Dear Deli Nashville Readers,
The results are finally here (see list below) from fans, jurors, and writers, and we are pleased to announce that PUJOL is the overall winner of the 2010 Nashville Band of the Year poll. Congratulations to him, and to the second and third place winners, Evan P. Donohue, and Kopecky Family Band.
1) PUJOL
Unless you’ve been living under a rock this past year, it’s been pretty difficult to avoid hearing at least something about Nashville garage/punk rock outfit, Pujol. From regular touring, releasing like a dozen singles/7" splits, to having a single produced by Jack White and forming Turbo Time Records with Jonas Stein (lead singer of the Turbo Fruits), Daniel Pujol and his band members have worked their asses off to create their local and national following. Even with a little taste of success, they still play the same up-beat garage rock that, when heard reverberating off the walls of some kid’s shitty basement, still manages to remind me of a sludgy rainbow. And it’s hard to get that without drugs. So I guess PUJOL is like my drug of 2010?
Some have referred to Nashville’s charming poindexter as an Elvis Costello, and I wholeheartedly agree with them. The obvious jazz/standard influences, the constant catchiness, the trenchant lyrics.. *sigh* His 2010 full-length release, "Rhythm & Amplitude," was one of the best albums to come out of Nashville last year, which is surprising because it’s alt. pop/rock, and the ol’ tastemakers of Nashville often tend to disregard that genre and its representatives. Regardless, Evan P. Donohue is one of those rare individuals who can’t seem to write a bad song, or stop churning out hits. Someone get that kid a publishing deal.
This classically-inspired indie pop-folk group never quite seems to disappoint listeners when hearing "the family" for the first time. The tight-knight group of 7 was an even greater sight to behold last year, as they obviously grew into their roles, and became–quite clearly–more of a family onstage. They successfully released their second album, "The Disaster," and the resulting sound carried them throughout the country, allowing them to make great strides to SXSW, CMJ, NPR, etc. Aside from a pretty constant touring schedule, I’m not sure what their upcoming plans are, but I suspect that they’ll be as big as the band itself 😉 —Erin Manning