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 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 Wrap: 2016 Edition - Album Results

Well, this is one of those delayed posts I was talking about. I will progress through the results as I covered them. So that will be Album, Song and The General Field. I will link the prediction posts to save room here, and I hope that I can finish this in one post.

We start with the Album of The Year Awards. Like I said in that post, an album is more important than a song in that it is more difficult to make. We begin with Adult Contemporary/Inspirational Album of The Year. I shocked all of my regular readers when I picked Hillsong Open Heaven/River Wild. You see, I am a regular critic of the Church as it has spawned such a crop of copycats that it has almost wrecked the Modern Worship genre. Plus the fact that for the past few years the releases have had a "mailed in" quality, lacking fire. But I liked this one. It was the best Hillsong release in years. However the Dove Awards liked Amanda Cook and Brave New World better. (Score: 0/1)

Next up was Worship Album of The Year. I went with Let It Echo by Jesus Culture. The Doves went with Hillsong. Hillsong United and Empires. I panned the album for #PlatVnyl6 and it Missed The Mark. (Score: 0/2).

Moving On to Contemporary Gospel/Urban Album. I felt that the best album of the available choices by far was Kirk Franklin Losing My Religion and to my surprise so did the Doves. (Score: 1/3). I guess even a broken clock is correct twice a day.

The final Album Award that I made a pick for was Pop/Contemporary Album of The Year. They had a full slate of albums for this one, and it was difficult for me to pick. Of course they had Hillsong United here as well (a Miss The Mark for the PVA's) as well as This Is Not A Test by Toby Mac, an excellent album, though not particularly Pop. Perhaps Dance, Perhaps Rock, and Perhaps Rap, but not Pop. I went with Big Daddy Weave and Beautiful Offering. Well I may have felt that Toby Mac was miscast here, but not the GMA. They said This Is Not A Test. I guess I failed here. (Score: 1/4) 0.250 after the album portion of my predictions. 

Remember when I said I wanted this to be done in one post. Yeah, me neither. Wishful thinking. The Song Award recap will be 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.

Dove Awards 2016 Predictions: Song Awards

We move on to the song portion of the Dove Prediction Posts. Once again I will do a representative sample, not all of them. I may do a quick hits for all the rest in the final post. Songs are more subjective than albums, so in some cases I have done a "backup pick" if I think more than one song deserves to win. I will only count one loss, however, because there is only one award per genre.

We begin with Inspiration Song of The Year. I double down that the Dove's need to sift better between Worship and Inspirational. There is too much overlap. Anyway, the nominees:

• Pieces, Bethel Music
• Let It Be Jesus, Christy Nockels
• Heavens Shore, David Phelps
• O Praise The Name (Anastasis), Hillsong
• Til I Met You, Laura Story

MY PICK: Even though I thought It was a Worship Song, not Inspirational (and it Won Modern Worship Song of The Year for #PlatVnyl6), my pick is Let It Be Jesus.

Worship Song of The Year is Next, and it had one #PlatVnyl6 Song Nominee. 

• No Longer Slaves, Bethel Music
• Good Good Father, Chris Tomlin
• Touch The Sky, Hillsong
• We Believe, Travis Ryan
• Even So Come, Chris Tomlin

MY PICK: The judges at Night Beat HQ have been impressed with Bethel Church for quite a while, and we are going with No Longer Slaves.

Contemporary Gospel/Urban Song of The Year is next. Only one song on the list was on my list as well. The others I had not noticed. The nominees:

• Wait On You, Janice Gaines
• The Way That You Love Me, Jonathan McReynolds
• Wanna Be Happy, Kirk Franklin
• One Way, Tamela Mann
• I'm Good, Tim Bowman, Jr.

MY PICK: I Wanna Be Happy, and I want Kirk Franklin to be as well. I am picking this for the win.

Finally, we shall end this post with Rock/Contemporary Song of The Year, which I am going to interpret as Rock Song. The Nominees:

• God Is On The Move, 7th Time Down
• Move, Audio Adrenaline
• Happiness, Needtobreathe
• Take Me Over, RED
• Live On Forever, The Afters

MY PICK: Even though I thought It was alternative, there is no song better on this list than the Afters Live On Forever. However, I also made a backup pick of God Is On the Move by 7eventh Time Down. 

