2020 Eddies announce performer lineup

Jocelyn and Chris, Nelson, Promise the Unbreakable and Wendell to perform

SARATOGA – Three 2020 Capital Region Thomas Music Award nominees and a former award winner have been announced as performers for the live broadcast of the award show on Dec. 6.

Jocelyn and Chris, Garland Nelson, Promise the Unbreakable™ and Marty Wendell will perform live from the Great Hall stage at Universal Preservation Hall. Nelson will also be doing double duty as the event emcee.

Jocelyn and Chris lead all Eddies Music nominees this year with four nominations: Solo / Duo Artist of the Year, Rock / Pop Art of the Year, Video of the Year and Album of the Year. Garland Nelson was a two-time 2019 winner; his band Soul Session won Party Cover Band of the Year and he also won R&B/Soul Artist of the Year. And Promise the Unbreakable™ was nominated for Hip Hop/Rap Artist of the Year in 2019 and again in 2020. Wendell is a 2020 nominee for Country / Bluegrass Artist of the Year.

“Once again we tried to bring to the stage diverse musical styles,” said Sal Prizio, co-founder and coproducer of the event, now in its second year. “We’ve got country, hip hop, R&B and rock represented this year.”

The 2020 Eddies Music Awards were originally scheduled to be held at Proctors in April. The performance line-up – unannounced at the time of postponement due to the pandemic – included some of the same performers as scheduled in December and some different ones. “Our opening number was to feature three artists together and made interesting use of the MainStage at Proctors,” said Jim Murphy, cofounder and co-producer. “It was the sort of production that requires a live audience. And we needed to cut down on the amount of people on the set for safety reasons. So we’re saving it for 2021.”

The 100-minute award show – presented by KeyBank – will also include four panel discussions about the local year in music with over 20 individuals working in the industry participating, as well as award announcements in 34 categories. Panel hosts and participants will be announced in late November.

Nominees and winners were chosen by a panel of approximately 100 professionals including musicians, music journalists; sound, recording and light professionals; radio station disc jockeys; music venue operators; and others in the field.

The event – with start time of 7 p.m. – will be captured on a closed set at UPH by Chromoscope Pictures of Troy and broadcast on Collaborative Studios’ Amazon Fire TV, Roku and Apple TV apps; Spectrum channel 1302 (Albany and Schenectady); Verizon FiOs Channel 37 (Albany); YouTube (search Collaborative Media); and Facebook.

About the Capital Region Thomas Edison Music Awards
The Capital Region Thomas Edison Music Awards are produced by Capital Records Live!; both are initiatives of Proctors Collaborative. The Eddies Music Awards also honor individuals who have made a significant contribution to the local music community through its Capital Region Thomas Edison Music Hall of Fame, which is located at Universal Preservation Hall in Saratoga. Jim Murphy and Sal Prizio co-founded and co-produce all of these projects as opportunities to amplify, empower and celebrate professionals working in the area’s wide-ranging music scene.

About Chris and Jocelyn
Originally from Fort Plain, Jocelyn & Chris and their band have charted three consecutive commercial radio singles in the Billboard AAA Top 40, taken two records to #1 on the Jambands Top 30 Album Chart, and appeared nationally on NBC’s Today Show. The siblings, both recent graduates of Harvard University, have balanced college with performances coast to coast and recording seven albums featuring special guests including G Love, Cory Wong (Vulfpeck), Danny Louis (Gov’t Mule) and Byron Isaacs (Lumineers). Additional media coverage includes Baeble, Paste, Relix, Huffington Post, Now This, Daily Mail, Cheddar TV, People, Jam in the Van, Hollywood Reporter and more. Jocelyn & Chris’s new album “Favorite Ghosts” is due out in early 2021.

About Promise the Unbreakable™
Born and raised in Schenectady. Aged 26 years young. A father. A son. A student & a teacher. This independent artist has released 12 mixtapes, an EP & LP as well as a plethora of music videos from just 2015 to 2020 alone, but has advocated growth in the local hip-hop scene long before his 2015 debut. Not only in Schenectady but for 518 in its entirety.

About Marty Wendell
Marty Wendell is a singer/songwriter who for 56 years has been performing for enthusiastic audiences. His first recording, “Hey Hey Mama” received strong airplay in 1967 and earned him a spot as an opening act for Johnny Cash in 1968 when he was promoting his “Live at Folsom Prison” album. Throughout course of his career Marty has shared the stage with some of the biggest names in music including Carl Perkins, Arlo Guthrie, Connie Smith, Faron Young, Hank Thompson, Dick Curless, Sonny James, The Statler Brothers, T. Graham Brown, Lacy J. Dalton, John Anderson, The Hager Twins, Deborah Allen, The Platters and Shirley Alston Reeves, just to name a few. His “Rock & Roll Days” was a contender for the Best Americana Album in the 2020 Grammy Awards. At present Marty is working on a new Americana/Country album of original songs that will be released in 2021. For more information visit www.martywendell.com.