Singing News Fan Awards 2016

The top 10 Singing News Fan Award nominees were announced yesterday. Of course, there weren't too many surprises or changes from last year. I know people have mixed feelings about the awards and their predictability, but the fans are the ones who choose. I've confessed before I sometimes vote differently in each round, just because I would like to see a few new faces receive nominations.

Some categories have changed from last year. New artists is all together instead of broken out by trio, quartet, mixed and soloist. The overall favorite male and female singer categories are missing this year.

So what else is different this year, and who's nominated? Let's take a look at the categories -

Favorite Artist
Booth Brothers
Brian Free & Assurance
Collingsworth Family
Greater Vision
Hoppers
Jim Brady Trio
Kingdom Heirs
Legacy Five
Tribute Qt.
Triumphant Qt.

The Hoppers and the Jim Brady Trio are the differences in this group from last year.

Nomination I would have liked to see - Karen Peck & New River


Traditional Quartet
Ernie Haase & Signature Sound
Gold City
Inspirations
Kingdom Heirs
Kingsmen
LeFevre Qt
Legacy Five
Mark Trammell Qt
Tribute Qt
Triumphant Qt

Inspirations and LeFevre Quartet are the differences from last year. The Old Paths and Brian Free & Assurance are the two groups who dropped and neither were eligible this year.

Nomination I would have liked to see - This one seems pretty spot on to me.

Mixed Group
Browders
Collingsworth Family
Erwins
Hoppers
Isaacs
Karen Peck & New River
McKameys
Mylon Hayes Family
Nelons
Perrys

Interestingly enough, the Nelons and Karen Peck & New River both moved into this category from the trio category with the addition of the younger daughters. The Erwins are also new to this group, great to see them getting this nomination after winning New Mixed Group last year.

Nomination I would have liked to see - Taylors

Trio
11th Hour
Booth Brothers
Brian Free & Assurance
Bowling Family
Greater Vision
Hyssongs
Jeff & Sheri Easter
Jim Brady Trio
Talleys
Whisnants

11th Hour and the Jim Brady Trio are newbies after both being nominated in the new category last year, and Brian Free & Assurance moved categories. Glad to see 11th Hour make the list!

Nomination I would have liked to see - Martins


Soloist
Barker, Pat
Bishop, Mark
Crabb, Jason
Greene, TaRanda
Habedank, Joseph
Ladd, Steve
Mote, Gordon
Parker, Ivan
Parsons, Squire
Penrod, Guy

Pat Barker receives this top 10 nomination after winning new soloist last year. He's the only new one in this category.

Nomination I would have liked to see - Michael English


Young Artist
Bowling, Hope — Bowling Family
Clark, Autumn Nelon — Nelons
Clark, Riley Harrison — Tribute Qt
Easter, Morgan — Jeff & Sheri Easter
Erwin, Katie — Erwins
Gooch, Kari — Karen Peck & New River
Hayes, Kennedy — Mylon Hayes Family
Hopper, Karlye — Hoppers
Johnson, Chandler — Dixie Echoes
Whisnant, Austin — Whisnants

I love that Kennedy Hayes has a nomination here; she's a new face along with Kari Gooch, Katie Erwin and Chandler Johnson.

Nomination I would have liked to see - Andrew Goldman and Amber Eppinette (I think they fit in the age requirements, but could be wrong.)


Tenor
Allman, Chris — Greater Vision
Booth, Michael — Booth Brothers
Clark, Riley Harrison — Tribute Qt
Feemster, Josh — Legacy Five
Free, Brian — Brian Free & Assurance
Haase, Ernie — Ernie Haase & Signature Sound
Jenkins, Chris — Anchormen
Martin, Jerry — Kingdom Heirs
Phelps, David — Gaither Vocal Band
Sutton, David — Triumphant Qt

Josh Feemster joined this group, interestingly enough Gus Gaches was the 10th last year.

Nomination I would have liked to see - Not sure I would change any here.


Lead
Booth, Ronnie — Booth Brothers
Bowling, Mike — Bowling Family
Brady, Jim — Jim Brady Trio
Casto, Gary — Tribute Qt
Fowler, Scott — Legacy Five
Hopper, Dean — Hoppers
Inman, Clayton — Triumphant Qt
Rice, Arthur — Kingdom Heirs
Shivers, Bill — Brian Free & Assurance
Wolfe, Gerald — Greater Vision

Mike Bowling and Dean Hopper are both new to this category which I don't understand how they haven't been nominated previously.

Nomination I would have liked to see - Nick Trammell and Chip Pullen

Baritone
Alvey, Brian — Kingdom Heirs
Griffin, Rodney — Greater Vision
Howard, Scott — Legacy Five
Inman, Scott — Triumphant Qt
Lancaster, Paul — Booth Brothers
LeFevre, Mike — LeFevre Qt
Parton, Tim — Jim Brady Trio
Rogers, Mike — Brian Free & Assurance
Singletary, Josh — Tribute Qt
Trammell, Mark — Mark Trammell Qt

Brian Alvey, Paul Lancaster and Tim Parton are the differences from last year.

