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It is once again that time of year - Carolina Beach Music Awards week is here!
It is always an exciting time, one of the truly best weekends of the year in North Myrtle Beach! As always, we are hoping
for a record crowd to partake in all the festivities! The fun actually starts on Wednesday evening, November 8th with a CBMA
Pre-Party at Fat Harolds. Following up are the Welcome Parties on Thursday the 9th with the Sand Band performing in the OD
Beach Club as well as Jim Quick & Coastline at Fat Harolds.
Friday night really gets the ball rolling - you can see 8 scheduled artists performing at the various venues plus some impromptu guests are always showing up to sing. The
Industry Awards are Saturday afternoon in the Spanish Galleon with many performances in the mix. Saturday night is more exciting live entertainment with an additional 7 bands planned in the clubs. Your
timing has to be well thought out to be able to see all of them - the good thing is they are all within one city block of
each other!!
Sunday of course is the afternoon Awards show at the Alabama Theatre followed
by the After Parties with the Embers featuring Craig Woolard in the Spanish Galleon and Band of Oz in the OD Beach Club. During
the weekend there will also be a Shag Contest, Shag lessons, Line Dance lessons, live radio station remotes, the Annual Scholarship
Foundation Pig Pickin', Band Fair and much more.
There are 33 Award categories in
which the top nominations from the Academy members are then voted upon by those members. The winners are announced at the
various shows Friday through Sunday with Group of the Year, Female Artist, Male Artist, Entertainer of the Year, Group Album,
Solo Album being some of the key Awards to be announced at the Sunday show. There are guaranteed to be some surprises that
you will not want to miss!
I always like to take a closer look at one key Award category for the CBMAs - the Rising
Star Award. The nominees may be relatively new or may have been around awhile in the genre - in either case, they are bands
or individuals that have made contributions that deserve to be recognized. This year we have five such nominees:
Feature
Attraction Band - this group has emerged on the Beach music scene over the past year. Hailing from Southern Virginia/Northern
North Carolina, the band includes 5 very experienced musicians, several of which evolved from a previous group known as Overtime.
The band plays a diverse variety of Soul, Beach, Country, Rock and Oldies. Often represented by the letters FAB, they have
had some outstanding song success this year, with both Feel That Way Again and She
Don't Love Me No Mo' rising to the top of the National Beach Music Top 40.
Silk Groove - this group was assembled
shortly after last November's CBMA Awards, largely orchestrated by Chris 'Silk' Tery, drummer extraordinaire, and former member
of the Carolina Soul Band. CSB, if you recall, put on a sterling performance at last year's CBMA Sunday Show and capped the
weekend off by winning the 2016 Rising Star Award. Silk Groove, however, travels with as many as 11 members on stage, including
multiple horns and vocalists, many of which have toured extensively with award winning musical contingents. Silk Groove hit
the ground running in Beach music, with their single Lover's Lullaby making all the various charts. You can see Silk Groove in person during CBMA Weekend - they
will be performing in the Spanish Galleon on Friday night!!
James Michael
Brown Band - this phenomenal hitmaker has exploded in Beach music since the single Pretty Girl hit the charts in the fall of 2016. It is the brainchild of one Mike
Brown, who has played with everyone over the last 50 years, most recently with The Entertainers, also spending time with the
Blackwater Rhythm & Blues Band. Working with R&B Producer Rodney Shelton, they have put together a package of songs
utilizing a group of studio musicians whose resumes stretch from here to California and back. Additional major charting singles
this year include Ready for Love and
The Moon Is Watching You. Another new
tune has just been released entitled Your Love
- I am sure it will jump up the charts as well!
Otto Reynolds
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Sometimes we see a very unique individual come over to Beach music that is likely to be headed down a different path, one
might call them a dreamer destined for bigger things. This could be the case with Otto Reynolds, who has been singing and
performing almost since he was old enough to walk. Along the way he has travelled the world performing on Celebrity Cruises,
at Dollywood, on MTV, to name a few. Right now though, he is riding the roads as a member of Hip Pocket Band, garnering a
nomination for this year's Rising Star Award. Also an accomplished songwriter, time will tell where he is headed, it is very
likely good things are in store for this talented young artist.
The
Tonez - Rethinking and rebranding often happens in
Beach music - such is the case with The Tonez. From 2012 until this year, the base of this band was known as the Swashtones,
who received multiple Rising Star Award nominations and scored a major Beach hit with 1-4-3. Re-inventing themselves as The Tonez, they once again hit home this year
with a heavy charter on Beast Of Burden.
There will be multiple opportunities to see this 8 piece horn band perform during CBMA Weekend - they will be at Ducks on
Thursday 11/09 and will be the Saturday Showcase Band in the OD Beach Club on 11/11 at NOON.
