THE 18TH INDEPENDENT MUSIC AWARDS WINNERS ANNOUNCED
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact
Martin Folkman
[email protected]
The 18th Annual Independent Music Awards Winners
Announced Online Today @ 2pm EST
Lucinda Williams, Jesse Malin, Jonatha Brooke, Heilung, Sofía Rei & JC Maillard, Kevin Hays & Chiara Izzi, Sawyer Fredericks, Jake La Botz, FLOW, John Fields, The Dollyrots, STORRY, Mary Fahl and Sekou Andrews are among The IMA Honorees
New York, New York, April 28, 2020 — With the world in lockdown, The 18th annual Independent Music Awards (The IMAs) canceled this year’s live ceremony, and instead today announced the year’s best self-released and indie label projects online. Lucinda Williams, Jesse Malin, Jonatha Brooke, Heilung, Sofía Rei & JC Maillard, Kevin Hays & Chiara Izzi, Sawyer Fredericks, Jake La Botz, John Fields, The Dollyrots, Mary Fahl and Sekou Andrews are among the established and emerging artists from around the globe recognized by The 18th IMAs.
View all 18th IMA Winners here.
The IMAs annual show and accompanying Indie Music Konference originally scheduled as 3-day June event in New York City, were cancelled as a result of the global pandemic. Instead, the winners in 104 Music, Video and Design categories, were announced at 2pm EST today on The Independent Music Awards website and other online platforms. Branded playlists on YouTube, Facebook and Spotify feature award-winning music, artist interviews and other video content from honorees and Judges created from their quarantine hide-aways around the world.
The winning projects were selected by influential judging panelists including: Tom Waits & Kathleen Brennan, Robert Smith, Ziggy Marley, KT Tunstall, Dee Snider, Drowning Pool, Roberta Flack, Jaci Velasquez, Coolio, Joshua Bell, Beth Gibbons, Joe Satriani and many more indie creatives, top recording artists and industry influencers. View all 18th IMA Judges here.
The Wicked Cool label (USA) led this year’s nominations, announced on April 9, and continued its IMA sweep, winning top honors in 6 categories including Producer recognition for Lucinda Williams and Ted Overby in the Roots category for Jesse Malin’s new album, Sunset Kids. Williams also appears on “Room 13,” a track from the album that won the Vox Pop fan vote in the Americana Song category. Other notable mentions in this year’s program include multiple wins for the Metal label Season of Mist (France) and the Latin label RMM Productions (Spain). Among this year’s rising stars is the Canadian artist STORRY, who won in the Debut Album and R&B Soul Album for her release Ch III: The Come Up which she wrote, funded and produced herself.
“The world needs to hear from independent artists now more than ever. We didn’t want to keep it waiting”, said The Independent Music Awards Executive Director Martin Folkman. “There’s no telling how long it will be before we can all meet face to face again, so The IMAs reimagined the annual live award show as an ongoing, online showcase for exceptional work by indie artists everywhere. So even if the artists can’t travel, at least we can provide a virtual victory lap.”
Artistry. Diversity. Excellence.
Now in its 18th year, The Independent Music Awards, produced by Music Resource Group, honors the exceptional work of indie creatives from around the globe. The planet’s most diverse music awards program honors artistry and daring rather than streams and social reach and celebrates everything that makes indie music authentic and unique.
This year’s winning projects were culled from thousands of Album, EP, Song, Producer, Music Video and Visual Design submissions from 73 countries on 6 continents; Nominees were announced earlier this year.
Over the course of its history, the program has recognized an eclectic roster of established and emerging talent including: Killer Mike, Melissa Auf der Maur, Valerie June, Macy Gray, Jackson Browne, Pete Seeger, Flying Lotus, Lacuna Coil, Passenger, fun., JD McPherson, Team Me, Radio Radio, …And You Shall Know Us by the Trail of Dead, Meghan Trainor, Lionel Loueke, Girl in a Coma, Apples in stereo, Masta Ace, Le Bouef Brothers, Pokey LaFarge, Julianna Hatfield, RuPaul and many, many more independent innovators from around the world.
