Pye was nominated for his fourth Golden Guitar at the 2018 Toyota Golden Guitar Awards in the Instrumental of the Year category, but the award went to the Davidson Brothers for Evelyn’s Kitchen.

The Davidson Brothers also picked up the Bluegrass Recording of the Year for Back Where I Started.

The awards were announced on Saturday night.

Pye’s song Porch Pickin’ was one of five finalists in the Instrumental of the Year category, which also included Evelyn's Kitchen, Pick Me! by Michael Fix, Easy Does It by The Bushwackers and Eva Waits by Tommy Emmanuel.

Despite missing out on the award, Pye said the experience was fantastic.

He played in nine gigs but said the highlight without a doubt was the main stage gig, Stars under the Stars, featuring all the Star Maker winners on the Friday night before a crowd of 10,000 people.

It was also a highlight because one of his students, Izzy Fulton, who is just 14, got to play bass in the gig.

Izzy got her big break when the main bass player, Sean, wasn’t able to stay for the main stage gig.

Pye said he looked at Izzy and literally threw her in.