Mount Coy

Best Male Vocalist
John Evans
The former Lamar University and WFL New Jersey Knights star quarterback has called a pretty good game so far this year. He has branched out from his Texas stronghold and has, in fact, turned heads in the Evil Empire, having played such Nashville showcases as FanFair (on an all-Texas bill with Charlie Robison, Cory Morrow and Jack Ingram) and Billy Block's Western Beat Revival, formerly of CMT fame. Then there was a trip to Gotham, where Evans rocked the Rodeo Bar. How has his act traveled? "They dug us," he says. "I thought it was gonna be like, 'What the hell are you doin'?' But they dug us." His fears are well placed, as not every rockin' roots combo attempts to weld AC/DC-ZZ Top intensity to the steel guitar, electric guitar and stand-up bass, but Evans can -- and pulls it off. All the same, 2001 was just a short completion in the flat for Evans. Look for him to drop back and connect on the long bomb next year. -- J.N.L.
Critic's pick: John Evans

Best Female Vocalist
Carolyn Wonderland
Back in the old days -- measured in musician, rather than human, years -- Carolyn Wonderland didn't think too much about her singing style; she just wanted to be in a band. Having taken Best Female Vocalist honors four times in the past five years, Wonderland is moving on and spending most of her time in Austin these days. The move is an acknowledgement that her writing and charismatic talents are the catalysts for her career. No need to spend time gigging around the state capital with her band or just blending into the scene; Wonderland has been there, done that, and more. -- Greg Barr
Critic's pick: Margeaux Cigainero (Japanic)

Best Horn/Horn Section
The Suspects
Another one bites the dust? Well, not quite yet. But rumors of this band's demise continue to circulate without any official refutation. In the meantime, the Suspects have the most important element of their ska routine nailed down: the horns. Being recognized as the band with the best horns goes a long way toward letting the world know that you're dealing out serious quality, and in the Suspects' case, this is well and truly the fact. See for yourself on Saturday, August 18, at the Fabulous Satellite Lounge. -- C.S.
Critic's pick: TKoH!

Song of the Year
"Telephone Road" (Rodney Crowell)
Crowell's entry into the mythical Official Song of Bayou City Sweepstakes casts Houston as a place where lightning bolts split pine trees during hurricanes, and kids pulled by mopeds water-ski in drainage ditches. There are visions of frosty shakes at Prince's Drive-In and sawdust-covered icehouse floors. "Telephone Road," Rodney Crowell's ode to his eastside childhood, is (to this critic, anyway) the best song ever written about Houston. Steve Earle's epic ode to the same road was hard to beat, but Crowell has done it. A stunning invocation of place and time. -- A.H.
Critic's pick: "Kid Chemical," Groceries

Songwriter of the Year
Eric Taylor
Eric Taylor's tunes should be a songwriter's benchmark. Taylor would be the first to say that writing a good song is worthwhile in and of itself. Yet this year he delivered a masterpiece of Texas storytelling, Scuffletown (Eminent). It's a revelatory work, the result of an examined life. Taylor knows how a good tune can set things right. Take his ode to Charlie Rich, "All the Way to Heaven": "with a song like that, you make it all the way to heaven / when you can sing like that, all can be forgiven." Amen, and thank you, Eric. -- A.H.
Critic's pick: Rodney Crowell

Best Cover Band
The El Orbits
Already spinning the momentum from his Best Cover Band Pressy, David Beebe says maybe the award will sell a couple more copies of the El Orbits' soon-to-be-released live album of jazz and pop standards from the '50s and '60s, which was recorded recently at the Continental Club. Beebe, who admits he could relate to some of the stuff in Adam Sandler's flick The Wedding Singer, says that a great cover band knows how to get 80- and 20-year-olds dancing to the same song; sounds good even at low volume; and can survive lineup changes without losing a beat. More important, it can find a cool, obscure tune that older people relate to. For drummer/vocalist Beebe, that song is a version of "Talk to Me," released by San Antonio's Sunny and the Sunliners in 1962. -- G.B.
Critic's pick: AB/CD

Best Record Store
Cactus Music and Video
Here we go again: This Press Music Awards wouldn't be complete without bestowing Best Record Store to the diligent men and women of Cactus Music and Video, the Frasier of the annual contest. And once again, general manager Quinn Bishop is excited, and a little bit surprised, at the win.

"I know that the competition out there, in my opinion, is fierce," says Bishop. "There are so many great record stores -- independent music stores, certainly." Bishop points to spots like Vinyl Edge, Serious Sounds and the increasingly mighty (particularly if they keep showing those commercials with buxom bikini babes) Soundwaves chain as independent stores that constantly try to take a chunk out of Cactus's business.