Pictured are (l to r): Publicist Kim Fowler, Jason & the Scorchers’ Warner Hodges, AMA’s Danna Strong, Jason & the Scorchers’ Jason Ringenberg, Webb Wilder and BMI’s Kay Clary.

Roots music royalty Abigail Washburn and Béla Fleck read the list of award candidates, whose names were met with enthusiastic whoops and applause.

Longtime BMI songwriter James McMurtry garnered a slew of nominations, including Artist, Album and Song of the Year. McMurtry’s barbed wit and astute songwriting have resonated with listeners all over the world.

Pictured are (l to r): Hal Ketchum, Billy Block and Fats Kaplin.

Perennial BMI favorite Alison Krauss also received multiple nominations for her work with legend Robert Plant. In addition to a spot on the Duo/Group of the Year list, their collaborative effort Raising Sand earned Album of the Year, and their rendition of the Everly Brothers’ “Gone, Gone, Gone” secured a Song of the Year nod.

New/Emerging Artist of the Year nominees included a wealth of auspicious BMI singer/songwriters. Neo-soul, gospel conduit Mike Farris, gravely troubadour Ryan Bingham and the virtuosic bluegrass-dipped SteelDrivers all received well-deserved nods.

Pictured are (l to r): Third Coast Artist Agency’s Clint Wiley and Steve Hoiberg, Thirty Tigers’ Traci Thomas, Justin Townes Earle and Bonnie Whitmore.

Recognition also went to preeminent mandolin player and roots/bluegrass innovator Sam Bush in the Instrumentalist of the Year field; esteemed singer/songwriter Tiff Merritt, who received a Song of the Year nod for “Broken”; and triple-threat Kane Welch Kaplin, in the Duo/Group of the Year field.

The winners will be announced September 18 at the historic Ryman Auditorium during the 7th Annual Americana Music Association’s Honors and Awards Show. Hosted by Jim Lauderdale and featuring a band led by Buddy Miller, the Honors & Awards ceremony will also recognize iconic troubadour John Hiatt with the Lifetime Achievement Award in Songwriting and Jason and the Scorchers with a Lifetime Achievement Award in Performance. Additional honorees and performers will be announced in the coming months.

Abigail Washburn (left) and Béla Fleck (right) announce the nominees.

Slated for Wednesday, September 17 through Saturday, September 20, the 9th Annual Americana Festival and Conference will offer daily seminars, panels and networking opportunities at the Nashville Convention Center. Each evening brings more than 80 stacked Americana showcases to key venues throughout Nashville. Approximately 2,000 industry executives, artists and fans are expected this year.

For more information on tickets, becoming a member of the Americana Music Association and more, please visit www.americanamusic.org.

About the Americana Music Association
The Americana Music Association is a professional trade organization whose mission is to provide a forum for the advocacy of Americana music and to promote public awareness of the genre to support the creative and economic viability of professionals in this field. Dedicated to building and promoting the Americana genre and the individuals who participate in that industry, the Americana Music Association works closely with artists, labels, radio stations, retailers, print media, festivals, agents, publishers and more to help organize and build the infrastructure necessary for the Americana genre to achieve success both creatively and financially.

Pictured are (l to r): BMI's Jody Williams, Honorable Mayor Karl Dean, Abigail Washburn and Béla Fleck, with the AMA's Danna Strong and Jed Hilly.

2008 BMI Americana Music Association Honors & Awards Nominees

ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Alison Krauss & Robert Plant
Raising Sand

James McMurtry
Just Us Kids

ARTIST OF THE YEAR
James McMurtry

INSTUMENTALIST OF THE YEAR
Sam Bush

NEW EMERGING ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Mike Farris
Ryan Bingham
The Steeldrivers

SONG OF THE YEAR
“Broken”
Tift Merritt

“Cheney’s Toy”
James McMurtry

“Gone Gone Gone”
Alison Krauss & Robert Plant

DUO/GROUP OF THE YEAR
Alison Krauss & Robert Plant
Drive By Truckers
Kane Welch Kaplin

John Hiatt's deep catalog includes many American staples. A true writer's writer, Hiatt has penned songs recorded by legends including Bob Dylan, Bonnie Raitt, Three Dog Night, Iggy Pop, Rosanne Cash, Eric Clapton, B.B. King and Willie Nelson. Hiatt has joined Guy Clark, Joe Ely and Lyle Lovett on an acoustic tour, and his upcoming album Same Old Man promises more signature Hiatt observations and inviting self-reflections.

