE YEAR
“EMD,” Scott Vestal – Bluegrass 2022
“Happy Go Lucky,” Doyle Lawson & Alan Bibey
“Ice Bridges,” Billy Strings
“Orange Blossom Breakdown,” Mike Compton
“Vertigo,” Béla Fleck featuring Sam Bush, Stuart Duncan, Edgar Meyer, and Bryan Sutton

COLLABORATIVE RECORDING OF THE YEAR
“Blackbird,” Special Consensus with Amanda Smith, Dale Ann Bradley, Rob Ickes, and Alison Brown
“East Bound and Down,” The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys featuring Jason Carter & Bronwyn Keith-Hynes
“Honky Tonk Nights,” Del McCoury Band featuring Vince Gill
“In the Sweet By and By,” Dolly Parton with Carl Jackson, Larry Cordle, Bradley Walker, and Jerry Salley
“One By One,” Dale Ann Bradley with Danny Paisley

MALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR
Greg Blak
Rick Faris
Del McCoury
Danny Paisley
Larry Sparks

FEMALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR
Brooke Aldridge
Dale Ann Bradley
Sierra Hull
|Molly Tuttle
Rhonda Vincent

BANJO PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Gena Britt
Bela Fleck
Rob McCoury
Kristin Scott Benson
Scott Vestal

BASS PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Mike Bub
Jason Moore
Missy Raines
Mark Schatz
Vickie Vaughn

FIDDLE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Jason Carter
Michael Cleveland
Stuart Duncan
Bronwyn Keith-Hynes
Deanie Richardson

RESOPHONIC GUITAR PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Jerry Douglas
Andy Hall
Rob Ickes
Phil Leadbetter
Justin Moses

GUITAR PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Billy Strings
Trey Hensley
Cody Kilby
Bryan Sutton
Molly Tuttle

MANDOLIN PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Alan Bibey
Jesse Brock
Sam Bush
Sierra Hull
Ronnie McCoury