Ameripolitan Awards Announce 2023 Nominees

If you’re sick and damn tired of turning on the CMA and ACM Awards and wondering where the hell your favorite artists are as you stare at some dude in skinny jeans shaking his ass with backup dancers, or a tractor rapper singing into an Auto-tuner, it’s about time you checked out the Dale Watson-founded Ameripolitan Awards where you will see many of the artists showcased here at Saving Country Music actually nominated and ultimately winning awards they actually deserve.
Having gone dark over the last two years due to COVID-19, The Ameripolitan Awards are set to return to Memphis, Tennessee on February 19th as the cap off to the Ameripolitan weekender full of events. They have just announced the nominees of the 2023 awards (see below), and there are quite a few very worthy contenders. For 2023, they’ve also brought back the “Outlaw” category, which gives even more opportunities for many of your favorite actual country artists—or as we say in these instances, Ameripolitan artists—to be recognized.
While so many other organizations shoot their gaze over the greatest country artists of today, Ameripolitan often gives them the only opportunity at an award in their career. This was underscored recently with the passing of Luke Bell, who won Best Honky Tonk Male in 2018.
Dale Watson defines Ameripolitan as original music with a prominent roots influence. He’d been using the term for years to separate himself from the corrupted industry in Nashville, but in 2013 after Blake Shelton referred to classic country music fans as “Old Farts and Jackasses,” Watson stepped up to form the Ameripolitan Awards, which is a non-profit organization. Held for the first few years in Austin, Ameripolitan made the move to Memphis along with Dale in 2018.
Along with the awards, there will be events, showcases, and tributes also transpiring over the three days of the Ameripolitan Weekender in local Memphis venues, culminating in the awards that also honor music legends with Lifetime Achievement Awards.
To vote for the Ameripolitan Awards, CLICK HERE.
For more information on attending the Amerpolitan Awards or the Ameripolitan Weekender, visit ameripolitan.org .
HONKY TONK FEMALES:
Hannah Juanita
Kathryn Legendre
Kristina Murray
Summer Dean
HONKY TONK MALES:
Dallas Burrow
Garrett T. Capps
Jeremy Pinnell
Tim Bo
HONKY TONK GROUPS:
Cory Grinder & The Playboy Scouts
Croy and the Boys
The Shootouts
The Waymores
OUTLAW FEMALES:
Brit Taylor
Emily Nenni
Kaitlin Butts
Rachel Brooke
OUTLAW MALES:
IV and the Strange Band
Scott H. Biram
Vincent Neil Emerson
Willi Carlisle
OUTLAW GROUPS:
Dallas Moore Band
Jenny Don’t And The Spurs
The Rhyolite Sound
The Whitmore Sisters
WESTERN SWING FEMALE:
Brennen Leigh
Carolyn Sills
Melissa Carper
Sierra Ferrell
WESTERN SWING MALE:
A Jay Wade
Kyle Eldridge
Sage Guyton
Wild Earp
WESTERN SWING GROUP
The Southwest Biscuit Company
Sad Daddy
West Of Texas
Western Swing Authority
The Lucky Stars
ROCKABILLY FEMALES:
Amy Griffin on Guitar
Jane Rose
Mozzy Dee
Saudia Young
ROCKABILLY MALES:
Eddie Clendening
Mitch Polzak
Nicholas Abston
Sean K. Preston
ROCKABILLY GROUPS:
The Hi-Jivers
Ichi-Bons
The Phantom Shakers
The Televisionaires
MUSICIAN:
Daniel Mason – Banjo
Katie Shore – Fiddle
Kullen Fox – Trumpet + Piano
Mike Bernal – Drums
T Jarrod Bonta – Piano
DJ:
Celia Villagran – Texas Hellkitten Radio
Jimi Palacios – Country Du Monde
Kevin Martinez – COLONEL PACO CHAOS PACOBILLY HOUR
MARIVI YUBERO GARCIA – Marivipolitan
Del Villarreal Go Kat, GO! The Rock-A-Billy Show!
VENUE
Knuckleheads, Kansas City, Missouri
Rattlesnake Saloon – Munich, Germany
Roosters Country – Mesa, AZ
The Southgate House Revival – Newport, KY
FESTIVAL
Michael Hearne’s Big Barn Dance – Taos, NM
Western Swing Out – Tehachapi, CA
Vintage Torque Fest – Dubuque, IA
Zoofest – Lincoln, NE
September 1, 2022 @ 7:01 pm
Hot dang, going to the Big Barn Dance in a few days, been to every one!
September 1, 2022 @ 7:36 pm
Sierra Ferrell is western swing???
September 1, 2022 @ 8:00 pm
Well, that’s where people nominated her. I wouldn’t consider her as a purely Western swing artist by any stretch, but similar to Wayne Hancock, she definitely works swing and jazz elements into her music. Same with Melissa Carper. Add Carolyn Sills and Brennen Leigh in the mix, and that might be the strongest category. Hell they’re all really strong this years.
September 1, 2022 @ 11:24 pm
A NOTE ON CATEGORIES
‘Ameripolitan’ is a word that represents the different heritage of roots music that inform the artists that you see here.
Much of the music is hard to define to a single genre and as musicians, we tend to draw inspiration from many things to create a unique voice or sound.
