Dove Awards 2016 Predictions: Playing The Field

I believe this is my final Prediction Post for this years Dove Awards. I had originally planned to do a quick hits wrap, but I think otherwise now. This is enough.

The General Field is the area where bands and artists compete without regard to genre. It is almost a free for all, but there are some boundaries. We begin with New Artist of The Year, which sets boundaries of time. The nominees were:

• Hollyn
• Jordan Feliz
• Stars Go Dim
• Travis Green
• We Are Messengers

I have heard of all of these with the exception of Travis Green. However, of the ones that I have heard I was most impressed with Hollyn, so that will be MY PICK.

Moving on to Artist of The Year. Technically a New Artist could also win Artist of The Year, but that is usally not the case. This is primarily for established artists. The nominees:

• For King and Country
• Hillsong United
• Lauren Daigle
• Lecrae
• Toby Mac

MY PICK: Unlike New Artist, which had 4/of its 5 nominees in the #PlatVnyl7 pool, we had two nominees here in the past #PlatVnyl6. And those are the ones I couldn't decide on. I am going with TobyMac for the win with a back up of Lauren Daigle.

Song of The Year is the final group I will pick from. The Doves cast off all notions of editing. One year they had over twenty nominees. This year they kept it to ten. 

• Brothers, Needtobreathe
• First, Lauren Daigle
• Flawless, Mercy Me
• Good Good Father, Chris Tomlin
• Just Be Held, Casting Crowns
• No Longer Slaves, Bethel Music
• The River, Jordan Feliz
• Touch The Sky, Hillsong
• Trust In You, Lauren Daigle
• Worthy, Anthony Brown

A lot of good good songs on the list (sorry). However MY PICK is First by Lauren Daigle.

That does it for the prediction posts. Maybe now I can take small break from things so I can finally update the winners page on the blog. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

The 2015 Dove Award Nominations: Song and Artist of The Year

We conclude our Dove Prediction posts with the predictions for Artist of The Year, New Artist of The Year, and Song of The Year. We will also briefly comment on the Video Awards.

Song and Album of The Year are typically category busters. Now the 2013 Dove Awards had 21 Song of The Year Nominees, which was a joke. There are 10 this year. Since #PlatVnyl5 had 9 nominees for Song of The Year, this is not excessive. The nominees were as follows:

• Overwhelmed, Big Daddy Weave
• Thrive, Casting Crowns
• Come As You Are, Crowder
• Hope In Front of Me, Danny Gokey
• How Can It Be, Lauren Daigle
• He Knows My Name, Francesca Battistelli
• Greater,  Mercy Me
• Multiplied, Needtobreathe
• We Believe, Newsboys
• This Is Amazing Grace, Phil Wickham

Except for Big Daddy Weave, they appear to be of #PlatVnyl5 vintage. With the exception that Lauren Daigle was a nominee for AC/Insp Song, none of them were among my nine. We think different here at The Night Beat. I'm going to go with How Can It Be by Lauren Daigle for the win. I think it will be Casting Crowns for the industry.

The Doves for 2015 have Artist of The Year, New Artist of The Year, Southern Gospel Artist of The Year, Gospel Artist of The Year, and Contemporary Christian Artist of The Year. We just have the first two. New Artist nominees were About A Mile, Danny Gokey, I Am They, Lauren Daigle and NF. I really liked Daigle's powerful voice, and I was impressed by About A Mile, so I'll predict one of the two.

Artist of The Year nominees were For King And Country, Francesca Battistelli, Kari Jobe, Lecrae, and Mercy Me. Kari Jobe was the only one on my list. I think it will either be her or Francesca.

One last prediction. Video, or in Dovespeak, Short Form Video. The nominees were: You Can't Stop Me by Andy Mineo; Take This City by Everfound; Shoulders by For King and Country; Dreams by Kings Kaleidoscope; and Wake Up by NF. Two rap, two pop and one alternative. I'm treating this as Video of The Year. I had none of the nominees and the King's Kaleidoscope video is of #PlatVnyl6 vintage. I'll pick them nonetheless. The Platinum Vinyl Awards have 14 Video Categories, allowing for as many as 70 nominees. It allows for much more variety.