Nomination I would have liked to see - Daniel Riley


Bass
Bennett, Eric — Triumphant Qt
Byrd, Randy — Mark Trammell Qt
Chapman, Jeff — Kingdom Heirs
Duncan, Tim — Canton Junction
Davis, Anthony — Tribute Qt
Epley, Jon — LeFevre Qt
Fouch, Matt — Legacy Five
Harkey, Paul — Ernie Haase & Signature Sound
Reese, Ray Dean — Kingsmen
West, Chris — Gold City

Jon Epley, Chris West and Tim Duncan are the new faces. Glad to see Chris recognized this year, since Tim Riley was still the nomination for Gold City last year.

Nomination I would have liked to see - Ian Owens

Soprano
Blair, Brooklyn Collingsworth — Collingsworth Family
Bowling, Kelly — Bowling Family
Brady, Melissa — Jim Brady Trio
Erwin, Katie — Erwins
Fortner, Connie — McKameys
Gooch, Karen Peck — Karen Peck & New River
Hopper, Kim — Hoppers
Talley, Lauren — Talleys
Thompson, Amber Nelon — Nelons
Yeary, Sonya Isaacs — Isaacs

Melissa Brady and Katie Erwin both earned nominations this year. Even though Kim Hopper has dominated this category in the past, to me the talent pool of this category is one of the strongest.

Nomination I would have liked to see - Morgan Easter

Alto
Bean, Peg McKamey — McKameys
Bowling, Hope — Bowling Family
Clark, Kelly Nelon — Nelons
Easter, Sheri — Jeff & Sheri Easter
Hopper, Connie — Hoppers
Jackson, Susan Peck — Karen Peck & New River
Metz, Courtney Collingsworth — Collingsworth Family
Stuffle, Libbi — Perrys
Talley, Debra — Talleys
Whisnant, Susan — Whisnants

No changes from last year.

Nomination I would have liked to see - Suzanne Taylor Hise


Musician
Collingsworth, Kim — Collingsworth Family
Hopper, Mike — Hoppers
Ivey, Trey — Legacy Five
Mote, Gordon — Soloist
Parton, Tim — Jim Brady Trio
Singletary, Josh — Tribute Qt
Southard, GW — Triumphant Qt
Stice, Jeff — Soloist
Williams, Kevin — Gaither Vocal Band
Wolfe, Gerald — Greater Vision

Tim Parton is the only change from last year's nominations. It's good to see this category not dominated by pianists with a guitar player and even a drummer!

Nomination I would have liked to see - Matthew Holt and Bryan Elliot


Band
Bowling Family Band
Browders Band
Dixie Echoes Band
Gaither Vocal Band Band
Isaacs Band
Jason Crabb Band
Jeff & Sheri Easter Band
Kingdom Heirs Band
Primitive Qt Band
Southern Raised Band

Dixie Echoes Band and the Jeff & Sheri Easter Band are different from last year. I am really surprised that Jeff & Sheri Easter's band was not on the list last year, definitely worthy of this nomination.

Nomination I would have liked to see - Wouldn't change any

Songwriter
Allman, Chris
Bishop, Mark
Brady, Jim
Crabb, Gerald
Free, Ricky
Griffin, Rodney
Habedank, Joseph
Inman, Scott
Rowland, Kyla
Wilkinson, Dianne

Ricky Free and Kyla Rowland are the new faces here. It's good to see some of the younger generation of songwriters receive nominations.

Nomination I would have liked to see - Kenna Turner West

Album
A New Look — Kingdom Heirs
As We Speak — Greater Vision
Live At Daywind Studios — Jim Brady Trio
Live At Daywind Studios — Tribute Qt
Living in Harmony — Triumphant Qt
Moments Like These — Bowling Family
Pray Now — Karen Peck & New River
Rewind — Mark Trammell Qt
That Day Is Coming — Collingsworth Family
Walk of Faith — Whisnants

Nomination I would have liked to see - Jeff & Sheri Easter's Small Town and the Talleys' After All This Time

Song 
"Amazing God" — Triumphant Qt
"Chain Gang" — Kingdom Heirs
"Jesus, The One" — Hoppers
"Pray Now" — Karen Peck & New River
"Put Out the Fire" — Greater Vision
"That's A Hallelujah" — Legacy Five
"That’s Just What Grace Does" — Brian Free & Assurance
"Those Who Know Me Know" — Tribute Qt
"Worry Ends Where Faith Begins" — Whisnants
"You Asked Him To Leave" — Wilburn & Wilburn

It's interesting that really radio play has little to do with this category. The Browders had the #1 song for two months in a row, but it didn't make the list with fans. "Put Out the Fire" and "Pray Now" were both #1s on the Singing News Top 80 chart. "That's Just What Grace Does" and "You Asked Him to Leave" are definitely new and just starting to make their rounds.

Nominations I would have liked to see -  There are so many I would sub in this category, "Jesus Loves You" (Jeff and Sheri Easter), "As We Speak" (Greater Vision), "Steppin' Out in Faith" (Jim Brady Trio), "Sometimes It Takes a Mountain" (Gaither Vocal Band)

New Artist
Cana’s Voice
Goodman Revival
Guardians
Jay Stone Singers
Kramers
Littles
Lore Family
Sherry Anne
Southern Raised
Williamsons

The Williamsons have received a lot of recognition this year even a #1 song. Cana's Voice has had so much buzz around its start. Some of these groups I wouldn't classify as "new" anymore.

So what about you, what your thoughts on the nominations?