That does it for this post. We take on the General Field next. Until then, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

Dove Awards 2016 Predictions: Album Awards

We finally are getting down to our actual Dove Predictions due to #PlatVnyl6 issues. Fortunately for us the Dove's aren't until October 11, so we can still do this before it becomes a farce. We begin with the Album of The Year categories, which is proper, for an album is more involved than quite song. Inspirational Album of The Year  is first, and corresponds to our AC/Inspirational Album Award. Of the five nominees, only one came from the current awards. And that only made the initial pool. The other four nominees are in the #PlatVnyl7 pool. The nominees:

• Brave New World, Amanda Cook
• The Burning Edge of Dawn, Andrew Peterson
• Walls, Gateway Worship 
• Open Heaven/River Wild, Hillsong
• Hymns II; Shine On Us, Michael W. Smith

MY PICK: Hillsong. For those who know me this is a big surprise, since I have accused them of mailing it in for quite a while. However, I think the Australians have turned it around with this record and have rediscovered what made people love them.

Worship Album is next, and corresponds to our Modern Worship Album of The Year. Again of the five nominees, four are in the #PlatVnyl7 Pool which is still fluid and one was a Miss The Mark for #PlatVnyl6. The nominees: 

• Have It All, Bethel Music
• A Live Worship Experience, Casting Crowns
• Here As It Is In Heaven, Elevate Worship
• Empires, Hillsong United
• Let It Echo, Jesus Culture

MY PICK: Going with two similar groups of entries makes this tough. The Dove's should make a clearer line between worship and Inspirational. Though I will hedge myself in with Jesus Culture.

Contemporary Gospel/ Urban Album is next up and had two entries fro #PlatVnyl6, and three for the current eligibility year

• Masterpiece, Deitrick Haddon
• Life Music, Stage Two, Jonathan McReynolds
• Fearless, Jonathan Nelson
• Losing My Religion, Kirk Franklin
• You Shall Live, Marvin Sapp

MY PICK: I shall go with Kirk Franklin here. No tip off to who shall win next year.

Finally I shall take on the Pop/Contemporary Album category, which corresponds between Pop and AC/Insp. The Dove's exploded to 6 here:

• Beautiful Offering, Big Daddy Weave
• Empire, Hillsong United
• Be One, Natalie Grant
• How can It Be, Lauren Daigle
• Love Riot, Newsboys
• This Is Not A Test, Toby Mac

MY PICK: This is a tough one, with a lot of good choices, although some I would have had in other categories than this. I am going to go with Big Daddy Weave on this one.

I think that's representative enough. I shall tackle the Song Awards next. Until then, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

Not Better With Age: The 2016 Dove Awards Nominations

1969 was a momentous year. I turned 3 years old, and everything is momentous to a 3 year old. I don't know what my musical tastes were at the time, but I don't think it was at the top of the adult hit parade. As far as CCM is concerned, I entered the scene in 1977. I didn't know about the Dove Awards until much later.

In 47 years the Doves have remained largely unchanged. Except for adding Rap to the awards they still have nothing harder than Petra on the docket. They need to add a real rock category, as well as adding Metal, and Electronic/Dance if they ever wish to be taken seriously.

This year, due to the abundance of pool entries, we are just finished awarding #PlatVnyl6. The ceremony took place last night, and it had a few glitches. I think we broke Facebook. That is a month or so behind schedule. If a #PlatVnyl6 Dove Match happens I will say it was "a nominee", otherwise it will be "in the pool"

One final note: In last nights Award Ceremony had Awards in Album of The Year, Female Vocalist of The Year, Male Vocalist of The Year, Group of The Year, Metal, Remix, Rock, Electronic, Dance, Instrumental in Song and Album of The Year, and a complete Video Awards. The Doves have none of these. Talk About snubs. On to the comparisons next time. Until then, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

The Night Beat Summer Update #3

We are back with our occasional updates from Night Beat HQ. Things are crazy here, and then there is the weather.

