...And the 8th Lexi Awards Nominees Are...

....and with another HUGE thanx to our sponsors (without whom this event wouldn't be a reality), The Botany Bay, Highbridge Springs Water, Ale-8-One, Three Chord Bourbon, and Goodwood Brewing (with nod to our small private donors, also), our media partner WLEX-TV, and our event partner Lyric Theatre, I'm honored to announce the nominees for the 8th Lexi Music Awards!

INDUSTRY

Venue of the Year

Austin City Saloon

The Burl

Manchester Music Hall

The Twisted Cork

Music Store

DooWop Shop Lexington

Drum Center of Lexington

Willcutt Guitars

Willis Music of Lexington

Music Company

Black Mountain Management

Chillin' With Kenny C

CD Central

Pops Resale

Recording Studio/Engineer/Producer

EKO Studio/Rick Osborne

Sneak Attack Studio/Jason Groves

Austin Jones Recording/Austin Jones

NitroSonic Studio/April Edwards

Live Sound Tech

Chris Wheeler

Matthew Florez

Matthew Polashek

Wallace "Gator" Harrison

Radio DJ

Deadair Dennis Dillon - Classic Rock 921 (WBVX)

Kenny C Cummings - TMV Cafe

Renee Collins Cobb - Listen Locally/Overtones (RadioLex WLXU)

Tony Twitch - Z-103 (WXZZ)

Gear Repair

Gideon Maki - Gideon Maki Guitar Repair

Mike Mankel - Bourbon Barrel Guitars

Scott Leedy - RS Guitarworks

Bob Willcutt - Willcutt Guitars

Jay Flippin Music Educator Award

Beth Dean - Studio 88

Paulie Felice - SDML Academy

Kevin Holm-Hudson - University of Kentucky

Vanessa Davis - Vanessa Davis Music

PERFORMANCE

Female Vocal

Maggie Lander

Maggie Noelle

Sydney Adams

Vanessa Davis

Male Vocal

Cody Morgan

D Boone Pittman

Wesley Saylor

Tanner Whitt

Bass Guitar

Brandon Johnson

Nicholas Tirlea

Steve Nall

Aaron White

Brass/Wind

Brady Atwood

Matthew Polashek

Paul M. Osborne

Miles Osland

Drums/Percussion

Ned Bellau

Peyton Whitt

Steve Richmond

Todd Copeland

Keyboard

Lee Carroll

Raleigh Dailey

Keith McCutchen

Ryan Allen

Strings

Blakeley Burger

Brooke Danielle Way

Ishi Wooten

Josh Propst

Ben Lacy Guitar Excellence Award

Greg Erwin

Patrick Gibson

Tanner Blevins

Todd Stricklin

STYLE

Americana/Folk

D Boone Pittman & the Fugitives

Donnie Bowling

Jordan Allen & the Bellwethers

Trippin' Roots

Bluegrass

Dark Moon Hollow

Kentucky Bourbon Trailers

Mama Said String Band

Restless Leg String Band

TeeDee Young Blues Excellence Award

D Jay Rice

Dane Sadler

Rachel Crowe

Jeremy Short & Company

Classical

Lexington Singers

Gregory Partain

Keith McCutchen

Kentucky Bach Choir

Country

D Boone Pittman

Josh Bogard 

Paul Groves

Zac Hart

Funk/R&B/Reggae

Brett Higgins

Bootsie & Funkabilly

Driftwood Gypsy

Rob Dread & the KMA

Hip-Hop/Rap

Brett Higgins

Devine Carama

Hybrid the Rapper

Lil Cartier & Rolls

Jazz/Latin/Big Band/World

Big Sugg & the Jazz Funkers

cAnde Girl

Osborne-Tolly Duo

Lee Carroll's C the Beat

 

