Country artist Kathy Mattea and bluegrass band Hot Rize will co-host the 20th annual International Bluegrass Music Awards (IBMA) on Thursday, October 1, at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium.
“Kathy Mattea and Hot Rize are a perfect fit as our hosts,” says show co-producer Cindy Baucom in a release. “With their long musical history, the chemistry between them gives us the elements for a fun show.” Mattea and Hot Rize’s Tim O’Brian toured and recorded together numerous times, including their 1990 hit duet “The Battle Hymn of Love.”
Hot Rize has a long association with IBMA, taking home numerous awards over the years. Additionally, two of the band’s members, Pete “Dr Banjo” Wernick and Tim O’Brien, have served as the president of IBMA since 1986-2004.
Kathy Mattea, the singer of country hits including “Eighteen Wheels and A Dozen Roses” and “Where’ve You Been,” released “Coal” in 2008. “The album that re-shaped the way I think about music, reminding says me of why I love it so much in the first place,” says Mattea in a release. The album remained on Billboard’s Bluegrass Album chart for 26 weeks in 2008-2009, including 2 weeks at No. 1. Mattea’s self-titled debut was released in 1984, and the follow-up “From My Heart” appeared the following year. In 1986 her third album on the Mercury Records label, “Walk the Way the Wind Blows,” proved to be her critical and commercial breakthrough.
Hot Rize, an influential band in contemporary bluegrass, formed in Colorado in 1978 and named after the secret ingredient of Martha White Self-Rising Flour. The group recorded a series of critically acclaimed albums from 1979-2002 and performed nationwide as well as in Europe, Japan and Australia. Several of the band’s songs went to No. 1 on Bluegrass Unlimited’s National Bluegrass Survey chart, including “Walk the Way the Wind Blows,” “Colleen Malone” and “Just Like You.” The group disbanded amicably in 1990, but they reunited several times for selected dates and short tours during the 1990s due to popular demand.
The International Bluegrass Music Awards are determined by the professional membership of the association and recognize outstanding achievement in the bluegrass genre. The show is syndicated to more than 300 radio stations across the country and around the world, and will be broadcast live on Sirius XM Satellite Radio. National Sponsors for the show include Martha White, GHS Strings, Bluegrass Music Profiles, Sugar Hill Records and Deering Banjos.
