Best Single
The Afters

Called by music reviewers, "the next big thing," The Afters quickly proved to an appreciating audience at Foster Field that they are all that and more. (from left to right): Matthew Fuqua (guitar and vocals), Marc Dodd (drums), Joshua Havens (guitar, keyboard and vocals) and Brad Wigg (bass and vocals). (Contributed Photo/Logan Henke)

Called by music reviewers, "The next big thing,” and billed as a rock/alternative band, The Afters are best known on the ‘Christian circuit.’ But Christian music has changed over the years from melodic songs with the lyrics always at center stage. Today the genre is almost indistinguishable from modern chart rock and pop music, where the group’s single, “Beautiful Love,” resides today. And it is “Beautiful Love’ that has earned them, LIVE!-FIVE’s most beautiful single. Read more here.

Best Ranch Rock
Chute Nine

Chute Nine, on break between sets at Blaine’s Pub, where they played to an appreciative crowd over the weekend. (From left): Drummer MacKenzie Kerr, Stingray Jones (bass), Glenn Espraza (lead guitar), Jamey Kadrmas (vocals/guitar) and Mark Pavlica (keyboards). (LIVE! Photo/Mark Kneubuhl)

Chute Nine is a hard band to miss. Everything they do is big. They’ve got a BIG Texas-country sound, they’re great entertainers with BIG personalities and who could miss that BIG trailer-pulling R.V parked in front of Blaine’s Pub over the weekend. The band entertained there for two nights, rocking the Harris street watering hole, Big-time.

Chute Nine’s brand of music is a hard-diving, Texas country variety, described perfectly by one reviewer as, “Ranch-rockin’”. And after 5 years of touring at 11 miles to the gallon, the Midland-based band has attracted a BIG fan base.

This band seems to be doing everything right. They’ve got a label in Auto Grind Records (BMI) and a promoter, a promising debut CD, Love & Hate in the starting blocks and they tour relentlessly.

“We’re like the ‘un-band,’” said drummer MacKenzie Kerr. “We all have been married a long time, we are all really good friends, we all respect and admire each other and as a bonus, we get to play music.”

Chute Nine also has a promising single being played on the Texas airwaves called “Mexican Dog.” It is a song that doesn’t lend itself to a print review… you just gotta hear it. Learn more here.

Best Whatever
Jabarvy

They call themselves Jabarvy, which means “chosen family.” (from the left) Guitarists Charlie Narayan and Jon Olsen, Meg Kemp (alto sax), Ryan Jones (bass), Andy Harn (lead vocals/drums) and wife Margaret (back-up vocal and trumpet). (LIVE! Photo/Mark Kneubuhl)

During the review process, music is picked, peeled and pitted with a zealous intensity like that of a first year med student dissecting his first cadaver.

Admittedly, we at LIVE! are also guilty of searching for too much rhyme and reason when basically all musical events can be described as, “Great fun,” “Good fun,” or “Should have stayed home and watched TV.”

So, we’ll get right to the point: Jabarvy is “GREAT FUN,” but their music is not so easily described.

Jabarvy, which means “chosen family”, is a 6-member, Austin-based band, who’s musical passport is stamped with jazz, blues, R&B, jam, experimental, funk and a hint of swing. And in songs like “Climbing to the Sparrow,” the band has successfully migrated into the folk realm. Learn more here.

Best Songwriter
Scott Hall and the Benders

Scott Hall and the Benders played at the Scrub Pub on Friday night to a LIVE! crowd. (From left) Rick Hinton, Jarred Vincent, Nate Coons, and Scott. (seated) Colllin Alexander. (LIVE! Photo/Mark Kneubuhl)

Scott Hall has some great attributes that work well for him as a singer/songwriter: He has a strong, but polished full voice, almost like Kenny Loggins but with a twang and he’s a songwriter with that special talent of orchestrating the listener’s emotions through music and words.

Scott Hall music sits well with Texas. His first CD, “Matter of Time” is filled with eleven great sounding, highly original tunes and is almost an autobiography of his life-experiences, which reach down to the foundation of this great state. Learn more here.

Best ‘Slackers’
The Valentines

JThe Valentines are lead by frontman Joey McClellan,joey’s brother Aaron plays bass, Chris Holston plays lead guitar and Austen Hooks, a Chuck Norris look-a-like, plays the drums.

LIVE! FIVE gives the young Dallas-based group this distinguished title because we’re just plain jealous. While most up-and-coming bands work extremely hard practicing, touring and self-promoting (often to no avail), the Valentines seemed to just walk into a space that was already waiting for them.

"We just started this thing up," said singer-guitarist Joey McClellan.

YEA, they just ‘started this thing up’ and then the Dallas Observer comes along and awards them with Best New Act for 2006. What a bunch of slackers!

Their main influences are the Beatles and the Stones but don’t fall into that retro-rock thing. They have an original, alt-rock sound that is one stroke shy of polished, lending to their ‘garage band’ reputation.

One thing that the band seems to put a little effort into is their harmony, which IS polished and creates an interesting musical dichotomy when blended with their semi-raw version of modern rock.

On August 11, the Valentines will be playing at the Dallas Observer Awards Showcase.

Joey’s brother Aaron plays bass, Chris Holston plays lead guitar and Austen Hooks, a Chuck Norris look-a-like, plays the drums.