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Album of the Year
There's a little bit of everything on Live at Caravan of Dreams 030201, Bertha Coolidge's self-produced, award-winning c.d. Ballads, outside playing, straight-ahead gems. It's all in there. And, boy, does it sound good. To hear it told by Aden Bubeck, Bertha Coolidge bass player, he and the other guys in the quartet had been dying to get something recorded for posterity (and for sale, of course). They had been playing the now-defunct Caravan of Dreams for a while; when they learned that the once-famous venue was on its way down Cemetery Road they felt more compelled than ever to get something down on polycarbonate disc there. "We wrote a bunch of new material," said Bubeck, "and we knocked it out in two sets on one night." The sound is right up in your speakers. Joey Carter's vibes twinkle like bright stars, every snap of Rick Stitzel's drums or gentle brushing of his cymbals comes through clearly, and Paul Metzger's sometimes-crunchy tone floats above it all. Bubeck's electric bass, meanwhile, resonates deeply in the background (and in the foreground too, as on "Hot Walk"). Rod Borbolla, Scott Douglass, and Mike Daane are to thank for the record's fine polish. Bubeck said they've already been through an initial pressing of the c.d. and are contemplating another. You can get Live at Caravan of Dreams 030201 at most Borders and Barnes & Noble stores. The Weekly's award will do more than just help sell the disc, the bass player predicted. "It might open people's eyes that may not listen to jazz," he said. "They might unknowingly start to appreciate jazz." -- AM
Artist of the Year
Song of the Year
Of course, Radle is a relatively normal, soft-spoken woman who just happens to look like a model and can rock her ass off. She started Lucy Loves Schroeder about six years ago in San Antonio. The moment the scene there began looking dire, she and her bandmate, bassist Andrew Binovi, relocated to Dallas. That was about three years ago. The scene in North Texas "was what we expected," she said. "We've been really lucky. It's been really good for us." Radle wrote song of the year "Dragon Lady" about a year ago. It's a rocker about a nosy person who doesn't know when to let up or mind her own business. "I wrote it about someone I used to work with," Radle said. "I don't like snobby people. I was inspired by that." Compared to Lucy Loves Schroeder, Fred Savage Fan Club is a recent inspiration. "It's a curiosity," she said. "I had a bunch of songs that weren't right for Lucy Loves Schroeder; they sounded different." Radle then recorded what she thought was merely a demo but what would become an official release by She's Gone Records in Denton in December 2000. After Jellybeans with Bellybuttons came out, Radle formed a band to gig around playing FSFC tunes. And once Lucy Loves Schroeder returns from a Los Angeles mini-tour, Radle said, Fred Savage Fan Club will be occupying most of her attention. Whatever she's doing, Radle said she'll be going full-throttle -- gotta live up to that "artist of the year" tag. "It's kinda weird," said Radle, "that I even got nominated [for artist of the year]." --AM
Best Female Vocalist
Pigeonholing West's sound as "country" or "singer-songwriter" is too easy and incomplete. She labels what she does as "American music," but the mix of country, rock, blues, and waltzes renders even that label useless. She's played in all types of bands, from the punk outfit Grey Area (which opened for the Dead Kennedys in 1985) to an experimental industrial band. Those influences come through, however subtly, in her current work. West discovered music early; she owned her first guitar at age 12. "As a child, I'd hear my great-grandmother singing songs like 'Down In The Valley,'" West said. "I thought she wrote them, so I began writing my own songs." After studying art, which she still practices and teaches, West took her music back to the basics of guitar, voice, and songwriting. "I no longer consider my art and music separate," she said. "They are the same." With about 40 originals and some covers in the bag, West and bandmate Glenn Milam quietly built a name for themselves in the area. They're now planning to record a full-length c.d. Success in music is a gamble, but watching West perform makes you realize she could one day reach the popularity level of Lucinda Williams or Gillian Welch. Seeing her now may shortly mean being able to say you saw her when. --Matthew Smith
Best Male Vocalist
John Price could sing names from the phone book and still make you believe he's intimating some heretofore-hidden insight. Sometimes a screamer, sometimes a whisperer, Price is always inside his lyrics. It's hard to ignore him. And that's probably why you think he's the best. Price has been writing songs for as long as he can remember. He grew up in Houston and moved to Fort Worth to attend TCU a few years ago; that's when he began gigging full-time, playing country music to lots of bibulous college folk around Berry. The singer-songwriter stuff he plays now, which doesn't draw as well as the country did (but still draws big), comes from Price following his muse instead of bowing to trends. A c.d. he's been working on for the past seven months will be coming out in the fall. It's called Little Pieces of a Little Piece of Something Small, and was recorded at Base Propulsion Laboratories in Dallas. It's amazing that Price, at only 23, has already discovered his voice. "I had no training, and I actually started exploring my voice over the past year and a half," he said. "It used to be throaty, but then you discover your own voice instead of somebody else's. So I'm just exploring everything." --AM |
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