Let\u2019s get to the lineup. Presented by BeatStars, this year\u2019s show roars into action with a showcase of contemporary rock & roll, featuring Band and Album of the Year nominees Big Bill<\/a>, Best New Act nominees Gummy Fang<\/a>, and Best Rock winners Gus Baldwin & the Sketch<\/a>. Later on, the Antone\u2019s 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<\/a> and Best Guitarist Eve Monsees) around. Band and Album of the Year nominees Tomar and the FCs<\/a> will host another jam session in a set of their own. I\u2019ll 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 \u2013 and don\u2019t forget all of our nominated instrumentalists!\u00a0<\/p>\n Speaking of the Hall of Fame, we\u2019ve got more than a few folks to honor, eulogize, and celebrate this year. Join us in inducting late multi-instrumentalist Chris Gage \u2013 road dog for Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Jerry Jeff Walker, Donn\u2019s Depot fixture, friend to all \u2013 into the music side of the entity, and mark beloved KUTX DJ Susan Castle and dearly departed Red River Cultural District employee Dick Chalmers<\/a>\u2019 entries into the industry HOF. Colin Gilmore, Jimmie\u2019s son, will even take the stage to salute longtime Hall of Famer Joe Ely<\/a>, another legend we lost in 2025.\u00a0Ely\u2019s former guitarist David Grissom is on deck to lend some authentic throwback flair to that tribute. <\/p>\n And let\u2019s not forget our Musician of the Year. Ben Kweller<\/a> has been an integral part of the Austin Music Awards since 2024, when he launched the Zev Award<\/a> \u2013 a $2,000 grant to an Austin musician under 18 \u2013 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n Carrie Fussell won\u2019t 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<\/a> frontwoman launched the solo project BRUCE<\/a> last year. Fans of that theatrical psych-folk band will recognize Fussell\u2019s classically trained \u2013 now award-winning \u2013 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<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n This article appears in February 27 \u2022 2026<\/a> and 2026 Austin Music Awards Issue<\/a>.<\/p>\n A note to readers:\u00a0Bold and uncensored,\u00a0The Austin Chronicle\u00a0has been Austin\u2019s independent news source for over 40 years, expressing the community\u2019s political and environmental concerns and supporting its active cultural scene. Now more than ever, we need your support to continue supplying Austin with independent, free press. If real news is important to you, please consider making a donation of $5, $10 or whatever you can afford, to help keep our journalism on stands. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"No big changes this year. As we\u2019ve done since 2024, The Austin Chronicle presents the Austin Music Awards…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":180837,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[72526,132,134,133,72527,31056,72528,72529,72530,72531,44372,72532,72533,42271,72534,72535],"class_list":{"0":"post-180836","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-austin","8":"tag-2025-2026-austin-music-awards","9":"tag-austin","10":"tag-austin-headlines","11":"tag-austin-news","12":"tag-ben-kweller","13":"tag-big-bill","14":"tag-bruce","15":"tag-chris-gage","16":"tag-dick-chalmers","17":"tag-eve-monsees","18":"tag-gummy-fang","19":"tag-gus-baldwin-and-the-sketch","20":"tag-jackie-venson","21":"tag-joe-ely","22":"tag-susan-castle","23":"tag-tomar-and-the-fcs"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180836","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=180836"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180836\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/180837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=180836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=180836"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=180836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/AMA-stars-cluster1.png\")
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