Austin Music Awards, held at the
Moody Theater on March 11, turned out to be the final show I attended in 2020. That also proved the last time I dressed up with a tiny purse, saw those friends you only run into at shows, and went out on the patio to talk shit about Austin music. While the 40th annual
Austin Music Poll can t account for such nuances, it addresses the ongoing pandemic head-on.
Detailed last week in The Austin Music Poll Got COVID-19, (Music, Jan. 8), the ballot winnowed down to 20 categories and the
Hall of Fame as spearheaded by the coronavirus-specific new categories including Best Livestreaming Artist, Best 2020-Themed Song, and Musician Who Went Above & Beyond. As evidenced by passionate emails for broadening the Best Online Series category, the Poll and the Austin Music Awards they bestow still mean a lot locally after four long decades. A body of 600 homegrown music professionals helped determine the multiple-choice nominees, now online at vote.austinchr
Jackie Venson and Chris Cubas hosting the 2019/2020 Austin Music Awards last March at ACL Live at the Moody Theater (Photo by David Brendan Hall)
For hundreds of locals, the 2019/2020 Austin Music Awards transpired as the last big show they attended before life turned upside down.
Wednesday, March 11, 2020, ACL Live at the Moody Theater: We were so naive, passing joints backstage on the Willie s Place balcony while getting and giving all the hugs and handshakes you could ever desire and living in utter denial of how bad the COVID-19 pandemic would soon become. City officials canceled South by Southwest the Friday previously, but venues worked to host unofficial shows and bands planned on playing them.