Grammy Award-winning troubadour Jason Mraz is one of the top nominees for the 2019 San Diego Music Awards, which will be held on March 11 at the House of Blues downtown. Tickets go on sale Monday.
Mraz, who will perform at the All Ages Awards Ceremony, is nominated for Artist of the Year, Album of the Year (for “Know”) and Song of the Year (for “Have It All”).
Veteran San Diego bands POD, The Frights and Hot Snakes are nominated in the same three categories as Mraz, while The Redwoods Revue is nominated for Artist of the Year and two other categories. Hot Snakes, co-directed by Rocket From The Crypt mainstay John Reis, released their first new album in 14 years last year.
Artists who won two nominations each included Slightly Stoopid, blues vocal dynamo Whitney Shay, Earthless (whose drummer, Mario Rubalcaba, is a Rocket From The Crypt alumnus), Schizophonics, Peter Sprague, The Havnauts, pianist of boogie-woogie and conductor. Sue Palmer and Trouble in the Wind, who topped the 2018 San Diego Music Awards with three wins.
In addition to Mraz, POD, Hot Snakes and Slightly Stoopid, other Artist of the Year nominees include Shay, The Frights and The Redwoods Revue. A full list of nominees across the 23 categories appears below.
The recipient of the Country Dick Montana Lifetime Achievement Award has yet to be announced.
The winners of the 2019 San Diego Music Awards, the event’s 28th edition, will be announced at the House of Blues ceremony on March 11. Confirmed artists include The Redwoods Revue, Vokab Kompany, Veronica May, Ariel Levine, the Casey Hensley Band and Shane Hall, all of whom will be performing at the awards ceremony for the first time.
All-new Java Joe’s All Stars, starring Mraz, Gregory Page, Jeff Berkley and Billy Galewood, who played until 2016 as Bushwalla and is a longtime friend of Mraz are also set to perform.
“I called Jason to see if he would like to present a prize, and he said, ‘What if we play?’ said Kevin Hellman, founder of the San Diego Music Awards. “I said, ‘Of course!’ ”
The San Diego Music Awards are sponsored by Taylor Guitars and, for the first time, Ballast Point Brewing Company.
Online voting for this year’s edition will run from January 28 to February 17 at sandiegomusicawards.com. Audiences can vote in all categories except the top nine album categories. These are voted on by members of the nonprofit San Diego Music Academy, which includes area concert promoters, talent buyers, radio station veterans, and other industry professionals.
The awards show is presented under the auspices of the academy, which was launched in 1991. It has so far raised $ 615,317 for the foundation’s Guitars for Schools program, according to Hellman. Over the past three decades, the program has provided free instruments and lessons to 57,200 students at 71 schools in San Diego County.
Tickets for the 2019 San Diego Music Awards are priced at $ 36 (standing), $ 40 (reserved seating on the balcony), and $ 75 (reserved seating in front of the stage), plus a service charge. They go on sale Monday at sandiegomusicawards.com/buy-tickets and, starting Tuesday, at the House of Blues box office.
Singer Whitney Shay is one of the 2019 San Diego Music Awards nominees for Artist of the Year.
