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New act Dailey & Vincent dominated the International Bluegrass Music Awards on Thursday night, including a win for Album of the Year. The duo features Jamie Dailey, who previously served as a vocalist for Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver, and Darrin Vincent, a former member of Ricky Skaggs’ Kentucky Thunder. Here is a list of major winners from last night’s ceremony held in Nashville.

Entertainer of the Year
Dailey & Vincent
The Grascals
Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver
The Del McCoury Band
Rhonda Vincent & The Rage

Vocal Group of the Year
Blue Highway
Dailey & Vincent
The Grascals
The Isaacs
Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver
Danny Paisley and the Southern Grass

Instrumental Group of the Year
Blue Highway
Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper
The Infamous Stringdusters
Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder
The Dan Tyminski Band

Male Vocalist of the Year
Jamie Dailey
Russell Moore
Tim O’Brien
Danny Paisley
Dan Tyminski

Female Vocalist of the Year
Dale Ann Bradley
Sonya Isaacs
Alison Krauss
Claire Lynch
Rhonda Vincent

Album of the Year
(Award goes to Artist, Producer(s), and Label)

Dailey & Vincent, Dailey & Vincent
Produced by Jamie Dailey and Darrin Vincent
Rounder Records

Honoring The Fathers of Bluegrass -Tribute to 1946 and 1947, Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder
Produced by Ricky Skaggs
Skaggs Family Records

Lovin’ Pretty Women, Steep Canyon Rangers
Produced by Ronnie Bowman
Rebel Records

The SteelDrivers, The SteelDrivers
Produced by Luke Wooten and The SteelDrivers
Rounder Records

Through The Window Of A Train, Blue Highway
Produced by Blue Highway
Rounder Records

Song of the Year
(Award goes to Artist(s) and Songwriter(s))

“Alison’s Band,” Charlie Sizemore Band
Songwriters: Charlie Sizemore and Buddy Cannon

“By The Mark,” Dailey & Vincent
Songwriters: David Rawlings and Gillian Welch

“Drinkin’ Dark Whiskey,” The SteelDrivers
Songwriters: Mike Henderson and Chris Stapleton

“More Than A Name On A Wall,” Dailey & Vincent
Songwriters: Jimmy Fortune and John Rimel

“Through The Window Of A Train,” Blue Highway
Songwriters: Tim Stafford and Steve Gulley

Gospel Recorded Performance of the Year
(Award for song or album goes to Artist(s), Producer(s), and Label)

“Be Still Moses,” Steep Canyon Rangers
Produced by Ronnie Bowman
Rebel Records

“By The Mark,” Dailey & Vincent
Produced by Jamie Dailey and Darrin Vincent
Rounder Records

“Help Is On The Way,” Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver
Produced by Doyle Lawson
Horizon Records

“Salt Of The Earth,” Ricky Skaggs & The Whites
Produced by Ricky Skaggs & The Whites
Skaggs Family Records

“Where No One Stands Alone,” Paul Williams & The Victory Trio
Produced by Paul Williams
Rebel Records

Recorded Event of the Year
(Award goes to featured Artists, Producer(s), and Label)

Christmas Grass, Vol. 3
Featuring 3 Fox Drive, Sonya Isaacs, John Cowan, Sarah Jarosz, Larry Sparks, Russell Moore and Charlie Daniels
Produced by Greg Cole, Chuck Rhodes, and 3 Fox Drive
KOCH Records

Everett Lilly & Everybody and Their Brother
Featuring Everett Lilly, Bea Lilly, Charles Lilly, Daniel Lilly, Mark Lilly, Marty Stuart, Rhonda Vincent, Billy Walker, Ronnie McCoury, Rob McCoury, David Ball, Charlie Cushman, Larry Stephenson, Joe Spivey, Eddie Stubbs, Jason Carter, Dickey Lee, Freddy Weller, Mike Bub, Rad Lewis, Andy May, Darrin Vincent, Marcia Campbell, Clay Rigdon, Eric Blankenship and Bill Wolfenbarger
Produced by Charles Lilly and Bill Wolfenbarger
Swift River Music

Salt of the Earth
Featuring Ricky Skaggs & The Whites
Produced by Ricky Skaggs & The Whites
Skaggs Family Records

Standard Songs for Average People
John Prine & Mac Wiseman
Produced by John Prine and David Ferguson
Oh Boy Records

We Are Family
Jeff and Sheri Easter, The Lewis Family, and The Easter Brothers
Produced by Jeff and Sheri Easter
Daywind Records

Emerging Artist of the Year
Cadillac Sky
Dailey & Vincentm>
Grasstowne
Danny Paisley and the Southern Grass
The SteelDrivers

Chet Flippo is wondering when the songs about the current economic crisis will arrive:

Is anyone writing soundtrack songs for an America running helplessly headlong toward ruin? I’m not going to attempt to go into political issues, other than to say that tough times can and should produce music that can address and perhaps explain and make some sense out of the chaos that’s all around. To instill some sense of order and normalcy into everyday life. And to try, as journalism’s mission once was, to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.

