My Bluegrass Artist of the Year Award which I was awarded at the Akademia Awards Gala which was held in Los Angeles last Friday (24th April 2020).
This is the second year running that I have been presented with this award, selected from several thousand artists.
I sometimes have to pinch myself to remind me that it’s not all a dream, although it’s certainly a dream of a life! It was only as recent as May 2017 when my friend Ernie Rowell invited me to sing with his band at Long Hollow Jamboree when they had an open-mike session one Saturday evening. Reluctantly,(very!) I sang one of my favourite Country Classic songs, ‘Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain’, and the rest, as they say, is now part of my history. People enjoyed my singing and Ernie, together with my friend Gary McCray, decided that I should go into the studio a few days later to record the song. The result was a 3-track EP which I released later that year. This was followed up by a full album called ‘Second Chances’ in 2018 which has had a lot of success. On the strength of it I was awarded the accolade from Akademia of being their ‘Bluegrass Artist of The year’ for 2018.