(Photo by Andy King)
Nominated for the 2019 San Diego Music Awards
Artist of the year
Hot snakes
Jason mraz
TERMINAL
Redwoods review
Slightly stoopid
The fears
Whitney shay
Song of the year
Without land, “Gifted by the wind”
Hot snakes, “Six Wave Hold Down”
Jason Mraz, “Have It All”
POD, “Listening to silence”
Slightly Stoopid, “Too Late (Stick Figure Remix)”
The fears, “Over It”
The Petty Saints, “troublemakers”
Album of the year
Without land, “black sky”
Hot snakes, “Jericho Sirens”
Jason Mraz, “Know”
Peter Sprague and Randy Phillips, “Sparks and Seeds”
POD, “Circles”
Planet B, “Planet B”
Slightly Stoopid, “Everyday Life, Everyday People”
Best New Artist
Warriors Babydoll
Julia Sage and the Wicked Men
Miss New Buddha
Pocket hole
The color forty-nine
The Havnauts
Tularosa
Best singer-songwriter
Evan Diamond
Jessica lerner
Miss Alcazar
Jimmy ruelas
Nina Francois
Sarah rogo
Shane Room
Best Jazz
Ed kornhauser
Erika Davies
Euphoria Brass Band
Sue Palmer and her Motel Swing Band
Gilbert Castellanos
Joshua White
Nathan Hubbard
Best Jazz Album
Christopher Hollyday, “Telepathy”
Strings Danny Green Trio Plus, “One Day It Will”
Ira B. Liss Big Band Jazz Machine, “Tasty Tunes”
Joe Garrison, “The Broken Pot”
Mattson 2, “Supreme Love”
Quintet of Montalban, “Under the river”
String trio Peter Sprague, “Samba Andaluza”
Best blues
Bill Magee Blues Band
Casey hensley
Covered wagon chief
Low tension
Mercedes moore
Robin henkel
Stéphanie Brown and the surrealists
Best blues album
Black Market III, “Dashboard Jesus”
Blue Largo, “Before the Devil Steals Your Soul”
Low voltage, “Roam With You”
S. Mathias, “Route des wagons”
Sue Palmer, “Gems, Vol. 1”
The Wayne Riker Trio, “Blues Breakout”
Whitney Shay, “A Woman Rules the World”
Best Country or Americana
Blind Mountain Holler
Step into the blue sky
Nancarrow
Nathan Raney
Sara Petite
Stephen el rey
Problem in the wind
Best Country or American Album
Barbed wire, “Long difficult course”
Berkley Hart, “While the Night is Still Young”
Jonny Wagon and The Tennessee Sons, “Feeling Good to Be Alive”
Nitro Express, “in the countryside”
Shakedown String Band, “In the Key of OB”
The color forty-nine, “The color forty-nine”
Trouble In The Wind, “Hammer On”
Best hip-hop / rap
Blood stone
Direct message
DJ Pnutz
MDN and Rick B
Parker Meridian
Microphone doctors
Vokab Company
Best Hip-Hop / Rap Album
Def Shon, “Preparing my time machine”
DreCat, “Made in Daygo”
ill Nicky, “Viola”
Parker Meridien, “Twentyfist Street Sessions”
Riston Diggs, “Supreme Confidence”
Rob $ tone, “Young Rob $ tone”
Tulengua, “Baja Funk”
Best Indie / Alternative
Ariel levine
Aviator’s stash
Coral bells
Moon of dead feathers
Imaging machine
The Basics
wild wild wet
Best Independent / Alternative Album
Nights like thieves, “Sophomore Slump”
Fears, “hypochondriacs”
The gift machine, “New Tangles”
The Gloomies, “Romance”
The silent comedy, “Enemies multiply”
The Verigolds, “Sea of Zebras”
Warsaw, “Son”
Best Pop
Birdy bardot
Creatures Canyon
Dani Bell and the Tarentist
Jara
The mitts
tori rose and the hot mess
Good good good
Best Pop Album or EP
Becca Jay, “Queen of Hearts”
Corina Rose, “Our love is freedom”
Day trip, “Day trip”
Lee Coulter, “Earthlee”
Pocket hole, “marine layer”
Tory Roze & The Hot Mess, “Baggage Claim”
Veronica May, “Teaser”
Best rock
Great Electric Quest
Routine
Schizophonic
Taken by Canadians
Cows
the notches
Strawberry moons
Best Rock Album or EP
Bad Kids, “Thoughtful”
Creature Canyon, “Did you want this”
Electric mud, “Highway refugees”
Stone horse, “I must come back”
Donkeys, “Youth damaged by the sun”
The Farmers, “SD Farmers”
Les Frettes, “Les Frettes”
Best music in the world
B-side players
Binational mambo orchestra
Hirie
Psydecar
Tribal seeds
Split finger
Tribal theory
World’s Best Music Album
Boost, “fried neck bones”
Crucial mix, “Enough already”
Fluid foundation, “Slo Ryde”
Marujah, “Bad Hombres Live at Brando’s Paradise”
Broken Consort by Yale Strom, “Shimmering Lights, Hanukkah Music”
The Quintet Camarada Tango, “Tango San Diego”
Amalgamated, “Premium Quality”
Best local recording
Forest grove, “forest grove”
MC Flow, “His Highness”
Spice guns, “Life is a brake”
Finnegan Blue, “Finnegan Blue”
Dirty Pennies, “Dirty Pennies”
The Havnauts, “Go on!”
The Tighten Ups, “Tighten It Up”
Best Live Performer
Schizophonic
Sully and the Souljahs
The creepy crawlers
The collective of redwoods
Sure Fire Soul Set
Sleepwalkers
Whitney shay
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