Surprises Abound at the 2019 SDMAs

There were winners and there were losers, but nearly everyone left happily tipsy from the San Diego Music Awards ceremony at House of Blues San Diego on March 11.

The notoriously noisy ceremony started off with a cocktail hour followed by award presentations and performances by SDMA nominees Ariel Levine, Veronica May, Shane Hall, Casey Hensley, the Redwoods Collective, Vokab Company, Justin Pearson (Dead Cross, Retox, the Locust), Jason Mraz with Billy Galewood and more.

But enough lead-up ... Who won, and who dropped and broke their award?

We were happy to see a number of SoundDiego TV Spotlight veterans win awards -- too many to name in fact. But where does the biggest spotlight shine? On Whitney Shay and Parker Meridien, who took home two awards -- Best Blues Album & Artist of the Year and Best Hip-Hop/Rap & Best Hip-Hop/Rap Album, respectively.

The SoundDiego love only got better from there as SoundDiego TV's Alysha Nett and Daye Salani presented the awards for Album of the Year and Artist of the Year. As usual, we couldn't be more proud of our SoundDiego staffers, affiliates and featured artists!

But it wouldn't be a San Diego Music Awards ceremony without a few "oohs" and "aws." Veronica May won for Best Pop Album right after she performed, and then she called up fellow nominee Becca Jay -- cue the "aw" -- to announce that Jay was her fiancee and they would share the award when they got home.

Shocker of the evening? One of the guys from the Amalgamated dropped and broke the band's award for Best World Music Album during their acceptance speech, to which the crowd responded with a collective "Ooh!"

Most pleasant surprise? Well, that's a toss-up between saxophone legend Karl Denson joining Vokab Company for a solo during their performance and "Swami" John Reis accepting two Hot Snakes awards: Album of the Year and Song of the Year. 

Check out the complete list of the winners of the 2019 San Diego Music Awards below.

Best Singer/Songwriter

• Evan Diamond

Best Jazz

• Euphoria Brass Band

Best Blues

• Casey Hensley

Best Country or Americana

• Blind Mountain Holler

Best Hip-Hop/Rap

• Parker Meridien

Best Indie/Alternative

• Aviator Stash

Best Pop

• Mittens

Best Rock

• Schizophonics

Best World Music

• B-Side Players

Best Live Performer

• Schizophonics

Best New Artist

• The Havnauts

Artist of the Year

• Whitney Shay

Best Jazz Album

• Mattson 2 - "A Love Supreme"

Best Blues Album

• Whitney Shay - "A Woman Rules the World"

Best Hip Hop/Rap Album

• Parker Meridien - "Twentyfirst Street Sessions"

Best Indie/Alternative Album

• The Frights - "Hypochondriac"

Best Pop Album

• Veronica May - "Teaser"

Best Rock Album

• Electric Mud - "Highway Refugees"

Best Local Recording

• The Havnauts - "Go for It!"

Best World Music Album

• The Amalgamated - "Premium Quality"

Album of the Year

• Hot Snakes - "Jericho Sirens"

Song of the Year

• Hot Snakes - "Six Wave Hold Down"

Rutger Ansley Rosenborg has been with NBC SoundDiego since 2016. Find out more here.