Ameripolitan Awards Announce 2024 Nominees and a Return to Austin

24 Comments

1. RJ
   October 8, 2023 @ 8:35 am

   Gabe Lee is honky Tonk?

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   • Trigger
     October 8, 2023 @ 8:40 am

     He’s not exactly Outlaw, Western Swing, or Rockabilly either. I’m just glad someone is recognizing him at all. Dude deserves all the recognition he can get. He’s definitely got some honky tonk songs as well.

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     • RJ
       October 8, 2023 @ 8:42 am

       Yea he is legit. It just would be a tough pill to swallow if he won and you were Johnny Falstaff

       Reply

     • Wilson Pick It
       October 8, 2023 @ 8:49 am

       I noticed a couple of years ago they combined the Honky Tonk and Outlaw categories into one category. Then for some reason they split them up again. Those two categories are a little bit vague, but it doesn’t really matter. It’s just about recognizing the talent that’s out there.

       Reply

       • Stellar
         October 8, 2023 @ 10:02 am

         Honkytonk is a pretty well defined musical style. Outlaw was a marketing term in the 70s and is now a completely vague term. Ameripolitan uses an outlaw is kind of a casual category for weird shit, and lately it’s had more of the folk guys like Willi Carlisle last year.

         Personally I would include the folk guys if they seriously participated in other ameripolitan events such as rockabilly festivals or Western swing stuff. Again, because this is a fan voted event, people sometimes make it into the nominations just because their social media following has run a campaign.

         We have a couple of Russians from a surf band in the rockabilly nominations this year and theres no doubt in my mind thats a result of a social media campaign on their part, rather than a reflection of the rockabilly community deciding that those two specific artists really did better music this year than everybody else in rockabilly this year. This kind of thing happens in Ameripolitan. Let’s at least try to keep it to the correct styles rather than letting people take advantage of it being a fairly small fan voted event where it’s easy to influence the results because the total number of people voting is fairly small.

         Several of the categories have pretty freaking solid nominees though. Super psyched to see some of the western swing folks.

         Reply

   • Jim Bones
     October 8, 2023 @ 8:45 am

     Anyone who reads my fried ass comments knows i’m a massive gabe lee fan – that being said, seeing him in a honky tonk category seems a bit out of place. Angel band may be the only true honky tonk song of his i can think of off the top. either way, nice to see him getting recognition.

     jeremy pinnell goodbye la consistent rippage

     Reply

   • Stellar
     October 8, 2023 @ 9:33 am

     I agree that whole Gabe is great he REALLY shouldn’t have been nominated, at least not in the honky tonk category. A major drawback of fan voted events is that people will vote for whoever they’ve heard of, whether it fits the style or not. Gabe has albums and songs with the word honky tonk in them but he his style is very very far from honky
     tonk which is what this Awards event celebrates. This is not a general Americano award at all.

     I also think Johnny Falstaff richly deserves to win this year. The ameripolitans recognize artists that have been operating for the last 3 years and Johnny has a huge back catalog of fantastic retro music of all kinds, especially on youtube. He moved back to the US recently and has new studio work in the works and has been playing with kind of a Houston supergroup doing true honky tonk. Pretty much every style he touches turns to gold. He’s also more important than his studio albums indicate because he was kind of the ambassador of this style a living in Europe for several years, and his YouTube presence is pretty important.

     His videos range from one off instrumentals (which are phenomenal) to short explainers about things like honky tonk’ artists,, stories about the history of rhinestone suits, guitar stuff, and more. Ameripolitans hasn’t really caught up to the fact that YouTube has become so important in DIY country music but he’s one of the people operating in that sphere without being on a viral channel like some of the Americana folky artists tend to.

     I think at this point ameripolitan is at some danger of being taken over by the popular folk sound that is so big today. Last year Willi Carlisle won in The outlaw category and while he is a fantastic artist he’s got a pretty straightforward folk sound that doesn’t have anything to do with the retro Ameripolitan sound

     Since there is fan voting, a lot of people are going to vote for what they’ve heard of or what has been viral, which is almost never rockabilly or honky tonk artists.

     Please don’t vote for Gabe Lee for this category. He’s important, but not in this style. This is not just a general Americana event. Honky Tonk is not a general :good country’ category, there is literally no finger picking in honky tonk, and that is the bulk of Gabe’s guitar backup. He’s a singer-songwriter. He’s a very good singer-songwriter. He’s just not a honky tonk artist.

