In another sign that the song is coming back to life in San Diego, this year’s nominees for the San Diego Music Awards have been announced.
While there may not have been a lot of shows in 2020 – which is why there is no Best Live Band award this year – that doesn’t mean the music has stopped. Artists must make art.
Sure, usual suspects like Switchfoot, POD, Jason Mraz, Vokab Kompany, and Tribal Theory all got nods for the 2021 awards, but the new town kids are also well represented, including blues singer Whitney. Shay, the Carlsbad country kids of Trouble in the Wind as well as R&B singer Rebecca Jade.
This year’s San Diego Music Awards featured live performances from the Redwoods Revue, The Vokab Company, Jason Mraz, Planet B and others, with awards given to living legends like “Swami” John Reis . Watch our trailer here.
And there are plenty of new names to discover: Crhymes is nominated for best hip-hop song, for example, the rockers of Montell Jordans hope to return home with the statuette for best rock album, and Maria Antoinette – that’s no typo, friends – hope to be crowned for the best local recording.
In the past, the awards went to the best act of a genre and the best album released in the genre. So in 2020 Ten Bulls took home the award for best independent / alternative album, but Aviator Stash took home the honors for best independent / alternative album… period. This year, in many – but not all – cases each genre has an award for Best Single and Best Album, and there are nominees for Best Local Recording, Best Video and Album of the Year and song of the year. Missing the Artist of the Year category – Rebecca Jade had bragging rights last year. It is not known if and how this reward will be distributed.
LIVE: San Diego Music Awards 2015
Showtime for the 30th incarnation of SDMA is 7 p.m. sharp on August 24. The event will return this year to Humphrey’s By the Bay, which has a lot of holes in its schedule this summer, due to COVID-19. Yes, it’s a Tuesday, but with an August show, “rain or shine” doesn’t need to be said, does it?
This year’s in-person awards are a welcome return after the virtual 2020 event, which, let’s be honest, went extremely smoothly, considering all the technical hurdles that had to be overcome. A few reminders: Album of the Year went to local Switchfoot legends, for “Native Tongue”, and the cool kids of the Frets captured song of the year, with their single “Naïve Adolescence”.
2013 San Diego Music Prize
According to SDMA officials, the big winner in 2021 will be the San Diego Music Foundation’s Guitars for Schools program, which over the years has raised the lion’s share of the $ 647,000 raised and donated since 1991.
Voting for the music awards opens to the public on May 15. The public vote totals will be weighted equally with the selections made by the San Diego Music Academy, “a group of professionals in the San Diego music industry.”
Tickets will leave on May 10 at noon on the SDMA website.
The full list of nominees is below:
Best Folk / Acoustic Song
Julia Sage – Songs of Midnight in the Time of Corona Vol. 1
Kevin Begin and Tori Roze – Everything You Know
Lee Coulter – Look Away
Lindsay White – Crickets
Pip Lewis – People Like You
Sutton James – The World Has Just Done
These white pigeons – Dangerisky
Best Jazz Album
Charles McPherson – Jazz Dance Suites
Christopher Hollyday – Dialogue
Ed Kornhauser – The Small Years
Jacquou Jazz – Pop Songs With the Manouche Touch
Patrick Yandall – Red River
Steph Johnson – So In Love
The Ghost Jazz Trio – Temps Invisible
Best blues album
Casey Hensley – Good as a Party
Chickenbone Slim – Sleeper
Manzanita Blues – Today
Piatt Pund – Pund
S. Mathias & The Honeycombs – Nothing But The Blues
Wayne Riker – Blues Lightning
Whitney Shay – Get Up!
Best American Song, Blues or Jazz
Amanda Cogan – Heart Pocket
Cindy Lee Berryhill – Woke Up From A Dream
Coral bells – Not today
Dead Broken Down – In The Dirt
Cantina de Rosa – Kitchen Creek Road
Shane Hall – Under my voodoo
Shay Skylar – Wherever You Are
Best American or Country Album
Atom Orr – As if tomorrow
Claire Walding – Encanto
Coral Bells – Treehouse Ribbons
Dave Preston – Lost & Found EP
Step into the blue sky – Wanderlust
Trouble in the Wind – Strange Life
Zach Phillips – The Wine of Youth
Best Hip-Hop Song
Blv3D – Feel good
Cory Blaze – Tonight
Crhymes (with Foxx & Harry Webb) – Tha Outro / Beat Boxin ‘
Élan Soreal – Move with me
K-Rock Tha Fantom (with Def Shon) – Pillow Talk
Keymon – Y’all Madd
Sloat Dixon – Sloat Style
Best Hip-Hop or Rap Album
Black hesher – Saints and mermaids
Bloodstone the Street Preacher – The Chosen One
General Jihad and Prime Minister PNutz
iD the poet – epic work 3
PCH & Evolve One – Without starting
The Toven – Bigger Vibes
Vokab Kompany – Little 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 – Confessions
The Verigolds – Julia
TonjaJae – Leaving Home
Best Pop Album
Audrey Callahan – The Magic of Christmas EP
Chuck Charles – Hi
Gregory Page – A Hell of a Memory
Surrija
Lauren Leigh – Flare
Love Angeles – The scenic route to Mars
The Naked I – They have Thomas!
Best rock song
Cold Craft – Pain for pleasure
Fuzz Huzzi – Forget it
Justin Linn – Demons
Robot Nada – It’s okay
Sean Witkin – Shapeshifter
Sweden Radio – The Premonition
Wicked Kin – A Rolling Stone
Best rock album
16 – Dream Crusher
Electric mud – Communication
King Gorm
Nights Like Thieves – The Forgotten
Sometimes Julie – Where are you?
Les Montell Jordans – Bibs
The Rough – Clean Cut!
Best Independent / 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
Les Frettes – Daisy
Best Independent / Alternative Album
Aviator Stash – PSIYH
Be Mine Phantom Valentine – End State
Black beach boys
Miss New Buddha – Location is excellent
Nowhereland – Raw Honey
Les Havnauts – Really good now
The Kabbs
World’s Best Music Album
Crucial Mix – No Bad Daze
Hemisphere – American Dreams
Maka Roots – Root Tonic
Marujah – Only the dead
New Leaf – We feel like …
Spy Kids – Secret Action
Tribal Theory – One Night’s Hell
Best R&B, Funk or Soul Album
Soul Ambassadors – Socially Distant
Angela Leonard Band – ALB
Brisa Lauren – In her calm …
Chauncey Maynor – It’s a vibe
Kahlil Nash – Transcendence
The Blu – Find my way
Wise Monkey Orchestra – A Wink
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
Lutes Skler – Rewind
The Tourmaliners – Surfin ‘Christmas Carols
Tim Norton – Live Volume 1
Album of the year
Alfred Howard – Written Vol. 1
Aviator Stash – PSIYH
Casey Hensley – Good as a Party
Ed Kornhauser – The Small Years
Electric mud – Communication
Gregory Page – A Hell of a Memory
Whitney Shay – Get Up!
Song of the year
Aviator Stash – Hype
Gregory Page – Green light and blue sky
Rebecca Jade (with Jason Mraz) – Bad Wolves
SM Familia – Get up
Switchfoot – Joy Invisible (feat. Jenn Johnson)
The Frets – Tell
The Sully Band – Never Gonna Give Up
Best video
Gregory Page – Not immediately tomorrow
Heavy Hawaii – Boy Don’t Drown
POD – Christmas Lullaby
Looting Lot – Home
Rebecca Jade (with Jason Mraz) – Bad Wolves
Switchfoot – Live from a hot air balloon
The Monroes – Rosemary’s Daughter
