Dove Wrap: 2016 Edition - Song Awards

Continuing with the results of my predictions of the 47th Dove Awards. We move on to the Song of The Year portion of the awards. After the album section I was a paltry 1 for 4. Let's see how I fare here. Maybe I shall improve.

First up is Inspirational Song. Even though I thought it was a Worship Song, I decided to go with Christy Nockels and Let It Be Jesus for my pick. Not surprisingly, the Doves and I do not see eye to eye on such things. They went with Till I Met You by Laura Story. (Score 2/5)

From Inspirational to Worship. Now I have no problem with having both of these categories. The Platinum Vinyl Awards does as well. We just happen to skew things closer to the Adult Contemporary side of the spectrum in our awards, while it appears that the Doves go with two modern worship awards, which is sort of cheating. Anyway, for Worship Song I really liked No Longer Slaves by Bethel Music, more specifically Jonathan David and Melissa Helser. The Dove Committee agreed with me on this part. (Score 3/6)

Contemporary Gospel/Urban Song was next. Since the Doves agreed with me that Losing My Religion was the album of the year in this category, I thought they would Wanna Be Happy as well as I would. However, they liked Jonathan McReynolds The Way That You Love Me. Oh well, they can't be perfect all the time. (Score: 3/7)

Rock/Contemporary Song is up next. I liked a lot of the songs that the Dove's nominated, so much so that I made a rare backup pick. Even though it technically is alternative, I went with Live On Forever by The Afters for my pick and took God is On The Move by 7eventh Time Down for my backup. No Dice. The Dove went to Happiness by NEEDTOBREATHE. Maybe I should make four back up picks next time. You can't lose if you pick them all, right. (Score: 3/8).

The softer side of the coin is Pop/Contemporary Song. I weaved in and out with Pop this year. Weave as in Big Daddy Weave. I picked Beautiful Offerings as Pop Album and I went with their song from that album My Story here. 0/2 with the GMA. They went with Trust In You by Lauren Daigle. Can't really complain, though it wasn't my pick. Not doing too well this year. (Score 3/9).

The final song prediction, other than Song of The Year, which is in the General Field category, was for Hip Hop/Rock Song of The Year. While I like the genre, I am by no means an expert in it, but this is all in good fun so I waded in. To mirror my feelings, I guess, I chose Uncomfortable by Andy Mineo. Imagine my surprise when the Doves did as well. (Score 4/10).

So after two segments I have managed to up my rating to .400. That's Ted Williams Territory folks. Let's see if I can keep it up. The General Field is next. Until Then, 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.

#PlatVnyl6 Update: February 2016

I think it prudent to keep you briefed as to the progress of #PlatVnyl6. Things are progressing slower than I would have liked do to the abundance of new releases coming into the pipeline. Still, the album awards are finished and I am working on the song nominees as we speak. That is in my favor.

Not so favorable is the fact that I have yet to begin sorting out the Music Video section or the General Field Awards. So all in all that comes out to being about only one half done. 

What does that mean to all of you clamoring to find out the nominees (as well as the eventual winners of #PlatVnyl6? I don't really know. I am hoping that I can get all the nominations finished and have the announcement in March. As to the awards, I always shoot for April 22 as a target day, which happens to be my birthday. (No, none of that Earth Day Crap. They need to pick another day for that.)

We shall see how it all shakes out. I will keep you posted to the final dates as they come into clearer focus. Until then, 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 - Song of The Year, Part Two

Last time I presented the first six nominees for Song of The Year in this years Platinum Vinyl Awards, known simply as #PlatVnyl4. The songs were listed alphabetically by title, so there is no ranking of the nominees. We come to the final six nominees for the category.