We have these award categories to allow us to celebrate and acknowledge as many artists working under the umbrella of Ameripolitan music as we can.
The artists nominated in each category demonstrate the influence of that particular genre of music beautifully, even though they may play music that speaks across the board
September 3, 2022 @ 5:28 am
Came here to say this!!!
September 1, 2022 @ 7:39 pm
Also I’m deeply disappointed that The Ameripolitan Music Show from the UK didn’t make it into the DJ nominations, and recommend y’all go listen to it on Mixcloud if you’re not in London.
September 1, 2022 @ 11:18 pm
Didn’t get nominations …
September 2, 2022 @ 8:34 am
Oh yeah, I know it’s fan nominated. Next year!
September 1, 2022 @ 7:43 pm
Knuckleheads in….KCMO?
September 1, 2022 @ 10:08 pm
Yup the best venue in KC, hands down! Hope they win.
September 6, 2022 @ 11:14 am
Heck yes! Awesome venue! Lived in KC for 3 years and spent many a night there. Definitely miss it.
September 1, 2022 @ 9:19 pm
Glad to see Garrett T. Capps on there, and I hope he wins, although I also like Jeremy Pinnell.
Minor edit, I think it’s the TelevisionARIes, not the TelevisionAIRes.
September 2, 2022 @ 6:09 pm
Garrett T Capps is criminally underrated just like the city he represents
September 2, 2022 @ 4:05 am
Not my preferred flavour of country, but good luck to everyone. Good shoutout to the ripping of Jeremy Pinnell.
Long live the comments section
September 2, 2022 @ 5:54 am
Long live SCM.
September 2, 2022 @ 9:13 am
Second that emotion.
September 2, 2022 @ 7:00 am
Cool to see Hannah Juanita getting some props too. “Call Yourself My Man” was one of my favorite songs of last year. Absolute banger.
September 2, 2022 @ 9:28 am
As usual, the honky tonk categories are going to be really difficult to vote on because everybody’s so good and the last 3 years have been so amazing for this music. Several people in there who I wish had been in the outlaw categories instead , just so there would be more opportunities to vote on more of these artists. I’m glad they brought back the outlaw category!
September 2, 2022 @ 9:51 am
This is huge. I know who I’m voting for for honky tonk male. Love the picture caption shoutout too! Much love to trig and all the SCM regulars
If there was a category called Album From October 2021 That Ripped The Hardest, we all know it would be a landslide. (that’s because jeremy pinnell would win for his album “goodbye LA”
September 2, 2022 @ 10:42 am
No Mojo Nixon?
September 2, 2022 @ 11:32 am
‘’ If you’re sick and damn tired of turning on the CMA and ACM Awards…’’
I’m not a masochist. Why would I ever tune into those?
September 2, 2022 @ 11:36 am
I am excited to use this list as an assistant while I expand my musical tastes. Thanks for this!
I wanted to like IV and the Strange Band so much… but that constant goat vibrato thing he does irritates me.
September 2, 2022 @ 1:28 pm
Here’s my Ameripolitan 101 list o’ bands (I sometimes post another even bigger list o’bands that also covers other subgenres of independent country):
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XMKVqBz3bkoQK1c70VvgsnjHORjfv1PDyw0Jrf-8TOI/edit?usp=sharing
Enjoy, there are so many phenomenal albums and live shows and livestreams and podcasts and westernAF type things and radio shows and and and .. over the last few years. So much to explore in this music/
September 2, 2022 @ 1:44 pm
You are completely my hero today! Thank you so much!! I am going to devour this list and see what I like. I got sick of country music 20 something years ago because of it’s downward direction, so I have lots of catching up to do.
September 2, 2022 @ 2:09 pm
Here’s an even bigger list with artists from the past 20 years and a bunch of subgenres besides Ameripolitan. Crowdsourced from people in this comment section, Reddit, various random Twitter friends, and people from the GimmeCountry chat:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1E4rYG4AWUW0zIp_vuEugfXC2TPU9jal0e4CL17C-p68/edit?usp=sharing
This is different than the Ameripolitan 2023 thing in my other comment
September 2, 2022 @ 8:59 pm
Holy moly, I am in Heaven. Thank you seriously, from the deepest part of my heart.
September 2, 2022 @ 11:43 am
Great stuff.
Too bad, they went silent the last two years.
September 2, 2022 @ 7:35 pm
That honky tonk females & males is stacked with talent!!!!
Listen to Jeremy Pinnell !!!
Oh, West of Texas… that album is A++++++++
September 3, 2022 @ 6:54 am
The Knuckleheads venus is in Missouri – NOT MS — Also Sierra Ferrell is the best new artist in maybe 15 years! Awesome to see her on this list.
September 3, 2022 @ 7:51 am
This has been fixed. The list of nominees was directly cut and pasted from Ameripolitan.
September 5, 2022 @ 12:38 am
love that Emily Nenni is on the list, i don’t know anything about her but she keeps on popping up in my rotation and i really like what i hear.
November 23, 2022 @ 7:13 pm
We love Roosters in MesaAZ. So much fun and Good Music they know how to put on a party The owners are just great . Nicest people , the best Acts , I
Have never been disappointed,