San Diego Music Awards sets 2021 performers; nominees include Gregory Page, Rebecca Jade and P.O.D.
Charles McPherson, Jason Mraz and Switchfoot are also nominated. Performers for Aug. 24 event at Humphreys include Brisa Lauren, Electric Mud, The Frets, Ed Kornhauser, and more
The nominees for the 2021 edition of the San Diego Music Awards have been announced. They include such nationally and internationally celebrated area artists as Switchfoot, Jason Mraz, P.O.D. and jazz great Charles McPherson.
The performers at this year’s Aug. 24 event at Humphreys Concerts by the Bay will all be making their San Diego Music Awards debuts. They include Electric Mud, Brisa Lauren, Marujah, Chickenbone Slim and The Biscuits, The Frets and Ed Kornhauser.
That contrast is largely by design, according to Kevin Hellman, who founded the awards in 1991 and held the 2020 edition online because of the COVID-19 shutdown of live events.
“I’m looking at our August event as a reopening of the local music scene, so I really wanted to book artists who haven’t performed before,” Hellman told the Union-Tribune Tuesday.
“That doesn’t mean I didn’t make calls to Jason Mraz and Switchfoot. But they both hope to be out touring again in August, so it works out even better making this a live and local event. This will be the first get-together with many of our local musicians in one spot in quite a long time.”
Acclaimed troubadour Gregory Page is this year’s top contender, with nominations for Album of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Video and Best Pop Album. The Carlsbad band Aviator Stash has three nominations.
Among the artists with two nominations each are Mraz, Rebecca Jade, Switchfoot, Whitney Shay, Electric Mud, The Frets, Coral Bells, Casey Hensley and keyboardist Ed Kornhauser, the only artist this year nominated for both Album of the Year and Best Jazz Album honors.
The 2021 Country Dick Montana Lifetime Achievement Award recipient has yet to be announced. Because of the pandemic, there is no Artist of the Year category this year.
“The Artist of the Year winners in the past have primarily been chosen on the basis of their live performances,” Hellman said. “So in place of Artist of the Year, we have added six Best Song categories, which lend themselves to what musicians have been doing for the past 14 months — staying home and writing and recording.”
Online voting will start May 15 at noon and run through June 30 at sandiegomusicawards.com, with a limit of one vote per person per day.
Tickets for the Aug. 24 awards presentations and concert at Humphreys go on sale Monday at eventbrite.com. General admission tickets are $35 each, while reserved VIP table seats are $100 each.
All proceeds benefit the San Diego Music Foundation’s Guitars for Schools program. The awards are presented under the auspices of the nonprofit foundation, which to date has raised $646,000 for Guitars for Schools.
San Diego Music Awards 2021 nominees
For a full list of nominees in all categories, go to sandiegomusicawards.com/2021-nominees.
Album of the Year
Alfred Howard, “Writes Vol.1”
Aviator Stash, “PSIYH”
Casey Hensley, “Good As Gone”
Ed Kornhauser, “The Short Years”
Electric Mud, “Communication”
Gregory Page, “One Hell of a Memory”
Whitney Shay, “Stand Up!”
Song of the Year
Aviator Stash, “Hype”
Gregory Page, “Green Lights & Blue Skies”
Rebecca Jade (with Jason Mraz), “Bad Wolves”
SM Familia, “Rise Up”
Switchfoot (featuring Jenn Johnson), “Joy Invisible”
The Frets, “Tell”
The Sully Band, “Never Gonna Give Up”
Video of the Year
Gregory Page, “Right Now Not Tomorrow”
Heavy Hawaii, “Boy Don’t Drown”
P.O.D., “Christmas Lullaby”
Plunderbund, “Home”
Rebecca Jade (with Jason Mraz), “Bad Wolves”
Switchfoot, “Live from a Hot Air Balloon”
The Monroes, “Rosemary’s Daughter”
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