Winners in 19 categories were named this month from among more than 15,000 entries in the 2007 International Songwriting Competition (ISC). For the first time in its history, a majority of winners -- including all three in the Americana category, two of three in the folk/singer-songwriter category, and one of three in the AAA category -- came from outside the U.S. [To read the entire article, click on the headline.]
Dave Murphy, an Americana singer-songwriter, captured first place in the contemporary acoustic/folk category of the ninth annual Great American Song Contest for his song "Chesapeake." Winners in nine categories were named earlier this month. [To read the entire article, click on the headline.]
SolarFest, which bills itself as the New England Renewable Energy Festival, is seeking songwriters to perform in its annual Songwriter Showcase this July. Ten singer-songwriters, who write and perform original music and are not currently signed to a major recording label or publishing deal, will be selected to perform two songs and compete to be among the three winners of cash prizes and studio time. The first-place winner also will be invited back to perform as a featured artist during next year’s SolarFest. All finalists will receive two complimentary passes for SolarFest, which takes place July 11-13 at the Forget-Me-Not Farm in Tinmouth, Vermont. [To read the entire article, click on the headline.]
Video entries are now being sought for a new environmental short film competition, whose theme is the power of song to change the environment. Launched by Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, Inc., a member-supported nonprofit organization created by Pete Seeger and others more than 40 years ago to help restore and protect the Hudson River, The Clearwater Environmental Short Film Competition is one way in which the organization is seeking to inspire people to use music and song as instruments for environmental change. Much as Pete Seeger has educated people about important issues and causes through his music, the folks at Clearwater are looking for videos that use music and song to heighten interest in and concern for the environment. [To read the entire article, click on the headline.]
Winners of the Third Annual Folk Alliance Awards were recognized during an awards ceremony on the opening night of the 20th Annual International Folk Alliance Conference that drew nearly 2,000 people to Memphis, Tennessee, February 20-24. [To read the entire article, click on the headline.]
As the title of her new album suggests, Rhonda Vincent appears to have a Good Thing Going. The bluegrass singer and mandolinist, who also plays the guitar and fiddle, was again named as Entertainer of the Year, while her band, Rhonda Vincent & The Rage, took Vocal Group of the Year honors during the 34th Annual Bluegrass Awards presented by the Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music of America (SPBGMA) earlier this month at its 25th national convention in Nashville, Tennessee. [To read the entire article, click on the headline.]
Winners in the 50th Annual Grammy Awards, presented by the Recording Academy, were announced both prior to and during ceremonies in Los Angeles on February 10. [To see a list of winners in categories of interest to acoustic music fans, click on the headline.]
Balloting in the Third Annual Folk Alliance Awards ended on Friday, Jan. 25. The award winners in more than a dozen categories will be named during a Feb. 20 awards program on the opening night of the 20th Annual International Folk Alliance Conference in Memphis, Tennessee that runs through Feb. 24. The awards program will be broadcast live over XM Satellite Radio. A listing of the nominees in 11 categories appears below. In addition to these categories, in which votes were cast by Folk Alliance members, Song of the Year and Album of the Year awards will be presented based on airplay reports. [To read the entire article, click on the headline.]
Eight entrants in the 7th annual Plowshares Singer-Songwriter Competition have been selected to perform during the Finals Showcase at the Plowshares Coffeehouse in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania on March 15, where a panel of judges will determine the Grand Prize winner. The showcase finalists, who were selected by a panel comprised of Philadelphia-area songwriters on the basis of songwriting and performance, include Denise Jordan Finley, Patrick Fitzsimmons, Dan Gonzalez, Jenny Goodspeed, Kierstin Gray, Robby Hecht, Tim LaBorie and Angela Shiek. Each finalist will receive $100 and will compete for a grand prize of $500, an invite to perform at the Philadelphia Folk Festival this summer, and a feature slot at next year’s Finals Showcase. [To read the entire article, click on the headline].
The Our Times Coffeehouse will host a Bob Dylan Song Contest Night on Friday, February 15, at the Ethical Humanist Society Building, 38 Old Country Road in Garden City, NY. Cash prizes of $150, $100 and $50 will be awarded to the three top performers as judged by a panel and the audience on the basis of originality of interpretation and quality of musicianship. “We’re not looking for Dylan impersonators, just great musicians putting their personal spin on two Dylan songs,†says Marty Stone, arts coordinator of the monthly coffeehouse series that is a joint project of the Ethical Humanist Society of Long Island and the Long Island Progressive Coalition. The entry fee is $15. [To read the entire article, click on the headline].
Entries are now being sought for the 2008 Grassy Hill Kerrville New Folk Competition for Emerging Songwriters to be held on Saturday and Sunday, May 24 and 25, 2008 during the 37th Annual Kerrville Folk Festival. Songwriters may either send two original songs (which must have been written after Jan. 1, 2006) on a home-burned CD, not to exceed eight minutes in total, to the Kerrville Folk Festival office or submit them electronically using Sonicbids. The first 800 entries received prior to March 15 will be accepted and 32 finalists will be named on or about April 15. Half of the 32 finalists will perform on May 24, while the other half will perform the next day. Six New Folk winners will be selected to perform 20 minutes of their original songs on Sunday, June 1. They will receive cash honorariums and other prizes. All of the performances will take place at the Threadgill Theater on the Quiet Valley Ranch campgrounds, nine miles south of Kerrville, Texas. [To read the entire article, click on the headline].
Nominees for the 50th Annual Grammy Awards, to be presented by the Recording Academy on February 10 in Los Angeles, were announced yesterday. [To see the list of best album nominees in the Bluegrass, Traditional Folk, Contemporary Folk/Americana and the Zydeco/Cajun Music categories, click on the headline].