We have to acknowledge our leader here at BeachMusic45.com as well as for the
tireless work he does on The LargeTime Radio Network. Pat Patterson once again has several nominations in this year's CBMA
Awards. These include:
FM Radio DJ -
WPCC 96.5 in Clinton, SC
Club/Mobile DJ
FM Radio Station - WPCC 96.5, Pat is the owner
Overall Radio Show -
Beat of the Beach
Michael Branch Award - BeachMusic45
Event of the Year - Amazingly Amazing LargeTime Adventure
Cruise
Pat has previously won 8 CBMAs across multiple categories. Much congratulations
for the continued success, Pat!!
The number of new songs being released in Beach music over the last few months
is beginning to remind me of the Southern Soul genre, where the floodgates are constantly open. One of the hottest tunes on
the charts has been from the Band Punch (pictured above), Don't You Worry About Me, featuring the fine back and forth vocals of Lemont Young and Taylor Manning Craig................Eric
Stephenson, formerly the lead vocalist with the Hip Pocket Band, has been cranking the singles out of late. He started out
with the slow and way down low Share My Life,
followed that up with the hard driving Nothing
But A Woman and then released the latest, the tiki tropical, Rum Punch....... Beach music Hall of Famer Steve Jarrell just gave us a good one - sentimental and lighthearted,
it's Till Next Summer.........
From Bill Bradford Music out of Charlotte, the multi-talented actress and singer
Maria Howell has an upbeat new one entitled Solve Your
Mystery.......We talked about these guys last time, it's Jon Rachels and the Sweet T's out of the Pinehurst/Carthage
area of NC - they have a surefire hit on their hands featuring Tate Phillips on Elegant Woman. Also, the Original Carolina
Girl herself, Ms. Terri Gore, just teamed up with the Sweet T's to create a sparkling rendition of Dear Lover..........Hall of Fame vocalist and DJ Paul Craver just recently
released a strong version of Let Me Make Love
To You..............We wrote about this group in last month's edition of Southern Soul Corner. They are a big time
show band out of Wilson, NC called Black Diamond. The Beach DJs are playing their killer grooves, They Want Me To and Don't Stop Moving..........
I have had the pleasure of MC' ing at festivals where this group was the headliner
and closing act to a roaring crowd. Out of Alamance County, they play a combination of Rock, Country, Blues and a little Beach.
The Mason Lovett Band gives us a tune that fits the genre with Love's Gonna Come My Way...................Every song this lady releases becomes a hit and they are all original
material. Nominated for Entertainer of the Year for 2017, it's Lesa Hudson with her latest, Sending Out An SOS.......The Chairmen of the Board featuring Ken Knox
have released the mid-tempo smoothie Words
Left Unsaid, with a vocal intro reminiscent of 70's Chicago Soul.........He is a guitarist and vocalist from deep
in the heart of Georgia who has had two (Swing
It and Why You Wanna Do That)
long running #1 hits in Beach music. I predict that his latest, Kiss It Goodbye, has a good chance to do the same.......The Carolina Soul Band is picking up steam of late
with their new tune, That Was The Night.........
I do not personally know Doyle Wood, owner of Daxwood Records in Fayetteville, NC,
but he just sent me a pretty cool drop called Island
Breezes................. Mark Bost, North Tower Band drummer, vocalist and songwriter, has just recently dropped a
jumpin' booty scootin' tush pusher with Move
The Line........Ron Henderson, Jr. out of Charlotte is an accomplished songwriter who has produced several original
tunes as well as covers in recent months. His rendition of This Magic Moment has been getting radio airplay - the two I have been playing that l really like from Ron
are Love Makes It Better and I See You...........Also from Charlotte, Jimmy and Darlene Harrison
have done well on the Beach charts in the last 2 plus years. Their recent version of Heaven Must Be Missing An Angel is starting to make some noise.......Raleigh's
own Walt Love has one that I was not sure that was officially released but I just saw I Really Need You on WDZD 99.1's Weekly Charts. Look for more news from Walt shortly......Pennsylvania
DJ Eddie Collins, who I believe is moving to North Myrtle Beach, just released one entitled Spellbound.
We frequently get songs coming into Beach music from other genres, often to become
big hits. One artist I wanted to highlight here is Benny Turner, who had such a song with Breakin' News. It is off the charts now but debuted on the Smokin'
Top 45 in the Fall of 2015 and remained there for almost 2 years. Benny, who
just turned 78 in October, is from Texas and is the younger brother of renowned Blues musician the late Freddie King. He has
toured the world playing with almost everyone in the genre for the past 50 plus years. Benny is on the cover and is the featured story in the latest issue of Living Blues magazine.
It is certainly great to see Benny receiving a modicum of much deserved recognition for this hard working lifetime musician.
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