Highway Home nominated for seven bluegrass awards

Members of Highway Home are nominated for several awards at the 34th annual SPGMA Bluegrass Music Awards including Bluegrass Band of the Year (Traditional) and Entertaining Group of the Year. The band includes (from left) banjo player and vocalist Mark Drudge, bass player and vocalist Susan Miller, lead female vocalist Kathy Fults, lead male vocalist and guitarist Lonnie Fults and mandolin and fiddle player John Purk. Submitted Photo

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Local bluegrass band Highway Home will be heading south to find out if they are among the winners at the 34th annual SPBGMA Bluegrass Music Awards Show. Highway Home is nominated for seven individual and band awards, including Lonnie Fults for Bluegrass Songwriter of the Year, Male Vocalist of the Year (Traditional) and Entertainer of the Year; John Purk for Mandolin Performer of the Year; Kathy Fults for Female Vocalist of the Year (Traditional); and the band is nominated for Bluegrass Band of the Year (Traditional) and Entertaining Group of the Year. Highway Home will be among bands from Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Minnesota and Wisconsin converging on Jefferson City, Mo., today and Saturday to attend the convention and awards show. “It’s kind of like the People’s Choice Awards and it’s all fan-based voting,” said Mark Drudge of Newton, who plays banjo and provides vocals for the band. “After working as hard as we did all summer it is great to have so many fans vote for us.” The band, which formed in 2001 and have had a few new members added including Drudge and Purk, will be heading to Jefferson City to perform with other nominees and bluegrass star Rhonda Vincent. Kathy Fults, who is the lead female vocalist for the group, said she’s excited to perform with a headliner like Vincent and is just glad to be nominated. “We’re pretty excited about it,” she said. “I’m just tickled to be nominated with the class of people that I’m nominated with.” Fults is no stranger to the SPGMA awards. She has been nominated three times in the Female Vocalist of the Year (Traditional) category. “Third time is the charm, but it’s tough competition,” she said. Fults said she’s most excited about the awards the whole band is nominated for. “We’ve got a new group and it’s the first year for the new group and the fact that we got nominated is great,” she said. “Entertaining group of the year and that’s the one we’d like to come home with.” Drudge said he also is excited about the honors the band has received. “As a band we are honored to simply be nominated with several groups that tour national,” he said. “The people in the band are so much fun to work with. With these nominations it is rewarding to see how all our hard work paid off.” The band members won’t know who the winners are until the Saturday evening award show. Fults said regardless of a win or not, the band is glad to be nominated and appreciate the fans’ support. “We’re nominated by fans and voted on by fans ... that’s what makes it really special because without them we’d be nothing so we appreciate our fans,” she said. “It’s just a lot of fun and we have a good time and hopefully we’ll come home with some awards.”

——— On the net: highwayhomebluegrass.com