In another sign that song is stirring back to life in San Diego, the San Diego Music Awards will be handed out Tuesday evening on Shelter Island.
While there may not have been many shows in 2020 -- which is why there's no Best Live Band award this year -- but the music never stopped. Artists gotta make art.
Sure, the usual suspects like Switchfoot, P.O.D., Jason Mraz, Vokab Kompany and Tribal Theory all got nods for 2021 awards, but the new kids in town are well represented also, including blues singer Whitney Shay, the countrified Carlsbad kids from Trouble in the Wind as well as R&B standout Rebecca Jade.
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And there's plenty of new names to sink your ears into: Crhymes is nominated for Best Hip-Hop Song, for example, the rockers from the Montell Jordans hope to go home with the statuette for Best Rock Album, and Maria Antoinette -- that's no typo, folks -- is hoping to be crowned for Best Local Recording.
Performers on Tuesday night include the glam rockers of the Frets, singer/songwriter Cindy Lee Berryhill, jazzman Ed Kornhauser, local legends Jerry Raney (who will receive a lifetime achievement award) and the Farmers, the rockers of Electric Mud, alt-Latino all-stars Marujah, blues twang from Chickenbone Slim and R&B chanteuse Brisa Lauren.
In year's past, the awards would go to the best act in a genre and the best album released in that genre. So, in 2020, Ten Bulls won for Best Indie/Alternative Album, but Aviator Stash claimed honors of being Best Indie/Alternative ... period. This year, in many cases -- though not all -- each genre has an award for best single and best album, plus there are nominees for Best Local Recording, Best Video, and Album of the Year and Song of the Year. Also missing is the category of Artist of the Year -- Rebecca Jade got bragging rights on that one last year.
Local
Showtime for the 30th incarnation of the SDMAs is 7 p.m sharp on Aug. 24. The event will return this year to Humphrey's By the Bay.
This year's in-person awards are a welcome return after 2020's virtual event, which, let's be fair, ran extremely smoothly, considering all the technical hurdles that had to be overcome. A couple reminders: Album of the Year went to the local legends from Switchfoot, for "Native Tongue," and the cool kids from the Frets captured Song of the Year, with their "Naïve Adolescence" single.
SDMA officials said that, as per, the big winner in 2021 will be the San Diego Music Foundation’s Guitars for Schools program, which, over the years, has collected a lion's share of the $647,000 raised and donated since 1991.
Organizers told us this week that tickets were still available -- check out the SDMA site.
A full list of nominees is below:
Best Folk/Acoustic Song
Julia Sage - Midnight Songs in the Time of Corona Vol. 1
Kevin Begin & Tori Roze – All You’ve Known
Lee Coulter – Look Away
Lindsay White – Crickets
Pip Lewis – People Like You
Sutton James – The World Just Shut Down
These White Pigeons – Dangerisky
Best Jazz Album
Charles McPherson - Jazz Dance Suites
Christopher Hollyday - Dialogue
Ed Kornhauser - The Short Years
Jacquou Jazz - Pop Songs Avec la Touche Manouche
Patrick Yandall - Rouge River
Steph Johnson – So in Love
The Ghost Jazz Trio - Invisible Time
Best Blues Album
Casey Hensley - Good As Gone
Chickenbone Slim – Sleeper
Manzanita Blues – To Day
Piatt Pund – Pund
S.Mathias & The Honeycombs - Nothin’ but the Blues
Wayne Riker - Blues Lightning
Whitney Shay - Stand Up!
