The Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album is an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality works in the bluegrass music genre. Honors in several categories are presented at the ceremony annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to "honor artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry, without regard to album sales or chart position".
Charles Samuel Bush is an American mandolinist who is considered an originator of progressive bluegrass music. In 2020, he was inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame as a member of New Grass Revival. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame a second time in 2023 as a solo artist.
Delano Floyd McCoury is an American bluegrass musician. As leader of the Del McCoury Band, he plays guitar and sings lead vocals along with his two sons, Ronnie McCoury and Rob McCoury, who play mandolin and banjo respectively. In June 2010, he received a National Heritage Fellowship lifetime achievement award from the National Endowment for the Arts and in 2011 he was elected into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame.
For a professional in the bluegrass music field, election to the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame is the highest honor the genre can bestow. An invitation can be extended to performers, songwriters, promoters, broadcasters, musicians, and executives in recognition of their contributions to the development of bluegrass music worldwide. The hall of fame honor was created in 1991 by the International Bluegrass Music Association and the inductees are honored annually at the International Bluegrass Music Awards ceremony. The Hall's first inductees were Bill Monroe, widely considered as the founder of the genre, and Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs, two of bluegrass music's most pioneering and influential artists. Roy Acuff, the first living artist to join the Hall of Fame, was elected in 1962. The most recent inductees are Sam Bush, Wilma Lee Cooper, and David Grisman. The Hall itself is maintained at the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame & Museum in Owensboro, Kentucky. The institution received its current name in 2007, and was known prior to this as the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Honor.
Bobby Van Osborne was an American bluegrass musician. He was the co-founder of the Osborne Brothers, a member of the Grand Ole Opry, and the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame. Osborne was a member of the United States Marine Corps, received a Purple Heart for his service, and was honorably discharged in 1953.
Ronald Delano McCoury, known as Ronnie McCoury, is an American mandolin player, singer, and songwriter. He is the son of bluegrass musician Del McCoury, and is best known for his work with the Del McCoury Band and the Travelin' McCourys.
Rob Ickes is an American dobro player in San Francisco, California. Ickes moved to Nashville in 1992 and joined the contemporary bluegrass band Blue Highway as a founding member in 1994. He currently collaborates with guitarist Trey Hensley, with whom he has released three albums. Ickes has been nominated for numerous Grammy Awards, winning two in 1994 for bluegrass and gospel albums he contributed to.
Gerald Calvin "Jerry" Douglas is an American Dobro and lap steel guitar player and record producer. He is widely regarded as "perhaps the finest Dobro player in contemporary acoustic music, and certainly the most celebrated and prolific." A fourteen-time Grammy winner, he has been called “dobro’s matchless contemporary master,” by The New York Times, and is among the most innovative recording artists in music, both as a solo artist and member of numerous bands, such as Alison Krauss and Union Station and The Earls of Leicester. He has been a co-director of the Transatlantic Sessions since 1998.
James Bryan Sutton is an American musician. Primarily known as a flatpicking acoustic guitar player, Sutton also plays mandolin, banjo, ukulele, and electric guitar. He also sings and writes songs.
Rickie Lee Skaggs, known professionally as Ricky Skaggs, is an American neotraditional country and bluegrass singer, musician, producer, and composer. He primarily plays mandolin; however, he also plays fiddle, guitar, mandocaster, and banjo.
The Rank Strangers were an Australian bluegrass band that won multiple national and international awards during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Random House’s 1991 book Australian Country Music declared the Rank Strangers to be among the major figures of the 1990s Australian music scene, along with Keith Urban and country legend Slim Dusty. Australian Country Music observed that "the Rank Strangers have a musical immediacy that typifies the best of bluegrass and recalls such players as The Stanley Brothers and Bill Monroe."
The Travelin' McCourys is a bluegrass band from Nashville, Tennessee, formed in 2009. The band is composed of brothers Ronnie McCoury, Rob McCoury, Alan Bartram, Jason Carter, and Cody Kilby, and was formed out of the Del McCoury Band, in which the McCourys, Bartram, and Carter still play.
The International Bluegrass Music Awards is an award show for bluegrass music presented by the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA). Awards are voted based on professional membership in the IBMA.
Ronnie Bowman is an American singer and composer of bluegrass music. Besides his solo albums, he is known for his work with the Lonesome River Band.
Rob McCoury is an American bluegrass musician who plays banjo. He is the son of bluegrass musician Del McCoury, and is best known for his work with the Del McCoury Band and the Travelin' McCourys.
Jason Carter is an American bluegrass musician who plays fiddle. He is best known for his work with the Del McCoury Band and the Travelin' McCourys.
Cody Kilby is an American bluegrass musician who plays guitar. He is best known for his work with the Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder and the Travelin' McCourys.
Jeff White is an American bluegrass guitarist/mandolinist, songwriter, record producer and sound mixer. Jeff White has performed and produced albums with many artists including: Alison Krauss, Vince Gill, The Chieftains, Lyle Lovett, Tim O'Brien, The Travelin' McCourys, Michael Cleveland and The Earls Of Leicester. White won the 57th Annual Grammy Awards, for Best Bluegrass Album with The Earls of Leicester. One of Jeff's key mentors is award-winning fiddler Michael Cleveland. Jeff and Michael have earned four International Bluegrass Music Awards for Instrumental Recorded Performance of the Year. Jeff produced several of Michael Cleveland's albums. Jeff has toured with banjo picking Earl Scruggs and Louise Scruggs. Jeff White has produced and released three solo albums: in 1996 The White Album, in 1999 The Broken Road and in 2016 Right Beside You.
