By Nancy Cardwell
The final attendance and economic impact reports are still being compiled, but there was an impressive number of IBMA members and bluegrass fans who gathered for the September 16-20, 2025 World of Bluegrass events hosted by our sister organization, IBMA, in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Attendees were thrilled with the convention center, the award shows, the IBMA Bluegrass LIVE! weekend festival, the showcase venues, the hotels, the WOB app, and the overall city of Chattanooga, Tennessee. What a warm welcome we all received! The convention center was all on one level, which made it easy to navigate and find rooms for various events. It seems to fit us well, with additional room to grow. Raleigh is a hard act to follow, but Chattanooga certainly has its charms. We hope you are already making plans to attend World of Bluegrass October 20-24, 2026 and October 19-23, 2027.
Thanks to all of you who stopped by the Foundation booth in the Expo Hall to learn more about what we do to help make the future of bluegrass brighter and how you can get involved—or perhaps just dropped by to pick up a sticker, some chocolate, try out the 2026 Strings for Dreams Bluegrass Raffle prize Martin guitar, or check out the life-size poster depicting new Bluegrass Hall of Famer, Arnold Shultz.
On Tuesday morning, September 16, IBMA Foundation president/ board chair Trisha Tubbs and I made our annual report to the IBMA board of directors. Later that morning I was honored to speak as a panelist for a seminar organized by Annie Savage called “Women Who Lead.” It was nice to be included with good friends Becky Buller (Becky Buller Band), Lillian Werbin (Elderly Instruments), and Missy Raines (Missy Raines & Allegheny). I hope we were an encouragement to someone who was listening—I know we encouraged each other. More here.
The keynote address and interview with Billy Strings that evening was a powerful experience and a strong reminder of how music can truly make a difference in our lives. Billy says bluegrass music saved his life. Watch here. Billy’s speech starts at 47:19, but you won’t want to miss the Junior Sisk Band with the fabulous Heather Berry who plays first.
The IBMA Momentum Awards and Industry Awards luncheons on Wednesday and Thursday, September 17-18 were high points for all who are interested in emerging talent and leadership, as well as recognizing the contributions of folks in non-performing roles who help make the big bluegrass world go around. I was especially happy to see my colleagues and friends Penny Parsons, Ron Thomason, Missy Raines, and the late, great Cousin Al Knoth recognized with Distinguished Achievement Awards. And a shout out to my editor at Bluegrass Unlimited, Dan Miller, the 2025 IBMA Writer of the Year! (I’ve freelanced as a writer for BU since my college days in Missouri.) The man is a tireless and talented editor and a definite asset for the Bluegrass Hall of Fame and Museum. Also, the fact that Dr. Neil Rosenberg is still winning a Best Liner Notes Award at the age of 86 is inspiring and makes me feel rather young.
Wednesday afternoon the entire IBMA Foundation board gathered (a World of Bluegrass record!) except for ex-officio member Ken White, executive director of IBMA, who was understandably focused on 50 other things that day. We honored outgoing board members Becky Buller, Ruth McLain, and Richard Brown, who have each served nine years on the Foundation board. There was lemon cake, a board photo was taken, and we gathered with some former board and committee members who were in town.
On Thursday morning I was honored to speak briefly on behalf of the IBMA Foundation at the IBMA Town Hall meeting. Becky Buller and I reported to IBMA Business Conference attendees on Thursday afternoon at the Industry Awards Luncheon, with a quick list of 58 ways the Foundation has supported the future of bluegrass during the past year. Info here. When the news of my plans to retire as executive director of the Foundation on June 30, 2026 were announced—wrapping up 30 years in a bluegrass day job (20 with IBMA, and then later 10 with the Foundation)—I was humbled to receive a standing ovation. Even better, as Del and Jean McCoury were leaving the room later, Del literally patted me on the shoulder and said, “Good job.” As our old friend, Mac Wiseman sang, “’Tis Sweet to Be Remembered,” and I thank all of you for the kind things that were said all week regarding my service in the bluegrass trenches, mostly working behind the scenes. There are many of us in these types of roles, and I thank you for noticing and appreciating our work. We all do our part! As Stu-Bob Duncan used to say in Owensboro, Kentucky every year he won the Fiddle Player of the Year award: “We aim to please.” But enough about that! I have another nine months of work ahead.