More about The IMAs:
Facebook: Facebook.com/TheIndependentMusicAwards.com
YouTube: Youtube.com/IMABuzz
Instagram: Instagram.com/IMABuzz
Twitter: @IMABuzz
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The 18th Independent Music Awards Winners
| Album Category | Winner | Winning Album |
| Adult Contemporary | Monica Pasqual | You Can't Kill Light |
| Alt. Country | Jake La Botz | They're Coming For Me |
| Americana | JigJam | Phoenix |
| Bluegrass | Allison de Groot & Tatiana Hargreaves | Allison de Groot & Tatiana Hargreaves |
| Blues | Hamish Anderson | Out of My Head |
| CCM/Gospel | Tabernacle Worship | Surrender |
| Children's Music | Music with Gina | All of Us |
| Compilation | Various Artists | Tell It to Me: Revisiting the Johnson City Sessions, 1928-1929 |
| Concept | Rozina Pátkai | Taladim |
| Contemporary Classical | David Chesky | España |
| Country | Becky Denton | Fire & Grace |
| Dance/Electronica | Delaporte | Como Anoche |
| Debut | STORRY | Ch III: The Come Up |
| Eclectic | Chloe Pourmorady Ensemble | Begin Majesty |
| Film / TV / Game Score | Ian Chen | Fantastic Creatures (Original Soundtrack) |
| Folk/Singer-Songwriter | Charm of Finches | Your Company |
| Funk/Fusion/Jam | Joan Torres's All Is Fused | Revolution |
| Indie / Alt. Rock | Ryan Hamilton and The Harlequin Ghosts | This Is the Sound |
| Instrumental | César Orozco & Jorge Glem | Stringwise |
| Jazz Instrumental | Ferenc Nemeth feat. Gregory Tardy & Tzumo Arpad | Freedom |
| Jazz With Vocals | The Lost American JazzBook (feat. Tammi Brown) | Taxonomy of Pleasure |
| Latin | LPT | Sin Parar |
| Live Performance | Skyline | Symphojazz |
| Metal/Hardcore | Misery Index | Rituals of Power |
| New Age | Sangeeta Kaur | Compassion |
| Pop | Nick de la Hoyde | A Beautiful Mess |
| R&B/Soul | STORRY | Ch III: The Come Up |
| Rap/Hip-Hop | Gold Lemonade | School of Hard Drops |
| Reggae/Ska/Dancehall | Gotaflika | Go Up |
| Rock / Hard Rock | Voyager | Colours in the Sun |
| Spoken Word | Sekou Andrews & The String Theory | Sekou Andrews & The String Theory |
| Tribute | Little Kruta | Justice |
| World Beat | Sofía Rei & JC Maillard | Keter |
| World Traditional | Masoud Rezaei | Until |
| Song Category | Winner | Winning Song |
| A Cappella | Patrice Jégou | Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams (feat. Take 6) |
| A Cappella | Jazz Affair (Vox Pop Winner) | Jour Heureux |
| Acoustic | Harmonious Wail | Move |
| Acoustic | Aidan Gallagher (Vox Pop Winner) | I Love You |
| Adult Contemporary | BELLSAINT | Can't Stop a Woman |
| Adult Contemporary | Neshama Carlebach (Vox Pop Winner) | Believe |
| Alt. Country | Aminah Hughes | Storm of Time |
| Alt. Country | Ryan Newton (Vox Pop Winner) | Casting Shadows (On the Heels of Tomorrow) |
| Americana | The Rough & Tumble | The Hardest Part |
| Americana | Jesse Malin (Vox Pop Winner) | Room 13 (feat. Lucinda Williams) |
| Bluegrass | Daniel Crabtree | Piedmont Train |
| Bluegrass | Conversion (Vox Pop Winner) | An American Easter (The Joy of Mary M) |
| Blues | Brick Fields | Soul of a Woman |
| Blues | Brick Fields (Vox Pop Winner) | Soul of a Woman |
| CCM/Gospel | Patrick Foreman | He's Able (feat. David Scott) |
| CCM/Gospel | Katie Braswell (Vox Pop Winner) | Louder |
| Children's Music | Lucy Kalantari & The Jazz Cats | Flick of My Wrist |
| Children's Music | Lucy Kalantari & The Jazz Cats (Vox Pop Winner) | Flick of My Wrist |
