Today the IBMA Foundation has announced the recipients of their 2024 college scholarships, available to these five students for the 2024-25 school year.
The Foundation shared this information about each of the five students, and the award they have received:
The recipient of the Katy Daley Broadcast Media/Sound Engineering Scholarship is Hallie Adams from Flemingsburg, Kentucky, a senior at Morehead State University majoring in Media, Production, and Journalism with minors in Photography and Social Media. Hallie produces music recordings and videos, and, as an intern at the Kentucky Center for Traditional Music, has archived photos, audio, and video from college bluegrass performances. Hallie is hosting a Kentucky Center for Traditional Music podcast this summer called Sounds of Our Heritage. Her interview with Raymond McLain was included in the Kentucky Educational Television program, Big Family: The Story of Bluegrass Music. She served as an editor for her university paper, The Trail Blazer, and she has been published in The Daily Independent in Ashland, Kentucky. After working four years for Morehead State Public Radio (WMKY), Hallie was awarded first place for best radio reporter on the college level from the Kentucky Broadcasters Association’s Broadcasting Awards. Her dream job is to host a talk show where she can interview artists as they perform their music.
Katy Daley, the first female broadcaster to be inducted into the Bluegrass Hall of Fame (2024), has a 30 plus year career in bluegrass (WAMU-FM and Bluegrass Country) and country (WMZQ) radio in the Washington, DC area. Katy was named IBMA Bluegrass Broadcaster of the Year in 2009 and 2011. In 2019 she received the IBMA Distinguished Achievement Award for her contributions to bluegrass music.
Tom Lyngklip, a senior at Morehead State University in Morehead, Kentucky, will receive the Rick Lang Music Songwriter Scholarship. As a transfer student from the Kentucky School of Bluegrass and Traditional Music in Hyden, Kentucky, Tom was inspired by the opportunity to study with the late Bobby Osborne. Tom’s major is Traditional and Bluegrass Music at Morehead University. He sings and plays guitar, mandolin, and bass, and he enjoys working in the recording studio. He has a passion for songwriting, especially story-telling songs and songs that people can relate to.
Rick and Wendy Lang funded this scholarship endowment, and it continues to be supported by others interested in the future of bluegrass songwriting. Rick Lang is a Grammy-nominated writer, chair of the IBMA Songwriter Committee, and a volunteer with the IBMA Songwriter Mentor Program.
Isabela March, an incoming freshman at the University of Delaware, will receive the Sally Ann Forrester Scholarship. Isabela will major in Cognitive Science with a specialization in Speech-Language Pathology. “As a speech therapist, I plan to focus on the vocalist population—especially bluegrass vocalists,” she said. “I find that this genre of music is one of the most vocally taxing and under-researched. I hope to use my experience as a bluegrass musician to impact the lives of other musicians through better-focused health care.” Isabela’s goal is to earn a master’s degree and become a speech-language pathologist in her home state of Delaware. Currently, she is the fiddler and vocalist for the Across the Track Bluegrass Band, and she also volunteers each Labor Day weekend at the Delaware Valley Bluegrass Festival.
Initial funds for the Forrester scholarships were donated by Murphy Hicks Henry, author of Pretty Good for a Girl: Women in Bluegrass (University of Illinois Press) and co-founder with her husband, Red Henry, of The Murphy Method instructional media company. Sally Ann Forrester played accordion and sang as a member of Bill Monroe and His Blue Grass Boys from 1943-1946, thus becoming the first female professional bluegrass musician in history. Support for the 2024 scholarship came from Robert Forrester, son of Howdy and Sally Ann Forrester.
Jacob Smith, a junior at East Tennessee State University in Johnson City, Tennessee, is the recipient of the J. D. Crowe Banjo Scholarship. Originally from Medford Lakes, New Jersey, Jacob is majoring in Bluegrass and Old-Time Music. “I became a bluegrass musician in 2019 when I heard Billy Strings for the first time. Ever since then I have become obsessed with the sound of classic bluegrass and the five-string banjo,” Jacob said. His career goal is to play either Dobro or banjo professionally in a full-time band. He would also like to do studio work and teach on the side.
Legendary banjo stylist and Bluegrass Hall of Fame member J. D. Crowe (1937-2021) was one of the most influential banjo players in the history of bluegrass music. His longtime friend and fellow Kentucky bluegrass musician, Arthur Hancock III, made the donation in 2022 to endow this scholarship in Crowe’s memory, along with Hancock’s son, Arthur Hancock IV, a former member of the IBMA Foundation board of directors.
Huck Tritsch, a freshman at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, will receive the IBMA Bluegrass College Scholarship. A major in Jazz Performance “will provide a strong foundation in theory, technique, and music that will be relevant to my bluegrass playing,” Huck said. His goal is to prepare for a career as a performer and educator in the bluegrass music industry. His most recent fiddle project is a transcription of Bobby Hicks’ solos on The Bluegrass Album Band, Volume III. Tritsch has performed in Square Deal, The Shoats, The Wicked Chicken, and the Jake Blount Band. His own band, The Shoats, is in the process of releasing a debut album, and they will open for the Steep Canyon Rangers in August. The Shoats will perform at the Appalachian String Band Music Festival in Clifftop, West Virginia, after winning first place in the Neo-Traditional band contest in 2023. “Music informs every part of what I do and who I am,” Huck said, “helping me to face challenges, overcome obstacles, and think critically and deeply about the world.”
Congratulations and well done all!
