By Matt Wickstrom

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Nominees have been announced for the fifth annual Lexington Music Awards, to be held Sunday, Jan. 27, 2019 at 6 p.m. at the Lyric Theatre and hosted by WLEX-TV’s Bill Meck and Angie Beavin. The announcement came via a special announcement broadcast of Overtones with Renee Collins and Whitney Acke yesterday afternoon on Lexington Community Radio (93.9 WLXU-FM).

Vanessa Davis (Jay Flippin Music Edu, Best Female Vocalist, Best Pop, Best Singer-Songwriter) and Ivyrye (Best in Pop, Best in Rock, Best Male Vocalist for Deven Roberts, Best Guitarist for Colin Michael) lead the way in nominations with four. They are followed by Restless Leg String Band (Best in Bluegrass, Best Strings Player for Ishi Wooton, Best Bassist for Joe Schlaak), Maggie Lander (Best Strings Player, Best in Americana/Folk with The Rooster’s Crow, Song of the Year for “Painkiller”) and Rhyan Sinclair (Best in Americana/Folk, Best in Country, Album of the Year for Barnstormer).

Other artists and organizations with multiple nominations include Magnolia Boulevard (Best in Rock, Best Keys Player for Ryan Allen), Taylor Hughes (Best Female Vocalist, Best in Country), Sour Cream (Best in Rock, Album of the Year for Sour Cream), The Twisted Cork (Best Venue, Community Service for Songwriters in the Round), Willcutt Guitars (Best Gear Store, Best Gear Repair), Hurst Music (Best Gear Store, Best Gear Repair for Karen Gleason) and The Burl (Best Venue, Best Sound Tech for Christopher Wheeler).

View all nominees for the awards below. For more information visit lexingtonmusicawards.org.

INDUSTRY

Venue:

• The Burl
• Manchester Music Hall
• Twisted Cork
• Green Lantern

Gear Store:

• Doo Wop Shop
• Hurst Music
• Willis Music
• Willcutt Guitars

Music Business (all areas):

• Fyre Entertainment LLC
• POPS Resale
• CD Central
• The Album

Studio/engineer:

• Sneak Attack – Jason Groves
• NitroSonic – April Edwards
• Long Island Recording – Steve Nall
• The Dojo – Steve White

Sound tech:

• Gator Harrison
• Christopher Wheeler 
• Matthew Florez 
• Kris Morris

Radio DJ:

• Kenny Cummings (indie)
• Joey Truax (WLXU)
• Leo “Freakdaddy” Brown (iHeart Radio)
• Walt Cee (Walter Hampton) (WLXU)

Gear repair:

• RS Guitarworks
• Willcutt Guitars
• Mike Mankel (Bourbon Barrel GTR)
• Karen Gleason (Hurst Music)

Jay Flippin Music Edu Award:

• Beth Dean (Studio 88)
• Paulie Felice (SDML)
• Vanessa Davis
• Marcello Cormio (CKYO)

PERFORMANCE

Female vocals:

• Vanessa Davis
• Taylor Hughes
• Letitia Allen
• Anna Thiel

Male vocals:

• Deven Roberts
• Frank Mabson
• Gary Bertram
• Shawn Hatchell

Drummer:

• Jeff Frohlich
• Trey Bledsoe
• John Knight
• Danielle Barkman

Ben Lacy Guitar Award:

• Daniel Phelps
• Todd Stricklin
• Colin Michael
• Ross Whitaker

Bass:

• Steve Nall
• Joe Schlaak 
• Tom Covella
• David Langley

Keys:

• Lee Carroll
• Ryan Allen 
• Beth Dean
• Harold Sherman

Wind/Brass:

• Joseph Carucci 
• Michael Cruse
• Paul Osborne
• Robert Smith

Strings:

• Ishi Wooton 
• Maggie Lander 
• George Wakim
• Blakeley Burger

STYLE

Americana/Folk

• Rainbow Star
• Rhyan Sinclair
• Rooster’s Crow
• Corey Johnson & Taylor Hampton

TeeDee Young Blues Award:

• Robert Frahm Trio
• Rachel Crowe
• Jeremy Short
• Lightning Rod & the Thunderbolts

Bluegrass:

• Dark Moon Hollow
• The Wooks
• Restless Leg String Band
• Southland Drive

Classical:

• Lexington Philharmonic
• EKU Guitar Ensemble
• Alluring Handbell Ensemble
• CKYO

Country:

• Taylor Hughes
• A Little Bit More
• Jake Ellis
• Rhyan Sinclair

Hip-Hop/Rap:

• Devine Carama
• Trap DaVo
• Sheisty Krist
• Eric Pistol Combs

Jazz/World:

• Alma Gitana
• DOJO
• Michael Cruse
• BAJA

Funk/reggae/R&B:

• Sunny Cheeba
• Driftwood Gypsy
• Boogie G & Titanics
• Rob Dread & KMA

Pop:

• Vanessa Davis
• Brother Smith
• Big Fresh
• Ivyrye

Rock:

• Sour Cream
• Ivyrye
• Magnolia Blvd
• Mojo Thunder

Cover:

• Powerplay
• Grave Yard Romeos
• Honeychild
• The Bats

Singer-Songwriter:

• Vanessa Davis
• Gary Bertam
• Olivia Peppiatt
• Michael Tyree

SPECIAL

Critics Choice (TBA)

Lifetime (TBA)

Community Service:

• Twisted Cork Songwriters in the Round
• Devine Carama
• Freddie Moore
• Chester Grundy

Album of the Year

• Barnstormer – Rhyan Sinclair
• GYR – Grave Yard Romeos
• Pistol – Eric Pistol Combs
• Sour Cream – Sour Cream

Song of the Year:

• “Painkiller” – Maggie Lander
• “Berea” – Rainbow Star
• “We Will Conquer” – Eric Pistol Combs
• “Behind Closed Doors” – Ray Adams and Whitney Acke

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RELATED:

• WICK’S PICKS: Ep. 47 – 12/10/18 (w/ Geno Seale and Rhyan Sinclair)
• The Wooks get the call for Hogs for the Cause and Blue Ox Music Festival
• Restless Leg String Band and Wayne Graham bring a taste of Kentucky to Columbus
• Joslyn & The Sweet Compression celebrate debut release in style with Magnolia Boulevard
• Wick’s Picks: Ep. 44 – 11/19/18 (w/ Maggie Lander and J. Tom Hnatow)
• Dark Moon Hollow bring foot-stomping honky-tonk to Red Barn Radio debut
• Wick’s Picks: Ep. 40 – 10/15/18 (w/ The Wooks and ivyrye)
• Taking it personally: New EP ‘Old Flame’ shares musician’s story of tragedy, triumph
• Wick’s Picks: Ep. 38 – 10/1/18 (w/ Brett Horton and Donnie Bowling)
• Wick’s Picks: Ep. 35 – 9/10/18 (w/ Michael Tyree, Jared Lee and Andrew Hibbard)
• Wick’s Picks: Ep. 34 – 8/27/18 (w/ DeBraun Thomas, Joslyn & The Sweet Compression, Petefest)
• Big Fresh celebrates the release of “Sweeps” at The Burl (Photos)
• Joslyn & The Sweet Compression and Natalie Prass at The Burl (Photos)
• Wick’s Picks: Ep. 33 – 8/20/18 (w/ Big Fresh, Donald Mason, Kevin Dalton)
• Magnolia Boulevard teams up with fellow PRS artist Boscoe France for a fiery throwdown at The Burl (Photos)
• Wick’s Picks: Ep. 32 – 8/13/18 (w/ John R. Miller, Magnolia Boulevard, Katie Didit, Vivian Leigh)
• The Rooster’s Crow and Magnolia Boulevard bring the heat to Crave (PHOTOS)
• Restless Leg String Band working hard to have a good time on new album
• Wick’s Picks: Ep. 27 – 7/2/18 (w/ Nicholas Jamerson, Grayson Jenkins, Dark Moon Hollow)
• Lexington 17-year-old shows ‘maturity well beyond her years’ on solo debut
• Wick’s Picks: Ep. 25 – 6/20/18 (w/ Rhyan Sinclair)
• Wick’s Picks: Ep. 23 – 6/6/18 (Festival of the Bluegrass Edition)
• Wick’s Picks: Ep. 22 – 5/30/18 (w/ Restless Leg String Band)
• Premiere: Magnolia Boulevard mesh funky jams with hardship on ‘Ride’
• Wick’s Picks: Ep. 21 – 5/23/18 (w/ Magnolia Boulevard)
• ‘Something felt special from the first note’ — Lexington band’s first year ends in debut record
• Premiere: Joslyn & The Sweet Compression flash funk and soul on “Honey, Be”
• Wick’s Picks: Ep. 13 – 3/28/18 (w/ Jeremy Short)
• Wick’s Picks: Ep. 10 – 3/7/18 (w/Arthur Hancock and CJ Cain of The Wooks)
• Listen to The Wooks new cut “Me and the Stars” feat. Michael Cleveland
• Wick’s Picks: Grayson Jenkins, Wesley Smith and Ryan Allen LIVE in studio (2/7/18)
• Wick’s Picks: Magnolia Boulevard LIVE in studio (1/31/18)
• Wookin’ Ahead
• A chance encounter and leap of faith led to Magnolia Boulevard
• Ghost tour inspires album for ‘Rhyan Sinclair & All The Little Pieces’
• Wooks make waves with debut ‘Little Circles’
• Restless Leg String Band guitarist on the making of the band’s first album
• Driftwood Gypsy’s ‘dabstomp’ roll from Al’s Bar through festival season
• Banjo-picking Wooks hit Green Lantern on Thursday