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     • Kevin Smith
       October 8, 2023 @ 1:16 pm

       Great comments Stellar. I’m wondering if we ran into you at the last few events, we have been going to all of them since it moved to Memphis. Might make this year as well. Fully agree on your perspectives.
       Messer Chups are a great surf band with a striking female bass player that fans seem to obsess over, but it’s not Rockabilly any more than Los Straitjackets, who is also a surf band. The rockabilly festivals do always include surf for various reasons, probably because of the vintage aspect of the style and the reverb and echo on the guitar. So, yeah a similar fan base. Ironically, The Hi- Jivers who are friends of mine, won Rockabilly band last year, though technically, they are a blues band that just so happens to feature upright bass slapped in the Rockabilly style. Willi Carlisle wasn’t a great representation of Outlaw either. He was an anomaly for sure. I say, leave the folk stuff for the Americana bunch.
       Falstaff is awesome and he’s a true honky- tonker. Belive it or not I would love to see Dale Watson himself win one of these, he’s as legit a Honky- Tonker as it gets, and he’s one of the best.
       I think the ” Outlaw” category can be open to a somewhat broad interpretation. A lot of us tend to see Whitey Morgan, Cody Jinks, and Dallas Moore as good examples. This year im thrilled to see Billy Don Burns name, he’s as Outlaw as it gets. Kendall Marvel really should be nominated in Outlaw category, as well, he’s criminally overlooked.
       Thrilled for my buddy Kyle Eldridge being nominatec in western swing, he would fit in equally well in honky- tonk. Kyle is currently the baddest retro double- neck guitar player on the scene, keeping the styles of Joe Maphis, Larry Collins and Merle Travis alive. He’s picked up the baton from Deke Dickerson, who honestly should have been nominated for Rockabilly this year.
       Thanks should be mentioned as always to Dale and Celine, who make all this possible, they work tirelessly to keep this thing happening, year after year, for no real monetary payoff. It’s all funded by donations and ticket sales, so consider contributing if you are an Ameripolitan fan!
       That is all.

       Reply

       • Stellar
         October 8, 2023 @ 8:51 pm

         The’what is outlaw country’ conundrum: Here, it’s the catch-all category that seems to include both the Waylon impersonators growling about cocaine with a 70s influence, and some of the uncategorizable originals. I’d still like to hear it as what used to be called “hard country” and ideally a retro influence in there. Otherwise you might as well just open it up as a popularity contest to everyone with an acoustic guitar on WesternAF and GemsOnVHS and every folk-punk busker and RadioWV screamer- and those folks are often used to playing the social media game because of the Gems In The Rough contest. To me it’s actually a concern if this event (and fan voting) starts to nominate too many of the folk Americana people.

         It was super fun to look up all the women who were ever nominated for Outlaw Female in the past and see how different they were- there is less of the shadow of Waylon hanging over the Outlaw Female category than the male singer one, so some interesting folks made it in there over the years. I made a playlist:

         https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5FmxmDNyLWUB0wefEYb3pduQllTk6Fv1

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2. Wilson Pick It
   October 8, 2023 @ 8:36 am

   Of all the awards shows out there – and it seems like there’s about two dozen of them – this one always seems like the best party.

   Reply

3. Hal
   October 8, 2023 @ 9:40 am

   I know I have a bias as a songwriter. And I know these musicians are generally more likely to write their own stuff. But it would be nice to see some Ameripolitan award recognition of the songwriters behind all these killer musicians and songs

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   • Kevin Smith
     October 8, 2023 @ 1:21 pm

     Hal,

     Just about every Ameripolitan artist is a songwriter. In fact, I’m unable to think of any that don’t write songs. Fact.

     Reply

4. Stellar
   October 8, 2023 @ 9:44 am

   Also I want to take this opportunity to tell people about the unofficial Ameripolitan subreddit (forum) on Reddit (the official event has a Facebook page where they do announcements. We are a fan discussion on Reddit)

   Link is on my user name. We post tons of ameripolitan artists and as the event gets closer we focus on the nominees especially. If you have a radio show, new album release, or other stuff to promote, come join us.

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5. Rich
   October 8, 2023 @ 11:30 am

   Looking at the Outlaw Females list and Kat, Kelsey and Taylor are three of my faves but I hadn’t heard of Stefanie Joyce so I checked her stuff out. Checks all the boxes – great songs, cool voice, tons of fiddle, pedal steel, sad songs and boot stompers. Even by accident I find so many new artists from this little website.

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   • Stellar
     October 8, 2023 @ 11:49 am

     Ameripolitan is one of the best ways to find independent female country singers because they have those vocal categories for all four genres. Check out past winners and nominees for more.

     Reply

   • Trigger
     October 8, 2023 @ 6:41 pm

     Stefanie Joyce is a cool artist. Have featured her a couple of times.

     https://savingcountrymusic.com/songwriter-stefanie-joyce-wants-to-save-the-murder-ballad/

     Reply

6. wayne
   October 8, 2023 @ 7:32 pm

   It’s a toss-up for me which one I understand the least. Americana or Ameripolitan. I am not trying to be funny. I am serious.

   Reply

   • Robert's Country Blog
     October 8, 2023 @ 9:55 pm

     I’ve been to both Americana three times and Ameripolitan twice and it’s confusing to me, too, as are all of the other cliques. Even the so-called “Texas/Red Dirt Scene” can be confusing, and I live in the middle of it. They include non-Texans and rockers they’re friends with , but largely exclude other Texan country artists they’re not friends with. It’s like a bunch of junior high cliques. In any of these scenes, there is some good music to be enjoyed, but there are also some douchebags who get off on being treated as superstars within their clique, when their music isn’t good enough to merit superstar status outside of the echo chamber of their clique. It just goes with the territory, I suppose.

