Mattea, Hot Rize To Host IBMA Awards

Kathy Mattea and the legendary bluegrass band Hot Rize will co-host the 20th annual International Bluegrass Music Awards on Thursday, October 1, at 7:30 p.m. at Nashville’s historic Ryman Auditorium.

Mattea’s current album Coal is an acoustic style offering focusing on coal mining stories from Appalachia. The album remained on Billboard’s Bluegrass Album chart for 26 weeks in 2008-2009, including 2 weeks at No. 1. She is the beloved singer of classics like “Eighteen Wheels and A Dozen Roses” and “Where’ve You Been.”

The members of Hot Rize have a long association with IBMA. In fact, they took home the Entertainer of the Year trophy at the very first International Bluegrass Music Awards in 1990. The band is made up of IBMA past presidents Pete “Dr. Banjo” Wernick and Tim O’Brien, who was also named Male Vocalist of the Year in 1993 and 2006. Also in Hot Rize are bass player/renowned public radio etown host Nick Forster, and Bryan Sutton, winner of the IBMA for Guitar Player of the Year numerous times.