Mountain Home Music Company congratulates Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver for being named Vocal Group of the Year at this year’s International Bluegrass Music Associationawards ceremony at the Duke Energy Center in Raleigh.
The award adds on to more than 15 honors the group has won at IBMA throughout the years, and Mountain Home Music Company is proud of their achievements.
About Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver
Bluegrass Hall of Fame Member, National Heritage Fellowship recipient and 5 time Grammy nominated artist Doyle Lawson has attained legendary status as a music icon. With over 40 albums to their credit, he has lead his multiple-award winning band Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver down trails of innovation and pathways of influence all to the destination of creating the best Bluegrass and Bluegrass Gospel music in the world. Born in 1944 in East Tennessee in the town of Kingsport, Doyle Lawson grew up captivated by the Gospel music heard in his church as well as the early country music on his radio. But when he heard the emerging sound of Bill Monroe & His Blue Grass Boys, Flatt & Scruggs, the Stanley Brothers and other founders of what would eventually be known as Bluegrass, Lawson saw his destiny.
With the formation of his own band Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver in 1979, he moved to the forefront of the scene by releasing a series of acclaimed recordings including an all Gospel album, Rock My Soul, a release that would eventually be pioneering in Bluegrass Gospel. Combine this with a revolving lineup of top-notch players and vocalists that could stage a live performance that moved through original material, included traditional Bluegrass and acrobatic vocal arrangements and deliveries that created a jaw dropping effect on listeners. The result was an evolution in Bluegrass that moved the music into new territory while still rooted in the best of its tradition. Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver have earned numerous honors, including five consecutive Vocal Group of the Year and four Gospel Recorded Performance of the Year awards from the International Bluegrass Music Association as well as multiple Grammy and Dove award nominations, while pursuing a busy performance schedule that has included appearances on A Prairie Home Companion, Mountain Stage and the Grand Ole Opry.
When Doyle Lawson received his National Heritage Fellowship at a ceremony in Washington, D.C. in 2006 he was nearly overwhelmed with emotion. “It’s an awesome feeling when you’re up there, and to know that I’m in the company of so many of my heroes,” the veteran bluegrass and gospel performer noted. “It really didn’t hit me until I got a look at the award given to the lady sitting next to me, while I was waiting for my turn to come—and then the full impact finally did hit me emotionally. I was glad I didn’t have to go up next!”
Upon presentation of the award, the highest conferred by the NEA upon folk and traditional artists “whose contributions, primarily through teaching, advocacy, organizing, and preserving important repertoires, have greatly benefited their artistic tradition,” Lawson joined a select group of bluegrass artists who have received Fellowships, including the genre’s founder, Bill Monroe; banjo pioneer Earl Scruggs; legendary guitarist Doc Watson and dobro virtuoso Jerry Douglas.
Called a “mandolin virtuoso” with “perfectly silken harmony” by The New York Times, Doyle Lawson broke new ground with his band in 2011 with a benchmark Children’s Hospital and Arena Tour, the first tour of its kind in any genre, combining National Anthem performances at major sporting arenas with performances for boys and girls at Children’s Hospitals in the same cities or regions.
About Author