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     • Trigger
       October 8, 2023 @ 11:01 pm

       Respectfully, I think calling Americana, Ameripolitan, or the Texas/Red Dirt scenes “cliques” feels reductive, and misleading. The definition of a clique is, “a small group of people, with shared interests or other features in common, who spend time together and do not readily allow others to join them.”

       Americana is the 2nd biggest genre of music in the United States in regards to artist population according to the Grammy Awards submissions. It is a massive music scene that includes arena acts and 30,000+ festivals. I’ve been reporting on the massive swelling of popularity in independent country and Americana this year, and Billboard just did an article on this last week. Americana is huge, and nothing close to a “clique.”

       What I find cool about Ameripolitan is that it is like a gathering of very small scenes all coming together to support each other. It doesn’t feel cliquish at all.

       If there is one scene in country music that “do not readily allow others to join them,” it’s mainstream country. That is the reason all of these other scenes exist.

       Ultimately, all of these groups are pooling resources to help support independent artists. Americana and Ameripolitan are non-profit organizations that help support music not supported by the mainstream.

       I believe we should fight for the term “country.” It’s ours, not theirs. But any organization that is supporting independent artists, I’ll support as well.

       Reply

       • Robert's Country Blog
         October 9, 2023 @ 8:22 am

         I do consider these scenes a net positive, which is why I have attended multiple times and will continue to cherry pick what I like from them.

         That said, my emphasis is that human nature is what it is. Put together any knot of people with common interests (whether it is country music or anything else) and patterns will emerge. “F the clique” leads to “let’s make our own clique,” and perhaps without the people in it even realizing it, the natural tendency is for it to start behaving like the other one.

         What Americana actually includes is multi-tiered. When it comes to the house band and people who perform at their awards every year, it seems like there is a small group. When it comes to claiming how big their scene is, they include artists from every genre, whether the artists call themselves Americana or not. They gave Childers another award after he made it very clear that he doesn’t consider himself Americana. Sturgill made similar comments after he won one of their awards. Americana claimed Chris Stapleton’s massive record sales as evidence of the rapid growth of the Americana scene, but he doesn’t play Americanafest and his record sales are his record sales, not theirs.

         If Americana isn’t a closed loop, then I’m curious to know how many Republicans they let play at their awards this year? LOL.

         I’m generally much more positive about Ameripolitan, since for the most part, it’s more in line with my musical tastes. I do think Dale Watson has made a concerted effort to cast a wide net to try to keep his small, but growing scene from becoming too much of a clique. Some of the individual artists and fans might turn it into that, anyway.

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         • Kevin Smith
           October 9, 2023 @ 9:16 am

           Robert, great observations. I agree with a lot of what you are saying. As for the ” cliques”, I don’t think it’s a major problem. There are some regulars who are there each year, but the showcase performers are different each year, and the end result is you get a wildly different experience each time you attend. If there is some element of clique, it might be in the rockabilly vs Honky- Tonk crowd. Some of the Honky- Tonk folks come dressed like Texans with the pearl snap shirts, modern looking hats and so on. You will see them two- stepping every chance they get to the Country stuff. And then you have the rockabilly crowd who can be a mixed bag. Some of them prefer the louder more punk edged rockabilly/ psychobilly sounds and have little interest in western swing for example. And vice versa. I’ve heard a few complaints from both camps that the event leans too much towards rockabilly, or it’s too hillbilly and so on. But in general, I think both groups are pretty polite to each other. Generally, for me, each year it has a different feel to it.

   • jjazznola
     October 8, 2023 @ 10:41 pm

     I agree. Americana just seems like some club that only allows artists that they like. Some are country, some are bluegrass, some more RnB. It makes little sense to me who is and who isn’t “Americana”. Ameripolitan is more of a fun way to give exposure to artists that your average listener are not aware of as they tend to give awards to different artists each year.

     Reply

   • Stellar
     October 8, 2023 @ 11:20 pm

     The defining feature of Ameripolitan is that it is what used to be called hard country. I think they used the hard country term in the ’60s to distinguish honky tonk type music from the pop country that was coming out of Nashville at the time. Obviously you can argue about whether rockabilly is hard country or something else altogether but these days it’s closer to the retro country side of things than the retro blues kind of scene

     The problem is that the hard country term fell out of fashion so most people don’t know what you mean. I always think of it in terms of ‘can you partner dance to it? Is it electric?’

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7. jjazznola
   October 8, 2023 @ 10:36 pm

   I get why they are having it at Moody Theater but I’m not happy about it. I’m just not a fan of that place even though it’s nice etc. It just has no character at all and is just too big. I’ll probably go if I can somehow get on the floor but just not into sitting upstairs or sitting at all. I’d bet Charley Crockett will be involved with that Tribute to James Hand.

   Reply