2022 SAMMYS Nods Announced

The Syracuse Area Music Awards (SAMMYS) announced its 2022 nominees and honorees for its Hall of Fame Tuesday. This year’s Hall of Fame class is led by East Syracuse native Tom Kenny, popularly known as the voice of the beloved Nickelodeon cartoon character Spongebob Squarepants and leader of the band Tom Kenny and the Hi-Seas, who will be participating at the awards ceremony.

The 2022 awards have 46 nominees among 11 categories:

BEST JAZZ
• Bob Holz – Live in New York And L.A.
• Chuck Lamb & Peter Mack – Exit 33
• E.S.P. – Ready or Not
• The Pietra Group – People Chain

BEST POP
• AK Kastro – College Rd.
• Coral Blue – Paris is Burning
• The Jess Novak Band – A Thousand Lives
• River Westin – Candy Cigarettes

• Brett Puglisi – So Familiar

• Stoyan – Cancel Me

BEST AMERICANA
• The Dirty Doves – Pure & Simple
• George Mann – A World Like This
• Harmonic Dirt – Rhode Island Street
• Len Widdekind – Highway of Time
• Nashua Robb – Sunroom Sessions: About Time
• The Ripcords – Unmasked

BEST HARD ROCK
• Gainer – Cold Case
• Less Than Hate – Less Than Hate
• Unwanted Ghosts – The End is a Gift
• Void Emperor – Void Emperor

BEST JAM BAND
• Count Blastula – Strange Mutations
• Ramshki Alley – Ramshki Alley

BEST R&B
• Anna Shelay – Unlinkable
• Diana Jacobs Band – Love Each Other,
Love Our World
• Free Boody Institute – Myths, Legends &
The Hard Truth
• Lamar Lamb – Love & Pain

BEST ROCK
• Everneau – Revolution
• Jeff Gordon – Local Boy
• McWray – Thunderin
• Not Robots! – Not Robots
• Steve Romer – Slow Demise
• Tommy Gunn – Chulo

BEST ALTERNATIVE
• The Leaps – Spinning the Wheels
• Mike Gibson – Feb6: Grief & Nonsense
• Outside Voices – Grind
• Trauma Cat – Prepare to Apologize

BEST HIP-HOP OR RAP
• Christenelle Diroc – In Our Crystal Castle
• Coughlin – Miles
• Exoticz – For the Love of Music
• VinnyVeg – 1104 Vol. 2 The Leader Of Real Shhh

BEST OTHER STYLE
• Alex Seubert – Works from Space
• Asael – Moment
• Fritz’s Polka Band – The Hands of Time
• Jeff Tripoli – Rhythm Cadence for the New Renaissance
• Paul Davie – Half and Half

BEST COUNTRY
• Jon Rogalia – Twenty Eight
• Whiskey Hollow Rush – Torn Up from the Corn Up

The SAMMYS Hall of Fame induction ceremony will be held Upstairs at the Dino, 246 Willow Street in Syracuse at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, March 3. A limited number of tickets for the Hall of Fame will be available for $30. There will be a free live stream of this event via SubCat Studios.

This year’s Hall of Fame will induct Russ Tarby, Robert Tousignant, Los Blancos, Jeff Stockham, J. Avery Head as the Music Educator of the Year and Tom Kenny as the Lifetime Achievement Award recipient. For more information on the honorees, visit the SAMMYS website here.

The awards ceremony will be an in-person event held Friday, March 4 at 7:00 p.m. at the OnCenter Crouse Hinds Theater located at 421 Montgomery Street in Syracuse. Tickets for the ceremony will be $25. A live stream of the awards ceremony will be available for $15.

The awards show will feature performances by Jon Rogalia & The Swamp Boys, Letizia, The Real RAW Breed, and Tom Kenny & The Hi-Seas.

In addition to these performances, awards will be presented in 11 recording
categories, as well as the People’s Choice awards for Best Artist or Band, Best Event or Music Series, Best Academic or Musical Organization, and Best Venue.

The Brian Bourke award sponsored by CNYAlive.com for Best New Artist will also be announced. As in the past, this year’s Best New Artist will receive six hours of recording time from SubCat Studios.

The 2022 People’s Choice online voting continues through February 28. Everyone is encouraged to vote for their favorite local artists or bands, live stream events or series, academic or musical organizations, and venues. For more information, or to vote for your favorites, visit the SAMMYS People’s Choice page here.

For streaming and ticketing information, visit the SAMMYS website here.

Follow Syracuse Area Music Awards on FacebookTwitter, and Instagram.

You can listen to this year’s nominees on the Spotify playlist below.

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