If ever there was a testament to just how much territory the Wisconsin Area Music Industry Awards covers, it was this year's ceremony. No one artist—or for that matter genre—dominated this year's awards. Instead the awards were distributed almost evenly across nearly a dozen genres covering more or less the entire state. To the extent that there was a "big" winner, it was Dead Horses, the Oshkosh-born bluegrass ensemble, who took home an album of the year award for their LP Cartoon Moon and also claimed the Bluegrass/Americana category they seemed to be a lock for.
The extraordinarily popular-among-a-certain-age Fueled By Ramen electro-rock group Vinyl Theatre took the marquee Artist of the Year award, though the other category they were nominated in, Pop Rock Artist, went to Milwaukee's GGOOLLDD. And so it was across the board, with the results divided literally dozens of different ways, leaving no one runaway victor, just a whole bunch of deserving one-shot winners. Other honors went to The Pukes, Brett Newski, IshDARR, Tweed Funk, The Squeezettes and—oh hell yes—The Prince Experience, who took home the award in this year's unusually competitive Tribute category.
The complete list of winners is below:
Artist of the Year: Vinyl Theatre
Album of the Year: Dead Horses - “Cartoon Moon”
Song of the Year: Devil Met Contention – “Fire”
New Artist: J-Council
Female Vocalist: Sarah Vos
Male Vocalist: Travis Schinke, Erik Kjelland
Singer/Songwriter: Brett Newski
Rising Star: Eminence
Alternative Rock/Rock Artist: Kyle Megna & The Monsoons
Bluegrass/Americana: Dead Horses
Blues Artist: Big N’ Tasty Blues
Christian/Gospel: Night Divine
Country Artist: Driveway Thriftdwellers
Cover Artist: Almighty Vinyl
Folk/Celtic: Sugar Ransom
Hard Rock: Imperial Fall
Metal: Conniption
Punk: The Pukes
Jazz Artist: The Jazz Orgy
Polka: The Squeezettes
Pop Rock Artist: GGOOLLDD
Hip Hop/Rap Artist: IshDARR
R&B/Soul Artist: Tweed Funk
World/Reggae/Ska/Latin: King Solomon
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Club DJ/Dance/Electronic: Melvv
Horn/Big Band: Cold Sweat & The Brew City Horns
Tribute: The Prince Experience
Bass Player: Jeff Hammes
Drummer: Mike Underwood
Guitar Player: Bill Heck
Keyboard Player: Aaron Zinsmeister
Reeds/Brass Player: Michelle Jerabek
Strings Player: Thea Morton Voraass
Best Studio Engineer/Producer: Geoff Wilbourn
Best Recording Studio: Rock Garden
Best Live Club/Venue: The Saloon on Calhoun
Best Live Engineer Sound/Lights: Jeremy Boerson
President’s Award: Marc Solheim
People’s Choice Awards
(Northeast) Band: Hyde
Fan: Chris & Anita Holloman
Venue: Rocky & Tara’s Nut Haus
Radio Station: WAPL 105.7
Music Teacher: Mark Budwit
(Northwest) Band: Spicy Tie Band
Fan: Penny Perot
Venue: Live On Main
Radio Station: WIEC-LP 102.7
Music Teacher: Brad Burrell
(Southeast) Band: The Playlist
Fan: Cindee May
Venue: The Saloon On Calhoun
Radio Station: 102.9 The Hog
Music Teacher: Derek Machan
(Southwest) Band: Pat Watters Band
Fan: Mark Breunig
Venue: Fawn Creek Winery
Radio Station: 97.1 WCOW
Music Teacher: Kathy Wacker
The ceremony also inducted three acts into the WAMI Hall of Fame: Eric Benét, Short Stuff and Bryan Lee.