PlatVny6 is almost ready for public consumption. The Video and Album Awards are in the bag, fully judged, and I am over halfway through the Song Section. Then there is just a few general field awards to judge before the results are sealed and certified by the cracked law firm of Youppa, Snoopa and Cow. I will let you know the final results, but right now we are looking at late August/early September for the Awards Ceremony.

The Nominations for the 47th Dove Awards are out (yeah, they've been here a bit longer than the Platinum Vinyl Awards, like 40). Just because they are older doesn't mean they are better. I'll be going through the nominations and then I'll take my pot shots make an informed comparison in a series of blog posts.

I think it is time to declare defeat. Music Video Monday is a mess. Now I am not giving up on the series, just giving it a Summer Vacation. It will return in September. That should give me enough time to get through the Doves and Platinum Vinyl Awards and return to a regular schedule. I will keep you posted on that.

Finally, it came to my attention this weekend about the sudden passing of Nelson Chu, aka DJ Official. He was only 39, and he was the DJ for Lecrae and was also associated with The Cross Movement. A rare form of bone marrow cancer took him out. He will be missed.

Sorry for ending on a downer, folks. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

Does The Night Beat Love Christian Music?

Does a Bear.... Enough of that. One of the more enjoyable parts of our job here at Night Beat HQ is taking pot shots  making informed predictions of how the other Music Awards will go. Now with the industry giant The Dove Awards, which is quickly fading into irrelevancy, though at its size and longevity it still has klout, there is no guessing. Usually I wind up no better than a coin flip and sometimes much worse.

The newer Awards, mostly all blog based, are another matter. These seem to have a better finger on the pulse of the public, and while better staffing may mean that they find more artists than I do, on a lot of cases we are picking the same nominees.

Case in point. The +We Love Christian Music Awards . They are one of the grasshoppers to our sensei (I wish). They are in their 4th Year and we are in the roll-up to #PlatVnyl6 next year, so we have two years seniority on them. They are pretty much on the same page this year, which is going to make picking really difficult without tipping my hand. Fortunately for me it is a fan vote award, so I can say who I thing will win, but judging a fan vote is really like picking a needle in a haystack, so I should be safe.

How close are The Night Beat and +NewReleaseToday ? Let's do a quick recap of the nominees. 9 Album Awards, 1 EP Award, 50 nominees. Of That we have 9 they nominated which we consider Pure Platinum (5 Emeralds), we'll stick with 9 though it could be 10 but since one album is nominated as well for album of the year and another category we won't count it twice. Another twenty nominees are for my wiggle room 4.75 Emerald Rating, where I just can't hand out perfection, even though I want to. Only three times did they give a nominee to someone I thought Missed The Mark with under a 4 Emerald Rating. That's extremely close, as I would judge distance. 

In the upcoming posts I will go over the nominees and attempt to make an accurate pick. When they announce the winners next year we shall see how close the fan base is. 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.

What is Christian Contemporary Music?

Don't ask me. Shocked you with that answer, didn't I. Despite the fact that I have been involved with Christian Music in some fashion for 40 years, I have no problem with admitting that I don't have a clue, and the truth is, neither does anyone else.

As a person who rates and makes criticism on the Christian Music Industry, let me tell you that of the three most useless descriptions on iTunes, two of them belong to Christian Music. They are CCM and Christian/Gospel. They appear so frequently that they give absolutely no clue as to how an artist or band will sound. Unless you're in the know, you wont. The other useless label is that of Singer/Songwriter. You would think that the title would scream folk music, you know the ubiquitous "Girl with Guitar" (Think early Amy Grant), but the title really could be placed on anyone. If Michael Sweet, lead singer of Stryper, writes his own songs, isn't he a singer/songwriter as well? Bands tend to get excluded from the label, however. (Now if we had Girl with Guitar and Glockenspiel, that changes everything).

