The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) today announced the
2006 recipients of the NEA National Heritage Fellowships, the
country’s highest honor in the folk and traditional arts. Awardees
were chosen for their artistic excellence in cultural authenticity and
contributions to their field and represent a cross section of
ethnicity.
Nashville, TN (June 15th, 2006) Bluegrass and gospel master
Doyle Lawson will add the latest—and highest—accolade to the
long list of honors he’s achieved on September 15th, when the
veteran performer will be presented with a National Endowment
for the Arts National Heritage Fellowship at a ceremony in
Washington, DC. In earning the award, the highest conferred by
2006 recipients of the NEA National Heritage Fellowships, the
country’s highest honor in the folk and traditional arts. Awardees
were chosen for their artistic excellence in cultural authenticity and
contributions to their field and represent a cross section of
ethnicity.
Nashville, TN (June 15th, 2006) Bluegrass and gospel master
Doyle Lawson will add the latest—and highest—accolade to the
long list of honors he’s achieved on September 15th, when the
veteran performer will be presented with a National Endowment
for the Arts National Heritage Fellowship at a ceremony in
Washington, DC. In earning 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 joins 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; mountain music stylist Ralph Stanley and dobro virtuoso
Jerry Douglas.
For Lawson, the news—delivered via phone by Barry Bergey, the NEA’s Director of Folk and
Traditional Arts—came both as an honor and a surprise. “My wife, Suzanne, and I were out
in California on vacation,” he recalls. “She knew all about this, but I didn’t have a clue. I
had just stepped out of the shower when we got the call, so I told her, ‘get a number and I’ll
call them back.’ Then, when I looked at the message, I saw Barry’s name, and I said, ‘I
know this guy.’ He had an official, behind-the-scenes role in the first tour I did for the
National Council for the Traditional Arts some years ago. So I called him, and we caught
up on old times, and then he said, ‘the reason I’m calling is that you’ve been selected as
one of the recipients of the National Heritage award.’ I knew what it was, of course, and it
just floored me. Honestly, it still hasn’t really dug into me.
“I didn’t have a blueprint of where I was going when I started out. I played music—and I still
play music—first and foremost because I love the music. That has always been first;
everything else has come second. I followed my heart, and went where it took me. And by
doing that, I guess I introduced some music to people who otherwise had not or maybe
would not have been introduced to it—particularly in the gospel music I’ve done. And I feel
sure that in being chosen as one of the recipients . . . that must have been a part of what
swayed them to consider me.
“This is by far the highest honor that I’ve ever had bestowed on me, and I don’t think there
are adequate words to express my true feelings.”
Born near Kingsport, Tennessee in 1944, Lawson began his career as a bluegrass
musician in 1963 with International Bluegrass Music Association Hall of Honor member
Jimmy Martin. Over the next 15 years, he became increasingly prominent as a powerful,
expressive singer and distinctive mandolin stylist while working as a sideman with the
Kentucky Mountain Boys and the Country Gentlemen.
Lawson established his own group, Quicksilver, in 1979, and quickly moved to the forefront
of the bluegrass scene, releasing a series of acclaimed albums—including the pioneering
all-gospel Rock My Soul in 1980—and influencing generations of younger musicians with a
sound that blended traditional bluegrass and gospel elements with progressive material
and superb execution. Drawing on the bottomless well of material contained within his
father’s shape-note hymnbook collection and on the sounds of African-American gospel
quartets and southern gospel groups he heard as a youngster, he made a particularly
powerful impression with more than 15 all-gospel bluegrass albums that featured a wide
range of styles, including influential a capella quartets. At the same time, as a member of
the Bluegrass Album Band, he helped to bring the repertoire and musical approaches of
the music’s early giants to new generations of musicians and fans in a series of acclaimed
albums made between 1980 and 1996.
In recent years, 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.
In receiving the National Heritage Fellowship, Lawson will travel to Washington, DC for a
September 13th banquet honoring Fellowship recipients, a September 14th presentation
ceremony and conclude with an appearance with his band at a September 15th recipient
concert.
Donica S. Christensen
Donica@HollerBackPR.com
www.hollerbackpr.com
advocacy, organizing, and preserving important repertoires, have greatly benefited their
artistic tradition,” Lawson joins 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; mountain music stylist Ralph Stanley and dobro virtuoso
Jerry Douglas.
For Lawson, the news—delivered via phone by Barry Bergey, the NEA’s Director of Folk and
Traditional Arts—came both as an honor and a surprise. “My wife, Suzanne, and I were out
in California on vacation,” he recalls. “She knew all about this, but I didn’t have a clue. I
had just stepped out of the shower when we got the call, so I told her, ‘get a number and I’ll
call them back.’ Then, when I looked at the message, I saw Barry’s name, and I said, ‘I
know this guy.’ He had an official, behind-the-scenes role in the first tour I did for the
National Council for the Traditional Arts some years ago. So I called him, and we caught
up on old times, and then he said, ‘the reason I’m calling is that you’ve been selected as
one of the recipients of the National Heritage award.’ I knew what it was, of course, and it
just floored me. Honestly, it still hasn’t really dug into me.
“I didn’t have a blueprint of where I was going when I started out. I played music—and I still
play music—first and foremost because I love the music. That has always been first;
everything else has come second. I followed my heart, and went where it took me. And by
doing that, I guess I introduced some music to people who otherwise had not or maybe
would not have been introduced to it—particularly in the gospel music I’ve done. And I feel
sure that in being chosen as one of the recipients . . . that must have been a part of what
swayed them to consider me.
“This is by far the highest honor that I’ve ever had bestowed on me, and I don’t think there
are adequate words to express my true feelings.”
Born near Kingsport, Tennessee in 1944, Lawson began his career as a bluegrass
musician in 1963 with International Bluegrass Music Association Hall of Honor member
Jimmy Martin. Over the next 15 years, he became increasingly prominent as a powerful,
expressive singer and distinctive mandolin stylist while working as a sideman with the
Kentucky Mountain Boys and the Country Gentlemen.
Lawson established his own group, Quicksilver, in 1979, and quickly moved to the forefront
of the bluegrass scene, releasing a series of acclaimed albums—including the pioneering
all-gospel Rock My Soul in 1980—and influencing generations of younger musicians with a
sound that blended traditional bluegrass and gospel elements with progressive material
and superb execution. Drawing on the bottomless well of material contained within his
father’s shape-note hymnbook collection and on the sounds of African-American gospel
quartets and southern gospel groups he heard as a youngster, he made a particularly
powerful impression with more than 15 all-gospel bluegrass albums that featured a wide
range of styles, including influential a capella quartets. At the same time, as a member of
the Bluegrass Album Band, he helped to bring the repertoire and musical approaches of
the music’s early giants to new generations of musicians and fans in a series of acclaimed
albums made between 1980 and 1996.
In recent years, 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.
In receiving the National Heritage Fellowship, Lawson will travel to Washington, DC for a
September 13th banquet honoring Fellowship recipients, a September 14th presentation
ceremony and conclude with an appearance with his band at a September 15th recipient
concert.
Donica S. Christensen
Donica@HollerBackPR.com
www.hollerbackpr.com
| Doyle Lawson To Be Honored With National Heritage Fellowship - By Donica S. Christensen |
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