Welcome to the 2019 Fort Worth Weekly Music Awards, our humble celebration of the very best music in the 817. This is the 20th time we’ve done this thing. The five stages of our ceaseless Music Awards endure-a-thon consist of the compilation and publication of our ballot, release of our annual compilation album, a giant-ass music festival (#MAF19), an awards show, and this very issue, in which we take a deep dive into some of the big-picture topics concerning our music scene.
This year, our ace music writers delve into two genres we often neglect to cover in our little rag: heavy metal and blues. Patrick Higgins rounded up some players on the metal scene to discuss the dwindling number of venues that support that sound and openly ask, “What happened?” Steve Steward spoke with two local blues impresarios who ponder why Fort Worth, once a destination blues city, now has only one fulltime blues club and a handful of jams.
For our festival – 5-10pm on Sunday, June 23, at eight venues throughout the Near Southside – we’ve booked our customary 40 bands, Son of Stan, Royal Sons, Mean Motor Scooter, Ansley, Tornup, Meach Pango, and so many more. There’s a sleek, glossy insert tucked into this week’s issue that dishes all the details – it’s also on the front page of our website, Fwweekly.com. Complimentary shuttles provided by The Bowery Apartments will be zooming around all day to whisk you away to your next venue in air-conditioned luxury.
Seeing as this shindig is free and we’re chauffeuring you from club to club, we’d appreciate it if you’d drop a Lincoln (that’s $5 for you squares) and purchase a copy of our annual compilation album, Frequencies, Vol. 10, featuring 16 of the best acts in town, including Mind Spiders, Vodeo, Dagger Club, Devi, Grady Spencer & The Work, and 88 Killa. Sales of the album will benefit United Way of Tarrant County. You can listen to all 16 tracks tonight (Wednesday, June 19) at 8pm at The Post at River East (2925 Race St, 817-945-8890). The release party is co-sponsored by Hear Fort Worth, an organization created by the city to promote local music. Copies of the album will also be for sale at the festival, on our Soundcloud page, and at select area retailers.
On Sunday, July 7, all of the nominees will pile into the historic Ridglea Theater (6025 Camp Bowie Blvd, 817-738-9500) to see who won the highly coveted Panthy award for each category. The event is open to the public after 5pm and will include performances by several of our Fort Worth Music Hall of Fame inductees. Voting for the awards ends at 11:59pm on Sunday, June 23, so if you haven’t weighed on in the #PanthyChase, you’re welcome to fill out the ballot on page 36 and deliver it our HQ in person or by mail, or you can mosey to the front page of our website and click the icon that reads, “Vote Now.”
As always, thanks for supporting local music now and all year round. Send your hate mail to eric@fwweekly.com.
