This year's celebration was scaled down a bit, but we sure had a lot to be grateful for!
2019 was a terrific year for music at TSAI, and with the help of Cash Creek, we did it up right!
The Texas Troubadour Theater was again the perfect setting, and we kicked things off
with an invocation by Kelsea. We were proud to be sponsored , and streamed live, by Majiik. This gave many more folks a chance to join us, as we couldn't have a full house.
Cash Creek cranked up the tunes. Along with Megan Mullins and R T Johnson, 2 of their
Artists on the CCB Nashville label, we were dancin' in our seats! R T is currently charting
with a song written by our own Lowery Maceina and Paul Castoe called “Your Love Won't Let Me Cheat”.
R T presented the Category 1 Award, for Traditional Country, to a speechless
Marilyn Crawley, for “She'll Never Know”. The runner-up was a tie, between
“Ain't That What Livin' Is” by Mary Beth Stone and Bonnie Warren, and “Today At 3”, by
Marilyn Crawley.
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Russ Lacasse performed with the Band, and Frankie Justin, with Spin Doctors Music,
performed and presented the Category 2 Award for Pop Country.
Dale Allen, Bob McCormick, and Bill Flowerree won for “Chicka-Boom Back”,
the runner-up was “American Guy” by Russell Griffith.
A highlight of 2019 was the album “Dance With The Dinosaurs” by Cash Creek and on
Heartland records. Written entirely by TSAI members, all the writers on the project got a trophy!
Kimo presented the Award for Category 3, Christian/Gospel, to Kelsea and Paul for “River
Of Blessing”. The runner-up was another tie, between “Take My Hand” by Scott Marshall
and “The Only Thing”, by Vernon Stanton and Dale Allen.
Since we had to postpone our Show from April until now, we have seen a lot of changes at
TSAI! And we have MANY folks to thank. We have moved away from using cd's
for our Pitch Nights, to a Playlist of MP3's. This has been a lot of work, and thanks go out
to Joe DeLucas for this! It also made it possible to keep pitching your songs through this
virus shut-down.
Of course, along with all the workshops, Showcases, and networking, we are trying to
improve all opportunities for Songwriters and Artists. One way is our “Real Country
Music On Radio” effort to convince the Industry to split the Country Chart in 2. A Pop
Country format and a separate Traditional Country format, provides twice the opportunities for everyone. You can get your wristband on the website if you'd like to help.
Another thing new for this year is The TSAI Hall Of Fame. Long over-due, we inducted 4
members this year. Jim Sylvis accepted for the inductees.
J R Jones introduced us to the new Nashville Country Television Network.
NCTVN is on Roku and Amazon Fire, and will be featuring 2 ongoing TSAI shows, plus
specials like this Awards Show!
Al and Kristen, of Spin Doctors, explained Majiik to us, and we'll be using this streaming
service a lot!
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We couldn't have as many people on stage as we would have liked, but we wanted to show
folks outside of Nashville what a Writer's Night here is like. We have them all over, and
one of the TSAI tv shows, ”TSAI Around Town” will feature these.
Annette Barkley and Scott Levi Jones did a great job with 4 of their songs.
.We had 3 video guests this year, too! Donnie Vie, solo artist and former lead singer of Enuff Z'Nuff, performed and presented the Category 4 Award for Rock/Pop/Rap.
Our winner here was “Kiss Me Back”, written by Corey Lee Barker, Mark Barnowski,
Justin Love, and Tim McGeary. Runner-up, another tie! “I Close My Eyes” by Russ Lacasse/Tiffany Gassett, “Let Love Drive” by Barnowski/Barker/Mulligan,
and “ You Break Me” by Barker/Barnowski/ Roma.
John Davidson presented the Award for Song Of The Year to Dale Allen, Bob
McCormick, and Bill Flowerree for “Chicka-Boom Back”.
Runner-up was “In Between Goodbyes” by Charles Wong and Joseph Geppi.
Cash Creek returned for more music, and J C Cole performed. He normally does shows
with his band Folsom '68, a Johnny Cash Tribute. Tonight he gave us a couple, and then
presented the Record/Cut Of The Year Award to Janelle and Kenny Angel, and Beth and
Daniel Curtis for “Heaven Bound". The runner-up was, you guessed it, another tie!
“Drop Dead Gorgeous Day” by Allen/McCormick/Flowerree ”Till I Had You”, by Brooke Butler and Jake Greener “Take Back My Love”, by Barnowski/Barker/Cole
.And now for the BIG one! Waylon Payne presented the Award for Songwriter Of The Year to Dale Allen!
Boy, for a scaled-back version we sure put on a Show!
I want to again thank everyone involved, from the guests, to the Texas Troubadour
Theater, to Majiik, and to all the members who helped.
See ya next year!
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