Seriously though, the name now is applied to everything except Rock, Metal and Rap, and that is a shame. There are so many descriptive terms than CCM. And Christian/Gospel? Is it Urban Gospel?, Southern Gospel?, Just somebody who happens to be Christian and plays music? I think the 40th Anniversary of Christian Contemporary Music is the right time to retire the label. Instead of "Moving Beyond Genre" we should be moving towards them. Embrace labels such as Folk, Folk Rock, Dance, EDM, Industrial, Alternative, Rap, Hip Hop, Heavy Metal and many many more. We can finally ditch silly categories such as Pop/Contemporary at the Dove Awards. Maybe then we can get on to tackling the serious problems that plague the industry, like the recurring purges and witch hunts that happen every time someone gets caught in a "major sin". Newsflash, we all sin. We are to "Restore such a one in a spirit of meekness, considering yourself, lest you also be tempted." We are not supposed to remove all trace of them from shelves and pretend they never existed, which is putting it mildly.

And while I'm at it, maybe we can retire the old "We're not a Christian Band, we're a band whose members happen to be Christians" argument. The past 40 years have showed the industry that people are happy enough to have "clean" music. They don't need to have Jesus name uttered every other line. So bands like U2, Evanescence and others could be very happy with their Christian Audiences. We've been blessed by the Music, why can't the industry recognize them properly?

That's my rant for today. I'll try not to have one a day. I've got a lot to do otherwise. Picking winners for my sweepstakes, getting the 4th Quarter Out. Starting Judging, and commenting on the recently completed Dove Awards. But still, it needed to be said. 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.

The 2015 Dove Award Nominations: Song Song Blues

Though we are a bit delayed, we continue with our predictions as to who will win the 2015 Dove Awards. Since the awards wont be handed out until October, I am not going to miss anything. I will be a little bit bolder here. Not that I am no longer concerned about tipping my hand, just not as much. After all, if I like a song on the album, that's no indication I will love the album.

We begin with Worship Song. The five nominees were Great Are You Lord by All Sons and Daughters; Holy Spirit by Francesca Battistelli; Forever (We Sing Hallelujah) by Kari Jobe; Because He Lives (Amen) by Matt Maher; and This Is Amazing Grace by Phil Wickham. Based on the airplay ratings and popular opinion, I am going to go with Holy Spirit for the win, but that is just wrong. For pure power and feeling there is no argument. Forever (we sing Hallelujah) should win.

Pop/Contemporary Song (or Pop Song for the PVA's) had six entries: Come As You Are by Crowder; Shoulders by For King and COUNTRY; Touch The Sky by Hillsong United; How Can It Be by Lauren Daigle; We Believe by Newsboys; and Soul On Fire by Third Day. I really have no dog in the race for this one, but Lauren Daigle was a nominee in #PlatVnyl5 for AC/Insp. Plus I once knew a family of Daigle's, and coincidentally they had a baby daughter named Loren. I think For King and Country is going to take the Dove.

Rock Song was a real head-scratcher. Safety (ft Stephen Christian) by Fireflight; Darkest Part by Red; Good to be alive by Skillet; Furious Love by Veridia; and Dead Man by We As Human. Red and Fireflight are the #PlatVnyl6 nominees and I hope the winner is one of them. Veridia was a #PlatVnyl5 nominee and Skillet and We As Human were in #PlatVnyl4. I have a bad feeling that Skillet is going to win for an old song. Red should.

Rap Song nominees are Who You Know by Derek Minor; Sideways (feat Lecrae) by KB; All I Need Is You by Lecrae; Mansion by NF; and Volcano (ft Jonathan Thulin) by Rapture Ruckus. I'm going to predict Mansion as the winner with NF, though of the choices offered, I would pick Volcano, which is in the #PlatVnyl6 pool. One caveat though. Despite the Rap by Rapture Ruckus in the song, it is not a Rap Song. It plays more like EDM or Alternative Rock.