The Americana Honors and Awards ceremony will toast the eclectic genre's best, feature live performances and serve as the resounding conclusion of the Americana Music Conference and Festival, September 17-20 in Nashville.

For more information on the Americana Music Association, please visit www.americanamusic.org.

The Americana Music Association is a professional trade organization whose mission is to provide a forum for the advocacy of Americana music and to promote public awareness of the genre. The Americana Music Association works closely with artists, labels, radio stations, retailers, print media, festivals, agents, publishers and more to help organize and build the infrastructure necessary for the Americana genre to achieve success both creatively and financially.

Frances W. Preston has come a long way since her position as receptionist at WSM radio station, which she left in 1958 to open a southern regional office of Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) in Nashville. There Preston issued performing rights licenses for songwriters and music publishers, and she quickly led BMI to a position of preeminence in the south. In 1964, the year the BMI building opened on Music Row, Preston became a Vice President. Quickly moving up the ranks, she served as President and CEO of BMI from 1986 to 2004, during which time the company’s revenue more than tripled to over $673 million. Under her leadership, BMI enjoyed a consistent record of increasing revenues and royalty distributions to its more than 300,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers. She has been inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Gospel Music Hall of Fame and a Trustees Award for Lifetime Achievement by the Recording Academy, the President’s Award from the Nashville Songwriters Association International, the President's Award from the National Music Publishers' Association, and the City of Hope "Spirit of Life" Award. She has twice received a Humanitarian Award from the International Achievement in Arts Awards in New York. Photos highlighting Frances Preston’s prolific career can be enjoyed above.

In a career that has spanned nearly five decades, and with millions of records sold, The Crickets are unquestionably "The American Rock and Roll Band." The group was formed in 1957 in Lubbock, Texas by Buddy Holly, J. I. Allison, Niki Sullivan and Joe B. Mauldin. After Sullivan and Holly left the group, Sonny Curtis joined to form the ever-popular trio. Their hits "That’ll Be the Day," "Peggy Sue," "Maybe Baby" and "I Fought the Law" are rock classics considered by many to be primary lessons in how rock music should be written and played. In the mid '70s, the three moved to Tennessee where they continued their long association with Waylon Jennings and began touring and recording with him. Their latest release, The Crickets and Their Buddies, was partly recorded in Nashville and features Eric Clapton, Rodney Crowell, Nanci Griffith, Waylon Jennings and John Prine, to name a few. This induction is a fitting tribute to a band who literally defined rock and roll music, and who today, after 50 years, continues to set the standard of excellence by which it should be judged.

John Hiatt wrote his first top-40 hit, "Sure as I'm Sitting Here," while working as a songwriter for Tree Music Publishing in Nashville. The song was covered by Three Dog Night, and in 1974 the band took the song to No. 16 on the Billboard chart. Since then, Hiatt's songs have been recorded by a number of artists including Bob Dylan, Bonnie Raitt, Eric Clapton, B.B. King, Willie Nelson, Jimmy Buffet and Rosanne Cash, to name a few. Hiatt has released 18 studio albums and two live albums, and he has been nominated for 11 Grammy Awards. His 1987 hit "Have a Little Faith in Me" brought him national attention and was covered by several artists, with the most notable versions being recorded by Jewel, Mandy Moore and Joe Cocker. Hiatt has written and recorded duets with respected vocalists like Bonnie Raitt ("Thing Called Love"), Emmylou Harris ("Icy Blue Heart"), Rosanne Cash ("The Way We Make a Broken Heart"), Suzy Boggus ("Drive South") and B.B. King & Eric Clapton ("Riding with the King"). A musician's musician, Hiatt has proven to everyone that he has what it takes to be an all-around great singer/songwriter.

Created in the fall of 2006, the Music City Walk of Fame on Nashville's Music Mile will be a landmark tribute to those from all genres of music who have made significant contributions to preserving the musical heritage of Nashville and have contributed to the world through song or other industry collaboration.

