Feb 20, 2021

Recapping The 2020 Country Underdog Award Show (WINNERS)

The 2020 Country Underdog award show was a big undertaking from us. We initially had the idea back in quarantine to do a virtual award show to bring recognition to artists during the hard times of not playing shows, but it didn’t come to fruition. We decided that we wanted to wait until the end of the year and put together the proper structure of everything we knew it would take to put on a kick ass show. It turned out great through a ton of work. Look forward to the 2021 Country Underdog Award Show which will be a live, in person event!

The 2020 Country Underdog Award show featured performances from artists (via video submissions).

Performance List: Aaron Watson, Bailey Rae, Trey Rose, Dylan Westmoreland, Christie Huff, Cameron Hobbs, Jacob Stelly, Colby Keeling, Amelia Presley, Todd Cameron, Nicky James, Lucas Jagneaux, Randall Fowler, and Jack Marion & The Pearl Snap Prophets

The full award show is available for re-watch on YouTube.

Check out our complete list of award winners!

Country Underdog Artist of The Year – Cody Hibbard

Cody Hibbard had a HUGE year, in his first year of releasing music he has amassed over 110,000 monthly listeners on Spotify.

Band of The Year – Pecos & The Rooftops

Going into 2020 riding high off of their 2019 hit single “This Damn Song” (Which has almost 20 million streams on Spotify) Pecos & The Rooftops released their first EP “Red Eye” which produced great songs like “Wouldn’t Have To Miss You” and “Leave Me Lonely”.

Male Artist of The Year – Logan Samford

Logan Samford had an amazing year stepping fully out of the shadow of the former duo Shotgun Rider. On the tail end of 2019 Logan released his first solo single “Lovin’ For The Last Time”. Then in 2020 he released his first solo EP, self titled “Logan Samford” which produced songs like “Good Lies”, and “I’m Your Fool”.

Female Artist of The Year – Robynn Shayne

Austin, TX based artist Robynn Shayne has been releasing music since 2012. In 2020 she had a big year on the back of her popular song “Devil You Know” and releasing the album “Let’s Get This Show on The Road”.

Song of The Year – Triston Marez “Forgot About You”

Triston Marez released an absolute breakup JAM this year in “Forgot About You” amassing over 1 million streams on Spotify. We look forward to a big 2021 from Triston Marez in which he will be releasing his first full album. Look for Triston being a big contender for another Country Underdog award in 2021.

Album of The Year – The Panhandlers “The Panhandlers”

The all-star Red Dirt group The Panhandlers, consisting of William Clark Green, Josh Abbott, John Baumann, and Cleto Cordero came together in 2020. They put out an absolutely stellar record highlighting all of their great voices in amazing ways. If you haven’t heard this album drop what you’re doing and immerse yourself in the magic.

Alternative Country Artist of The Year – Slade Coulter

Lubbock, TX native Slade Coulter released his first EP “Here We Go Again” in 2020. This release comes after his popular single “Walk Back Home”. 2020 also marked the year that Slade has begun working with and being managed by Dalton Domino (artist and founder of Honcho Music Group). Slade has some new music coming out within the next couple weeks here at the beginning of 2021.

Emerging Artist of The Year – Kylie Trout

The 17 year-old singer-songwriter from California had a breakout year in our books releasing phenomenal songs like “Extra” and “Can’t Be Lonely”. Kylie has grown a great following on TikTok with over 13K followers and has done an amazing job self-promoting her music on the platform. We look forward to seeing how Kylie’s career develops in the coming future!

Folk / Americana Artist of The Year – The Wilder Blue

Stepping out and going solo, artist Zane Williams teamed up with Paul Eason, Lyndon Hughes, Andy Rogers, and Sean Rodriguez to form the band “The Wilder Blue” (formerly known as Hill Country). The guys would go on to release 9 singles in 2020 along with their first album, which was a self titled release, “Hill Country”. Our favorite songs are “Palomino Gold”, and “Dixie Darlin”.

Music Video of The Year – Mike Donnell “Mr. Fix It”

Houston, TX artist Mike Donnell’s music video for “Mr. Fix It” caught the eyes of many in 2020. Filmed at a drag racing strip and featuring some bad ass cars, check out the video below!

Best Quarantine Release – Celsey Braddock “Key in My Mailbox

Over a year ago we discovered Celsey Braddock singing in Fort Worth, TX at a bar called The Thirsty Armadillo in The Stockyards. We heard her singing this exact song. At the time she hadn’t released any music yet, but man, when she released “Key in My Mailbox” it awesome to see her begin her journey as a streaming artist. Celsey also released her first EP “Boulevard” in 2020 (not in quarantine thank God).

Young Artist of The Year – Luke Hupp

Kansas City based artist Luke Hupp released his first EP in 2020 titled “Pedal Down” featuring songs like “The Run”, and “Dreamer”. He also released his most recent and most popular single “The I Didn’t Knows” in 2020. If you haven’t heard Luke Hupp listen below and look forward to more great music from this young man in 2021!

Non-Streaming Artist of The Year – Adam Patrick Konieczny

This was a special award meant for nominating and giving an award to an artist who may not have had the opportunity or money to release music on streaming platforms. Adam Patrick is one of many artists who are the backbone of the current music industry. People playing music on social media solely out of passion and love for what they are doing. Congrats to Adam Patrick and we look forward to him recording and releasing some music in the future!

Follow Adam on Instagram HERE

Producer of The Year – Alex Torrez & David Dorn (Torrez Music Group)

Artists: Triston Marez, Logan Samford, Kylie Rae Harris, Nate Fredrick, Lonehollow, Gabe Lee, Zoe Cummins.

Torrez Music Group has always done amazing work (Male Artist of The Year winner Logan Samford, and Song of The Year winner Triston Marez). Within the past year they have grown the list of artists they work with. We look forward to seeing them grow and hearing the new music coming from their artists in 2021!