I will do Song of The Year, Artist, New Artist and Dabble with videos in the final post. Until then, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

The 2015 Dove Awards Nominations; Album of The Year

The Album Awards for the 2015 Dove Awards are down to the genre based awards. Yes, that is the bulk of the awards, but not giving honor to the album which rose above it all cross-genre seems a major oversight. Country, Southern Gospel, and Bluegrass aren't represented at the Platinum Vinyl Awards and wont be discussed. One small exception. Bluegrass has revitalized Contemporary Christian Music as hard as that may be to believe. Folk Rock and Rock and roll have The Vespers and Hip Hop has Whosoever South. There is a strong bluegrass influence in both.

One other quick note, I think the GMA needs to clean its closets out, so to speak, unless they are intentionally messing with me. Since I don't believe they even know I exist, I am going with the former. Most of the entries are in the #PlatVnyl6 pool so I can't comment without tipping my hand. A good amount of entries are in the already awarded #PlatVnyl5 pool, but a number of them are from #PlatVnyl4. It's time for the oldies to be let go. On to the albums

Worship Music corresponds to the Modern Worship Album of The Year with us. Three nominees (We Will Not Be Shaken, Bethel Music; Love Ran Red, Chris Tomlin; and Even So Come by Passion Conference) are in the #PlatVnyl6 pool. Based on results from 2013 and 2014 I will say that the winner should be one of these three. I know, that's an awful big limb I'm going out on. I said I don't want to show my cards. Red has been known to draw attention, though. Just shaking things up. The two nominees from #PlatVnyl5 (All Sons and Daughters (Self-Titled); and No Other Name, Hillsong Worship) took different paths. ASD was one of the final nominees in Folk/Folk Rock, and Hillsong Missed The Mark needed to gain the initial pool.

Pop Music (Pop/Contemporary in Dovespeak) has 6 entries, 4 of them in the current #PlatVnyl6 pool. (Tomlin; How Can It Be, Lauren Daigle; Saints and Sinners, Matt Maher; and Lead Us Back: Songs of Worship by Third Day). As much as I love Lauren Daigle's Powerful Voice, I don't think they will reward the newbie. I would either pick Tomlin as part of a multiple category win or #PlatVnyl5 pool entrant For King and COUNTRY.

Rock Music is a whole lot easier to pick. Of the 5 nominees four of them are from #PlatVnyl5 (Lowborn, Anberlin; Attack, Disciple; Fight The Silence, For Today; and Oxygen: Inhale, TFK). While I would be thrilled if the sole #PlatVnyl6 nominee, Red's Of Beauty and Rage won, I think the public sentiment in this horse race is for Disciple to win.

I'll just make a few predictions to shake things up in the other categories, since in a lot of them I didn't have any of the Dove nominees in my pool. Inspirational Album we'll go with Phillips, Craig and Dean's Above It All; Rock Contemporary to Colton Dixon's Anchor; Rap with Anomaly by Lecrae; Traditional Gospel with Any Given Sunday by Charles Jenkins; and Kierra Sheard's Graceland for Contemporary Gospel Album. Next time we will discuss the Song Awards. Until Then, I am Awaiting Your Reply. 

One Step Forward and Two Steps Back: The 2015 Dove Awards Nominations

If you've followed this blog for any length of time you know that I have been highly critical of the "Industry Awards" (Grammy and Dove). In fact it is because of them that I created the Platinum Vinyl Awards back when I started. We are just wrapping up the nominations process for year 6 by the way. Still, if I hope to maintain any sense of professionalism, I have to keep watch on the competition.

Well it is that time once again as the new Fall Dove Awards has issued its nomination list, and my feelings are quite mixed. They have finally expanded their knowledge base of Christian Artists to include some fairly popular bands. In one case, however, the band has broken up. I guess better late than never.

Of course some moves leave you scratching your head. They got rid of Album of The Year but kept Song of The Year. Now I know writing a song isn't easy (If it was I would have written one) but an Album is a collection of at least 10 songs, so Album of The Year is therefore more of an honor.

On the other hand, they went from two artist of the year awards (Artist and New Artist, which is standard) to FIVE, with the genre based Gospel, Southern Gospel, and Contemporary Christian Artist thrown in as well. Why not do it for all the genres? Because even the GMA knows that to do that would be to turn the Doves into a joke. Hey, at least they got rid of that ridiculous "Performance of The Year" category. Best Concert? That's what I thought it meant.

