Press Release
41st WAMI Awards Winners
The annual awards recognizes members of the Wisconsin Music Industry for their achievements, contributions and excellence.
About the Awards
For over 40 years, the awards are given across over nearly 80 categories. Over the course of history only half have been given at the show.
About the Awards Show
This is an annual occasion for our community to get together, enjoy live music performances and celebrate the achievements of all nominees, finalists, winners and Hall of Fame Inductees. And for the first time, it is also a chance for WAMI to reveal our plans for bringing WAMI Scholarships to music students and educators across Wisconsin.
About the Categories Presented at the Awards Show
The awards that are presented at the show are determined by the categories receiving the highest number of votes that fit in our three hour awards show time frame, along with 11 live performances.
Announcing all Winners
The delay in announcing all winners is because of the intentional separation of the WAMI Board and the voting process that is now handled by Broadjam, our third party tabulation partner.
Simply put, WAMI did not have access to the list of winners until the morning of Monday, May 22.
At that point, it was sent to all major media outlets in the state of Wisconsin.
Presenting the Complete List of Winners
This complete list of winners is organize alphabetically by category.
| Category | Winner |
|---|---|
| Acoustic Bass (String) | Andy Mertens |
| Acoustic Guitar | Myles Wangerin |
| Album Of The Year | Wide Wide Open – Amelia Ford |
| Alternative Rock Artist Of The Year | Blame It On Cain |
| Artist Of The Year | The WhiskeyBelles |
| Banjo & Mandolin | Beau Janke (Banjo) |
| Bass Guitar | Eric Hervey |
| Best Club | Paulie’s Pub & Eatery |
| Best Festival | Mile of Music Festival |
| Best Live Engineer Sound/Lights | Trevor Powers |
| Best Overall Venue | Paulie’s Pub & Eatery |
| Best Recording Studio | Axis Recording Studio |
| Best Studio Engineer/Producer | Marc Golde |
| Best Theatre | The Sylvee |
| Bluegrass/Americana Artist Of The Year | Copper Box |
| Blues Artist Of The Year | Altered Five Blues Band |
| Blues, Country & Folk Album Of The Year | Shine – Mr. Blink |
| Christian/Gospel Artist Of The Year | King’s Conquest |
| Club/DJ/Dance/Electronic Artist Of The Year | Area-715 |
| Country Artist Of The Year | The WhiskeyBelles |
| Country Song Of The Year | Whiskey Morning – Genesee Depot |
| Cover Artist Of The Year | The Glam Band |
| Drummer | Junior Gamez |
| Electric Guitar | Tallan Noble Latz |
| Female Vocalist Of The Year | Donna Woodall |
| Folk & Blues Song Of The Year | Great Minds Drink Alike (With Horns) – Altered Five Blues Band |
| Folk/Celtic Artist Of The Year | Frogwater |
| Free Reed & Wind | Melissa Weishaar (Harmonica) |
| Hard Rock Artist Of The Year | Sacred |
| Hip Hop/Rap Artist Of The Year | Cujo |
| Horn/Big Band Artist Of The Year | The Hot & Dirty Brass Band |
| Instrumentalist Of The Year | Kris Crow (Piano) |
| Jazz Artist Of The Year | Erin Krebs |
| Male Vocalist Of The Year | Rich Hoffman |
| Metal Artist Of The Year | Thrasher |
| New Artist Of The Year | Driving Miss Crazy |
| Northeast Artist | Trash Pandas |
| Northeast Fan | Rachel Sebstead |
| Northeast Music Teacher | Erin Krebs |
| Northeast Music Venue | Fox Cities Performing Arts Center |
| Northeast Radio Station | WAPL Home Brewed |
| Northwest Artist | Rising Phoenix |
| Northwest Music Venue | Tiki Beach Bar & Grill |
| Orchestral Strings | Thea Vorass (Cello) |
| Percussion | James “Pie” Cowan (Hand Percussion) |
| Piano | Dave Adler |
| Polka Artist Of The Year | The Squeezettes |
| Pop Rock Artist Of The Year | Big Spoon |
| Pop, R & B, Rap & Electronic Song Of The Year | Nobody Else Like You – Alaria Taylor |
| Punk Artist Of The Year | Ratbatspider |
| R&B/Soul Artist Of The Year | The Pocket Kings |
| Rising Star Of The Year | Smart Mouth |
| Rock Album Of The Year | Lake Effect – Lake Effect |
| Rock Song Of The Year | Blood in the Water – Would You Kindly? |
| Saxophone | Tom Washatka |
| Singer/Songwriter Of The Year | Keith Pulvermacher |
| Song Of The Year | Great Minds Drink Alike (With Horns) – Altered Five Blues Band |
| Southeast Artist | The WhiskeyBelles |
| Southeast Fan | Travis Steffen |
| Southeast Music Teacher | Dave Schoepke |
| Southeast Music Venue | Paulie’s Pub & Eatery |
| Southwest Artist | The Jimmys |
| Southwest Fan | Kristin Shafel |
| Southwest Music Venue | The Majestic Theater |
| Southwest Radio Station | WORT FM |
| Specialty – Keyboards & Electronics | Kevin Schultz (Organ) |
| Specialty – Strings | Leroy Deuster (Pedal Steel Guitar) |
| Specialty – Wind | Erin Krebs (Flute) |
| Synthesizer | Marcell Guyton |
| Tribute Artist Of The Year | The Rush Tribute Project |
| Trombone | Mike Clobes |
| Trumpet | Eric Sperry |
| Turntables & Decks | DJ Trans Am |
| Unique Album Of The Year | Firebird – Cullah |
| Unique Song Of The Year | My Hometown Milwaukee – Jerry Grillo |
| Video Of The Year | Great Minds Drink Alike (With Horns) – Altered Five Blues Band |
| Violin | Chris Wagoner |
| World/Reggae/Ska/Latin Artist Of The Year | Natty Nation |
Trophies
WAMI will provide every award winner a trophy at no cost. Award winners can learn more about obtaining trophies here.