The 2009 Just Plain Folks Music Awards will be Webcast live from the Wildhorse Saloon in Nashville, Tennessee on Saturday, August 29, from 5-11 p.m. Central Time, at www.jpfolks.com, where you can also see a complete list of nominees. Presented by Just Plain Folks — a community of more than 51,500 songwriters, recording artists and music industry professionals that was created to provide a network of cooperation and inclusion for musicians — the awards show will feature live performances by more than 30 nominees, while all awards categories will be announced.
The JPF Music Awards were established 10 years ago as a way to recognize the best music submitted by members, according to Brian Austin Whitney, the grassroots organization’s founder. He felt the music made by the “other 98%” of the world often ignored by the televised music awards shows deserved its own recognition.
Although awards will be presented for the best albums and songs in dozens of genres (along with awards for lyrics and videos), some purists may be perplexed by some of the classifications. “In the end, genre didn’t matter — just music that moves us,” explains Whitney. That said, among the genres for which there are slates of nominees (listed alphabetically) are Americana (which includes a mixture of country, rock, folk and blues, and is described by Whitney as “a tricky genre to define”); Bluegrass; Cajun (including Zydeco, swamp rock and Louisiana-focused songs as well); Celtic (traditional and contemporary); Celtic Instrumental (traditional and contemporary original music); Contemporary (primarily ballads in light rock, pop, country, R &B and folk songs and albums); Female Singer-Songwriter (songs and albums in a mix of styles); Klezmer; Male Singer-Songwriter (songs and albums in a mix of styles); Native American; New Folk (contemporary production-style folk music songs and albums); Political (protest songs, observational and opinion songs); Roots (defined here as Appalachian/old time music); Roots Instrumental (instrumental Appalachian, folk and bluegrass music); Solo Guitar (in various styles); South and Central American; and Traditional Folk (defined here as original songs done in a more traditional production style than New Folk).
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