News
October 19, 20213rd Edition of the Capital Region Thomas Edison Music Awards Announces Nominees
Live music ground to a halt in the Capital Region in March 2020 and while few artists were able to perform in local venues for the remainder of the year, many were active recording and streaming shows online. The organizers of the Capital Region Thomas Edison Music Awards have announced this year’s nominees with a pandemic-influenced slate of existing and new categories.
The 2021 Eddies Music Awards ceremony will be held at 7 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 14 at Universal Preservation Hall in Saratoga Springs. The show features several live musical performances, award announcements and acceptance speeches. The slate of musical performers will be announced soon.
This is the second installment of the Eddies Music Awards in 2021; the current slate of nominees represents the work of 2020. The work of 2019 was recognized during a live broadcast from UPH this May after two postponements due to the pandemic.
“About half of the categories we presented in previous years were scuttled when looking at 2020,” said Sal Prizio, Eddies co-founder and co-producer. “We took a poll of judges and there was near unanimous agreement that the genre categories such as best folk artist and best hard rock artist didn’t make sense, as so much of the assessment in those categories was based on live performance.”
“So, we worked with the judges on new categories to reflect the reality of 2020,” said co-founder and co-producer Jim Murphy. “Naturally streaming dominated those and, in the end, we ended up with less categories than the previous years.”
One new category this year is the Eddies Special Merit Award. Murphy and Prizio said they have been considering it for two years because there were some individuals and organizations that deserved recognition though their efforts weren’t easily categorized. The circumstances of 2020 “necessitated adding it,” they both said.
Eddies Music Awards judges nominated 15 individuals and organizations for the Merit Award and several will be honored for their achievements at the award ceremony. The criteria given to the judges was to honor “an individual, artist or organization who during 2020 either made unique, exceptional contribution(s) to the local music scene, or overcame great adversity while contributing to the local music scene, or reinvented their approach to their music career to sustain themselves during the pandemic.”
Prior to the Eddies Music Awards, the Eddies Music Hall of Fame induction ceremony for seven new inductees will be held Wednesday, Oct. 27 at UPH. The ceremony will feature live musical performances and tributes to the inductees. Scheduled to perform are artists playing the inductees’ music: Dylan Perillo; Sean Wendell; BROWN LIQUOR SOCIAL CLUB featuring Chris Dollard and J Yager; and Peter Pashoukos.
Tickets for the Eddies Music Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony on Oct. 27 and the Eddies Music Awards on Nov. 14 are now on sale at universalpreservationhall.org. For more information on both, visit theeddiesawards.com.
The Eddies Music Awards, the Eddies Music Hall of Fame and Universal Preservation Hall are a part of Proctors Collaborative.
There are the nominees for the 2021 Eddies Music Awards:
Arts Publication of the Year
Nippertown
NYS Music
Preview /Times Union
Spot 518
The Xperience Monthly
Ticket/Daily Gazette
Arts Journalist of the Year
Steve Barnes
Jim Gilbert
Michael Hallisey
Indiana Nash
Jim Shahen Jr.
Liam Sweeney
Radio DJ of the Year
Wanda Fisher
Art Fredette
Andy Gregory
Bill McCann
Jeff Morad
Sonny Speed
Chris Wienk
Radio Station of the Year
RadioRadioX
WCDB 90.9
WEQX 102.7
WEXT 97.7, 106.1
WSPN 91.1
WVCR 88.3
Music Recording Studio of the Year
Albany Audio Associates (AAA Recording Studio C)
Blue Sky Recording/Mixing Studio
Millstone Recording Studio
NRS Studios Catskill
The Recording Company
Starling Studios
Label of the Year
Albany Records
Cacophone Records
Equal Vision Records
Flipped Out Records
Magnetic Eye Records
Upstate Records
Music Video of the Year
“Everyone’s Gone Home” – Joel Brown
“Moon” – Novus Cantus
“Skin Disease” – Craig Hamilton
“Ain’t Going Anywhere” – Buggy Jive
“Modernist” – El Modernist
“Sellout” – Joe Mansman and The Midnight Revival Band
“415” – Sydney Worthley
“Alone” – Zan & The Winter Folk
Record of the Year
“Hold Me” – Julia Alsarraf
“Everyone’s Gone Home” – Joel Brown
“Moz Disco” – Coupons
“Better off Alone” – Moriah Formica
“Quentin” – Gordon St.
“Roll Over You” – Sean Rowe
“Andy Warhol” – Annie Scherer
“A Thousand Years” – The Sea The Sea
“415” – Sydney Worthley
Album of the Year
“Somethin’ Comes Along” – Bright Dog Red
“Ain’t Going Anywhere” – Buggy Jive
“Back Pocket” – Dominick Campana
“Going Places” – Dylan Canterbury
“Rougher Stuff” – Dark Honey
“Flowers for You” – Sawyer Fredericks
“What Happens After” – Laveda
“Northeast” – Sara Milonovich & Daisycutter
“Stumbling Home” – The Sea The Sea
Songwriter of the Year
Julia Alsarraf
Dan Berggren
Buggy Jive
Jim Gaudet
Girl Blue
Michael Jerling
Kate McDonnell
Kim Cirillio Wickham
Best Presenter of Virtual Live Music Shows
Caffe Lena – “Stay Home Sessions”
Frank Cavone / Mirth Films
Freedom Park Quarantune Series
Mark Gamsjager / The Lustre Kings weekly Saturday night virtual shows
High Peaks Event Productions
The Linda: Open for Take-Out Virtual Concert Series
Best Live Virtual Performance(s) by an Artist – Show or Series – Covers
Rick Bedrosian
Mark Gamsjager
DJ Trumastr
Houston Bernard
Moriah Formica
Best Live Virtual Performance(s) by an Artist – Show or Series – Original Music
Buggy Jive
Dogs of Desire – “Hot, w/ Mustard”
Jocelyn & Chris – “Couch Concerts”
Sean Rowe – “Quarantined Virtual Live-Stream House Concerts”
Sirsy
Best Socially Distant In-Person Live Music Series.
Alive at Five
Jericho Drive-In Series
Nanola Drive-In Series
The Supper Club at The Hollow
Three Evenings with Trey Anastasio