That does it folks. The Dove Awards will take place in Nashville on October 13. While I won't be there in person, I will keep tabs and either eat crow or gloat at my prognostication skills. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

#PlatVnyl4: The Nominees - Artist of The Year

Next up among our nomination announcements, of which the entire list is already up at the nomination page, is that of Artist of The Year. These are the artists or duos, not bands, which stood out above the rest. The seven nominees are:

• +The Civil Wars Even though they have a band like name, the team of Joy Williams and John Paul White is merely a duo. With two nominated albums now under their belt, and a win for Barton Hollow, the hope is that this isn't a lifetime achievement nomination for a band that has passed on.
• +Caroline Cobb Big gambles can lead to bigger rewards. The gamble: Writing a song for every book of the Bible. Though the project needed to be scaled down (a 66 song collection would be unfeasible) Caroline takes us on a 12 song through the Bible journey and uses pop, folk and a bit of country in an enjoyable mix.
• +JJHellermusic If we can be accused of bias here at Night Beat HQ, JJ is one of the reasons. She is consistent in her excellence.
• Json
• +Charlie Peacock The Civil Wars producer took some time out to put out a Jazz work that just boggles the imagination. Going down to Mystic indeed.
• Plumb
• +Jonathan Thulin 

There are two more to announce. Album and Song of The Year. I am Awaiting Your Reply.

The Elpy's: Album of The Year

We are closing in on the end. Only five more awards to be handed out. This year has been a bit more hectic, but the results are much more enjoyable.

We continue with some General Field Awards with the awarding of the Elpy for Group of The Year, which this year, the Elpy goes to: The Devil Wears Prada

Best New Artist is the next to be awarded. This year the Elpy goes to: Icon For Hire

The Artist of The Year Elpy for 2011 goes to: The Civil Wars.

Song of The Year is next, and the nominee list was long. The Nominees were:

• Are You Ready?, Destiny, Beckah Shae
• As For Me and My House, As For Me and My House, John Waller
• Children of God, Move, Third Day
• Hymn for The Missing, Until We Have Faces, Red
• This Love Is Free, Weights and Measures, Hyland
• Manifesto, Introducing The City Harmonic, The City Harmonic
• Poison and Wine, Barton Hollow, The Civil Wars
• Who But You, Music Inspired By The Story, Mark Hall and Megan Garrett
• Window, Dominionaire, Canton Jones

And the Elpy for Song of The Year goes to: Manifesto by The City Harmonic

The Final Award. Album of The Year. The Nominees:

• Barton Hollow, The Civil Wars
• Destiny, Beckah Shae
• Dream With Me, Jackie Evancho
• Music Inspired by The Story, Various Artists
• This Time Around, Heather Williams
• Until We Have Faces, Red
• Vice Verses, Switchfoot
• What if We Were Real?, Mandisa

And the Elpy for Album of The Year for 2011 goes to (drumroll): Barton Hollow by The Civil Wars. Congratulations to them and to all the nominees and winners for making this second awards a great one. We'll see you again next year. Goodnight.

PVA 2011 Nominees: General Field

We move on from Album of The Year to The General Field (Male Vocalist, Group, etc), mainly because I am not done with going through the song of the year candidates. Go with what's done.

I'm going to leave my exclusive General Field nominations (Comeback Artist, Lifetime Achievement, TNB DJ's Choice and CROSS/over) and go with the big ones. Once again I encourage you to check out the full list of nominees on my blog

Male Vocalist of The Year

• Dominic Balli
• Canton Jones
• Lecrae
• Andrew Peterson
• Tedashii
• Chris Tomlin
• Matthew West

I know, not a Chris August or Brandon Heath in the mix. August's Deluxe edition wasn't all that better and Heath never impressed at all, CJ had an outstanding album (5 Emeralds) and all the others were solid.

Female Vocalist of The Year

• Jackie Evancho
• JJ Heller
• Dara Maclean
• Mandisa
• Ginny Owens
• Beckah Shae
• Heather Williams

Four of the seven on this list (Evancho, Mandisa, Shae, Williams) had 5 Emerald releases. Dara Maclean leads the newcomers. The biggest surprise still continues to be Evancho. To be so good at so young an age. This is a loaded field.