Not For A Moment (After All), +Meredith Andrews 
The One That Got Away, +The Civil Wars 
Prodigal, +The Ember Days 
Skyfall feat Eshon Burgundy, Rekonciled
Unstable, +Anberlin 
Wait For Me, +SHINY TOY GUNS 
That's it for the nominees, folks. Next up the voting, and then the awards. Back to our regular scheduled business. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

#PlatVnyl4: The Nominees - Song of The Year, Part One

This is it, fans, the final #PlatVnyl4 post, at least as far as the nomination process goes. From now on it will be all #PlatVnyl5 material except for Flashback Friday, which I have resurrected. The final category is that of Song of The Year. I usually go for mega anthems in this category, but the big requirement is that it has to be a song that makes you go WOW!. All of them qualify in the second respect, but not all make the first. A bunch of non-anthems in the mix. I have also suspended a lot of judging for this category, so there are a dozen nominees. And the nominees are:

Bombs Away, +Jonathan Thulin (Feat. Charmaine)
Dust to Dust, +The Civil Wars 
Fire and Fury, +skilletband 
Hope Will Rise, +Warr Acres 
Love Restores, +ShineBrightBaby 
Need You Now (How Many Times), Plumb
Considering the number of nominees, I have made a decision to make this a two post segment in order to let people listen and judge. I am considering adding a survey portion to the awards this year and this is one of the categories I am thinking of. Stay tuned for part two. I am Awaiting Your Reply.

#PlatVnyl3 - Song of The Year

Song Of The Year. The name screams "Big". You may more properly name this the Anthem of The Year, as that is the type of song that lends itself to this award. Ballads need not apply, usually. Some things are expected of the winner. It must have a certain in your face attitude. It must be an earworm song, in a good way (Call Me Maybe by Carly Rae Jepsen need never apply). It must have awesome Orchestration. Strings are always welcome. Soaring Vocals Too. In a phrase, the song must be bigger than life.

Six songs made the initial pool. Five genres were represented

• Blush , Pilgrims and Prodigals, Annie Moses Band
• Fire Walk With Me, Make it Right, Abel
• Lord of Patience, The Attributes of God, Shai Linne
• Lost in Paradise, Evanescence, Evanescence
• My Heart is Broken, Evanescence, Evanescence
• Our God is Coming, Center of it All, Desperation Band

The race to succeed "Manifesto" by The City Harmonic was on.

The first round of voting reduced six songs to four. My Heart is Broken had its heart broken by being deemed the weakest of the two Evanescence nominees. Joining the ranks of the broken hearted was Lord of Patience, the rap entry.

The second round of voting took the lush pop ballad Blush by Chamber Pop group Annie Moses Band and Middle Eastern Twinged Modern Worship Song Our God is Coming out. AMB pretty much had the ballad hopes wrapped up. The final round showdown was on. In this corner, Fire Walk With Me by Abel. In the other corner Lost in Paradise by Evanescence. The former is a classic sing along song, complete with chorus "Oh, the devil wants to drag my soul, drag my soul, down to the lake of fire." The latter is much more difficult to sing along with. It is hard to disagree, however, that the girl can make pain beautiful.

And when you have 12 nominations, the odds are in your favor that you are going to win some. No one expected 11 wins (2 nominations in Song of Year, only 1 Award). But the Big ones are the ones that count. The Platinum Vinyl Award for Song of The Year goes to Evanescence for Lost in Paradise. Just a few more posts to do. Do me a big favor. Click on the Links, Download the Song. Support The Night Beat. 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.

Dove Songs in an Open Field

I am going to try to cover both the Recorded Song of the Year and General Field Awards in a single post. It may be long, but I don't think a third post would be worthy.


Let's begin with the General Field. I think the GMA really blew it this year. Jason Crabb ARTIST OF THE YEAR!!?? With Casting Crowns, Laura Story and Lecrae in the mix. Then you let him double dip as Male Vocalist when Tomlin and SCC would have been far better choices. Not sure on Kirk Franklin for MV. Never thought the award should go to someone who can let a choir do the heavy lifting. Or a band frontman either, unless they do ALL the vocals. Female Vocalist went to Natalie Grant. No, wrong. Based on pure power I would have gone Mandisa.


New Artist went to Jamie Grace. It was a good pick though I would have went with The City Harmonic. Group of the year went to Needtobreathe. Again, a goog, but not perfect, pick. Definite would have gone Crowder Band here.


Now, to the Song Awards. Urban Song went to Kim Burrell and Sweeter from The Love Album. Personally, this should have been a no brainer. Window by Canton Jones.

When I originally looked up the nominees Rock Song looked unusually long, and it was called Rock/Contemporary. Considering they pulled two winners out of the list I think it was an error on their part. The Dove Judges went with Switchfoot and Dark Horses from Vice Verses and Slumber by Needtobreathe from The Reckoning. It's hard to argue against Switchfoot here but I will try. Just being contrary I will go with Invisible by Disciple on Power, but it's a weak argument. Excellent Choice here. On needtobreathe and the softer rock. One out of Two ain't bad. The Obvious Choice here would have been Lucy by Skillet.

