New Mexico Music Awards

Watch the Mariachi Spectacular
Video Documentary

2009 Winners List

Hillary Smith’s 2008 CD, “No Easy Way” took top honors as
best CD of the year for the 22nd annual New Mexico Music
Awards. Smith also walked away with Best Vocal Performance
and Best Remake trophies and the CD garnered a Best Producer
nod for producer’s Luis Guerra and John Rangel and
a Best Engineer awards for Andrew Click of Stepbridge Studios.

Other winners included engineer/producer John Wall and his group Illustrated Man
for their performance in the Alternative Rock, Electronica and Best Pop CD
categories, Las Cruces based Steve Smith and Hard Road in the Bluegrass
and Gospel categories, and Michael Muldoon for Best Song.

New to the competition this year were Justin Holub, winner in the
Rock-Adult Contemporary category for his song, “Sleeping Dog”;
Sean Healen & John Kurzweg for Best Rock CD “Floodplain”;
Brandon Ruckus Rock-Metal performance for “Six Shots ‘til I Die”
and Gene Romero’s Purple Cactus Ramblers for
“La Gran Cosecha” as Best Hispanic Traditional.

For a complete list of the 2009 winners, click here.

The 2009 awards featured performances by The James Douglas Show,
Jennifer Barre, Kathleen Sabo, Meredith Blis, Sean Healan & John Kurzweg, Illustrated Man and an incredible all star performance produced by Larry Mitchell that featured vocalists Hillary Smith, James Douglas and Cristen Grey.

Johnny Dagucon, Hank Wickham and Lewie Wickham received the Eric Larson Lifetime Achievement Award and performed, once again, as the Hank & Lewie Wickham Trio. This award is given annually in recognition of NMMA co-founder Eric Larson. An endowment at the University of New Mexico in Mr. Larson;s name was created in 2005.

Our thanks to our sponsors, Grandma’s Music & Sound and High Fidelity Mastering and to Gary Mathews and the audio and lighting crew of Quickbeam Audio for their spectacular work.

Additional thanks to Larry Mitchell for his production of the Songwriter’s Showcase and the All Star Performance, our interns Antoinette Urioste and Michelle Metzner, volunteers Paul Pino, Donna Geist & Chrys McMillan, Tammy Archibeque and the staff of the Albuquerque Marriott Pyramid Hotel, Tom Rutherford, our presenters, performers and participants. Without you, none of this would be possible. God bless you all.

OTHER NEWS AND EVENTS:

Duplicate trophies are available until June 30th from the NMMA. Each trophy is $34.95 plus $5.95 shipping and handling. Engraving on the trophy cannot be changed from original inscription on the entry form. To order, send your check or money order, quantity and category in which the award was presented to NMMA, PO BOX 6552, Albuquerque, NM 87197.

The Eric Larson Endowment has reached its initial goal and will begin granting scholarship monies beginning with the fall semester of 2009. Our next goal is to reach $100,000.00 over the next five years. Our thanks to Belinda Jenzen, Sandra Kosen and their staff at the UNM Foundation offices for helping to make this endowment a reality. Please consider a tax-deductible gift to the UNM Foundation and help us achieve this goal. Make your checks payable to:

UNM Foundation/Eric Larson Endowment
700 Lomas NE
Two Woodward Center
Albuquerque, NM, 87131

Click on the picture of Eric on the left to find out how you can contribute online. The NMMA contributes a minimum of $1000.00 annually to this endowment. For more information, please visit http://www.ericlarsonendowment.com/.

Eric’s daughter, Robbie Bova, and the NMMA are also in the process of putting together a benefit concert event for 2010. Anyone interested in being a part of this event can e-mail joseponce@aol.com

The Albuquerque Songwriter’s Series features three New Mexico songwriters a month in performance, talking about their work and the process of songwriting and is hosted by Rob Martinez, Jr. The group meets from 7-9 PM on the first Thursday of every month at the Slade Street Café, 515 Slate, in Albuquerque. This program sponsored by the City of Albuquerque Music Office. For more information, contact Albuquerque City Music Liaison Tom Frouge at tfrouge@cabq.gov or visit the city website at http://www.cabq.gov/music/news.html for more information about City of Albuquerque music events.

The New Mexico Jazz Workshop’s 33rd Annual Summer Music Festival begins at the Albuquerque Museum with Salsa Under the Stars on May 29th featuring the music of Ocho y Mas and continues on Saturday, May 30th with Jazz Under the Stars featuring the Albuquerque Jazz Orchestra under the direction of Bobby Shew.

The series is 14 weeks long and also features special programs including Women’s Voices, Blues night and Jam Sessions at Season’s Rotisserie Grill. For more information and tickets, visit the New Mexico Jazz Workshop at www.nmjazz.org.

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