With People’s Choice voting open now for this year’s SAMMYS, here are some past winners’ success stories
January 16, 2018 by Colleen Ferguson (dailyorange.com)
Last year, when his band got announced as the People’s Choice Best Artist award recipient during the Syracuse Area Music Awards ceremony, Nicholas Stark didn’t hesitate to run right up to the stage.
“The girl I was dating at the time, she was like ‘You didn’t even stop to give me a hug,’” Stark, the vocalist and acoustic guitarist for Small Town Shade, recalled.
“When they called our name it was super, super exciting,” he said. “To actually win it, it was kind of a validation for us … we’re starting to become at least a little more relevant.”
Small Town Shade is a modern country band from Cortland. The group consists of him and bandmate Rocco Rich on vocals and acoustic guitar, Aaron Craig on cajón and percussion, Mike Marcey on vocals and bass guitar and former electric guitarist Jeremy Barbur. The band was one of eighteen musical groups to be selected for a Syracuse Area Music Award, or SAMMY, in 2017.
Since 1993, the SAMMYS have annually honored esteemed members of the Syracuse music community. To past winners like Stark, getting honored isn’t just about the awards — it’s about area musicians coming together to grow as a community.
Read the full article at dailyorange.com.