Metal

All Saints Fade

Graveyard Romeos

StormToker

Taylor Road

Pop

Cody Morgan

Rags and Riches

Wesley Saylor

The Dreaded Laramie

Punk

Dead Letterman

Local Violence

NP Presley

Sempervivi

Rock

City Awake

Magnolia Boulevard

Rags and Riches

Manitoba Rock n Rolla

Singer-songwriter

Cody Morgan

Kevin Holm-Hudson

Vanessa Davis

Wesley Saylor

Variety/Cover

Eight Daze Sober

Five Below Band

Graveyard Romeos

Taylor Road

SPECIALS

Song of the Year

"939" Cody Morgan

"Black Thread" City Awake

"Love & Learn" Wesley Saylor

"Outlaw" Rags and Riches

Album of the Year

Emerge - D Boone Pittman & the Fugitives

Message from the Margins - Kevin Holm-Hudson & the Adjuncts

Pieces - Zac Hart

Pretty Little Cabin - Vanessa Davis

Critics' Choice

TBA (event day)

Community Service

Devine Carama - Believing in Forever

Renee Collins Cobb & Warren Cobb - Listen Locally/Overtones LIVE

Ted Messer

Woodsongs All Volunteer Crew

Lifetime Achievement

TBA (announced weeks before event)

Timeline: Run-Up to Awards Day!

As this is written.....

1) Public voting wraps up late this week.

2) Pro panel is already voting and wraps by next week.

3) Early January we announce nominees.

4) January will also see us announce ticket sales, performers, lifetime achievement winners, after-party location, re-list sponsors, and make posters available. We'll also be doing the rounds via local media (radio, TV, etc), to the degree that COVID allows.

5) SUNDAY, February 6, 2022, is the awards show (6-8pm) and our after-party (which are becoming as well known as the awards - haha!) will be roughly 8:30pm until we're kicked out...but usually last a couple of hours!

6) Aside: Still gathering sponsors, but big shout to Highbridge Springs Water, Ale-8, The Botany Bay, Overheard Productions, and Three Chord Bourbon!

7) Hope to have a few surprises coming, too, thanx to our sponsors and our partners in the music industry!

Stay tuned!

8th Awards Public Ballot

HERE IT IS, FOLKS....the public ballot for the 8th Lexi Music Awards!


Polls are only open for a few weeks, so please vote and share!

https://forms.gle/zWURzYfqDN2pVFMo6

Public Ballot & New Names

The public ballot will be launched the week of Thanksgiving (and only online for a few weeks), so keep your eyes peeled....then be ready to mobilize your friends & fan base or clients/customers to vote for you, your band, or your music business!

Also, we are dropping the title "Best...." from all categories, to be replaced by "...of the Year", which is far more consistent with our originally stated mission. So no more "Best Venue" or "Best Vocalist", but instead "Venue of the Year", "Vocalist of the Year", and the like.

Just an up-date on the process for anyone new to the Lexi Music Awards: We have a round of PUBLIC voting (this nets TWO nominees in each category)....as well as voting by our pro panel (an additional TWO nominees in each category)....and for the final round, once nominees are chosen, only the nominees themselves will vote for the award recipients in each category (except for the Critics' Choice Award).

The pro panel changes members every year and is always made up of a mix of folks: Performers, music educators, store management, venue owners, and the like.

Contact us with any additional questions if you can't find the answer(s) here on the blog or on the official website. Our email is lexingtonmusicawards@gmail.com

Counting down to ballot release commencing......

Lexi-Fest Band Battle

 This Sunday....winner gets a recording package and a performance slot at the 2022 Lexi Music Awards show!!

Thanx Best Buds Recording, Classic Rock 921FM, EKU Dept of Music, Highbridge Springs, Ale-8,Botany Bay, and everyone who helps this train GO!

2021 Lexi-Fest & 2022 Music Awards Show!

DETAILS COMING SOON on the Sunday, September 12 Lexi-Fest Festival in Richmond! We'll also kick off the public ballot for voting in the 2022 Lexi Music Awards that day!

Speaking of the awards show - huge thanx to Whit and Tim for getting us back in the beautiful & historic Lyric Theatre (the event will be Sunday, Feb 6, 2022) with a return to our 30+ awards categories, musical performances, and all the pomp & circumstance this community deserves!

