The 1997 Dallas Observer Music Awards

Comet likes to wonder and wander. How many bands would sign with an eclectic British label and throw in a bunch of cellos and violins, progressing from shy Velvet Underground clone to mean post-rock machine in such short time? Comet, for one, and with such flair that you'd believe that "local band" is just for description's sake.

--Philip Chrissopoulos

Corn Mo
Nominated for: Avant-Garde/Experimental
What the hell is "avant-garde," anyway? It's one of those words left over from when the French invaded England and deposited an expression into our language that people toss out whenever something or someone new, weird, or highly intellectual comes along. David Byrne is sorta avant-garde, isn't he? And if that's the case, well, Corn Mo is right up there--standing tall and fearless with his accordion, like...Woody Allen. And, hey, Woody Allen's avant-garde, too. In the same way you've gotta love Woody Allen, Corn Mo needs and deserves your attention too. The guy's just too honest and pathetic. Who else can sing Journey songs that'll bring tears to your eyes? And it's all because the guy actually means it.

Shine on, Corn Mo, shine on.
--Richard Baimbridge

Cowboys and Indians
Nominated for: Best Act Overall, Country & Western
Eric Swanson is too young, but he sings '40s Western swing all the way. His deep, resonant baritone, which slides effortlessly along the lower vocal register like the trombone he often plays, stirs thoughts of a different era, a mix of Bob Wills, Count Basie, and Louis Jordan. Their jive is toe-tapping more than foot-stomping, and their big-band roots make you yearn for bygone days when swing wasn't "respectable," when dance halls and whorehouses were more alive with music than Radio City and Carnegie Hall. When they perform, you half expect Cab Calloway to leap from the rear and launch into "Minnie the Moocher" or "We the Cats."

The tall, beefy Swanson--who founded the group and writes most of its original songs--sets the tone, but it's the powerful horns that give his vision clarity and punch. Cowboys & Indians offer something unique: an authentic sound that is the jukebox soul of country music.

--Arnold Wayne Jones

Elvis T. Busboy
Nominated for: Funk/R&B, Blues
A local scenester has pointed out that Elvis T. Busboy sings off-pitch. This revelation is unlikely to bother folks who like to dance and strut to this raucous, irreverent R&B-based foursome. "Busboy"--whose real name is Stephen Shaw--sings like Sleepy LaBeef and looks like a cross between Dick Manitoba and a thoroughly corrupted game show host. A loathing for mall rock steered him toward R&B, and his catapult to fame was a gig as a singing fry-cook in a Lubbock beanery, where he found that his he-man pipes were well-suited to R&B shouting. You could compare him to the jock who talks the band into letting him sing at the frat party, but that would detract from his ability to tuck into material by Little Joe Blue, Freddie King, Marvin Gaye, and Big Boy Crudup.

--Tim Schuller

The Enablers
Nominated for: Avant-Garde/Experimental
The Enablers formed over three years ago. They had an idea--playing at a volume that would allow the audience to decide if the band would be the foreground or background to the evening. "It was lounge in sensibility and atmosphere," keyboardist Neal Caldwell explains. "But more than that, it was our art; you could listen closely or not." Unlike much of the current lounge movement, the Enablers don't reference the classics of the past as much as they do their own post-modern versions of those touchstones. "We're not really borrowing from or dwelling in the past," bassist Bart Chaney says. The Enablers capture a vibe that's much more continental than many cocktail troubadours, more mysterious than suave, and often more winsome than cool. Their subtlety, dedication, and finesse make them a local treasure.

--Matt Weitz

Jenny Esping (Cresta)
Nominated for: Female Vocalist
Jenny Esping's voice is like cotton candy: sweet, fleecy, and bright. As everyone knows, however, cotton candy is a sticky delight. It gets all over everything it touches.

Esping's voice does stick to everything Cresta attempts--so what you have is a band fronted by a singer who's all cute smiles, twinkling eyes, blonde locks, and sweet timbre. All of the band's attempts at fuzzy techno-funk or stylized heavy rock can't hide it, and Cresta and Esping are better served when they drift toward a cradle-song atmosphere reminiscent of Mazzy Star.

As she sings on the chorus of My Reminder, being sweet like candy is a reminder of all that's fine. When Cresta relaxes into this sort of joyous pop, band and singer mesh wonderfully into an indulgent treat, and you can see why the band landed a demo deal with MCA Records. The challenge for Esping and her bandmates is to figure out how to balance that sugar reverie with a tangy bite.

--Scott Kelton Jones

Donny Ray Ford
Nominated for: Country & Western, Songwriter
The God of Honky-Tonk Irony has long considered Donny Ray Ford a cruel punchline. Never has this been more apparent than now, when the more-or-less-impoverished Ford shares the Best Country & Western nomination space with LeAnn Rimes. And while Rimes has major pipes, she's clearly a product of that ol' Nashville machine--one that has no interest in a lovable curmudgeon like Ford, whose old-school C&W is pickled in the musical livers of George Jones, Hank Thompson, and Buck Owens.