Alison Krauss is nominated for Female Vocalist of the Year by the International Bluegrass Music Association.

In a related note, an IBMA nominee for Song of the Year is “Alison’s Band” by the Charlie Sizemore band. It’s a song about a musician who longs to be in Alison Krauss’ band. One lyric says “I’d even drive her bus and hear her cuss when she’s trying to teach me a solo.”

The IBMA awards will take October 2, 2008 at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, TN.

Sharon Little tells Timothy Finn of the Kansas City Star about landing the Raising Sand tour:

“T Bone Burnett was the first to hear the demo, but Robert Plant also heard it, and he really liked it a lot. The really gratifying thing is, I was chosen by the artists themselves. I mean, I just opened for Chris Isaak and Al Green, but neither of them chose me to open for them. Someone else who heard my music did.

“I felt really lucky because I’m sure a couple hundred artists tried to get that tour, and I’m sure most of them were bigger names than me.”

“It was a great experience. I was on the whole tour, which is kind of unusual for one act to be the same opener for the entire tour. So I really got a chance to know them.

“It has all happened so fast. I got a record deal in December, then we started working on the album, then we got the tour dates with Robert Plant and Allison Krauss. And we just got written about in Rolling Stone.

“It’s kind of crazy. No one knew who I was nine months ago, not to this extent. Now I can say Robert Plant is a friend of mine, and so are Alison Krauss and T Bone Burnett.”

Kansascity.com