I will be going through the Album, Song and other awards when they overlap with mine and make my choices when I can. Since a lot of the nominees are also in the #PlatVnyl6 pool I can't say too much about it without tipping my hand. Very Sneaky GMA. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

The 45th Dove Awards Recapped: Album of The Year

The Dove Awards were recently announced, and the time has come for me to give the whole thing a thumbs up or a thumbs down. I know, a thumbs down is always more fun. Things are a bit more problematic this time around. There are a lot of #PlatVnyl5 albums in the mix, and it's tough to comment when those awards are in progress. If you ask me they did it on purpose.

We begin with the Album of The Year Awards. The Platinum Vinyl Awards is the only one of the two to still have a General Field Album of The Year. The Dove's are Song Only in that regard. Of course with the genres the Dove's also have a bunch of junk like southern gospel and country which will not cross this desk, but I digress.

45th Dove Awards Recap

Album of The Year vs. Platinum Vinyl Awards

Praise and Worship Album of The Year corresponds with our Modern Worship Album of The Year. The nominees were Home by Kim Walker-Smith and Skyler Smith; Kingdom Come by Bryan and Katie Torwalt; Majestic by Kari Jobe; Passion: Take It All; and We are Young and Free by Hillsong Young and Free.  Of the 5 nominees only Kim Walker-Smith was in the #PlatVnyl4 pool, and did not make the finals. The other four releases, including winner Kari Jobe, are in the pool for #PlatVnyl5. I can not comment except to say that Jobe's album got a Perfect 5 Rating during the eligibility year.

Special Event Album of the Year goes against Compilation of the Year. They gave the award to The Cathedrals, enough said.

Children's Music Album of The Year has four of the five albums in the current eligibility year. Well really three, but I have to check out a veggie tales release that I haven't heard of.

Contemporary Gospel/Urban Album of The Year goes against our Gospel/R&B Album of The Year. Three of the five albums in the final are in the current award year. The winner Tye Tribbet and Greater Than, was an album in the original #PlatVnyl4 pool but did not make the cut to the finals. Help by Erica Campbell; Love Never Fails by Micah Stampley and Power and Authority by Sherri Jones-Moffett are all in the current pool.

Here's where things get a little difficult. Inspirational Album of the Year would seem to correspond with our Adult Contemporary/Inspirational Album of the Year except for those pesky /Contemporary awards this group has. This time it seems to match up with three of the five in this years original eligibility year. One I couldn't find anywhere so it gets tossed. Michael W. Smith won for Hymns. It did not make the pool for contention. I Dream of You by JJ Heller is in the Children's Music Pool and The Folk Pool, exclusive to the PVA's.

Pop/Contemporary Album of The Year most likely corresponds to Pop Album of the Year, at least it does this year around. The Winner of the category was Mandisa with Overcomer. It was a #PlatVnyl4 album but did not make the finals for its category. The other four albums are #PlatVnyl5. Ellie Holcomb and As Sure As The Sun and Thrive by Casting Crowns did not make the pool. The two that did were If We're Honest by Francesca Battistelli and We Are Young and Free by Hillsong Young and Free. 

Rock/Contemporary Album of The Year can be anything from Pop to Rock and they already have a Rock Category. (There Are NO Metal Awards). This year the category approximates Alternative Album of The Year. 3 of the 5 came from #PlatVnyl4. Everfound's self titled release did not make the pool and I am Mountain by Gungor and Inland by Jars of Clay did but did not make the final 7.  The Two #PlatVnyl5 contenders in this grouping are Switchfoot and Fading West in Alternative and Needtobreathe's Rivers In The Wasteland, which is in the rock pool.

Rock Album of The Year had three of the five nominees in the #PlatVnyl4 pool: Fear Inside Our Bones by The Almost which did not make the finals, and Rise by Skillet and the self titled album by We Are Human, both of which made the final 7 but neither of which won. That honor went to John Elefante this year. Skillet won the category in the doves. The #PlatVnyl5 contenders here are Scott Stapp's Proof of Life and Red's Release The Panic: Recalibrated Edition.