Now to the rest of the awards:

The General Field Awards

• Artist of The Year - Jason Crabb (Complete Fail)
• New Artist - Jamie Grace (B+)
• Male Vocalist - Jason Crabb (Complete Fail)
• Female Vocalist - Natalie Grant (C)
• Group of The Year - Needtobreathe (C-)

Recorded Song of The Year Awards

• Song of The Year - Blessings, Laura Story (C)
• Rap/ Hip Hop - Hallelujah, Lecrae (C)
• Pop/Contemporary - Blessings, Laura Story (C)
• Urban - Sweeter, The Love Album, Kim Burrell (C)

That concludes the Night Beat Coverage of the Dove Awards. Until the next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

A Night Beat April Preview: Demon Hunter

There are certain bands that just nailed it when they picked their name. Petra comes to mind. I mean the name means Rock. Then there is Audio Adrenaline. Think it over, it means really really loud. You can't get more spot on than that. Another one is Demon Hunter, which has to be one of the coolest names in Christian Hard Rock. I dare you to say it in a normal voice. You can't do it, can you. The name demands a deep thrash growl. And it goes against all of traditional Christianity (which, despite the Bible, acts like "Eek, a devil, run away"). And that Logo, a goat/demon skull with a bullet hole in it. Gotta love these guys.

Demon Hunter is back with a new release entitled True Defiance. The album wont come out until April 10, but you can preview some of the music courtesy of Pre-release Official Music Videos. No this isn't Music Video Monday (it's Tuesday) but who cares? Up first is My Destiny.


The newest trend is Music Videos is the Lyric Video. If you remember old cartoons you may remember the follow the bouncing ball songs. This is the modern equivalent. For some of these bands it is most welcome. This is Dead Flowers, which I predict will be a Rock Song of the Year candidate next year, much as Red's faceless is this year.


If you love hard and yet melodic metal, I think you'll agree that Demon Hunter is a must have addition to your playlist, as well as a fun name to say. When purchase is available through Amazon I will have the link up. Until then, I am Awaiting Your Reply..

PVA 2011 Nominees: Song of The Year

My final post on the 2011 Platinum Vinyl Award Nominees. Once again I wish to remind all of you to check out the full list of nominees by clicking on the link.


For the sake of brevity we will only cover Song of The Year, Modern Worship Song, Gospel Song, and Alternative Song.

Modern Worship Song of The Year

• Adore, Emergency, The Ember Days
• As For Me and My House, As For Me and My House, John Waller
• Great I Am, You Hold It All, New Life Worship
• Higher, Love Riot, Worth Dying For
• How Great Thou Art, Emergency, The Ember Days
• Saving Power, Saving Power, Generation Unleashed
• Yahweh, Yahweh (Live), Hillsong Chapel

Gospel/R&B Song of The Year

• Forgiven, Church on The Moon, Deitrick Haddon
• Heaven Hear My Heart, Angel & Chanelle, Trinitee 5:7
• Jesus, The Awakening of Le'Andria Johnson, Le'Andria Johnson
• Sitting With Me, Something Big, Mary Mary
• Stronger, What if We Were Real, Mandisa
• Window, Dominionaire, Canton Jones
• YRM: (Your Righteous Mind), YRM: Your Righteous Mind, Donald Lawrence & Company feat. Dorinda Clark-Cole

Alternative Song of The Year

• Ambulance, The Valley, Eisley
• Black Cloud, de-plumed, The Choir
• Church Bells, Ghosts Upon The Earth, Gungor
• Dwell, Dwell, Aaron Keyes
• Jumping The Gun, Weights and Measures, Hyland
• Offering, The Sounds of Daniel Bashta, Daniel Bashta
• The War Inside, Vice Verses, Switchfoot
• You're Like A Taxi, Who Can Know It?, Showbread

Song of The Year

• 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
• Manifesto, Introducing The City Harmonic, The City Harmonic
• This Love is Free, Weights and Measures, Hyland
• Poison and Wine, Barton Hollow, The Civil Wars
• Who But You, Music Inspired by The Story, Mark Hall & Megan Garrett
• Window, Dominionaire, Canton Jones

Maybe one final note is in order. I picked Song of the Year based on its Epic Anthem sound, or its sheer beauty. These should all be fan favorites to sing.

