Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out and its individual members snagged nominations in nine categories to lead the field at the 2012 International Bluegrass Music Awards. Alison Krauss & Union Station followed close behind with eight nominations. Blue Highway and the Boxcars garnered seven nominations each.

Additionally, bluegrass mainstay Doyle Lawson and the late folklorist Ralph Rinzler were announced as the newest members of the International Bluegrass Hall of Fame during a Wednesday afternoon (Aug. 15) press conference at the Loveless Barn near Nashville.

Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out are nominated for entertainer and vocal group of the year. They also received nominations for instrumental performance ("Carroll County Blues") and song of the year ("Pretty Little Girl From Galax," written by Milan Miller). Both songs are featured on the band's Prime Tyme, nominated for album of the year. Moore also received a nomination for male vocalist and is included in the gospel recorded performance and recorded event category for "Beyond the Sunset," a song he recorded live with Lawson, Jamie Dailey and Josh Swift. IIIrd Tyme Out's Wayne Benson is up for mandolin player of the year.

Krauss & Union Station are in the running for entertainer of the year, album of the year (Paper Airplane) and song of the year ("Dust Bowl Children," written by Peter Rowan). Krauss and Dan Tyminski are nominated for female and male vocalist of the year, and instrumentalist nominations went to banjo player Ron Block, Dobro player Jerry Douglas and bassist Barry Bales.

The 68-year-old Lawson began playing mandolin at age 11 and joined Jimmy Martin's band, the Sunny Mountain Boys, at 18. Three years later, he began working with J.D. Crowe & the Kentucky Mountain Boys (later named the New South). In 1971, he began an eight-year tenure as a member of the Country Gentlemen before establishing his own band, Quicksilver, in 1979. He is recognized as one of the greatest bandleaders in the history of bluegrass music and a mentor to numerous musicians.

Rinzler, who died in 1994, was a scholar, musician, writer, promoter, producer and social activist. His skills as a banjo and mandolin player led to his recordings with the Greenbriar Boys. As a folklorist, he traveled North Carolina in 1961 to make field recordings of rural folk musicians for Folkways Records. During the trip, he met Doc Watson and later booked concerts for him at urban venues in major cities which led to the guitarist's success. Rinzler was a founder of the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington, D.C., and later headed the Center for Folklife Programs and Cultural Studies.

This year's IBMA awards show takes place Sept. 27 at the Ryman Auditorium in downtown Nashville. The organization's Distinguished Achievement Awards will be presented at a luncheon earlier that day during the World of Bluegrass Business Conference in Nashville.

Here's a complete list of this year's nominees:

Entertainer of the Year

Dailey & Vincent

The Gibson Brothers

Alison Krauss

Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers

IIIrd Tyme Out

Vocal Group

Blue Highway

Dailey & Vincent

The Gibson Brothers

Doyle Lawson

Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out

Instrumental Group

Blue Highway

The Boxcars

Sam Bush Band

Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper

Punch Brothers

Male Vocalist

Audie Blaylock

Jamie Dailey

Vince Gill

Russell Moore

Dan Tyminski

Female Vocalist

Dale Ann Bradley

Sonya Isaacs

Alison Krauss

Claire Lynch

Rhonda Vincent

Emerging Artist

Darin & Brooke Aldridge

Della Mae

Joe Mullins & the Radio Ramblers

Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen

Darrell Webb Band

Album of the Year

All In

The Boxcars

Paper Airplane

Alison Krauss & Union Station

Prime Tyme

Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out

Sounds of Home

Blue Highway

The Heart of a Song

Junior Sisk & Ramblers Choice

Song of the Year

"A Far Cry From Lester and Earl"

Artist: Junior Sisk & Ramblers Choice

Writers: Tim Massey, Rick Purdue and Harry Sisk Jr.

