The Indie Acoustic Project has announced the finalists for the IAP's "Best CDs of 2004" Awards. The 3 finalists in each of 14 categories were selected from the multitudes of CDs that were considered for the awards. "The quality of the CDs submitted was terrific, and this has lead to the only major problem we faced: because there were far more than 42 excellent CDs (and only 42 finalist slots), many deserving recordings could not be included."

"For this year’s awards, we have increased the number of categories from 12 to 14, decreased the number of finalists from 5 to 3, and added a new set of awards—the “Songs of Note” which gives recognition to 10 outstanding songs from CDs not among the finalists.

For those of you who submitted recordings for the awards, thank you for your excellent work. It is our hope that these awards will help all indie artists by generating increased awareness of independently produced music from around the world. "

The list of finalists may also be found on our website at www.indieacoustic.com. Questions may be directed to jon@indieacoustic.com.

FINALISTS: The artist's name is first (listed alphabetically within each category), followed by the CD title in italics, followed by the name of the record label in parenthesis.

Acoustic Ensemble:

Clumsy Lovers After the Flood (Nettwork); Mutual Admiration Society Mutual Admiration Society (Sugar Hill); Third Road Home Venus In Retrograde (Excaligurl).

Alt Rock:

Jesse Dyen Contents Under Pressure (Self-Produced); Kyler A Flower Grows In Stone (Deep South); Various Blues Lounge (Putumayo);

Americana:

Acoustic Syndicate Long Way Round (Sugar Hill); Kort & Beth McCumber Until I Return (Somewhere To Go); Steppin In It Hidden In the Lowlands (Hippo Coop);

Celtic:

Grada The Landing Step (Compass); Mozaik Live From the Powerhouse (Compass); Tiller’s Folly A Fine Kettle of Fish (Horizon);

Instrumental:

Creaking Tree String Quartet Side Two (Self-Produced); Johannes Linstead Mediterranea (Earthscape); Lunasa The Kinnitty Sessions (Compass);

Lyrics:

Kate Campbell Portable Kate Campbell (Compadre); The Machine Breakers The Bells Ring Anyway (Tinfoil); Darrell Scott Theatre of the Unheard (Full Light);

Multi-Genre:

Autorickshaw Four Higher (Tala Wallah); Chris Thile Deceiver (Sugar Hill); Various Greece—a Musical Odyssey (Putumayo);

Rock:

Ben Arnold Calico (Sci Fidelity); Drive By Truckers The Dirty South (New West); Fairport Convention Over the Next Hill (Compass);

Roots:

Tony Furtado These Chains (Funzalo); Alison Krauss Lonely Runs Both Ways (Rounder); Ricky Skaggs Brand New Strings (Skaggs Family);

Songwriter—Female:

Christine Kane Right Outta Nowhere (Firepink); Sarah Sharp Fourth Person (I Don’t Mind); Vienna Teng Warm Strangers (Virt / Deep South);

Songwriter—Male:

Garrin Benfield Where Joy Kills Sorrow (Zack Songs); Jez Lowe Doolally (Lowe Life); Simon Vincent Out of Here (Self-Produced);

World Music-Africa:

Tarika Beasts, Ghosts & Dancing with History (Karuna/Triloka); Tinariwen Amassakoul (Triban-Union); Wasis Diop Everything Is Never Quite Enough (Triloka);

World Music-Europe, Asia, and the Pacific:

Sheetal Love of Ages (Triloka); Various South Pacific Islands (Putumayo); Warsaw Village Band People’s Spring (Jaro/World Village);

World Music-Latin:

Candido & Graciela Inolvidable (Chesky); Katia Cardenal Hojarasca (Majo); Sergio Lara Con La Lluvia (Fusion Acustica).


Songs of Note: 10 Other Great Songs from 2004: (Artist name is first, followed by song title in italics, followed by the CD title in bold, followed by the name of the record label in parenthesis).

Linda Bonadies Doin’ Time No Regret (Go For It) ; Sam Bush Mahavishnu Mt Boys King of My World (Sugar Hill); Melonie Cannon Tennessee Roads Melonie Cannon (Skaggs Family); Carolyn Currie Everything Kiss of Ghosts (Etherean); Colin Gilmore Live Forever The World Stopped &; Spun the Other Way (Squirm); Kathy Kallick I Once Loved Reason & Rhyme (Copper Creek); Steven Mark Beer & NyQuil Distraction (Self-Produced); Nitty Gritty Dirt Band Walkin in the Sunshine Welcome to Woody Creek (Dualtone); Rise Both Sides of the Tweed Posing As Human (Orissor); Taxi Chain James Brown Ate My Bagpipes Smarten Up (Northern Blues).

Winners in each category will be announced by April 14.

The Indie Acoustic Project is dedicated to giving recognition to outstanding works of innovative acoustic (or mainly acoustic) music that have never gotten the acclaim that they deserve. The IAP website also features information on the 50 Best Indie Acoustic CDs of the 1990s, and the Best CDs of 2001-2003.