| Country | Dani Strong | Mrs. Jones (Evelyn) |
| Country | Madelyn Paquette (Vox Pop Winner) | Broke Like Me |
| Cover | SKy76 | Twist in My Sobriety (orig. by Tanita Tikaram) |
| Cover | Dr. Albert Flipout's one CAN band (Vox Pop Winner) | Sweet Child O' Mine (orig. by Guns N' Roses) |
| Dance/Electronica | 32Stitches | Are We There Yet (feat. Baer) |
| Dance/Electronica | Justin Mise (Vox Pop Winner) | Take a Piece |
| Eclectic | Orchid Ensemble | Ghosts of the Living |
| Eclectic | Petra Várallyay Trio (Vox Pop Winner) | Deadline Haze |
| Folk/Singer-Songwriter | Sawyer Fredericks | Born |
| Folk/Singer-Songwriter | Marta Palombo (Vox Pop Winner) | Him |
| Funk/Fusion/Jam | Frank Colón | Wishful Thinking |
| Funk/Fusion/Jam | Jennifer Maidman & Verna Gillis (Vox Pop Winner) | Psycho Loco (feat. Annie Whitehead, Jerry Marotta & John Medeski) |
| Holiday | Mary Fahl | Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas |
| Holiday | Nadia Vaeh (Vox Pop Winner) | Holidazed & Confused |
| Indie / Alt. Rock | The Covasettes | Twit Twoo |
| Indie / Alt. Rock | Jesse Malin (Vox Pop Winner) | Strangers & Thieves (feat. Billie Joe Armstrong) |
| Instrumental | Sultans of String | The Grand Bazaar (feat. Béla Fleck & Robi Botos) |
| Instrumental | Roman Smirnov & Andrew Leshkin (Vox Pop Winner) | Old Friends |
| Jazz Instrumental | Petros Klampanis | Easy Come Easy Go |
| Jazz Instrumental | Petros Klampanis (Vox Pop Winner) | Easy Come Easy Go |
| Jazz With Vocals | Kevin Hays & Chiara Izzi | Circles of the Mind (feat. Nir Felder) |
| Jazz With Vocals | Roberto Tola (Vox Pop Winner) | Slow Motion (feat. Darryl Walker) |
| Latin | Ludmila Mercerón & Salsa de Reyes | A Santiago |
| Latin | El Feeling (Vox Pop Winner) | Que Te Vaya Cabrón (feat. Lolita de Sola) |
| Love | LACES | moved |
| Love | Jason Gill (Vox Pop Winner) | Air I Breathe |
| Metal/Hardcore | FUTURE AFTER A SECOND | Invert |
| Metal/Hardcore | Fiùran (Vox Pop Winner) | 10 Feet Tall |
| New Age | FLOW (feat. Will Ackerman, Fiona Joy, Lawrence Blatt & Jeff Oster) | Adrift at Sea |
| New Age | Darlene Koldenhoven (Vox Pop Winner) | Sequoia Serenade |
| Pop | FLAVIA | Expectations |
| Pop | Martene Clayton (Vox Pop Winner) | Should've Been (feat. Black Poet) |
| R&B/Soul | TEFO | Play Play |
| R&B/Soul | CarolAnn Brevard (Vox Pop Winner) | In a Mood |
| Rap/Hip-Hop | 222Unique | Flex on Em |
| Rap/Hip-Hop | Gold Lemonade (Vox Pop Winner) | How You Feel |
| Reggae/Ska/Dancehall | Wiseman | So High |
| Reggae/Ska/Dancehall | Father Goose Music (Vox Pop Winner) | Rise Up Now |
| Rock / Hard Rock | Butterfingers | Dancing (To the Beat of My Own Drum) |
| Rock / Hard Rock | Soraia (Vox Pop Winner) | Evergreen |
| Social Action | HuDost | Rise Together (feat. Jars of Clay) |
| Social Action | Sawyer Fredericks (Vox Pop Winner) | Amen |
| Spoken Word | Pascal Le Boeuf + Bec Plexus | Mirror Image |
| Spoken Word | Sekou Andrews & The String Theory (Vox Pop Winner) | Be Voiceful |
| Story | Ellis Paul | Scarecrow in a Corn Maze |
| Story | Mean Mary (Vox Pop Winner) | Cold (House by the Sea) |
| Used in Ad Campaign | NEEDSHES | Unbelievable |
| Used in Ad Campaign | Chelsea Grams (Vox Pop Winner) | Keep Up |
| Used in Film / TV / Game Score | Zac Silva & James McCaffrey | Friends With Death (Original Score) |
| Used in Film / TV / Game Score | MATHIA (Vox Pop Winner) | Hold On |
| World Beat | Sofía Rei & JC Maillard | Rachamim |
