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Best Female Vocalist

Madame Andrews

Move over Hazel, Nina and Lannie. Though she's not exactly glamorous and hardly a diva, Madame Andrews is in possession of the city's most divine set of pipes. When the Heavenly Echoes vocalist and host of KGNU-FM's Gospel Chime sings her joyous, old-school testimonials to faith, she sends skin crawling and Satan heading for parts farther south. Andrews's current CD, (I've Got To) Make Up for the Time I Lost, is worth thanking heaven for.

Best Soundman

Shane Hotle
Mercury Cafe

Too many of the area's soundmen think a successful night on the job means causing tinnitus in the clientele. Shane Hotle knows better. He keeps the wattage in check and fills the Merc's glorious upstairs room with a smartly mixed, just-below-capacity sound. The result allows auditory indulgence up front and conversation in the back bar -- which is just as it should be.

Best Bluesman

David Booker

For a city of its size, Denver comes up short on compelling, cliche-free blues acts. But David Booker sings a different song. He's moved crowds here for decades, thanks to an eye for great material and supporting players -- not to mention a voice that wraps around standards like a sharkskin scarf. Add in his car-salesman/street-huckster persona, and you've got the finest bluesman about town.

Best Bluegrass Band

Open Road

Open Road has undergone a few changes in personnel since its acclaimed debut, Open Road, but that hasn't slowed the band. The acoustic combo from Lyons continues to serve up pure, traditionally spirited music of the finest kind -- an approach that's drawing attention from around the nation. If the players can hang on to the good mojo and chemistry, folks outside the state might think of Colorado as a place where jammy grass and the authentic stuff share the same soil.

Best Rockabilly Band

The Lee Bradford Trio

As a member of Open Road, Brad Folk handles himself as a country gentleman, a stately vocalist in a traditional bluegrass band. When fronting his trio, however, he turns into something else entirely -- a restrained, yowling wildcat. His act is real gone, all right, dishing out the meanest early-'50s rockabilly around. Is it fair that one guy gets to front two of the state's best roots acts? His fans think so.

Best Country Band

Dalhart Imperials

For almost ten years, Les Cooper and his Dalharts have carried the torch for honest-to-gawd country. Good thing they had the patience to stick it out, because the Dalharts have matured into one heck of a fine band. Thanks to Les's rich bray, Tim Cooper's sugarcane steel-guitar playing and the seasoned craftsmanship of the rest of the Imperial cast, locals have a homegrown cure for Nashville's illnesses.

Best Indie Label

Smooch Records

Run by Andrew Murphy, a spry and indefatigable supporter of homegrown music, Boulder-based Smooch Records has done more than just put out records: The label has helped cultivate an identity for the grassroots network of independent artists who make and record music in the Front Range. The sporadic Smooch live showcases are sampler-platter style concerts that give listeners a chance to taste a little of what's going on underground. Recently, the Smooch logo has appeared alongside some of the area's finest musical exports, from Maraca 5-0 to Jay Munly. Pucker up.

Best Blast From the Past -- Acoustic Division

So Long of a Journey
Hot Rize
Sugar Hill Records

Cut live at the Boulder Theater in 1996, So Long of a Journey captures one of the finest acts to emerge from the contemporary bluegrass scene in all its glory: From the traditional favorite "Keep Your Lamp Trimmed and Burning" to the joyous "Won't You Come and Sing for Me," the playing and singing of Pete Wernick, Tim O'Brien, Nick Forster and Charles Sawtelle is as skilled as it is spontaneous. With the passing of Sawtelle, future Hot Rize reunions will necessarily have something missing, which only makes this CD all the more valuable.

Best Blast From the Past -- Electric Division

Denver Sessions '79
The Corvairs
Prefab Int'l Records

The Corvairs never made much of an impact nationwide, but the band was among Colorado's hottest new-wave acts in the late '70s and early '80s, and Denver Sessions '79 perfectly captures the era. The music can be goofy at times -- "T.V." interpolates the theme to The Munsters -- and the recording quality is rather primitive (for information, visit www.newwave.50megs.com). Still, songs like "Hands of Time" and "Surf Noir" perfectly capture the spirit of the times.

Best Blues Recording

Respect the Dead
Otis Taylor
NorthernBlues Music

Otis Taylor is among the most ambitious blues performers on the planet, as Respect the Dead demonstrates. Rather than churning out good-timey blues for tourists or mimicking the styles of yesteryear, he uses his compositions to explore issues of love, history, race and justice. Songs like "Ten Million Slaves," "32nd Time" and "Jump Jelly Belly" may seem to be heavy sledding on the surface, but thanks to the conviction and talents of Taylor and collaborators Kenny Passarelli and Eddie Turner, they emerge as inspirational, educational and mysterious.

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