The 2021 New Mexico Music Awards were held on Sunday, July 25th, 2021 in Albuquerque. Awards were given out in 40 categories including country music, Latin, Blues, Jazz, Folk, Indie Rock and other genres and for non music categories including best recording engineer, best mastering engineer, best producer and best album of the year.

Best album went to Kipp Bently of Santa Fe for his Americana album Rose of Jericho. The Norman Petty Producer Award went to Tom (Panda) Ryan for his recording of Ronny Cox-Live at the Kitchen Sink. Best song honors went to Santa Fe’s Busy McCarrol for her composition Divided States. The Carlsbad band Stranded took home Modern Rock Honors, the Singer/Songwriter category was won by Truth or Consequenses composer Rooster Blackspur who recorded at Wall of Sound in Albuquerque. Taos artist Zephaniah Stringfield won Bluegrass honors and the Las Cruces based band Alameda August won in the Children’s category with their song Hush.

A complete list of winners can be found at http://www.newmexicomusicawards.com/2021-new-mexico-music-award-winners/

The Sunport Serenade program from the City of Albuquerque showcases New Mexico musicians and entertains travelers to and from the Duke City. We spoke with the Albuquerque Sunport’s Jonathan Small about the re-launch of their Sunport Serenade series and he gave us the details on the program. Here’s the skinny.

Performances begin in August and go through the end of the year. Applications will be accepted through July 15th of this year. The calendar fills up fast, so signing up early is best to get the dates you want.

The city will pay each solo, duo, trio or group $150.00 per hour for 2-3 hours of music. No tipping will be allowed (or at least, greatly discouraged.)The performances will be held on Wednesdays and Thursdays in the Great Hall in the SE section of the Sunport.

Artists must provide their own sound systems. Power will be available.

They are looking for local (NM) artists who play lighter, easier music. It may be any style of music, but not too loud so as to entertain travelers, not distract them. While they prefer instrumental performances, they will accommodate artists with vocals. Ballads are okay.

May be original or covers, but must fit the above parameters.

You do not need to become a licensed vendor with the city, but you will have to fill out some paperwork.

Payment is not made day of the performance, but will arrive by check shortly after your performance.

Artists will be given instructions on where to park for loading and unloading.

For more info or to submit, email them at sunportinfo@cabq.gov Thanks to Jonathan Small for his assistance and the city of Albuquerque for supporting live music.

Techniques in Reharmonization Instructor: Michael Anthony On-line 6 Weeks: June 7-July 12 Mondays, 6:00-7:30 PM (MT)Members/$80; General/$95 Alternate harmonies and reharmonization perk up and energize a melody. In this course, we will study the basic principles and tools of this aspect of music and present practical examples every week so that students can add this fun and interesting device to ‘their’ music. Click here for more information and to register!

Blues Singing —only 3 spots left! Instructor: Zenobia Conkerite On-line 6 Weeks: June 9-July 14 Wednesdays, 6:00-8:00 PM (MT)Members/$110; General/$130 This class will touch on what it means to sing the blues. While working on your favorite blues standards, students will explore how personal experiences and emotions can be integrated into singing that comes from the soul. Vocal technique not required. Click here for more information and to register!

Intro to Jazz Guitar Instructor: John Maestas On-line 6 Weeks: June 10-July 15 Thursdays, 6:00-7:30 PM (MT) Members/$80; General/$95 One of the most fulfilling experiences for a musician is the act of creating something new and spontaneous in the moment. For many people, the idea of playing a “solo” or improvising something out of thin air is not only a mystery but also intimidating. This guitar course is designed to give you the musical and mental tools that are central to making quick decisions and help to demystify the improvisational process. The material in this course will be geared towards guitarists who have little or no experience playing Jazz or improvisation. Specifically we will touch on chord/scale relationships, arpeggios, transcribing music by ear, weekly featured guitarist playlists, rhythm & exercises to build steady internal time, and tools on how to quickly decode harmony in motion. Click here for more information and to register!

Jazz Camp 2021 starts June 7! Do you know a young person, grades 7 to 12, who is interested in playing jazz? Tell them about Jazz Camp!!This two-week program will be held on-line starting June 7. It’s a great way to keep music skills up during the summer and have some fun, too! Our fabulous instructors, Cesar Bauvallet and Artha Meadors, will be back for another great year of camp! Click here for more information and to register

We want to, first of all, thank our veterans for their service to our country and to welcome them home.

We also want to remind everyone that some veterans are still dealing with the after effects of battle and that not all wounds are visible. Healing takes time. Please be understanding of our heroes.

Finally, let us honor these brave men and women with some of the music that has come from our veteran’s workshops.

The New Mexico Music Awards in cooperation with listen!nm will begin presenting Therapeutic Songwriting Workshops for veterans around the state this summer and fall. Veterans and songwriters work together to write music that expresses the veteran’s experiences in the military. It can be painful, heartbreaking and sometimes even funny, but always rewarding. Here are a few song that our vets have produced over the past few years.

Just click on the title for a link to a video or audio file.

Put My Mind At Ease

These Are Not My Stars

I’m Afraid I Can’t

I Brought The War With Me

Ryan Montano’s new song Gemini hit the airwaves across the United States and the world on May 3rd.

Produced by Montano and co-written with guitarist Claudio Toulouse, the cut features Vandell Andrew on Alto and Tenor sax, Me Brown on bass, Arnaldo Acosta on drums, and Steve Figueroa on Fender Rhodes.

Montano has had success around the world on jazz and smooth jazz formats. This is the follow up to his top twenty hit “The Tough Get Going.”

The full version of #Gemini is available here:https://youtu.be/vKuNzI1ziHQ