Permanent sidewalk medallions made of stainless steel and terrazzo, with each honoree's name displayed in a star-and-guitar design, will be installed in the sidewalk along the Music Mile, the roughly one-mile stretch of Demonbreun Street from 4th Avenue South to the Music Row Roundabout at 16th Avenue South. The plaques for this class of inductees will be inlaid in Hall of Fame Park on Demonbreun, between 4th and 5th Avenues South.

About the Music City Walk of Fame The Music City Walk of Fame is an official project of Music City, Inc., the Nashville Convention & Visitors Bureau's 501(c)(3) foundation; Sandra Fulton, chair. The Music City Walk of Fame is produced with the support of Gibson Guitar, Great American Country, the City of Nashville and Metro Parks.

Pictured at the news conference announcing the NSHOF nominees are BMI songwriters Thom Schuyler, John Scott Sherrill, Nashville Songwriters Foundation Chairman Roger Murrah, BMI songwriter Tony Joe White, Nashville Mayor Bill Purcell and BMI songwriter Hugh Prestwood. Photo by Krista Lee for Krista Lee Photography

BMI affiliates nominated for induction in the songwriter category are Larry Henley ("The Wind Beneath My Wings," "Lizzie and the Rainman"), Mark James ("Always On My Mind," "Suspicious Minds"), Hugh Prestwood ("Hard Rock Bottom of Your Heart," "Ghost In This House"), Thom Schuyler ("Love Will Turn You Around," "I Fell In Love Again Last Night") and John Scott Sherrill ("Some Fools Never Learn," "How Long Gone.")

BMI writers constitute the entire list of the nominees in the songwriter/artist division. Arthur Alexander ("Anna [Go To Him]," "Every Day I Have to Cry"), Jimmy Buffett ("Come Monday," "Margaritaville"), J.J. Cale ("After Midnight," "Cocaine"), John Hiatt ("Have A Little Faith In Me," "She Don't Love Nobody"), and Tony Joe White ("Rainy Night In Georgia," "I've Got A Thing About You Baby") received recognition for their work.

The unveiling of inductees will take place at the 37th annual Nashville Songwriters Association International/Nashville Songwriters Foundation Awards ceremony on Sunday, Oct. 22 at the Renaissance Nashville Hotel.]]> 2006-08-17T18:00:00-05:00 http://www.bmi.com/musicworld/entry/4051 Artists, Black Eyed Peas, Broussard, Marc, Clapton, Eric, Harris, Jesse, Hiatt, John, Kweli, Talib, Legend, John, Lifehouse, McLachlan, Sarah, Merritt, Tift, Mullins, Shawn, Smith, Mindy, Musical Styles, Singer-Songwriter, Musicworld, On The Scene Her voice ranges from haunting, delicate beauty to an explosion of shattering, soaring soul. Her lyrics bloom from a place of uncompromising honesty and raw emotion, wise beyond her years. Her roots are the blues, classic soul and R&B, rock, gospel and folk, and the result is a personal brand of pop music that is uniquely her own. Billboard magazine and the Boston Globe have compared her to everything from “a young Sarah McLachlan” to “Aretha in the husky vocal turns.” But anyone who’s seen Mieka Pauley agrees on one thing: with a history of launching great artists such as Joan Baez, Bonnie Raitt and Tracy Chapman, the clubs of Cambridge and streets of Harvard Square have once again produced the next unmistakable voice of a new generation.

Born in Boston and raised in Kentucky, Colorado and South Florida, school brought her back to Cambridge. She started to sing as a child and spent years studying classical voice and piano, and in high school sang in everything from alt rock garage bands and Motown funk bands to jazz and classical choirs and church. At the end of high school, she taught herself guitar when an uncle gave her his old acoustic. But the sum of these parts wasn’t clear to anyone until she left home for college, where the truth was revealed on the streets of Harvard Square.

Mieka’s ability to captivate audiences first made her a favorite of Boston’s best clubs including The Paradise Lounge, House of Blues, Club Passim and Kendall Café - and next at New York’s renowned Bitter End, Living Room, Makor, Knitting Factory and Village Underground. In Summer 2002 she graduated from Harvard with a degree in Biological Anthropology, won BMI’s Rock Boat Song Contest, and placed top three at the famed Telluride Troubadour Competition. In 2003 she was invited to perform at four of the top music festivals in the country: The Newport Folk Festival, On The Bricks in Atlanta, Dancin’ In The District in Nashville and a return trip to The Rock Boat. 2004 included the month-long Citizen Cope Northeast Tour, the first ever BMI/NACA “See It Hear First” showcase, sharing a bill with Eric Clapton at Boston’s Tweeter Center, and winning the prestigious Rocky Mountain Folks Fest Songwriter Showcase. In 2005 she was nominated for a Boston Music Award, won the first ever Starbucks Emerging Artist Award, and recorded a new EP with producer John Alagia (John Mayer, Dave Matthews, Jason Mraz, Rachel Yamagata, Josh Kelly, Lifehouse, Liz Phair, Trevor Hall and others), due to be released in early 2006.