Rick and Wendy Lang kindly sponsored the annual IBMA Foundation Reception to honor scholarship and grant recipients Thursday afternoon, which gathered a crowd of 70–including honorees with their families, board members, and donors, in celebration of a very, very bright future for bluegrass music. When I write scholarship and grant recipients during the year to offer my congratulations and send a check, I always tell them how impressed I am with their music and their work, and how proud the Foundation is to be associated with them. I mean every word.
World of Bluegrass is a unique event. Where else are you going to run into Steve Martin, Billy Strings, and Del McCoury in the elevator? Where else are you going to walk in on a jam session in the expo hall with Paul Wiliams, Billy Strings, and Joe Mullins playing “Church in the Valley”? Where else will you see 100 Kids on Bluegrass and JAM students (Junior Appalachian Musicians) age 18 and younger, absolutely tearing it up in their quest to learn to play and sing bluegrass music? Where else—anywhere—can you see a Bluegrass College Band Showcase featuring a dozen bands from universities and colleges from nine states? Where else will you see such a diverse and large international bluegrass presence?
Suffice it to say that the 2025 International Bluegrass Music Awards, co-hosted by Steve Martin and Alison Brown, was one for the books. The venue was fabulous; the Hall of Fame inductions for Hot Rize, the Bluegrass Cardinals, and Arnold Shultz were touching and memorable; and if you missed the lightning fast “Ralph’s Banjo Special” performed in perfectly synced, three-part harmony by the amazing Ms. Brown with Kristin Scott Benson and Gena Britt, you really should find a recording of it and listen to it several times. Powerful! And big congratulations to my former colleague at IBMA, Jill Snider, who did an amazing job producing BOTH the IBMA Awards Show on the 18th and IBMA’s Bluegrass LIVE! festival on Friday and Saturday, September 19-20.
The diversity, enthusiasm, and musicianship evident at the Bluegrass College Band Showcases on Friday and Saturday were exciting to witness. And the new late-night College Band reception over at the Marriott was loads of fun, with around 80 young musicians, lots of pizza, and multiple jam sessions. So, for the first time during the annual college band track at World of Bluegrass, students not only got to perform their sets for each other and the public, they also got to hang out and play some music together. Thanks to Laurie Greenberg for sponsoring this fun event.
On Saturday morning of WOB week when Foundation staff and leadership are usually on the downhill side of the week and get to sleep in until 8 or 9 a.m., we were all up at 6 a.m. to set up for the inaugural Biscuits for Bluegrass breakfast fundraiser and silent auction up in the second floor north Rotunda of the Chattanooga Convention Center. The food was great, the venue was beautiful, the company was fabulous, and the VIP artist jam session that circled around the room from table to table at the end of the event was unforgettable. Imagine these artists standing three feet in front of your breakfast table, playing acoustically and singing their hearts out: Dudley Connell, Pete & Joan Wernick, Becky Buller, Chris Henry, Wyatt Ellis, Greg Cahill, Greg Blake, Deanie Richardson, Dani Flowers, Missy Raines, Rick Faris, Ned Luberecki, Jim Lauderdale, and Ben Wright. Who needs coffee with a wake-up call like this? Big thanks to our table sponsors: Milton Harkey (Bluegrass First Class, ATS Records), Keith Barnacastle and Turnberry Records, John & Celia Young, Dr. Richard Brown, Trisha Tubbs, Sam Blumenthal, Laurie Greenberg, Katy Daley, and Mark Schuster. Thanks also to our General Biscuit sponsor, Lee Zapis. More than $22,000 has been raised, and we’re discussing the possibility of hosting another one next year in a room with space for more seats! Stay tuned.
Bluegrass music’s annual business gathering and family reunion, once again, was memorable and inspiring—even if it does take a week or two to catch up on sleep. Thanks to each of you who graced us with your presence at World of Bluegrass 2025. Thanks to each of you who donated to the IBMA Foundation or mentioned that you have included the Foundation in your estate planning, and to those of you who mentioned your interest in setting up a new scholarship or grant. Let’s stay in touch, and we look forward to seeing you down the bluegrass road.
RETURN to the October 2025 issue of The Cornerstone.
Photo: Orchestra Appalachia from Ferrum College in Virginia, at the 2025 Bluegrass College Band Showcase in Chattanooga (photo by Nancy Cardwell)
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