Best Americana, Blues or Jazz Song
Amanda Cogan – Heart Pocket
Cindy Lee Berryhill – Woke up From a Dream
Coral Bells – Not Today
Dead Broken Down - In the Dirt
Rosa’s Cantina – Kitchen Creek Road
Shane Hall – Under My Voodoo
Shay Skylar – Wherever You Are
Best Americana or Country Album
Atom Orr - As If Tomorrow
Claire Walding - Encanto
Coral Bells – Treehouse Tapes
Dave Preston – Lost & Found EP
Enter the Blue Sky – Wanderlust
Trouble in the Wind – Weird Living
Zach Phillips - The Wine of Youth
Best Hip-Hop Song
Blv3D – Feel Nice
Cory Blaze – Tonight
Crhymes (featuring Foxx & Harry Webb) - Tha Outro / Beat Boxin'
Élan Soreal – Move With Me
K-Rock Tha Fantom (featuring Def Shon) – Pillow Talk
Keymon – Y’all Madd
Sloat Dixon - Sloat Style
Best Hip-Hop or Rap Album
Black Hesher – Saints and Sirens
Bloodstone the Street Preacher – The Chosen One
General Jihad and Prime Minister PNutz
iD the Poet – Work Epic 3
PCH & Evolve One – Without Beginning
The Toven – Bigger Vibes
Vokab Kompany – Small Viktories
Best Pop Song
Astra Kelly - In This Life
Chandler Bay - Don't Fall Asleep
Maria San Roman - Paradise
Marie Haddad – Atlantis II
Sammy Bel Mar - Confession
The Verigolds - Julia
TonjaJae - Leave the House
Best Pop Album
Audrey Callahan - The Magic of Christmas EP
Chuck Charles - Hiya
Gregory Page - One Hell of a Memory
Surrija
Lauren Leigh – Flare
Love Angeles - The Scenic Route yo Mars
The Naked I - They Got Thomas!
Best Rock Song
Cold Craft – Pain for Pleasure
Fuzz Huzzi – Let This Go
Justin Linn – Demons
Nada Robot – Got It Good
Sean Witkin – Shapeshifter
Suede Radio – The Premonition
Wicked Kin – A Rolling Stone
Best Rock Album
16 – Dream Squasher
Electric Mud – Communication
King Gorm
Nights Like Thieves – The Forgotten
Sometimes Julie – Where Are You?
The Montell Jordans – Mud Flaps
The Rough – Clean Cut!
Best Indie/Alternative song
Ariel Levine – In This War or the Next
Beta 7 – Charlie
Cambrian Shores - Coming Home
Hocus – Damage With Care
King Whisker – Television
Rorre – Anxiety Magnet
The Frets - Daisy
Best Indie/Alternative Album
Aviator Stash – PSIYH
Be Mine Phantom Valentine – End State
Blacks Beach Boys
Miss New Buddha – The Situation Is Excellent
Nowhereland – Raw Honey
The Havnauts – Real Good Now
The Kabbs
Best World Music Album
Crucial Blend - No Bad Daze
Hemisphere – American Dreams
Maka Roots - Roots Tonic
Marujah - Only The Dead
New Leaf - Feels Like…
Spy Kids - Covert Action
Tribal Theory – Hell of a Night
Best R&B, Funk or Soul Album
Ambassadors of Soul - Socially Distant
Angela Leonard Band – ALB
Brisa Lauren - In Her Stillness…
Chauncey Maynor - It's a Vibe
Kahlil Nash – Transcendence
Le Blu – Find My Way
Wise Monkey Orchestra - Blink of an Eye
Best Local Recording
Charles Burton Blues Band - Live at Mojo Blues Bar
Fast Heart Mart – Corona Coaster Blues
Maria Antoinette – All My Strings
Michael Tiernan – Trading Cards for the Faithful
Skler Lutes - Rewind
The Tourmaliners - Surfin' Christmas Carols
Tim Norton – Live Volume 1
Album of the Year
Alfred Howard – Writes Vol.1
Aviator Stash – PSIYH
Casey Hensley – Good As Gone
Ed Kornhauser - The Short Years
Electric Mud – Communication
Gregory Page - One Hell of a Memory
Whitney Shay – Stand Up!
Song of the Year
Aviator Stash – Hype
Gregory Page – Green Lights & Blue Skies
Rebecca Jade (with Jason Mraz) – Bad Wolves
SM Familia – Rise Up
Switchfoot – Joy Invisible (feat. Jenn Johnson)
The Frets – Tell
The Sully Band – Never Gonna Give Up
Best Video
Gregory Page – Right Now Not Tomorrow
Heavy Hawaii – Boy Don’t Drown
P.O.D. – Christmas Lullaby
Plunderbund - Home
Rebecca Jade (with Jason Mraz) – Bad Wolves
Switchfoot – Live from a Hot Air Balloon
The Monroes – Rosemary’s Daughter\