Over these first 36 months of her young career, she’s become the embodiment of the musician road warrior: A girl, a guitar, and a car - crisscrossing the country and playing over 450 club and college shows from northern Maine to southern Florida, from the Pacific Northwest to southern California, from the Colorado Rockies to the Tennessee valleys to the Great Lakes States and all points between - and back around the bases of street corners, cafés and clubs of Boston - even sliding into home plate at Fenway Park for a National Anthem. She has shared the bill with such artists as Eric Clapton, Wyclef Jean, Jason Mraz, John Legend, the Black Eyed Peas, John Hiatt, Blues Traveler, Martin Sexton, Jesse Harris, Mindy Smith, Edwin McCain, Citizen Cope, Shawn Mullins, Marc Broussard, Talib Kweli, North Mississippi All-Stars, Ben Lee, Tift Merritt and Erin McKeown, among many others.

A recent Boston Globe feature on her perhaps said it best: “While the eyes may be the windows to the soul, Mieka Pauley lets you in through her voice (as unstoppable as a flood) and through her lyrics (as personal as diary entries). She’s making her voice heard, and not just on the streets of Harvard Square.”

"I had two offers to write songs, one from [Nashville songwriter and producer] Buzz Cason and one from Johnny Rivers in California," recalls Buffett. "I really wanted to go to Johnny Rivers, because I kind of came out of New Orleans and Baton Rouge." Nashville won out, Buffett says, "because I didn't have enough money to buy gas to get to California."

That trip began a long relationship with Nashville. In those early days, he worked as a reporter for Billboard magazine. He recorded such hits as "Come Monday" and "Margaritaville" in the city's studios. About every 10 years, he briefly flirted with country radio. "If you stick around long enough," Buffett says, "people know you're still around."

These days, it'd be hard not to know Buffett's still around. In 2003, Buffett got his first #1 by singing "It's Five O'Clock Somewhere" with Alan Jackson. License to Chill , Buffett's latest album, boasts a Top 10 cover of Hank Williams' "Hey Good Lookin'" that features Jackson, Clint Black, Kenny Chesney, Toby Keith and George Strait. Each of those acts sings a duet with Buffett on the album, as do Martina McBride, Nanci Griffith, and Bill Withers. License to Chill sold more than a quarter-million copies in its first week, giving Buffett the first #1 album of a recording career that dates to the early 1970s.

Buffett says hearing of so many contemporary country singers influenced by his music convinced him he ought to record a country album even before Jackson approached him with "It's Five O'Clock Somewhere."

"I had decided to go in and do an album that would, hopefully, get the attention of country radio and country sales, because that's what was happening out there," he says. He recorded original songs and a couple of country classics, like "Hey Good Lookin'." But he rounded out the album with songs by John Hiatt, Leon Russell and Will Kimbrough, writers who've had experiences with mainstream Nashville that mirror Buffett's own.

Now, with "It's Five O'Clock Somewhere" and "Hey Good Lookin'," Buffett has more Top 40 hits on the country side than he does in pop.

"I love the fact that country seems to be broadening and inclusive. It's the listenable music of America. It's not a big giant step for me to come over and sing country. I love doing it; I just hadn't done it in a while. But it's a part of who I was. I'd attempted a few forays into the country world and been brushed back vehemently. Nothing ever worked before. That's the nature of this business: Everything comes back around."

Beneath This Gruff Exterior is also the first Hiatt disc to give official co-billing to the Goners, one of the artist's most celebrated backup combos. "The four of us do something together that we don't do apart," Hiatt says of the Louisiana-bred threesome of guitarist Sonny Landreth, bassist Dave Ranson and drummer Kenneth Blevins, who first recorded with Hiatt on 1988's Slow Turning and reunited with him for 2001's The Tiki Bar Is Open .