Artist of The Year

• Burlap to Cashmere
• The City Harmonic
• The Civil Wars
• Canton Jones
• Lecrae
• Mandisa
• Beckah Shae

Folk-Rock Burlap to Cashmere returns after many years without missing a beat, and newcomers The City Harmonic have grabbed the spotlight with a refreshing sound. Not to be outdone is Folk Duo The Civil Wars. Another loaded field that is very close to call.

That concludes my partial look at the General Field Nominees. For the full list of General Field Nominees, including Group of The Year and Best New Artist, plus all the rest, please click on the link. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

The 2010 Platinum Vinyl Award: Artist of the Year

The Final Award. Artist of the Year. It also has the largest number of nominees with twelve. The Best Solo Artist or Group across all genre's for the entire year:

The Nominees for Artist of the Year

• Fireflight
• Toby Mac
• Michael W. Smith
• Kerrie Roberts
• Lecrae
• Sarah Kelly
• Jennifer Knapp
• Lincoln Brewster
• Ivoryline
• Forever Jones
• The Letter Black

And the Artist of the Year is:

Forever Jones 

It doesn't matter when you win, just that you win. Forever Jones waited till the end and claimed the big prize. A family that has a sound to rival most choirs, a debut that sounds like anything but. A sound not to be soon forgotten. They are the Artist of the Year.

That concludes the Inaugural Platinum Vinyl Awards. The major awards are now finished, and it's time to look forward to next year. Song Awards may be announced at another time, or the category may wait until next year. We now return to our regularly scheduled posting. Good Night.

Playing the Field: The 2010 Platinum Vinyl Award Open Nominations

The Nominations for the First Ever Platinum Vinyl Awards continue with the "General Field" Nominations, those not restricted to a certain genre. For the First Year, there will be four major categories: Male Vocalist of the Year, Female Vocalist of the Year, Group of the Year, and New Artist of the Year. Since this is currently a one man job, there will be no best CD Cover Design or any other such minutia awards.

And The Nominees are...

Male Vocalist of the Year

• Lincoln Brewster
• Charlie Hall
• Lecrae
• Toby Mac
• VaShawn Mitchell
• Andrew Peterson
• Michael W. Smith

Female Vocalist of the Year

• Charmaine
• Sara Groves
• Sarah Kelly
• Jennifer Knapp
• Sandra McCracken
• Kellie Roberts
• Beckah Shae

Group of the Year

• The Choir
• The Classic Crime
• Disciple
• Evolett
• Fireflight
• Ivoryline
• The Showdown

New Artist of the Year

• Audrey Assad
• Evolett
• Forever Jones
• Me in Motion
• VaShawn Mitchell
• Poema
• Kerrie Roberts
• Heather Williams 

Artist of The Year

• Lincoln Brewster
• Charmaine
• Fireflight
• Forever Jones
• Ivoryline
• Sarah Kelly
• Jennifer Knapp
• Lecrae
• The Letter Black
• TobyMac
• Kerrie Roberts
• Michael W. Smith 

I am thinking of adding two more major categories to the Platinum Vinyl Awards, that of Song of the Year, which would be open, and Record (Recorded Song) of the Year which would be by genre. I am currently going through the nominees and rating the songs. Since this is by far the most time consuming of the tasks involved in the PVA's, I have decided to divorce these categories from the regular awards. The Awards will be sometime the week of April 17. I am shooting for Thursday April 21. That is after the Dove Awards but before the TV Broadcast of the Doves.  Record and Song of the Year will be done at a separate time. We shall come up with the details later.
 

42nd Annual GMA Dove Award Nominees: General Field

In my last post I dealt with the Dove Award nominations in the genre-specific Album of the Year categories, making my predictions as to who I think the GMA will pick and who I think should win. I also addressed the time window issue between the Doves and the Platinum Vinyl Awards. With this post I move on to the General Field, the awards for Female Artist of the Year and so forth. Things get a little more interesting here, as my research has unearthed some trends that I think need to be addressed by the GMA in order to assure a more representative, and therefore more interesting Awards. Who knows, maybe the PVA's will be the spark that shakes the Dove's out of their monopoly induced lethargy. Keep reading after the break for my picks and predictions.