This week’s Local Spins on WYCE radio show podcast spotlights winners from the 2024 awards, looks ahead to next week’s mammoth event at The Intersection and debuts tracks by other Michigan artists.
2024 Artist of the Year Winner: The Bootstrap Boys called it ‘surreal, unreal, overwhelming and validating.’ (Photo/Eric Stoike)
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There’s the initial thrill of winning an award while cheered by your peers. Then there’s the lasting impact of that same award that helps propel a band’s career forward.
Such is the nature of the WYCE Jammie Awards, which rolls out for the 25th time next Friday (Feb. 28) at The Intersection in Grand Rapids.
“It was a goal we were working toward for the last decade, and it felt surreal, unreal, overwhelming and validating all at once,” recalled Jake Stilson, aka Big Jake Bootstrap of country’s The Bootstrap Boys, which took home ‘Artist of the Year’ honors at last year’s awards show.
“It’s not just bragging rights, but also a recognition that doesn’t go unnoticed by festivals and booking folks. It’s definitely a high point on the old resume.”
For 2024 song of the year and best traditional album winner Whorled it gave the band exposure that led to festival bookings and “collaborations that wouldn’t otherwise have happened,” said band member Thom Jayne.
For album of the year winner Full Cord, it’s “a feather in (the) band bio cap” that “propels your drive to be better, tighter, more creative,” said mandolinist Brian Oberlin.
David Kirchgessner of ska’s Mustard Plug, which earned critics’ choice album of the year honors, it was not only “very validating” but “exposed us to some new folks who would have never heard us otherwise” — a sentiment similar to that felt by Americana singer-songwriter and Ludington native Chloe Kimes, who called her win for listeners’ choice album of the year “a major accomplishment.”
All of the aforementioned artists are featured in this week’s Local Spins on WYCE show previewing the upcoming Jammie Awards — looking back at tracks from their award-winning projects or showcasing new material released since that time.
The show also debuts new tracks by Michigan artists who might be in the running for future awards — Yolonda Lavender, Kyle Joe, Dead Eye Zack, The Rolling Thunder and Mike Ward — as well as a few tracks by other past winners: Sixman, The American Hotel System and Roosevelt Diggs. Scroll down to listen to the full show.
This year’s Jammie Awards, by the way, will feature 18 performances on three stages, with music starting at 6 p.m. Friday (Feb. 28). Get tickets, $10, online here. And revisit coverage of last year’s Jammies online here.
For Stilson and The Bootstrap Boys, attending the event will aid their healing process after the tragic, sudden death of their guitarist Nicholas James Alexander from heart complications in January.
“We hope the night will provide some much-needed comfort in the face of our recent tragedy,” said Stilson. “West Michigan’s music community is one big family and it’s in their comforting embrace that we’ll be able to heal.”
PODCAST: Local Spins on WYCE (2/21/25)
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