Beneath This Gruff Exterior finds Hiatt and band adopting a gritty, unpolished sound, cutting the tracks live in the studio with a minimum of overdubs. According to Hiatt, "The idea with [ The Tiki Bar Is Open ] was take four old farts and try to freshen them up a little bit, slap some make-up on, visit the hair club, whatever it took. But this record we really just wanted to go in and get to the nuts and blots of what this quartet does -- if you come hear us live, this is pretty much what you get."

While the new album emphasizes the immediacy of live performance, it's Hiatt's songwriting that originally put him on the mainstream map. He's had his compositions successfully covered by Bonnie Raitt, Bob Dylan, Rosanne Cash, Three Dog Night, Iggy Pop, Joe Cocker, Ry Cooder, Marshall Crenshaw, Rodney Crowell, Dave Edmunds, the Everly Brothers, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Patty Griffin, Buddy Guy, Emmylou Harris, Jeff Healey, Flaco Jimenez, Nick Lowe, Delbert McClinton, Buddy and Julie Miller, Rick Nelson, the Neville Brothers, Linda Ronstadt, Mitch Ryder, Conway Twitty and the duo of Eric Clapton and B.B. King, who scored a surprise hit in 2000 with Hiatt's "Riding with the King." Hiatt has also been the subject of two multi-artist tribute albums, 1993's Love Gets Strange and the new It'll Come to You: The Songs of John Hiatt .

After more than three decades as a recording artist, Hiatt still sees his catalogue as a long-term work-in-progress. "Musically, we get closer and closer to distilling this thing down to its simplest form -- and I'm at the point in my life where I really value and cherish that and want to only do things that honor it.

"Time is running out," he observes, adding, "We're not getting any younger, so you got to, you know, carpe diem."

Randy Owen

Jerry Reed

John Prine

Freddie Hart

BMI nominees in the Songwriter division are Jim Anglin ("Ashes Of Love" and "Let Your Conscience Be Your Guide); Larry Henley ("Wind Beneath My Wings," "Lizzie and the Rain Man"); John Hiatt ("Angel Eyes," "She Don't Love Nobody"); Dennis Morgan ("I Was Country When Country Wasn't Cool," "I Wouldn't Have Missed It For the World"); Roger Murrah ("Don't Rock the Jukebox," "It's a Little Too Late"); Paul Overstreet ("Forever and Ever Amen," "On the Other Hand"); Thom Schuyler ("16th Avenue," "Years After You"); and Even Stevens ("Drivin' My Life Away," "No Matter How High").

BMI contenders on the Songwriter/Artist list are Freddie Hart ("Bless Your Heart," "Easy Loving"); Alabama's Randy Owen ("Feels So Right," "Lady Down On Love"); John Prine ("Paradise," "I Just Want To Dance With You"); and Jerry Reed ("When You're Hot, You're Hot," "East Bound and Down").

Two songwriters will be inducted from the first group and one from the second. In addition, Nashville Songwriters Foundation board members have selected yet another songwriter for induction whose name is not among previously announced, bringing the total to four who will be honored during the ceremony at Loew's Vanderbilt Plaza Hotel.

Del McCoury Band

Alison Krauss

Alison Krauss + Union Station garnered the most nominations with 13, including top Entertainer, Instrumental Group, Vocal Group, Album for Alison Krauss + Union Station LIVE, Female Vocalist for Alison Krauss and individual nods for Jerry Douglas (Dobro Player), Barry Bales (Bass Player) and Ron Block (Banjo Player). Dan Tyminski received two individual nominations for Guitar Player and Male Vocalist. Members of the group also participated on three projects that were mentioned for Recorded Event of the Year.

Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver

Doc Watson

The Del McCoury Band received 12 nominations, including Entertainer of the Year (which they won last year), Instrumental Group of the Year, Vocal Group of the Year, Male Vocalist for Del McCoury, and individual nods for Ronnie McCoury (Mandolin Player), Rob McCoury (Banjo Player), Mike Bub (Bass Player) and Jason Carter (Fiddle Player). Members of the group also appeared on other projects that received three Recorded Event mentions.

