Weary Ramblers Win Grand Prize International Acoustic Music Award

[IOWA] – Weary Ramblers racked up two more awards this week in a growing list of accomplishments. The duo’s song, “Kentucky Never Seemed So Blue,” has been awarded the Overall Grand Prize winner and Best Country Bluegrass Song of the 2026 International Acoustic Music Awards.

            “It is an absolute honor to be awarded this prestigious recognition. Artists like Charlie Parr and Dom Flemons have won the Overall Grand Prize in the past. It’s exciting to now be in a club with those kinds of artists,” Weary Ramblers member Kathryn Severing Fox said.

            Weary Ramblers is an Iowa-based duo featuring Severing Fox and Chad Elliott. They began performing together in 2022 and released their first album in 2024. Since then, the duo has collected a long list of achievements that has gathered recent steam.

            “It’s been a surreal year, and this past month has been incredible. Each recognition is so meaningful, and it’s an honor to be recognized in the country, bluegrass, acoustic and blues music worlds. We love being artists that stay out of a box, so being recognized in multiple genres has affirmed our unique path,” Severing Fox said.

            The award-winning song, “Kentucky Never Seemed So Blue,” is from Weary Ramblers second album, “Driftwood,” which was released in late 2025. The song features influential, bluegrass vanguard Sam Bush on mandolin. It was co-written by Elliott and Severing Fox while they were on tour.

            “We were touring through the Southeast. We both caught pneumonia on tour, but it didn’t stop us from writing. It was late at night as we crossed the Ohio River into Kentucky. We saw a sign that read “Bluegrass Highway,” and a full moon hung on the horizon. We just knew a song needed to be written. With lots of time behind the wheel, we worked out the harmonies as we coughed between verses,” Elliott said.

            In addition to the Overall Grand Prize win and Best Country Bluegrass Song award of the International Acoustic Music Awards, Weary Ramblers have recently garnered several other big achievements. They won the Josie Music Award for Song of the Year in the Americana Duo/Group/Collab category. They were awarded a Silver Medal in the 2026 Global Music Awards for both the Americana and Duo categories. They also won the International Blues Challenge in Memphis, TN in the Solo/Duo category. In addition, Elliott was awarded Best Guitarist at the International Blues Challenge.

            “These recent accolades are opening many new doors for us. We are going on the Legendary Blues Cruise, the Durango Blues Train and we have tours in different regions starting to line up. We are very excited about everything that’s coming. It feels like our hard work of continuous writing and performing is really beginning to pay off,” Elliott said.

Learn more about Weary Ramblers by visiting www.wearyramblers.com.