Best of Milwaukee 2015 Winners: Music

best of milwaukee 2015 

{ music }

Acoustic Musician

Female Vocalist

First Place:

Nora Collins

Brookfield native Nora Collins is only several years removed from high school, but she’s already claimed a shelf’s worth of WAMI and Best of Milwaukee awards—a testament to extraordinary drive. This year, the honey-voiced singer released her latest album, My Radio, which built on her more acoustic-minded early work with thick guitars and light hip-hop inflections. It’s her most contemporary release yet: a slick, peppy, modern country record with songs that would indeed fit right in on the radio. (Evan Rytlewski)

Runner Up Acoustic Musician:

Keanen Kopplin

Honorable Mentions

Acoustic Musician:

Derek Sallmann

LJ & Bill

Runner Up Female Vocalist:

Alissa Weber

Honorable Mention

Female Vocalist:

Roxi Copland

Hannah Mrozak

Alt Country Band

First Place:

Rebel Grace

Rebel Grace aren’t strangers to the cover-band scene. Its members have logged time in Chasin’ Mason and The Toys, so they know what plays at area bars. More so than those bands, though, Rebel Grace puts a focus on vocals, giving the spotlight to front woman Amileigha Blue, a singer modeled after Miranda Lambert and Carrie Underwood. The band includes songs from both of those acts, as well as commercial country staples like The Band Perry, Shania Twain and Lady Antebellum. (Evan Rytlewski)

Runner Up:

Bella Cain

Honorable Mentions:

Hugh Bob and the Hustle

God’s Outlaw

Blues Band

First Place:

Reverend Raven & the Chain Smokin’ Altar Boys

Staples of just about every noteworthy blues festival in the region, Reverend Raven and the Chain Smokin’ Altar Boys have established themselves as some of the big fish in Milwaukee’s intimate blues scene, while reaching out to listeners outside the genre’s inner circle with their performances at Jazz in the Park. This year, they released their latest record, Live at the Big Bull, a sizzling set recorded at the Big Bull Falls Blues Festival. (Evan Rytlewski)

Runner Up:

Tweed Funk

Honorable Mentions:

The Katz Sass

J. Ryan Trio

Choral Group

First Place:

Milwaukee Symphony Chorus

mso.org

The Milwaukee Symphony Chorus celebrates its 40th season in 2016 as the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra’s valued choral partner, described by MSO Music Director Edo de Waart as a “first-class volunteer chorus.” Led by Lee Erickson, along with regular guest conductors, this nearly 150-member group performs up to seven concerts each season with the MSO and provides fine artistic expression to both masterworks as well as a cappella pieces. Upcoming performances include Walton’s Henry V and Verdi’s Requiem. (Amanda Sullivan)

Runner Up:

Bel Canto Chorus

Honorable Mentions:

Wisconsin Lutheran College

Ruth B8r Ginsberg

Classical Music Ensemble

First Place:

Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra

mso.org

Under its first maestro, Harry John Brown, the MSO arrived on Milwaukee’s music scene in 1959. It’s been nothing but onward and upward ever since. The MSO pops directorship has boasted talent like Doc Severinsen and Marvin Hamlisch. The symphony’s large ensemble of full-time, professional musicians perform some 135 classical, pops, family, educational and community concerts every year throughout Wisconsin. Formerly led by such notables as Lucas Foss, Zdenek Macal and Andreas Delfs, and now by famed Dutch conductor Edo de Waart, the MSO is arguably at its artistic and creative peak. (John Jahn)

Runner Up:

Florentine Opera Company

 Honorable Mentions:

Nineteen Thirteen

Present Music

Club DJ

First Place:

DJ Breezy

For the second year in a row, DJ Breezy has won Club DJ honors. A fixture of local clubs including The Eight and Kaña Mojito Club, Breezy specializes in hip-hop—putting old-school turntable techniques to work in the service of contemporary sounds and spinning sets that mix current hits from Future, Drake, Kanye West and Young Thug. (Evan Rytlewski)

Runner Up:

DJ King James

Honorable Mentions:

DJ E.Rich

DJ DMatic

Cover/Tribute Band

First Place:

The Love Monkeys

The Love Monkeys have been at this for a while. For more than 20 years, the band has been performing covers at clubs and summer festivals around the region, touching on pop, rock, alternative and reggae. Those same influences carry through the original songs that the band writes, too. (Evan Rytlewski)

Runner Up:

Cherry Pie

Honorable Mentions:

The Now

Blue Light Scene

Guitarist

First Place:

Dave Wacker

Distinctive on stage for his wild, spiked hair, Dave Wacker is the guitarist for the party-minded Wisconsin cover band Blue Light Scene. His guitar work drives covers of songs by acts like Bruno Mars, Katy Perry, Neil Diamond and Bon Jovi. (Evan Rytlewski)

Runner Up:

Tommy Riewe

 Honorable Mentions:

David Schuyler

Drew De Lutio

Jazz Musician

First Place:

Carlos Adames

Flanked by Elias Holman on keyboards, Conway Powell on bass and Tony Ayala on timbales, Carlos Adames leads the Carlos Adames Group, a Latin jazz ensemble that’s brought warm-weather sounds to venues around Milwaukee. For all his formal training and technical prowess, his playing is loose and open-minded, touching on rhythmic signatures not only of jazz and Latin music but also funk and hip-hop. (Evan Rytlewski)

Runner Up:

Jack Grassel

Honorable Mentions:

J. Ryan Trio

Jay Anderson

Male Vocalist

First Place:

John Hauser

It’s been more than 20 years since John Hauser co-founded the Milwaukee cover band The Love Monkeys. Now the group’s lone remaining original member, he’s kept the jovial spirit of the band intact, enthusiastically leading covers of pop, rock and reggae songs. (Evan Rytlewski)

Runner Up:

Keanen Kopplin

Honorable Mentions:

Jay Matthes

Joe Gleesing

Rap/Hip-Hop Artist

First Place:

WebsterX

No Milwaukee rapper had a better 2015 than WebsterX, who garnered coverage from nearly every national hip-hop blog of note with a pair of emotionally expressive singles and their cinematic video accompaniments: “Doomsday” and “Lately.” To tide fans over until his next full-length, he ended the year with KidX, a collaborative EP with Milwaukee producer Q the Sun that pays homage to Radiohead’s boundary-breaking 2000 album Kid A. (Evan Rytlewski)

Runner Up:

Pharaoh Mac & DMT

Honorable Mentions:

New Age Narcissism (NAN)

The November Criminals

Rock Band

First Place:

Cherry Pie

Hair metal may have reached peak popularity in the ’80s, but it’ll always have a big audience. The Milwaukee hard-rock cover band Cherry Pie is testament to that. The group draws big crowds with their faithful covers of head-bang anthems and ballads from acts like Van Halen, Journey, Def Leppard and Skid Row. (Evan Rytlewski)

Runner Up:

The Now

Honorable Mentions:

Low Down Sound

Devil Met Contention