The Lynn Morris Band

J.D. Crowe

The Lynn Morris Band's amassed six nominations including best Album for Shape of a Tear, Song for "Shape of a Tear" (writer Hugh Campbell), a Female Vocalist nod for Lynn Morris, Bass Player for Marshall Wilborn and Fiddle Player for Ron Stewart. Band member Jesse Brock is up for Instrumental Album of the Year with Kickin' Grass.

Mountain Heart

Rhonda Vincent

Legendary guitarist and IBMA Hall of Honor Member Doc Watson gathered five nods including Guitar Player, three for his participation on albums that are up for Recorded Event (Christmas on the Mountain: A Bluegrass Christmas; Will The Circle Be Unbroken, Vol. III and Legacy) and one for top Album with Will The Circle Be Unbroken, Vol. III.

Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver accumulated four nominations including Entertainer, Vocal Group, best Song for "Blue Train (Of the Heartbreak Line)" (written by John D. Loudermilk) and Gospel Recorded Performance for "The Hand Made Cross."

Larry Cordle and Lonesome Standard Time were recognized for Song of the Year ("Anything Southbound"), Album of the Year (Songs From The Workbench), Gospel Recorded Performance ("Lost as a Ball In High Weeds") and Bass Player for Terry Eldredge.

IIIrd Tyme Out and its members have four nominations highlighted by Vocal Group honors. They are also up for Gospel Recorded Performance for Singing On Streets Of Gold and individual nods for Male Vocalist Russell Moore and Mandolin Player Wayne Benson.

Mountain Heart garnered three mentions for Entertainer, Instrumental Group and Vocal Group, plus an individual nod to mandolin player Adam Steffey.

J.D. Crowe will be inducted to IBMA's Hall of Honor. A prominent second generation bluegrass instrumentalist, he first gained national attention for his work as banjo player and baritone vocalist in Jimmy Martin's Sunny Mountain Boys. In ensuing decades he continued to influence other players during an important solo performing and recording career.

Congratulations to BMI's 2003 IBMA Award nominees:

Entertainer of the Year
Alison Krauss + Union Station
Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver
The Del McCoury Band
Mountain Heart
Rhonda Vincent & The Rage

Instrumental Group of the Year
Blue Highway
Alison Krauss + Union Station
The Del McCoury Band
Mountain Heart

Vocal Group of the Year
Alison Krauss & Union Station
Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver
The Del McCoury Band
Mountain Heart
IIIrd Tyme Out

Male Vocalist of the Year
Ronnie Bowman
Del McCoury
Russell Moore
Dan Tyminski

Female Vocalist of the Year
Dale Ann Bradley
Alison Krauss
Patty Loveless
Lynn Morris
Rhonda Vincent

Song of the Year
"A Simple Life"
Harley Allen (writer)

"Anything Southbound"
Larry Cordle & Lonesome Standard Time (artists), Larry Cordle & Mike
Anthony (songwriters)

"Blue Train (Of the Heartbreak Line)"
Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver (artists), John D. Loudermilk (songwriter)

"Long Time Gone"
Dixie Chicks (artists)

"Shape of a Tear"
The Lynn Morris Band (artists)

Album of the Year
Alison Krauss + Union Station LIVE
Alison Krauss + Union Station (artists and producers)

Shape of a Tear
The Lynn Morris Band (artists), Lynn Morris (producer)

Songs From The Workbench
Larry Cordle & Lonesome Standard Time (artists and producers)

Will The Circle Be Unbroken, Vol. III
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Matraca Berg, Sam Bush, Rodney Dillard, Jerry Douglas, Glen Duncan, Vince Gill, Alison Krauss, Taj Mahal, Jimmy Martin, Del McCoury, Robbie McCoury, Ronnie McCoury, The Nashville Bluegrass Band, Willie Nelson, Tony Rice, Earl Scruggs, Randy Scruggs, Doc Watson, Richard Watson, Dwight Yoakam (artist); Randy Scruggs and The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band (producers)

Emerging Artists of the Year
Nothin' Fancy
David Peterson & 1946
Pine Mountain Railroad
Wildfire

Gospel Recorded Performance of the Year
Eye of the Storm
The Isaacs (artists), Ben Isaacs/The Isaacs (producers)

I'll Meet You in the Gloryland
Paul Williams & The Victory Trio (artists); Paul Williams (producer)
"Lost as a Ball in High Weeds" (from the album Songs From The Workbench)
Larry Cordle & Lonesome Standard Time (artists and producers)

