Year | Name | Topic |
1974 | Gary English, Moderator | Panel on Old Time Music, including John Lair, Bradley Kincaid, Lily May Pennington, Asa Martin, Jean Ritchie, Buell Kazee, Bert Layne, and Fred Stanley |
1975 | Joan Moser, Chairwoman | Panel on Traditional Appalachian Instruments and Music, including John Lair, Janette Carter, Paul Campbell, Byard Ray, Buell Kazee, Sparky Rucker, and Raymond McLain |
1976 | John Ramsay, Director of BC Recreation Extensions and the Country Dancers | Panel on Traditional Dance Music, including Peter Rogers and John McCutcheon |
1977 | William H. Tallmadge, BC Music Department | Panel on Cecil Sharp in Kentucky, including Raymond K. McLain, Maude Kilbourne, and Ethel Capps |
1978 | Bill C. Malone, Professor of History at Tulane University | Traditional Roots of Country Music |
1979 | Burt Feintuch, Western Kentucky University | Traditional Fiddling in the South |
1980 | Charles Wolfe, Professor of English at Middle Tennessee State University Murfreesboro | Early Recording Companies and Old Time Music |
1981 | Doc Watson, Bill Monroe and Ralph Rinzler | Music and Change in the Region |
1982 | Jean Ritchie and George Pickow | Collection and Documentation |
1983 | William H. Tallmadge, BC Music Department | The Lining Hymnody of the Regular Baptist, including singers from the Indian Bottom Association of Old Regular Baptist and Elder Elwood Cornett |
1984 | Guthrie T. Meade | Seeking out the Early Kentucky Recording Artists |
1985 | Loyal Jones, Director of Berea College Appalachian Center. | Bascom Lamar Lunsford and the Folk Festival Movement |
1986 | Bill C. Malone, Professor of History at Tulane University | Bluegrass: Is it Traditional? including Bobbie Malone |
1987 | W.K. McNeil, Folklorist | The Relationship Between Ozark and Appalachian Music: Similarities and Differences |
1988 | Ivan M. Tribe, Rio Grande State University | The Stoneman Family of Virginia |
1989 | Michael Kline, Western Carolina University | Walker Calhoun- Cherokee Singer |
1990 | Michael Kline, Western Carolina University | Cherokee Music and Dance, including Walker Calhoun and the Raven Rock Dancers |
1991 | Kinney Rorrer | Banjo Styles of Virginia and North Carolina |
1992 | John Harrod | In Search of ‘The Lost Hornpipe’: Adventures with Kentucky Traditional Music |
1993 | Gerald Milnes, Folklorist at Augusta Heritage Center | The Fretted Dulcimer in West Virginia, including Walter Miller |
1994 | Sparky Rucker | Civil War Music |
1995 | John Hartford | The Legendary Fiddler Ed Haley |
1996 | Betty Smith | A Singer Among Singers: Jane Gentry of Madison County, North Carolina |
1997 | Cari Norris | Lily May Ledford |
1998 | Susan and Geoff Eacker | Women Banjo Players in Appalachia |
1999 | Carl Smith, Kentucky State University | Lined Hymns in African-American Churches in Eastern Kentucky |
2000 | Homer Ledford | Creating Traditional Music Instruments |
2001 | Alan Jabbour, Founding Director of the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress | Fiddle Tunes of the Old Frontier |
2002 | George R. Gibson | Knott County Banjo: History, Tales, Tunes, and Traditions |
2003 | Phil Jamison, Warren Wilson College | The Square Roots: Origins and Evolution of Southern Appalachians Square Dance |
2004 | John Bealle | Sacred Harp as Folksong |
2005 | John Harrod | A Keen Cut with the Bow: The Art of Kentucky Fiddling |
2006 | Fred J. Hay, Appalachian State University | Affrilachian Music: Black Musicians and Black/ White Musical Exchange in Appalachia |
2007 | Michael and Carrie Nobel Kline | Where the Coal Trains Load: World Music of Eastern Pennsylvania |
2008 | Cecelia Conway, Appalachian State University | African Roots of the Mountain Banjo and Fiddle |
2009 | Loyal Jones | Country Music Humorists and Comedians |
2011 | Deborah Thompson, Coordinator of Country Dance Programs and Assistant Professor of General Studies |
Who gets to be an Appalachian Musician?: The Place of Race and Gender in Appalachian Music |