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