Cincinnati Entertainment Award Nominees for 2015 Announced

The nominees for the 18th annual Cincinnati Entertainment Awards showcase strength and diversity of Greater Cincinnati's music scene.

For the past 18 years, CityBeat has hosted the Cincinnati Entertainment Awards, a celebration of local music. The nominees for this year’s CEAs are another mix of veteran acts and newcomers, collectively exemplifying just how wonderful and eclectic the Greater Cincinnati music scene continues to be.

This year the public was invited to offer up suggestions for CEA nominations, which were then passed on to the program’s nominating committee. The new wrinkle was intended to freshen up the process and expand the pool of potential nominees.

Like the past couple years, there will be a “Best New Bands” showcase leading up to the CEA ceremony featuring performers from the “New Artist of the Year” category (as well as other worthy newcomers). The Best New Bands showcase returns to Bogart’s on Saturday, Jan. 17, 2015, and will coincide with CityBeat’s Best New Bands issue, profiling the New Artist nominees.

The Cincinnati Entertainment Awards ceremony, featuring live performances and award presentations, returns to Covington’s Madison Theater on Sunday, Jan. 25, 2015. Stay tuned for complete information on the Best New Bands showcase and the Cincinnati Entertainment Awards show/party. Tickets will be available soon.

Visit citybeat.com beginning at noon on Friday, Dec. 19 to vote for your favorite CEA-nominated artists. (The final three “Critical Achievement Awards” categories are not voted on by the public, but rather the nominating committee.)

Here are the nominees for the 2015 Cincinnati Entertainment Awards:

Bluegrass:  Comet Bluegrass Allstars; Rumpke Mountain Boys; My Brother’s Keeper; Rattlesnakin’ Daddies; The Missy Werner Band; Mamadrones

Country: Dallas Moore; Bulletville; Jeremy Pinnell; Noah Smith; 90 Proof Twang; Pure Grain

Folk/Americana: Young Heirlooms; Arlo McKinley & The Lonesome Sound; Buffalo Wabs & The Price Hill Hustle; Elk Creek; The Tillers; Shiny and the Spoon

World Music/Reggae: The Cliftones; Junya Be; Lagniappe; Baoku Moses & the Image Afro-beat Band; Elementree Livity Project; Keshvar Project

Rock: Honeyspiders; Mad Anthony; Wussy; Buffalo Killers; Pop Goes the Evil; Frontier Folk Nebraska

Metal/Hard Rock: Electric Citizen; Winterhymn; Chakras; Valley of the Sun; Zebras in Public; Close to Home

Singer/Songwriter: Arlo McKinley; Noah Smith; Jody Stapleton; Jeremy Pinnell; Rob Fetters; Molly Sullivan

Indie/Alternative:  DAAP Girls; The Yugos; PUBLIC; The Hiders; State Song; Injecting Strangers

Punk: Tweens; Subsets; Kill City; The Dopamines; Black Planet; Vacation

Blues: Ricky Nye; The Whiskey Shambles; Kelly Richey; Noah Wotherspoon; Sonny Moorman Group; John Ford

R&B/Funk/Soul: The Almighty Get Down; The Perfect Children; Under New Order; Ingrid Woode; Freekbass & The Bump Assembly; The Cincy Brass

Jazz: The Faux Frenchmen; Phil DeGreg and Brasilia; The Hot Magnolias; Art & Science; Blue Wisp Big Band; Animal Mother

Hip Hop: Eugenius; Eclipse; Buggs tha Rocka; Valley High; Trademark Aaron; Counterfeit Money Machine

Electronic: Ethosine; Dream Tiger; Playfully Yours; Black Signal; Dark Colour; umin

Best Live Act: The Almighty Get Down; Wussy; Tweens; Mad Anthony; Young Heirlooms; Injecting Strangers

Best Music Video:  Wussy – “North Sea Girls”; Rob Fetters – “Desire”; Mad Anthony – “Sank for Days”; Injecting Strangers – “Detroit”; Sleep – “I Shot Lincoln”; Tweens - “Forever”; The Tillers – “Willy Dear”; Trademark Aaron – “Gold”

Critical Achievement Awards

Album of the Year: Tweens – Tweens; Pop Goes the Evil – Love Stained Heart; 500 Miles to Memphis – Stand There and Bleed; Wussy – Attica!; Rob Fetters – Saint Ain’t; Arlo McKinley & The Lonesome Sound – Arlo McKinley and the Lonesome Sound; The Almighty Get Down – People, This Is …; Buffalo Killers – Heavy Reverie

New Artist of the Year: Dream Tiger; Honeyspiders; PRIM; Elk Creek; Leggy; Noah Smith

Artist of the Year: Electric Citizen; Tweens; Mad Anthony; Wussy; The Tillers; Buffalo Killers

Local music website cincymusic.com has links to the CincyMusic artist pages of all of the CEA nominees. Check out the artists before you vote here