"Dust Bowl Children"

Artist: Alison Krauss & Union Station

Writer: Peter Rowan

"Pretty Little Girl From Galax"

Artist: Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out

Writer: Milan Miller

"Somewhere South of Crazy"

Artist: Dale Ann Bradley

Writers: Dale Ann Bradley and Pam Tillis

"Sounds of Home"

Artist: Blue Highway

Writer: Shawn Lane

Gospel Recorded Performance

"Beyond the Sunset"

Doyle Lawson, Russell Moore, Jamie Dailey and Josh Swift

"I Pressed Through the Crowd"

Dale Ann Bradley

"I Saw Him Walk Out of the Sky"

Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver

"Satisfied"

Paul Williams & the Victory Trio

"Singing as We Rise"

The Gibson Brothers

Instrumental Recorded Performance

"Angeline the Baker"

The Lonesome River Band

"Carroll County Blues"

Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out

"Manzanita"

Tony Rice, Josh Williams, Aaron Ramsey, Aubrey Haynie and Rob Ickes

"Roaring Creek"

Blue Highway

"That's What She Said"

The Boxcars

Recorded Event

"Beyond the Sunset"

Doyle Lawson, Russell Moore, Jamie Dailey and Josh Swift

"Life Goes On"

Carl Jackson, Ronnie Bowman, Larry Cordle, Jerry Salley, Rickey Wasson, Randy Kohrs, D.A. Adkins, Garnet Bowman, Lynn Butler, Ashley Kohrs, Gary Payne, Dale Pyatt, Clay Hess, Alan Bibey, Jay Weaver, Ron Stewart and Jim Vancleve

"Monroe"

Special Consensus With Josh Williams and Chris Jones

"Old Violin"

Larry Cordle and Michael Cleveland

"Singing as We Rise"

The Gibson Brothers

Instrumental Performers

Banjo

Kristin Scott Benson

Ron Block

J.D. Crowe

Sammy Shelor

Ron Stewart

Bass

Barry Bales

Mike Bub

Missy Raines

Mark Schatz

Marshall Wilborn

Fiddle

Hunter Berry

Jason Carter

Michael Cleveland

Stuart Duncan

Ron Stewart

Dobro

Mike Auldridge

Jerry Douglas

Rob Ickes

Randy Kohrs

Phil Leadbetter

Guitar

Tony Rice

Kenny Smith

Bryan Sutton

Doc Watson

Josh Williams

Mandolin

Wayne Benson

Jesse Brock

Sam Bush

Sierra Hull

Adam Steffey

2012 Hall of Fame Inductees

Doyle Lawson

Ralph Rinzler

Special Award Nominations

Bluegrass Broadcaster

Kyle Cantrell, Sirius XM Satellite Radio (Nashville)

Katy Daley, WAMU's Bluegrass Country (Washington, D.C.)

Chris Jones, Sirius XM Satellite Radio (Nashville)

Bluegrass Event

Bristol Rhythm and Roots Reunion (Bristol, Tenn./Va.)

La Roche Bluegrass Festival (La Roche, France)

Romp, produced by the International Bluegrass Music Museum (Owensboro, Ky.)

Best Graphic Design for Recorded Project

Designer: Bedrock Manufacturing

Nobody Knows You, Steep Canyon Rangers

Designer: Caroline Hadilaksono

Beat the Devil and Carry a Rail, Noam Pikelny

Designer: Lynch Graphics

Home From the Hills, Jimmy Gaudreau and Moondi Klein

Best Liner Notes for a Recorded Project

Writer: Geoffrey Himes

John Duffey: The Rebel Years: 1962-1977, John Duffey

Writer: Marian Leighton Levy

Tony Rice: The Bill Monroe Collection, Tony Rice

Writer: Bill Nowlin

Bill Monroe Centennial Celebration: A Classic Bluegrass Tribute, Various Artists

Bluegrass Print/Media Person

Marty Godbey, author of Crowe on the Banjo: The Music Life of J.D. Crowe

Derek Halsey, Herald Dispatch (Huntington, W.Va.) and Bluegrass Unlimited magazine

Ted Lehmann, Ted Lehmann's Bluegrass, Books and Brainstorms

Bluegrass Songwriter

Tom T. and Dixie Hall

Donna Ulisse

Jon Weisberger

2012 Distinguished Achievement Award

Byron Berline

Joe and Lil Cornett (Gettysburg Bluegrass Festival)

Orin Friesen

Kitsy Kuykendall

Darrell "Pee Wee" Lambert