That does it for my edited announcements of the 2011 Platinum Vinyl Awards Nominees. I encourage all my readers to Check out The Full List of Nominees and to also see the the 2010 Winners. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

Dove Songs

The finale of my Dove Posts. I had originally planned for this to be rolled out over the course of one week. "The best laid plans of mice and men" and all that.


Song of the year is where the committee doesn't worry about editing. Two of the categories had TEN nominees. I am taking the safe way out here and doing those categories with Ten Nominees in them. A long post with little effort.

Not surprisingly, the two unedited categories were Rock/Contemporary and Song Of The Year. The Doves refer to these as Recorded Song of The Year instead of Song of The Year as the Grammy's do, but they are essentially the same.

Rock/Contemporary Recorded Song of The Year

• Dark Horses, Vice Verses, Switchfoot
• Faceless, Until We Have Faces, Red
• Invisible, Horseshoes and Handgrenades, Disciple
• One Day Too Late, Awake, Skillet
• Your Love is a Mystery, Crazy Love, Hawk Nelson
• Born Again, Born Again (Miracles Edition), Newsboys
• Crazy Love, Crazy Love, Hawk Nelson
• Drifting, TBA, Plumb w/ Dan Hasseltine
• Lucy, Awake, Skillet
• Slumber, The Reckoning, Needtobreathe

If the GMA Voters were going to vote on a powerful song, there is none more powerful than Lucy. Personally, I hope that one wins. Here is the official music video for it. Warning: Kleenex is a must.

Song of The Year

• Alive, Natalie Grant
• Blessings, Laura Story
• Celebrate Me Home, Perry's
• Glorious Day (Living He Loved Me), Casting Crowns
• Hold Me, Jamie Grace
• I Smile, Kirk Franklin
• I've Been Here Before, Ernie Haase
• Please Forgive Me, Gaither Vocal Band
• Who Am I, Jason Crabb
• Your Great Name, Natalie Grant

This one is a bit tougher, because I detest Southern Gospel, and 40% of the list is SG. Actually I guess that makes my picks easier, but that also increases my probability that I will be wrong. Alive is a good pick form me, not because Natalie Grant is such a great singer, though she is great. It's just that Music Inspired by The Message was a very powerful album, and garnered 5 Emeralds. I think the GMA's will go with Haase.

That concludes my Dove Awards nomination coverage. I will return with Music Video Monday. Enjoy the rest of the weekend, and as always, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

The Night Beat Presents: 2010 Songs of The Year

The 2010 Platinum Vinyl Awards are over, and sacrifices had to be made to make sure we beat the Doves to the line. One of the sacrifices was the Song of the Year category, which was genre based. Still, I felt that there should be some recognition to the artists. This post is my solution. The Song of the Year Category will officially be added to the Platinum Vinyl Awards for 2011.

Without further ado, the 2010 Songs of the Year, as determined by The Night Beat:

• Folk/Folk Rock Song: The Apple, Carolina Story, When the River Meets the Sea
• Dance Song: Live it Up, Group 1 Crew, Outta Space Love
• Gospel Song: All the Way, Forever Jones, Get Ready
• Alternative Song: Between Bare Trees, The Choir, Burning Like The Midnight Sun
• Modern Worship Song: Movements, Rend Collective Experiment, Organic Family Hymnal
• Pop Song: 2AM, Poema, Sing it Now
• Hip Hop/Rap Song: The Invasion (Hero) feat. Jai, Trip Lee, Between Two Worlds
• Hard Rock Song: Voices in the Night, Silverline, Voices in the Night
• Rock Song: Desperate, Fireflight, For Those Who Wait
• CROSS/over Song: Broken Pieces feat. Lacey from Flyleaf, Apocalyptica, 7th Symphony

Well That unofficially officially ends the 2010 Platinum Vinyl Awards. I officially ended it on April 21 with the Artist of the Year Award, but I kept going back and forth on recognition for best song. This list finishes that up, and we'll try to have song categories for each genre next year. Now we really do return to our regularly scheduled posts.

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.