Dove Wrap: 2016 Edition - The General Field

And now, for the moment you've all been waiting for. The final of our Dove Wrap posts. There really isn't much to write about here. Only 3 awards coincide, so this will be short. When last we met we were covering the Song Predictions and their results. At that time we had gone through 10 Awards ( I did not make a pick for every category) and had gotten 4 correct. In baseball terms .400 is Holy Grail territory. Woo-Hoo. Let's see if I can keep it up.

New Artist of The Year is the first one out of the gate. I looked at the available choices (Hollyn, Jordan Feliz, Stars Go Dim, Travis Greene, and We Are Messengers) and listened to all the available products. I went with Hollyn, and the Doves went with Jordan Feliz. We are not off to a good start. (Score 4/11)

Artist of The Year is next, which usually goes to more established artists, which makes Lauren Daigle's inclusion in this list a bit of a head scratcher. But, if you are willing to look only at quality and not age or "paying ones dues", there is no question who rises to the top of this milk bottle. The Doves and I agree on Daigle. A rare meeting of the minds. (Score 5/12).

Finally, we arrive at Song of The Year. While not having a ridiculous number anymore, it has a healthy 10 entrants, which may be what winds up at a Platinum Vinyl Awards, try as we do to get down to 7. I'm not going to list them all here. Suffice it to say that when I looked at the list I felt that the cream of the crop was First by Lauren Daigle. The Dove went with Good, Good, Father by Chris Tomlin. Now I like the song, but thought Zealand Worship did a much better job at it. Final score 5/13 .385 

I'm happy with that. Hey, it's not Ted Williams, but I think it will definitely win me the Batting Title. That does it for the Doves. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

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.

Crowing Over The Doves

Well it is that time again. The Dove Awards have been handed out and the bands and artists are glowing in the shine off the hardware. Or something like that. Of course it is nothing like the glory they get from winning a Platinum Vinyl Award, but it's better than nothing.

In my line of work as the President, Founder and leader of the WENC Night Beat, it is my responsibility to make predictions as to who I think will win the awards. To try to improve the Award Process, of course. Anyways, I would like to remind you that statistically speaking, a coin flip is 50%, so if I get near to that, I don't have to hang up my Carnac the Magnificent hat.

We begin with the Album Awards. I made 3 Picks which I explained, and another 5 Quick Picks with no explanation. I cleared a wide berth for Worship Album, picking 3: Bethel Music, Chris Tomlin and Passion Conference. There were only five nominees, I had to hit, right? Wrong. They went with Hillsong No Other Name. 

I did better with Pop/Contemporary Album, picking For King and Country, and the Dove Committee went for it as well. I will give myself points if I thought the industry would pick a choice other than mine, but then they went for my choice. I said Red should win for Rock Album and that the industry was pulling for Disciple, but the GMA's went for Red as well. That's 2 for 3. 

For the quick picks I went with Kierra Sheard for Contemporary Gospel; Charles Jenkins for Traditional Gospel; Philips Craig and Dean for Inspirational; Colton Dixon for Rock/Contemporary; and Lecrae for Rap Album. I only lost out on Gospel. The other three were correct. Final album total 5 for 8 or 62%.

I made four picks for Song awards. For worship song I went with Forever by Kari Jobe but really thought popular opinion went with Holy Spirit by Francesca Battistelli. The Dove went to Matt Maher. Go Figure. I thought How Can It Be by Lauren Daigle should win but the Dove would Go to For King and Country. The Dove went to Daigle for Pop/Contemporary Song. I had a bad hunch that the Dove for Rock Song would go to Skillet for Good To Be Alive, from an album honored in #PlatVnyl4 two years ago. I was right. I picked NF or Rapture Ruckus for Rap Song. The Dove went to Lecrae. 2 for 4 on Song, Overall we were at 7 for 12 or 58%. Still ahead of the coin flip.

The third part went to the General Field. I made a pick for Artist of The Year, New Artist of The Year, and Song of The Year. For Song of The Year, while I thought that the Dove's would go to Casting Crowns for Thrive, I said that I would pick How Can It Be by Lauren Daigle. And that is the song that won. I love it when the big boys agree with me.

For New Artist of The Year, I Picked Lauren Daigle. I love her powerful, deep voice. So did the Dove Committee. 2 for 2.

I really thought it would be the ladies year so I said either Kari Jobe or Francesca Battistelli for Artist of The Year. The Dove went to Lecrae. Must be a war on women thing. Ending there we would be 9 for 15 or 60%. and 2/3 here or 67%. But I also, on a lark, picked for Short Form Video to illustrate absurdity by being absurd. While I have a Video of The Year Award, I also have ones for individual music genres. Trying to do one without the other is crazy. Anyway I picked Dreams by Kings Kaleidoscope and they picked You Can't Stop Me by Andy Mineo. Including this loss gives me 9 for 16, still over a coin flip at 56%. I guess I can keep at this. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

Dove Award Scorecard

SPOILER ALERT!! If you didn't keep up with the live online coverage of the 42nd Dove Awards last night, and would rather not know who won until you watch the tv coverage Sunday Night, read no further. Though I wont be covering all the awards, only those I decided to make predictions for, and those coincided with my own choices for the Platinum Vinyl Awards. So there is no recorded song or song of the year coverage here and no album of the year coverage for Inspirational, Southern Gospel, Bluegrass, Traditional Gospel, or Country. If you are brave enough to know who won, stay with me after the jump.

42nd Annual GMA Dove Award Nominees

Yesterday the nominations for the Dove Awards were announced in Atlanta, and, being as that this is primarily a music blog, I think it is my duty to comment on the nominations, and to do my best to predict the eventual winners in April.

Due to my sandwiching of the Platinum Vinyl Awards year of eligibility (October 1-September 30) between both the Grammy (September 1-August 31) and Dove Awards (November 1-October 31), certain windows develop. In our particular case two such windows exist:

Releases between October 1-31, 2009 were considered for the 1st Platinum Vinyl Awards but were considered for the 41st Annual GMA Dove Awards in April 2010. Only one CD was affected by this rule.

• Aaron Sledge (Self Titled)

Releases between October 1-31, 2010 were considered for the 2nd Platinum Vinyl Awards, but were considered for the 42nd Annual GMA Dove Awards in April 2011. Two CD's were affected by this window.

• Jars of Clay Presents The Shelter, Jars of Clay
• Move, Third Day

With the timing issue addressed, we move onto the nominations and my predictions after the break.