The final genre Album Award to compare was Rap Album of the Year, which corresponds to our Rap/Hip Hop Album of The Year. It was an all #PlatVnyl5 category which makes things real difficult. 100 by KB; Minorville by Derek Minor; Neverland by Andy Mineo; and Royal Flush by Flame all are in the initial pool. Only Invader by Rapture Ruckus did not make it in.

That does it for the album wrap. Song and General Field are yet to come. Until then, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

Dissecting The Doves

I Think I shall finally do my annual wrap-up of the Dove Awards, though it seems that things have been reduced to the ridiculous on their own due to the 18 month eligibility year in order to switch from an April to an October Award. All that was fixed was the placement of the award, nothing else.

The +Dove Awards have always seemed to me to have been a popularity contest, more than any of them. Even the +Grammy Awards, when they had a Christian Category worth mentioning, which they don't anymore, had a better finger on the pulse of what people listened to. I used to call the Dove's the Amy and Smitty Show. Since they aren't really in the public eye anymore on a regular basis, that has abated.

Unfortunately, the process of block voting, as it were, has not changed. This year the favorites were Matt Redman and +Toby Mac. Both of them had perfect nominations. Now while I am accusing nothing, I am just saying that the Doves seems to be prone to sloppy voting practices. It's almost as if we say, this year we are going to give the award to X and, regardless of how the album actually is, they win. Now I usually expect such shenanigans from the Emmy Awards. Those are usually fraught with winners whose "turn" had come. Usually in a crappy movie, though, and for a less than stellar performance. But I digress. In this case Eye On It was far from Toby's best, plus it came out over a year ago. It was for the previously awarded PVA's and it didn't win. Same with Redman. He won awards for his song 10,000 Reasons, which came off an album from July 2011. It should have been dropped from contention due to age.

In addition to Redman's 5/5 Night and Toby Mac going 4/4, there were also a number of categories where the Song winner was from the album winner. Now I may have done that as well, but to my knowledge there is no rule that that must be the case. It was a hat trick at the Dove's, because it happened in Contemporary Gospel, Traditional Gospel, and Hip Hop.

One more gripe and I'm done. Demon Hunter's album True Defiance was one of my best albums of 2012 (#8), and all the Dove's liked about it was the Album Cover. Glad you recognized something about it guys, but it should have been nominated for much more.

The Awards came out back in October, and it's now November. It's an old, possibly irrelevant post. And I'm fine with it. If it's good enough for the Dove's then it should be good enough for all. Just Kidding. Here's hoping the next Dove's improves. Until then you always have the +The WENC Night Beat and the +We Love Christian Music Awards, which, despite adding a Southern Gospel and Country category this year, has a much superior field of nominees. I guess you can learn something from us young ones. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

Confessions of the Candyman

"Who can take a sunrise...." Well, that's how I feel right now, anyway. When I first started this blog three years ago I set about to set right the rampant favoritism in the major award shows. Now I think I may have fallen prey to the same malady. The Perfect 5 Emerald rating was designed for a release which "blew me away", so to speak. That seems to be happening a lot this year. At the time I vowed that there would never be a case where 5's were able to fill an entire genre. I may have to eat those words this year.

Through three quarters of eligible releases, I have handed out a whopping 27 perfect 5's (Ouch!). Here is the breakdown by genre.

• Children: 1
• Folk/Folk Rock: 4
• Dance/Synthpop: 6 (5 Remixes)
• Electronic/Industrial: 2 (1 Remix)
• Gospel: 2
• Alternative: 5
• Modern Worship: 1
• Rap: 3
• Hard Rock/Metal: 1
• Rock: 2

AC/Inspirational and Pop have zero fives through three quarters, so they and Children, Electronic, Gospel, Modern Worship, Hard Rock, Rock and Rap should be fine, but Folk, Dance and and Alternative are just about filled with 5's alone. Remember the final nominees for any genre are supposed to be seven, and there are still two months to go. 5's are a lock, remember.

