Nashville, TN (IBMA) - The history making Rhonda
Vincent tonight stepped onto the stage of Nashville's Ryman Auditorium, along with her band The Rage, to accept the award for the sixth consecutive win in the category of IBMA Female Vocalist of the Year.
Vincent thanked the members of the IBMA, all Bluegrass fans, her sponsor, Martha White Flour, and most importantly her band The Rage for this wonderful honor. She was also honored in the Recorded Event of the Year and Album of the Year categories for her work on "40" a Larry Sparks project.
2005 has been an extraordinary year for the woman the Wall Street Journal dubbed the "Queen of Bluegrass." Early in 2005, Vincent released her first live CD/DVD project for Rounder Records, Ragin' Live. Vincent went to her home state of Missouri to record the project at St. Louis' Sheldon Theater. The project garnered rave reviews, with recommendations from both People magazine and CNN's Show Biz Tonight. Show host, Mark Dagostino, called Ragin' Live, 'phenomenal' and recommended the project 'for those looking to expand their tastes in music:' which, is exactly what Vincent has done for the bluegrass genre overall.
Vincent's in your face - hard driving style, appeals to those music fans that are looking for authentic music that excites the soul. Her continued attention to both musical excellence and impeccable stage presentation has produced record attendance at every festival she's been a part of. This year alone, it's estimated that more than a half-a-million people have seen Vincent perform live at festivals throughout the US. This is remarkable, considering that she was forced to cancel some performances as she underwent emergency abdominal surgery this summer. Determined to keep the spirit going, Vincent returned to the road the same day her doctor released her from bed rest.
During a recent concert in New York, Vincent's fame took another direction. She was chosen to participate. as one of fifty women to be photographed, for in "A Day in the Life of the American Woman", a photo documentary, published by BULFINCH PRESS, a Time Warner Book Group. Fifty photographers chose fifty women from different walks of life, and on April 8th set out to capture each woman's day on film. In total, more than 50,000 photos were taken. The final cut reduced this number to 500, with Vincent's photos, taken by noted photographer, Karen Ballard, being included in this elite number.
Vincent will wind down 2005 on Christmas Day, as she and The Rage will be a part of an NBC televised presentation of Capital One Holiday Celebration on Ice. Early in 2006 Vincent will host her first 'Bluegrass Cruise' traveling to the Mexican Riviera.
