The 2009 NAMA Winners

Holy crap. There are a lot of bands in Fayetteville. Like, a whole lot. About a zillion.

Last night, several of them were on hand for the 14th annual Northwest Arkansas Music awards, and some of them won! Great job.

The Dickson Theater was as packed as we’ve ever seen it for the NAMA’s this year, and if the support for the event is any indication of the health of the music scene in Fayetteville, I’d say it is well on the road to recovery.

Mayor Lioneld Jordan made an official announcement declaring April 23rd Northwest Arkansas Musicians day, and called Fayetteville’s musicians “the best in Northwest Arkansas” (duh). Jarris, Kory Montgomery, Cletus Got Shot, and Souled Out performed about 3 songs each between awards, and there was more dancing at this years NAMA’s than I’ve seen in a really long time. It was a good night.

Benjamin Del Schreve swept the awards last year, and walked away with 3 more NAMA’s for his NAMA collection last night, including Best Male Vocalist (band), best Power Pop, and Band of the Year. BDS was on hand earlier in the night, but the band was playing in Fort Smith, and missed the awards portion of the night.

Several of the winners were absent, but I suppose if you’re out playing music, that’s a pretty good excuse.

Best album went to Trout Fishing in America for last year’s Big Round World release. Best singer / songwriters were Ben Rector, and Opal Fly. Best indie band was the Memphis Pencils.

The full list is below.

What do you guys think. Do you agree with the results?

[If the slideshow doesn’t load, visit the entire set at our Flickr page]

Photos by M Taylor Long