Since I'm obviously in the habit of giving things away, don't forget to enter the Great 3rd Birthday Giveaway at my Facebook Page.

They say confession is good for the soul. We shall see. All I know is that it should be an interesting award season next year. And here I am complaining about the Dove's. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

The Songs of The Mourning Dove, Part Two

In my last post I discussed the return of the Dove Awards after an eighteen month hiatus. In that post I gave the GMA some suggestions from the recently concluded 3rd Platinum Vinyl Awards. In this post I will make suggestions, without showing all my cards, from the upcoming 4th Platinum Vinyl Awards Pool. The eligibility year for that is now in its fourth quarter.

Because the folks at the Gospel Music Association are terrified of synthesizers (They may have accepted electric guitars, but I think they still believe Mr Moog was an agent of the devil), there are a few possibilities that I don't think they will ever consider. Especially since good Christian boys and girls don't dance.

• III - Shiny Toy Guns
• The Electro Pop: Deluxe - V. Rose
• Glowing Collision, V1 - Andy Hunter
• Har Megiddo Remixed - Har Megiddo
• New Horizons - DJ Magellan (feat Lara Landon)
• Reconstructions - David Thulin

Then there is that pesky "spirituality test" that pops up whenever an artist successfully "takes the cross over" to the mainstream. If there is even a bobble on the Christian tightrope, they join the ranks of "the fallen". Hence, in addition to Shiny Toy Guns (I love that name), I doubt we shall see any of the following among the nominees.

• Almeria - Lifehouse
• Paramore - Paramore
• Vital - Anberlin

This final list I believe should make it though the Dove Committee, though you never can tell with them.

• A Creation Liturgy - Gungor
• O God Save Us All - Disciple
• Kings and Queens - Audio Adrenaline
• Loved - JJ Heller
• Miracle - Third Day
• The Space We Create - Terra, Terra, Terra
• Still Believe - Kim Walker-Smith
• The White Room - Jonathan Thulin

 That finishes my recommendations to the Dove Award nominating committee. We shall see, when the nominees are announced on August 21, 2013. Comment on this post or the previous one about possible ones that I missed, or additions you would like to see. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

The Songs of The Mourning Dove

The 2012 +Dove Awards nominations will be announced on August 22. 2013. The Last time we had any contact with the Gospel Music Association was in April 2012, when they conferred awards for releases made between November 1, 2010 and October 31, 2011. That's fifteen months ago, folks. During that span of time we have seen the collapse of the "Christian Section" of the Grammy Awards to a two category joke. With the Dove's Offline, things would be really dark if it were not for the rise of independent award shows like our own Platinum Vinyl Awards, now in its fourth year of eligibility, and The +We Love Christian Music Awards of New Release Tuesday.

With three years under our belt, the Platinum Vinyl Awards are the undisputed king at the moment (how's that for self image). So, we're going to hand out some free advice to the good folks at the GMA's. Having these albums among the nominees this year will help people forget about your absence. 

The following albums won an award at the 3rd PVA's.

• A Little Heart Like You, Martha's Trouble
• Awakened, As I Lay Dying
• Burnt Offerings, Rekonciled
• Dead and Alive, +The Devil Wears Prada 
• The Fourth Wall, The Vespers
• God, Love and Romance, Fred Hammond
• Make It Right, Abel
• Overcome, +Lara Landon 
• The Quiet Life, Anchor and Braille
• Remembering You, Poema
• Rest, +Beckah Shae 
• World We View, Nine Lashes

Also, it wouldn't help if the following "perfect albums" were included.

• Current, +Sarah Macintosh
• Feel The Power, +Blessed By A Broken Heart 
• Give Us Rest, David Crowder Band
• True Defiance, Demon Hunter
• Wait For The Siren, Project 86

That concludes part one, my Dove Nominee suggestions from the 3rd Platinum Vinyl Awards, handed out back in May. In my next post I will, without showing too many cards, pass on a few nominations from the upcoming 4th pool. Until then, I am Awaiting Your Reply.