Post by Natalie on Aug 22, 2004 15:57:08 GMT -5
On a day when the bluegrass community mourned the loss of one of its greatest and most innovative singers, it also celebrated a voluminous list of nominees for the 15th annual International Bluegrass Music Awards, to be held Oct. 7 in Louisville, Ky.
Musicians Tim O'Brien, Alison Krauss and Dan Tyminski presided over the nomination announcements yesterday morning at the Country Music Hall of Fame. The usual suspects (including Krauss, Del McCoury, Blue Highway, Rhonda Vincent, Ricky Skaggs) garnered many of the nominations, which are intended to spotlight the genre's greatest achievements by honoring the old Carter Family notion of ''Give me the roses while I live.''
That spirit took on added sentiment with O'Brien's announcement that Country Gentlemen founder Charlie Waller passed away Wednesday at age 69.
Formed in 1957, the Gentlemen brought progressive sounds and songs into bluegrass, and Waller's resonant voice and daring song selection helped the group gain popularity with folk music fans of the 1960s. The Country Gentlemen's success helped introduce a more inclusive, less constricted kind of bluegrass music, paving the way for such acts as the Seldom Scene, New Grass Revival and Krauss.
Ricky Skaggs, Jerry Douglas, Bill Emerson, Doyle Lawson, John Duffey and other bluegrass greats played with the Gentlemen, and Waller kept the group alive for 47 years. A new album Charlie Waller and the Country Gentlemen, Songs of the American Spirit, is due for release on Pinecastle Records in September.
''So many people play music because of Charlie Waller,'' said Tyminski, a Krauss band member who became one of bluegrass' best-known voices when he sang lead on the Soggy Bottom Boys' version of Man of Constant Sorrow.
O'Brien said early audiences were appreciative of the Gentlemen's shows, even if they found it hard to categorize the music. Dobro master Jerry Douglas' father was among the early converts, returning home after a concert and saying ''It's not bluegrass, really, but it's really good.''
''That group, they respected what came before, but they played things in a new way,'' O'Brien said. ''And Charlie was one of the greatest lead voices ever in this music: a great, expressive singer.''
Waller's death was a shadow on an otherwise sunny morning for bluegrass music. In addition to the list of nominees — McCoury leads the field with 12 nominations — O'Brien and Sonny Osborne announced ''Distinguished Achievement Award'' recipients and two new inductees into the Bluegrass Music Hall of Honor (akin to country's Hall of Fame).
Moses ''Mo'' Asch, Kirk and Becky Brandenberger, Tom T. and Dixie Hall, Art Stamper and Jimmie Skinner are the Distinguished Achievement designees, while former Foggy Mountain Boy Curly Seckler and journalist/radio personality/historian Bill Vernon are Hall inductees.
This year's IBMA Awards show will be the last held in Louisville. Beginning next year, the awards and coinciding World of Bluegrass convention will move to downtown Nashville.
Charlie Waller services Sunday
Charlie Waller is survived by his wife, Sachiko Waller, of Gordonsville, Va.; two daughters, Dorrie Lane of Cape Coral, Fla., and Mina Waller of Gallatin; two sons, Randy Waller of Falls Church, Va., and Danny Graves of Avon, Colo.; two sisters, Joy Chasteen of Greenville, S.C., and Donnie Rae Peloquin of El Paso, Texas; one brother, Rickie Waller, of Dodson, La.; five grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Funeral services will be at 2 p.m. Sunday at Preddy Funeral Home Chapel in Gordonsville, with burial in Maplewood Cemetery. Visitation will be from 6-9 p.m. tomorrow at the funeral home.
Memorial contributions can be made to the Charlie Waller memorial fund, P.O. Box 581, Gordonsville, VA 22942.
----
Sing with the angels, Charlie.
Musicians Tim O'Brien, Alison Krauss and Dan Tyminski presided over the nomination announcements yesterday morning at the Country Music Hall of Fame. The usual suspects (including Krauss, Del McCoury, Blue Highway, Rhonda Vincent, Ricky Skaggs) garnered many of the nominations, which are intended to spotlight the genre's greatest achievements by honoring the old Carter Family notion of ''Give me the roses while I live.''
That spirit took on added sentiment with O'Brien's announcement that Country Gentlemen founder Charlie Waller passed away Wednesday at age 69.
Formed in 1957, the Gentlemen brought progressive sounds and songs into bluegrass, and Waller's resonant voice and daring song selection helped the group gain popularity with folk music fans of the 1960s. The Country Gentlemen's success helped introduce a more inclusive, less constricted kind of bluegrass music, paving the way for such acts as the Seldom Scene, New Grass Revival and Krauss.
Ricky Skaggs, Jerry Douglas, Bill Emerson, Doyle Lawson, John Duffey and other bluegrass greats played with the Gentlemen, and Waller kept the group alive for 47 years. A new album Charlie Waller and the Country Gentlemen, Songs of the American Spirit, is due for release on Pinecastle Records in September.
''So many people play music because of Charlie Waller,'' said Tyminski, a Krauss band member who became one of bluegrass' best-known voices when he sang lead on the Soggy Bottom Boys' version of Man of Constant Sorrow.
O'Brien said early audiences were appreciative of the Gentlemen's shows, even if they found it hard to categorize the music. Dobro master Jerry Douglas' father was among the early converts, returning home after a concert and saying ''It's not bluegrass, really, but it's really good.''
''That group, they respected what came before, but they played things in a new way,'' O'Brien said. ''And Charlie was one of the greatest lead voices ever in this music: a great, expressive singer.''
Waller's death was a shadow on an otherwise sunny morning for bluegrass music. In addition to the list of nominees — McCoury leads the field with 12 nominations — O'Brien and Sonny Osborne announced ''Distinguished Achievement Award'' recipients and two new inductees into the Bluegrass Music Hall of Honor (akin to country's Hall of Fame).
Moses ''Mo'' Asch, Kirk and Becky Brandenberger, Tom T. and Dixie Hall, Art Stamper and Jimmie Skinner are the Distinguished Achievement designees, while former Foggy Mountain Boy Curly Seckler and journalist/radio personality/historian Bill Vernon are Hall inductees.
This year's IBMA Awards show will be the last held in Louisville. Beginning next year, the awards and coinciding World of Bluegrass convention will move to downtown Nashville.
Charlie Waller services Sunday
Charlie Waller is survived by his wife, Sachiko Waller, of Gordonsville, Va.; two daughters, Dorrie Lane of Cape Coral, Fla., and Mina Waller of Gallatin; two sons, Randy Waller of Falls Church, Va., and Danny Graves of Avon, Colo.; two sisters, Joy Chasteen of Greenville, S.C., and Donnie Rae Peloquin of El Paso, Texas; one brother, Rickie Waller, of Dodson, La.; five grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Funeral services will be at 2 p.m. Sunday at Preddy Funeral Home Chapel in Gordonsville, with burial in Maplewood Cemetery. Visitation will be from 6-9 p.m. tomorrow at the funeral home.
Memorial contributions can be made to the Charlie Waller memorial fund, P.O. Box 581, Gordonsville, VA 22942.
----
Sing with the angels, Charlie.