"Here are the results from voters for "BEST OF" for 2002. This is hosted by Turtle Pond Music. They are a company that supplies artist representation, management, education, promotion and hosts this list every year via a newsletter to it's readers. The votes are cast by anyone who emails them to make a nomination. You can nominate an artist or songwriter by emailing Walt at: lightning@phonl.com . (make sure you say the style of music they do). For more information go to http://turtlepondmusic.tripod.com/

 

We hope that we did not get any of these labels wrong. Some artist have songs out on more then one label at the same time, or at least had more then one label during the year. But here are the people our readers voted for the most. If there is anyone on this list that you have not heard of before then it might be a strong hint to you that you need to of heard of them. We are disappointed that some categories did not get any nomination at all, or had less then 25 votes, that was our least amount to be considered. If your favorite artist is not here then maybe you should have voted for them, or got the word out. In order to keep this totally fair, no one signed to Turtle Pond or who works with us was eligible to be nominated. We also disqualified our own newsletter. We will not disclose how many votes each person got, but even I was surprised at how many votes all together poured in here over the last three weeks. I personally would like to thank those who did send in votes for Turtle Pond Music people though. If anyone has any ideas on how better to do this then email in votes, let me know before next year. So, now on to the readers choice. We are going to bed for a couple days here.

Rock & Pop

Rock Male Vocalist : Delbert McClinton, New West Records Los Angeles Calif.
http://www.newwestrecords.com/

Best Rock & Roll Band : The Lackadays, Monster Island Records New York
http://www.monsterisland.com/bands.html


Female Pop : Allie Fox , Vixen Records, Scotland
http://www.vixenrecords.com/

( We got votes for Max Weinberg, but with gigs like late Night with Conan O'Brien, and Bruce Springstein and the E Street band, we could not consider him as an Independent )

Country Music

Male Vocalist C&W: Ernie Ashworth, Kid Kody Management
http://www.ernieashworth.com/main1.htm

Female Vocalist C&W: Erin Hay, Westwood International Records
http://www.ErinHay.com

Best Band C&W: Branded Just, King Rat Productions, Michigan
http://www.brandedjust.com/

Duo or Group Vocals C&W : Jack Blanchard & Misty Morgan, Stardust Int..
http://www.stardustcountrymusic.com/

Songwriter C&W : Jack Blanchard " Somewhere In Virginia In The Rain "
http://jackandmisty.com

Producer C&W: Lonnie Ratliff, Nashville Showcase
http://stations.mp3s.com/stations/318/lonnie_ratliff___nashville_rec.html

Song of the year C&W: "I'm Not Goin Til I'm Gone", Rustie Blue, WHP/CoDisc Volume #26
http://www.rustieblue.com & http://www.gbww.com/

Album of the Year C&W: Jack & Misty "Back From the Dead, Vol.2"
http://www.stardustcountrymusic.com/

Promoter of the year C&W: Col. Buster Doss
http://www.stardustcountrymusic.com/

Internet Broadcaster the Year C &W: Ros-Mar Entertainment
http://swazzo.topcities.com/Ernie/ernie.html

Newsletter of the year C & W : Western Heart Promotions
http://www.gbww.com/

The voting was close enough in some areas that Al Gore called and wanted a recount, so we decided to add Honorable Mention.

Honorable mention in their categories were :
Rustie Blue http://www.rustieblue.com Female Vocalist
Jackie Burns http://www.jackieburns.com/ Female Vocalist
Amb. Charlie Ray http://www.radiocountry.org/ Promoter
International Country Music Assn http://www.radiocountry.org/ Newsletter

R & B

Male Vocalist R&B : Joe Budnick, UMO Music, Greenwich Viliage New York
http://www.umo.com/artists/joebudnick.html

Female Vocalist R&B : Rebekka Fisher,Rockomotion Records, MN
http://www.rebekkafisher.com/

Best Band R&B : First Impression, Loud Impact Entertainment, California
http://fi.loudimpact.com/

Duo or Group Vocals R&B : First Impression, Loud Impact Entertainment, California
http://fi.loudimpact.com/

Song writer R&B :Chris Whynaught , Big Daddy Records
http://baddaddy.com/index.html

Musician R&B : Paul Oscher , Former Muddy Waters Sideman, Blues Planet Music, New York
http://bluesplanet.com/

Producer R&B : Jack McCollough, Big Daddy Records New Port Beach Calif.
http://baddaddy.com/index.html

Song of the Year R&B : Shake Hands With The Blues, Jim Suhler, Top Cat Records
http://www.topcatrecords.com/


Album of the Year R&B : Respect The Dead, Otis Taylor, Northern Blues, Toronto Can.
http://www.northernblues.com/

Gospel

Male Vocalist Gospel : RhaaShan, Greater Champion Ministry's Langley Park, MD
http://www.rhaashan.com/

Female Vocalist Gospel: Cindy Stroud, Peace Records Ft. Worth texas
http://www.peaces.com/

Best Band Gospel : The Roches, Red House Records, Warwick New York
http://www.roches.com/Roches/index.html

Duo or Group Vocals Gospel : Montreal Jubilation Gospel Choir , Just In Time Records, Canada http://www.justin-time.com/

Song Writer Gospel: Glen Smith, Evansville Indiana
http://originalsongsite.com/index56.html

Musician Gospel :Nathan Simons, Keyboards Changing Winds Music Ministry, Ohio
http://wendyfeathers.tripod.com/

Producer Gospel :Wendy Feathers, Changing Winds Music Ministry, Ohio
http://wendyfeathers.tripod.com/

Song of the Year Gospel : " Further Along " from the Mini Series " Taken "
( We know this song, but was surprised to receive so many votes on it based upon Stephen Spielberg's Mini Series , whatever work, right ? )

Album of the Year Gospel :Power and Purpose , Tyrone Powell , SGM , Virginia
http://home.earthlink.net/~sgmabs/product1.html

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