And if ever a nation needed some memorable music, it is the United States of America of today, which has truly become a pitiful, helpless giant. With no direction home. End of sermon.

Where’s the music?

There were some great songs along these lines in the early nineties, when the country suffered a tough recession.  My favorite of all of them was  Sawyer Brown’s “Cafe on the Corner.”   I was also fond of Travis Tritt’s “Lord Have Mercy on the Working Man” and Pirates of the Mississippi’s “A Streetman Named Desire.”  Kathy Mattea’s “Standing Knee Deep in a River” alluded to the homeless problem in a subtle but effective way.

But my favorite song of all in this vein came two decades earlier.   Merle Haggard’s “If We Make it Through December” deals with hard times in a deeply personal way by having a father explain to his daughter why there can’t be a  Christmas this year.    He comforts her by promsing brighter days ahead, but the shakiness of his vocal indicates that he can’t quite convince himself it’s true.

What are you favorite songs for hard times?

100 Greatest Women

#65

Suzy Bogguss

In the liner notes of her debut album, the legendary Chet Atkins wrote that “her voice sparkles like crystal water.” An apt description of Suzy Bogguss indeed. Her pure and clear voice has s always been a perfect fit for a wide range of material, whether she’s singing old Western songs or modern-day swing.

Bogguss was barely out of college when she started to follow her muse. With a group of friends, she spent the summer after her graduation criss-crossing the country with an amp and a guitar, going into random clubs and asking if she could play for the night in exchange for enough cash to cover expenses.

The novelty wore off quickly for her friends, who went back home when the summer was over, but Bogguss persevered. She recorded an LP to sell at her shows, and soon became a regular on the midwest coffeehouse circuit.

When she finally got up the gumption to move to Nashville, she put together a demo cassette. She got her big break when she landed a performance slot at a new theme park in 1986 - Dollywood. A label executive from Capitol Records caught her show, bought her cassette and offered her a contract.

One of her first singles was a cover of “I Wanna Be a Cowboy’s Sweetheart”, which found the young singer bringing the yodel back to country radio, or at least to the small handful of stations that played it. When her next single “Somewhere Between” cracked the top 40, she was given the go ahead to record a full-length album of the same name. Strong critical acclaim followed, along with her first real hit, “Cross My Broken Heart.” In the spring of 1989, the ACM named her Top New Female Vocalist.

Her second album was a big setback, as Under the Gun produced two low-charting singles and mediocre reviews. But she found her voice the next time out. After a duet with Lee Greenwood on “Hopelessly Yours” went to #12, her cover of “Someday Soon” matched that mark. That lead single from Aces helped launch her only platinum album to date, and after she scored top ten hits with “Outbound Plane” and “Aces”, she won the 1992 CMA Horizon Award, defeating a field that included Trisha Yearwood, Brooks & Dunn, Pam Tillis and Billy Dean.

The label was in a rush to capitalize on that win, so she quickly recorded a follow-up album, Voices in the Wind. It was slapped together so quickly that they tacked on the fourth single from Aces, “Letting Go”, rather than launch with a new single. Still, that album went gold, thanks to the big hit “Drive South”, which remains her highest charting single to date.

Bogguss released one of her best albums, Something Up My Sleeve, in 1993. It showcased her writing more than previous efforts, and produced a pair of top ten singles. Of those two, “Hey Cinderella” became one of her signature songs. Her cover of “Take it to the Limit” on the Common Thread: The Songs of the Eagles tribute album earned her another CMA award, as she shared the honor for Album of the Year.

After an interesting side project with Chet Akins (Simpatico), she took two years off to begin raising a family. When she returned to the country market in 1996 with Give Me Some Wheels, the scene had changed and she had lost her slot at country radio. After another album with Capitol in 1998, she parted ways with the label.

As she switched to the independent scene, she took more liberties with her music. In 2003, she released on of her best-reviewed albums ever, Swing. Produced by Ray Benson of Asleep at the Wheel, the album was a top ten jazz hit. In recent years, Bogguss has been teaming up with Matraca Berg and Gretchen Peters for what they call the “Wine, Women and Song” tour, playing to enthusiastic audiences across the United States and England. In 2007, her Sweet Danger project was also a jazz hit, peaking at #4 on the Top Jazz Albums chart. She is currently planning a new album, which will be the second release for her personally owned label, Loyal Duchess Records.

Suzy Bogguss

Essential Singles

• “Someday Soon”, 1991
• “Outbound Plane”, 1992
• “Aces”, 1992
• “Letting Go”, 1992
• “Drive South”, 1992
• “Hey Cinderella”, 1993

Essential Albums

• Somewhere Between (1989)
• Aces (1991)
• Something Up My Sleeve (1993)
• Swing (2003)
  

Industry Awards

• ACM Top New Female Vocalist, 1989
• CMA Horizon Award, 1992
• CMA Album of the Year: Common Thread: The Songs of the Eagles, 1994

==> #64. Billie Jo Spears

<== #66. Paulette Carlson (Highway 101)

100 Greatest Women: The Complete List