| World Beat | Tri Nguyen & Graeme Drum (Vox Pop Winner) | Walking |
| World Traditional | Heilung (tie) | Norupo |
| World Traditional | Wesli (tie) | Lolé Lolé Remix |
| World Traditional | W. Ed Harris (Vox Pop Winner) | Morrison's |
| EP Category | Winner | Winning EP |
| Dance/Electronica | Cherokee | Californism |
| Eclectic | JoJo Worthington | TCYK |
| Instrumental | David Jay | The Spaniard |
| Jazz | KILTER | KILTER |
| Live Performance | Nina Lee | Live at Rockwood |
| Pop | BELLSAINT | Technicolor Dream |
| Rock | No Resolve | The Divide |
| Roots/Country | Jonatha Brooke | Imposter |
| Urban | Coco Jones | H.D.W.Y |
| World | AJOYO | War Chant |
| Music Producer Category | Winner | Winning Work |
| Dance/Electronica | 5önikk | 5önikk - Electric |
| Eclectic | Dub Mentor | Dub Mentor - 4YX |
| Instrumental | Will Ackerman, Tom Eaton | FLOW (feat. Will Ackerman, Fiona Joy, Lawrence Blatt & Jeff Oster) - Promise |
| Jazz | Petros Klampanis | Petros Klampanis - Irrationalities |
| Live Performance | Nicky Estor | Ben Racine Band - Live à Montréal |
| Pop | Hafid Salazar Banoy, Nathalie Hazim, Alexandro Seguí | Nathalie Hazim - Más de lo que Soñé |
| Rock | John Fields, The Dollyrots | The Dollyrots - Daydream Explosion |
| Roots/Country | Lucinda Williams, Tom Overby (Producers); Geoff Sanoff, Michael Iurato (Executive Producers) | Jesse Malin - Sunset Kids |
| Urban | Joseph Vitterito, Jason Hart, D | Agency - Alarm |
| World | Chris McKhool, John "Beetle" Bailey | Sultans of String - Refuge |
| Design Category | Winner | Winning Work |
| Album Art / Photography | DULK (Antonio Segura Donat) | Moron Police - A Boat on the Sea |
| Album Packaging | Jheng-Han Li, Hsin-Hung Chen, Hsiao-Yin Tai | Emerge House Band - Time |
| Artist Concert Photo | Fong-Yau Ye | Brahman - Fireball Festival |
| Artist Publicity Photo | Jørn Veberg | Gaahls WYRD - Ghosts Invited |
| Music Promo Poster | Paixpro, Hsien-Chen Tsai | Amazing Show - The Great Paradisiacal Mountain |
| Music Website | Krzysztof A. Janczak | Krzysztof A. Janczak Website |
| Swag | Major Moment | Major Moment - The Sequel Puzzle |
| Short Form Video Category | Winner | Winning Video |
| Animated / Stop-Motion | A-Flight (tie) | 2019 Golden Bell Award 54th short film (Art Coordinator: Timothy Motion) |
| Animated / Stop-Motion | Brian Shankar Adler (tie) | Mantra |
| Animated / Stop-Motion | Stuck in the Sound (Vox Pop Winner) | Alright |
| Concept / Experimental | Pascal Le Boeuf + Bec Plexus | Mirror Image |
| Concept / Experimental | KIN (Vox Pop Winner) | Be a Little Lonely |
| Director | Zach "Reazon" Heiligman & Max Heiligman | DAE - Where We're Going |
| Director | Aminah Hughes (Vox Pop Winner) | Aminah Hughes - I Need to Learn |
| Lyric | Nia Monaé | The Blueprint |
| Lyric | Major Moment (Vox Pop Winner) | Talking To Myself |
| Narrative | Árstíðir | Entangled |
| Narrative | Madison Violet (Vox Pop Winner) | Tell Me |
| Performance | The Songery | The Dark |
| Performance | Raven Quinn (Vox Pop Winner) | Alchemy (feat. George Lynch) |
| Social Action | Wouter Kellerman | Baroque to the Rescue (feat. Konshens The MC & Lady Zamar) |
| Social Action | DJ WILLY WOW! (Vox Pop Winner) | MLK That Way (feat. Chuck D) |
| Long Form Music Video Category | Winner | Winning Video |
| Best Overall | Ludmila Mercerón & Salsa de Reyes | En Directo Desde las Armas |
| Director | David Hernández & Enrique Alonso | Nuestro Changüi |
