No big changes this year. As we’ve done since 2024, The Austin Chronicle presents the Austin Music Awards at Antone’s Nightclub on March 1 with a curated presentation of trophies and even better selection of live musical talent.
The same format doesn’t mean the same old rigmarole. This is my second year as the Chronicle’s Music and Culture Editor, and I’m finding my footing more each day. The wonderful team of industry experts – from the Nominating Body that helps us put together the Austin Music Poll you voted on to the bookers, talent managers, artists, and sound engineers that help us throw this mammoth event every year – steadied my wobbly knees last go-around, and I’m presenting the 2025-2026 Music Poll winners, and Music Awards performers, with more confidence. More knowledge. A better understanding of just how vast the Austin music scene really is. I’ve got plenty of globe-trotting left to do, but I can’t imagine you’d find a community like this anywhere else.
So, find out who won Band of the Year, Album of the Year, Best Live Music Venue, and 50 other musical superlatives here, then buy tickets to the awards show at austinchronicle.com/austin-music-awards. A portion of the proceeds will benefit the SIMS Foundation.
Let’s get to the lineup. Presented by BeatStars, this year’s show roars into action with a showcase of contemporary rock & roll, featuring Band and Album of the Year nominees Big Bill, Best New Act nominees Gummy Fang, and Best Rock winners Gus Baldwin & the Sketch. Later on, the Antone’s Allstars will lead a collaborative set featuring the best soul men (Soul Man Sam, whose Blue Monday series has officially been deemed Best Residency) and guitar goddesses (Best Blues winner Jackie Venson and Best Guitarist Eve Monsees) around. Band and Album of the Year nominees Tomar and the FCs will host another jam session in a set of their own. I’ll leave some of those guest performers to the imagination, but keep your eyes on the Best New Act, Songwriter of the Year, and Hall of Fame categories for a hint – and don’t forget all of our nominated instrumentalists!
Speaking of the Hall of Fame, we’ve got more than a few folks to honor, eulogize, and celebrate this year. Join us in inducting late multi-instrumentalist Chris Gage – road dog for Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Jerry Jeff Walker, Donn’s Depot fixture, friend to all – into the music side of the entity, and mark beloved KUTX DJ Susan Castle and dearly departed Red River Cultural District employee Dick Chalmers’ entries into the industry HOF. Colin Gilmore, Jimmie’s son, will even take the stage to salute longtime Hall of Famer Joe Ely, another legend we lost in 2025. Ely’s former guitarist David Grissom is on deck to lend some authentic throwback flair to that tribute.
And let’s not forget our Musician of the Year. Ben Kweller has been an integral part of the Austin Music Awards since 2024, when he launched the Zev Award – a $2,000 grant to an Austin musician under 18 – in honor of his late son, Dorian Zev Kweller. This year, he presents that award again, but also picks up a big one of his own. Expect a guitar or two in that acceptance speech.
Carrie Fussell won’t be onstage Sunday, but she is on the cover of this issue. Nominated for Best New Act, Most Creative Event, and Best Vocalist, the former Calliope Musicals frontwoman launched the solo project BRUCE last year. Fans of that theatrical psych-folk band will recognize Fussell’s classically trained – now award-winning – vocals, genre-bending sonics, and colorful persona in the art-pop pivot, but she told me at her house one afternoon that BRUCE has allowed her to express her loudest, most dramatic tendencies without hesitation for the first time. Read more from our conversation here.
This article appears in February 27 • 2026 and 2026 Austin Music Awards Issue.
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