And now we have the honor of welcoming aboard our newest sponsoring partner for the Lexi Music Awards, THREE CHORD BOURBON! Huge thanx to Neil Giraldo and his entire 3 Chord family (especially Laura for taking all the extra time to dial things in!). We also want to welcome back Highbridge Springs Water (thanx to Linda & Roy), Ale-8 One (thanx Sheila), and The Botany Bay (thanx Ginny), as well as our media partner from day one, WLEX TV-18 - with thanx to Angie Beavin, Bill Meck, and Dave Medley.

We're still hoping to partner with a few more area businesses (brewery, fashion, vehicle sales &/or repair, etc), so please drop us a line at lexingtonmusicawards@gmail.com or contact me directly as sdmusiclab@gmail.com if you or someone you know is interested in lending a hand!

I'd also like to take this opportunity to thank Max Corona & Deadair Dennis of Classic Rock 92-One, Joseph Carucci at EKU, and my partner-in-crime Angelee Feltner for all they are doing to make the 2021 Lexi-Fest a reality!

MORE SOON!

7th Awards Wrap & The Future

NOW THAT THE DUST HAS SETTLED....I want to again congratulate all of our nominees and our award recipients & lifetime achievement recipients, as well as every single one of you who played music, made music, kept the venues & music shops running, and more...and each and every music lover who supported the arts in such a crazy and trying time!

I also want to shout a HUGE thanx to everyone involved with the 7th LEXI MUSIC AWARDS: everyone who voted, all the artists out there doing your thing in spite of the new C-19 normal, Eric & Rachel at LeXenomics; Whit & Tim at The Lyric Theatre & Cultural Arts Center; and more!

And our sponsors! These are folks who meet me in parking lots at odd hours to make sure we get what we need and write checks or donate product or gift cards when they know we're NOT doing a show with 400 people in the audience & thousands of dollars worth of interviews & ad space/air time....and they do it anyway. They do it for love of the music community. They do it for you.

So major thanx to everyone at Highbridge Springs, Ale-8-One, & The Botany Bay! Linda & Roy & Ginny & Sheila - I owe y'all more than I can ever repay!

And showing even more than this is a HUGE team effort, I want to thank Dave Medley, Bill Meck, Angie Beavin, & everyone at WLEX-TV.....as well as those who always have my back: Edd MacKey & everyone at Lexington Fashion Collaborative; Marcie Timmerman & Angelee Caidyn Feltner; Ranada at Ranada’s Kitchen; and this year the amazing Bill French who showed up on a minute's notice to take photographs. 

I also leaned heavily on many for our pro panel & advisors, including David Helmers (Railbird Festival), Israel Cuenca (Latin Music Awards KY), Renee Collins Cobb (Listen Locally/Overtones), Wendy Barnett (WEKU), Whit Whitaker (Lyric Theatre), Steve Baron (CD Central), Joseph Carucci (EKU Dept of Music), Mark Royse (RadioLex 93.9FM), Joe Conkwright (WUKY), Everett McCorvey (UK dept of Music), Neal Sluder (KY Music Hall of Fame), and more!

MANY MORE people to thank...and I will soon! 

But for now - congrats again to all of you! Kick back & enjoy the afterglow. 

Tomorrow, we get busy again!!!

Busy with what? Working with LEX-18 to get the video available for everyone....working with the Lyric to be ready for next year.....working with local venues to produce shows featuring amazing area talent....working with area businesses to bring more resources so that we might produce an awards show truly worthy of the talent & passion & energy displayed by everyone.....working to make the Lexi Music Awards annual show a true "red carpet event" for the entire community of Lexington & surrounding areas.....working to use the awards to leverage greater opportunities for area artists, to raise money for music education & arts charities, and so much more (read about that HERE). And maybe even planning a summer party to make up for the lack of official after-party!

Yep....it's time to get busy. And if YOU would like to lend a hand, just drop me a line. We need every single one of you!

-- 

David M. McLean 

founder/producer

Lexington Music Awards