Absolutely Gospel Awards 2017

The Absolutely Gospel Music Awards were held last night in Nashville. I always look forward to this awards show every year. It does a great job of highlighting achievements made over the past year and showcasing different groups.

Thanks to Absolutely Gospel for Facebook Live streaming the event. I got to watch most of it last night. Before the full list of winners, here are a few of my thoughts/ observations about the ceremony -

• I loved The Isaacs' acceptance for their award for Nature’s Symphony in 432 talking about the album and how much it meant to them because of all they walked through in the past couple years. They talked about how it was such a reminder of God's faithfulness and then seeing Sonya up there with her new baby was just icing on the cake!
• Each of the genre recording of the year awards were exactly as I would have picked. 
• Loved Karen Peck Gooch getting recognition for her songwriting! Her humility in her speech and how much she appreciated the award was so evident.
• The Bowling Sisters had one of the performances of the night. And it was apparent the crowd loved it. These girls not only showed their vocal chops, but they had church on stage.
• Another performance of the night was the Nelons. Not many groups can just get on stage and sing an a cappella hymn like that.
• Lauren Talley and Riley Harrison Clark were great hosts for the night. And their duet was amazing!
• It was sweet seeing Amy Zika getting the Susan Unthank Memorial Award.

Here's the full list of Absolutely Gospel Music award winners:

Song of the Year: “Home” – Jason Crabb (written by Gerald Crabb)

Album of the Year: Nature’s Symphony in 432 – The Isaacs (produced by Ben Isaacs)

Pacesetter: Crossroads Music Group

Breakthrough Artist of the Year: The Wilbanks

Male Vocalist of the Year: Riley Harrison Clark (Tribute Quartet)

Female Vocalist of the Year: Chris Freeman (The Freemans)

Male Group of the Year: Ball Brothers

Female Group of the Year: Bowling Sisters

Mixed Group of the Year: Karen Peck & New River

Songwriter of the Year (Artist): Karen Peck Gooch (Karen Peck & New River)

Songwriter of the Year (Professional): Sue C. Smith

Producer of the Year (Artist): Ben Isaacs (The Isaacs)

Producer of the Year (Professional): Cody McVey

Engineer of the Year: Van Atkins

Musician of the Year: Josh Singletary (Tribute Quartet)

Traditional Song of the Year: “Amazing God” – Triumphant Quartet (written by Lee Black, Janice Crow and Sue C. Smith)

Traditional Recording of the Year: Here For You – Tribute (produced by Wayne Haun)

Progressive Song of the Year: “Calling” – Karen Peck & New River (written by Jason Cox, Gerald Crabb and Karen Peck Gooch)

Progressive Recording of the Year: What a Moment – 11th Hour (produced by Jeff Collins)

Country Song of the Year: “Christ My Hope, My Glory” – HIGHROAD with Jason Crabb (written by Sarah Davison and Kenna West)

Country Recording of the Year: Nature’s Symphony in 432 – The Isaacs (produced by Terry Bradshaw and Ben Isaacs)

Special Event Project of the Year: The Hinson Side of Me – Chris Freeman (produced by Darrell Freeman)

Music Video of the Year: “The People In the Line” – The Talleys (directed by Jared Meyers of Meyers Media, LLC)

Fan Favorite Artist of the Year: Karen Peck & New River

Susan Unthank Memorial Award: Amy Marie Zika