New faces up for Lone Star Music Awards …

Lone Star Music, the little ol’ online record store that could, upped the ante for their kind of music a couple of years back when they introduced the Lone Star Music Awards. oris aquis replica Nominated by their own loose academy of music pros and semi-pros (my wife actually was one this year) and voted on by any fan with an e-mail address, the awards have actually proved pretty in-touch with what Texas Music fans are digging. In 2008, Wade Bowen, the Randy Rogers Band, and Cross Canadian Ragweed dominated the proceedings. In 2009 Ryan Bingham stood way out front. All of the above were drawing huge live crowds and getting major radio airplay (at least regionally). One of them won an Oscar, of all things.

This year, the big boys don’t really dominate. There’s some in the mix, of course, but plenty of room remains in the spotlight once you check off Rogers and Bingham. Looks like the Turnpike Troubadours, the Trishas, Rodney Parker & 50 Peso Reward, Javi Garcia & the Cold Cold Ground, and Drew Kennedy are hanging with the best draws in the business. Call it a rebuilding year … football coaches like to use that as an excuse, but in this context it’s a blessing. A few choice veterans of the scene either dropped from the scene or didn’t quite connect with their latest offering, and the (relative) rookies and underappreciated vets got a chance to shine.

Another nice note: best panerai replica while there’s some influence or sonic overlap here and there, the aforementioned underdogs certainly don’t sound generic, and they don’t sound like they all recorded it in the same studio on the same day with the same crew of studio ringers. Aside from the quality and creativity of all of the above, their divergent approach promises to breathe some diversity into a scene that too often gets accused of lacking it.

Awards aren’t everything, one could argue, and they’d be right. Maybe art shouldn’t be a competition. But if it’s gonna be … I’m glad the underdogs get to play, too.

Peace,

MEM

Make sure to visit Texas Music Scene at http://www.txmusictv.com/