IBMA festival winners

The IBMA special awards recognized two landmark bluegrass festivals with special awards. Pioneer promoter Bill Grant, who launched the first festival west of the Mississippi with his Grants Bluegrass Festival in Hugo, Okla., in 1972, was named as one of five new recipients of the organization's Distinguished Achievement Award. Also, the IBMA Event of the Year award was given to The Joe Val Bluegrass Festival, an indoor event in Framingham, Mass. produced by the Boston Bluegrass Union.

I conducted interviews with Grant and the Joe Val co-producers, which I'll be posting here in the next few days.