Last Sunday within the comfy yet cavernous confines of Shipping & Receiving’s Tilt Room, hundreds of folks, all nominees in our 20th Annual Music Awards and their plus ones, gathered for the awards ceremony. The Panthys are like the Grammys except way cooler. People are wearing flip-flops at our event, for one thing.
Though most bands and artists were sweet enough to celebrate themselves and their victories on social media, lots of other acts were, I guess, too cool for school. In their honor (dishonor?), I bring you this column.
But before we get to the winners’ names, a message.
Apparently, some nominees didn’t get the invite. Despite the fact that I gave the day, date, and location of the event in this column two weeks earlier. Despite the fact that we’ve been doing this for two decades, and even if you’ve only glanced at our magazine in that time span or have been conscious in the local scene for longer than a few minutes, you would know that the ceremony always comes about two weeks after the festival. Anyway, we take full responsibility for neglecting to ensure that everyone who needed an invitation received one. We’ll do better next year.
The two biggest victors were, unsurprisingly, two of the biggest names in North Texas and, in one case, the universe. Leon Bridges took home top honors for Vocalist Performance with Lindby’s Ali Grant (“Merry Christmas, Baby”), which was also Song of the Year, plus Album of the Year (Coming Home), and Artist of the Year. The Quaker City Night Hawks won for Band, Drummer Performance (Matt Mabe on “Duendes”), Rock Song (“Good Evening”), and Rock Album (El Astronauta). Way to go, boys. And lady.
The biggest and best surprises, in my opinion, were Mean Motor Scooter for Rock (great band), Rage Out Arkestra for Jazz (lots of tribal fun), and Magnolia Motor Lounge’s Bryan Beckman for Talent Buyer (huge fan favorite, hard worker). Here are the rest of the winners: New Artist: VVoes. Americana/Roots: Kevin Aldridge (silver fox). Hard Rock: Panic Volcanic. Texas Music: Jake Paleschic. Heavy Metal: Pinkish Black (no strings, no problem). Live Band: Animal Spirit (well deserved). C&W: Holy Moly. Hip-Hop/R&B: Doc Strange. Avant Garde/Experimental: Year of the Bear. Pop: Son of Stan. Punk: War Party (summertime blooze). Acoustic/Folk: Jacob Furr. Blues/Soul: Luke Wade. Semi-Local Band: Oil Boom (a.k.a. The Oily Booms). Cover Artist: Big Mike Richardson. Electronic: Squanto (the best). Producer: Bart Rose (Fort Worth Sound). Venue: Lola’s Saloon (ninth year in a row). Other Performance: Jeff Dazey for Red Shahan’s “White Knuckle Heart.” Bassist Performance: Zach Tucker for Bomb Quixote’s “Hand Cannon.” Guitarist Performance: Ryan Tharp for “Bad Scene.” And EP of the Year: The Longshots’ Mucho Mango.
Congrats to all of the nominees and especially to all of the bands and artists in the great 817 that weren’t nominated but keep doin’ what they do.
Contact HearSay at hearsay@fwweekly.com.
