World's top guitarists selected at 2000 Gibson Awards; Andy Summers wins Lifetime Achievement honor

World's top guitarists selected at 2000 Gibson Awards; Andy Summers wins Lifetime Achievement honor

In a ceremony honoring the worlds best guitarists at the Hard Rock Cafe Los Angeles today, guitarist Andy Summers was presented with the 2000 Orville H. Gibson Lifetime Achievement Award. Other honorees include Jeff Beck, Chrissie Hynde, Lyle Lovett and Sheryl Crow.

This year's awards ceremony was hosted by comedian Bill Engvall, most famous for his hit song "Here's Your Sign."

The annual Orville H. Gibson Awards are held the day prior to the Grammy Awards and bring out the best of the worlds guitarists. The awards are determined by a process that includes nominations by the editors of the leading guitar magazines, with the final honoree in each category chosen by music critics from around the country.

Winners of this year's awards are:

Award Male Winners Female Winners

Best Rock Guitarist Jeff Beck Chrissie Hynde

Best Acoustic Guitarist Lyle Lovett Sheryl Crow

Best Country Guitarist Dwight Yoakam Kim Richey
Best Blues Guitarist Larry McCray Susan Tedeschi

Best Jazz Guitarist Paul Jackson Jr. Leni Stern
Joyce Cooling (tie)

Best Bassist Sam Rivers of Limp Bizkit Aimee Mann

Best Classical Guitarist Christopher Parkening Lily Afshar

Les Paul Horizon Award -- Most Promising New Guitarist Keith Nelson of Buckcherry
Amir Derakh of Orgy (tie)

Orville H. Gibson Lifetime Achievement Award Andy Summers

Thanks to the ongoing support of the Hard Rock Cafe, who generously donated todays luncheon, all the proceeds from the Orville H. Gibson Awards benefit the Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy Foundation. The Foundation helps severely handicapped and autistic children through the use of improvisational music at their clinic based at New York University. With this years event, the Orville H. Gibson Awards have raised over $50,000 for the charity.

The Orville H. Gibson Guitar Awards will financially benefit the Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy Foundation, which helps autistic children via music therapy.

Look to gibson.com in the coming days for photos from the ceremony.