Singing On Streets of Gold
IIIrd Tyme Out (artists and producers)
"The Hand Made Cross" (from the album Hard Game of Love)
Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver (artists); Doyle Lawson (producer)

Instrumental Album of the Year
The Bluegrass Fiddle Album
Aubrey Haynie (artist and producer)

Glen Duncan
Glen Duncan (artist and producer)

I Rest My Case
Randy Howard (artist), Randy Howard (producer)

Kickin' Grass
Jesse Brock (artist), Ron Stewart & Jesse Brock (producers)

Spider Bit The Baby
Kenny Baker (artist), Hugh Moore & Billy Troy (producers)

Recorded Event of the Year

Christmas On The Mountain: A Bluegrass Christmas Featuring The Del McCoury Band, Doc Watson, Mac Wiseman, Cyndi Wheeler, The Osborne Brothers, Ronnie McCoury and The GrooveGrass Boyz (artists); Scott Rouse (producer)

Down The Old Plank Road: The Nashville Sessions
The Chieftains featuring Bela Fleck, Vince Gill, John Hiatt, Alison Krauss, Martina McBride, The Del McCoury Band, Julie Miller, Earl Scruggs, Gillian Welch & David Rawlings and Jeff White (artists); Paddy Maloney (producer)

Legacy
Doc Watson and David Holt (artists), Steven Heller & David Holt (producers)

Old & In the Gray
David Grisman, Peter Rowan, Herb Pedersen (artist); David Grisman (producer)

Will The Circle Be Unbroken Vol. III
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Matraca Berg, Sam Bush, Rodney Dillard, Jerry Douglas, Glen Duncan, Vince Gill, Alison Krauss, Taj Mahal, Jimmy Martin, Del McCoury, Robbie McCoury, Ronnie McCoury, The Nashville Bluegrass Band, Willie Nelson, Tony Rice, Earl Scruggs, Randy Scruggs, Doc Watson, Richard Watson, Dwight Yoakam (artist); Randy Scruggs & The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band (producers)

Instrumental Performers of the Year
Banjo
Ron Block
J.D. Crowe
Rob McCoury
Jim Mills

Dobro
Mike Auldridge
Jerry Douglas
Rob Ickes

Bass
Missy Raines
Marshall Wilborn

Fiddle
Michael Cleveland
Stuart Duncan
Aubrey Haynie
Ron Stewart

Guitar
Jim Hurst
Tony Rice
Dan Tyminski
Doc Watson

Mandolin
Wayne Benson
Sam Bush
Mike Compton
Ronnie McCoury

In 1987, the relatively unknown music veteran - he'd already recorded seven major label albums for Epic, MCA and Geffen - pulled three friends into a Los Angeles recording studio and in four days, recorded for his new label, A&M, what would launch him into the limelight. Those three friends were Ry Cooder, Jim Keltner and Nick Lowe, and the album was Bring The Family, his paean to domestic happiness. Critical acclaim and a hopped-up career ensued.

The next year, Hiatt followed up with the equally fine and well-received Slow Turning, and that album cemented his status as one of the essential singer/songwriters of the latter part of the 20th century. Not only did he finally get his due as an artist, but also the brilliant songwriting therein won him the respect of his peers. Revered artists, including Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, B.B. King, Bonnie Raitt and Eric Clapton, have recorded his material. He's won six BMI awards, a Songwriter of the Year nod from the Nashville Music Awards and two Grammy nominations.

In early 2000, Hiatt set to work on an acoustic album at the suggestion of his manager. "This album became a strong reconnection with my early musical life, when I loved the folk blues," he says. "This is definitely a back-porch album. That's where we kept picturing ourselves when we were making it." Crossing Muddy Waters, his 16th album, is already gaining some of the best notices of his career.

Hiatt also broke new ground this time out by retaining ownership of the album and leasing it to both emusic.com for Internet downloading and Vanguard Records for traditional release. "Doing it this way made a lot of sense to me," he says. "There are so many more opportunities to be opened up." Another recent opportunity Hiatt seized was hosting the popular late-night television music show Sessions at West 54th.

Always on the move, Hiatt says he'll be writing and performing at least a dozen years from now. "There's no replacement for that hour and a half during which I'm allowed to get up there and get outside of myself. I write 'em and I play 'em. If I didn't do both, I'd shrivel up and die."