Girl Friday: Not Your Daddy's Bluegrass

Ah, fall. Crisp weather. A change in the skies and the colors of leaves. High school marching bands. Homework. And the IBMA Awards.

One of the perks of being a voting IBMA member is that every year about this time I find little extra goodies in my mailbox from nominees. One day last week I came home to find a copy of the cd, Back to the Well, by the Daughters of Bluegrass and nominated in the category of Recorded Event of the Year.

This is quite a compilation of some of Bluegrass music’s most serious and talented women. Dale Ann Bradley, Michelle Nixon, Valerie Smith and many other pickers and singers present new songs representing a very different perspective. Some of the tunes are just tunes, and some are about the experience of being a woman in an industry that like many others are dominated by male talent.

This Girl Friday, I encourage you to explore these performers both as a group and as individual contributors to the world of bluegrass. If you’re in Nashville for World of Bluegrass, they’ll showcase Wednesday night.

Congratulations to the Daughters of Bluegrass project for its second nomination in a row.