2014 New Mexico Music Awards Winners Announced

The New Mexico Music Awards celebrated its 27th year of recognizing excellence in recorded music in New Mexico. The awards ceremony was held at Sandia Resort & Casino in Albuquerque and featured performances from Jose & Kathy Ponce, Mikey Junchaya, Rebecca Annah Arscott, Bambi Wolfe, The First Take Trio, Lisa Carman and Syd Masters.

Each year, songwriters, artists, engineers and producers submit their best work from the previous calendar year. In 2014, there were 640 entries in 43 categories covering most genres and technical aspects of music. Entries came from all across the state and spanned nearly forty genres of music.

Thanks to our sponsors Grandma’s Music & Sound, Quickbeam Systems, High Fidelity Mastering, listen!ABQ, Ernie Ball Company and Moonlight Talent management.

The 2014 program fielded 640 entries in 41 categories from across New Mexico.

Eric Larson Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient-Michael Anthony

Photo by Jon Carr

You’ve heard Michael Anthony’s guitar and maybe didn’t even know it. He was a member of the infamous Wrecking Crew, a group of studio musicians in Los Angeles that played on nearly every record, TV and movie soundtrack between 1965 and 1980. He has recorded with Frank Sinatra, Quincy Jones and Tony Bennett. He was featured in films like Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid, The Blue Knight and was the orchestra guitarist for the Carol Burnett Show, where he met his wife, Kathy, a dancer on the show.

Once he moved to New Mexico, he quickly began teaching and performing regularly with some great local players and is an instructor at the New Mexico Jazz Workshop. Michael is never afraid to show a young guitarist the tricks of the trade or to remind her or him that the key to becoming a great guitarist is practice.

The Eric Larson Endowment at UNM provides unrestricted funds for juniors or seniors who have chosen music or the recording arts as their major and have maintained a 3.0 GPA. Eric Larson was co-founder of the New Mexico Music awards and passed away in 2005. The New Mexico Music Awards contributes annually to the scholarship fund. To donate, go to ericlarsonendowment.com

Listing in the following order: (except where indicated)

Artist Name

Song Title

Producer Name(s)

Studio Name

Adult Contemporary

Bambi Wolf

Freedom

Bambi Wolf

Crystalline Clear Studios

Americana

Dave Tutin

In Broken Sleep

Dave Tutin, Peter Farrell

openDmusic Studio

Best Arrangement of an Original Composition

Man Full of Holes

Alchemy’s Secret Fire

Man Full of holes

Zena’s Lab

Blues

Tiho Dimitrov

Messed Up World f/ Sean Healan

Tiho Dimitrov, Brant Leeper

Brant Leeper Studio/Frogville Studio

Bluegrass

Paul Kelly

The Moon Plays Mandolin

Paul Kelly

Santa Fe Soundworks

Children’s Music

Heidi Swedberg

Owl and the Pussycat

Daniel Ward

Third Eye Studios

Best Cover

Heidi Swedberg

Istanbul

Daniel Ward

Third Eye Studios

Country

Andrew MacLauchlin

Just a Man

Ben Wright

Frogville Studios

Best Country CD

Syd Masters

Always A Cowboy In My Dreams

Syd Masters

Third Eye Studios

Electronica

Buddha Bass & Desert Dwellers

Enigmatica (Desert Dwellers re-mix)

Buddha Bass, Souldfood, Jadoo

Soulfood/Stepbridge

Folk

Martha Reich

I’d Rather Be Surprised

Martha Reich & Bill Palmer

Frogville Studios

Hip-Hop

E Soulja, DF Effect

Help Me Find a Way f/ DF Effect

Agapist

Personal Studio

Best Hip Hop/Rap CD

TMB

Daredevil

John Wall

Wall of Sound

Indie Rock

Kid Dinosaur

Bones

John Wall

Wall of Sound

Best Instrumental Performance

First Take Trio-Michael Anthony

It’s Alright with Me

Lone Guitar Publishing

Mountain Road Recording

Jazz

John Cousins

The Ideas

John Cousins

John Cousins Studio

Best Jazz CD

Faith Amour & John Rangel

Bright Eyes

John Rangel

Turtle Creek Media

Latin

Son Como Son

Modesto y Original

Cesar Bauvallet, Chuck Coulter

Old Town Studios

Best Mastering Engineer

Will Dyar

for

C. Daniel Boling

Summer Sweetcorn

Metal

Shit Happens Inc.

Black Widow

David McRae

Third Eye Studios

Modern Rock

Man Full of Holes

Spiral Staircase

Man Full of Holes

Zena’s Lab

Native American

Red Bear-The Jemez Boys

Intro to Pow Wow Songs 2013-Red Bear

Bryan Tellez

Brytell Studios LLC

New Age Contemporary

Èlu

Embrace

Jeffery Mettling, Don Shearer

The Bat Cave

Novelty-Humorous

Nancy Harvin & Jeez La Weez

No Mo

John Wall and Jeez La Weez

Wall of Sound

Best Packaging Design

Dave Tutin

for

Dave Tutin with Peter Farrell-January Rising

Pop

Èlu

Easy

Jeffery Mettling, Don Shearer

The Bat Cave

Best Pop CD

Red Light Cameras

For Those Who Favor Fire

Red Light Cameras

RLC Studios

Punk

Repetitardz

Single 5 45

Brian Widger

In My Own Filth Studios

R & B

Bob Barron & Combo Special

Whatchacallit

Ed Shultz

Zuzaz Trax

Rap

Video Games

Catfish

Manny Archuletta

Take This Name Studio

Best Recording Engineer

David Cragin

for

Kito Peters-Black Birds

Reggae

Anthony Umi and Iyah

Overcome

Anthony Umi

Wall of Sound

Religious/Gospel

Zenobia

One More Night

Zenobia

Frogville Studios

Best Rock CD

Man No Sober

Gravitas

Bill Palmer

Frogville Studios

Singer/Songwriter

Kevin Herig

Pity Party

Kevin Herig &John Wall

Wall of Sound

Best Song

Jamie Michaels & Annie Wnz

Dirty Wine

Best Video

Cassovita-Jacy Oliver & Ben Durfee

Remnants of a Universal Veil

Produced by Jacy Oliver

Best Vocal Performance

Illustrious Q

Madly

Jeffery Mettling, Don Shearer

The Bat Cave

Western

Syd Masters

Always Cowboy In My Dreams

Syd Masters

Third Eye Studios

World Beat

James Fax

Ebesa

James Fax

FW Studios

Norman Petty Producer Award

Jono Manson

for

Jaime Michaels-Unknown Blessings

and

Jono Manson-Angels on the Other Side

Kitchen Sink Studios

Best of the Year

Jamie Michaels

Unknown Blessings

Jono Manson

Kitchen Sink Studios