And the 2020 Winners Are.....(& Wrap Up)

WHAT AN AMAZING EVENING! The flu struck down 4 presenters, one team leader, several guides, and one performer.....so the incredible Chester Grundy opened the show with a few words, Kristy Beers stepped in on hours notice to perform an incredible flute piece in Whit's absence, Caroline & Autumn stepped in to organize the backstage madness, Greg Francis and Kat Green even climbed the rafters (literally) and pulled their best Macyver to hang the banners, the Lyric tech crew did their magic in record time, Teresa Moberly, Marcie Timmerman, & Angelee Feltner took up all my slack, our presenters did double duty....and it all came together!

Dr Everett McCorvey - Lifetime Achievement recipient!

Probably the rowdiest crowd yet - haha! - and the Mojo Tones fed that with their raucous brand of the blues as our house band! We also had stunning performances from Kailie Settles, Phoebe White, Liza Binford & Vanessa Davis, Ivy Rye, Kristy Beers (as mentioned above) the LaFayette HS Drum Line, who marched in from the back of the theater and played in the aisles!

Bill Meck and Angie Beavin of WLEX did an incredible job, as always, giving the event equal parts class and humor, with an array of fabulous presenters (Drew Curtis of Fark.Com fame, Max Corona & Jay Alexander from WBVX & WBTF, David Helmers of Railbird Festival, Deadair Dennis & Beerman, Autumn Barber of Lex Community Orchestra, Pamula Hounchell of Fashionable Measures, Twitch & MJ from Z-103, Leigh Roach & Tamara Schneider of KY Tastebuds) that even saw Drew bringing out his daughter to read the names of nominees!

Edd MacKey brought in the fabulous designers and models from Lexington Fashion Collaborative (organized on-site by Caroline Powell) to be our presenter guides again this year!

Two new categories included metal and punk, the latter category featuring the only tie of the evening.

Ale-8 and Maker's Mark and Highbridge Springs provided the works for Ale-8/Maker's Slushies, Ranada's provided fabulous food (including a taco bar) and a full bar, Highbridge Springs also had a new water especially for mixing with good old KY bourbon! Extra hugs in this department to Sheila Vaughn for the extra assistance.

official poster for 2020

Harrod Concrete was another of our sponsors, and it should be noted that they've been with us all 6 years so far, as has our media partner WLEX TV-18! HUGE thanx to them and their undying support! Additional thanx to local media who have gotten behind us!

We didn't have the fancy car in front of the Lyric Theatre (also out home for all 6 years) that we had hoped for, but a wide array of area businesses & festivals  came together to provide extras (from gift cars to pay gigs) for all the award recipients...and the entire event was captured by our official photographer Damien McLean and videographer Jay Hamon....and we had several other top-flight photographers also working the event. I'll post a few more photos here and links to video & photo albums will be available at our Official FB Page.

The after-party was at Ranada's again this year, (who also provided free food bar) and it was packed for hours of musicians making merry!

All in all, an incredible evening!

So with that, let's give a hand to all our pro panel (Donald Mason, Andrew Ross Grigson, NP Presley, Brandon Hurley, Vanessa Davis, Danielle Elizabeth Barkman, Joseph Carucci, Marcus L. Wilkerson, Rhyan Sinclair) and ALL of our nominees...and with that, the 2020 Lexi Music Awards winners are:

INDUSTRY:
Best Venue: The Burl
Best Music Store: Drum Center of Lexington
Best Music Company: Listen Locally
Best Studio/Engineer: Sneak Attack/Jason Groves
Best Sound Tech: Wallace "Gator" Harrison
Best Radio DJ: Deadair Dennis
Best Instrument Repair: Willcutt Guitars
Jay Flippin Music Educator Award: Kevin Holm-Hudson

PERFORMANCE:
Female Vocal: Chelsea Nolan
Male Vocal: Josh Nolan
Drums/Percussion: Dave Farris
Ben Lacy Guitar Excellence Award: Todd Stricklin
Bass: Steve Nall
Keyboard: Ryan Allen
Brass/Wind: Matthew Polashek
Strings: Justin Riley

STYLE:
Americana/Folk: Trippin' Roots
Bluegrass: The Wooks
TeeDee Young Blues Excellence Award: Rachel Crowe
Classical: Lexington Philharmonic
Country: Tyler Halsey
Funk/R&B/Reggae: Driftwood Gypsy
Hip-Hop/Rap: Devine Carama
Jazz/Latin/Big Band/World: Lee Carroll
Metal: Grave Yard Romeos
Pop: Wicked Peace
Punk: (tie) Sempervivi -and- Them God Damn Bangs 
Rock: Bedford Band
Singer-Songwriter: Cody Morgan
Cover/Variety: Eight Daze Sober

NP Presley accepting Critics Choice for MojoThuder

SPECIAL:
Song of the Year: "Life Is Good" - Ivy Rye

Album of the Year: "Carry the Water" - Mama Said String Band

Critics Choice: Mojo Thunder 

Community Service: Devine Carama - Believing in Forever

Lifetime Achievement Awards: 

- LaFayette HS Marching Band
- Tony Briggs
- Ed Commons
- Everett McCorvey

Thank you everyone for an amazing evening!