Pacific Records opened the year by celebrating the independent record label’s twentieth anniversary with a concert event showcasing their eclectic roster in front of a packed Music Box San Diego crowd. In a music industry in which the lives of boutique labels are short-lived, Pacific Records is thriving in its 21st year as exemplified by the five artists that released music this year that is now up for GRAMMY® Awards consideration in seven categories.
A contender for Best Regional Roots Album, Slack Key ‘Ohana’s “Hawaiian Cowboy” is a multicultural collection of Hawaiian music and Americana country tunes produced by Chris Hobson. The video for the album track “Nahenahe Ka Leo o Ka Wahine Uʻi” garnered a nomination for Hawaiian Music Video of the Year at the Nā Hōkū Hanohano Awards, which is the Hawaiian GRAMMY®equivalent. The song was on the first-round ballot for Hawaiian Single of the Year and won a San Diego Music Award for Best World Music Song. The “Hawaiian Cowboy” album features performances by four-time GRAMMY-winning slack key guitar master George Kahumoku Jr., GRAMMY® nominee Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top, and four-time Nā Hōkū award-winning ukulele player Brittni Paiva. The album’s artwork is also being considered for Best Recording Package.
For GRAMMY® consideration in the Best New Age, Ambient, or Chant Album category, singer-songwriter Kristina Bennett’s “Shakti” takes listeners on a transformational journey exploring nature, healing, and the divine feminine. The meditative set produced by Patricio Pickslay on which Bennett sings and chants in English and Sanskrit features her band, Full Moon Tiger. The thirteen tracks balance classical Indian music rhythms and instrumentation with western drums, acoustic Americana folksiness, and modern pop-rock sensibilities.
Arguably one of the most compelling debut singles released this year, singer-songwriter izzy delan’s dark and psychedelic “Back of my Mind” is for consideration as Best Alternative Music Performance. Guitarist Robby Krieger of the GRAMMY® Lifetime Achievement award-winning band The Doors guests on the song delan wrote while battling trauma, mental illness, and isolation. GRAMMY® nominated producer Martin Guigui captured the dark musings of delan’s inner voices, burnishing the track with sonic nuance.
Receiving consideration for Best Americana Performance, COUPE DVLLE’s “Baby Please Don’t Leave Me” was recorded live and snares the duo’s edgy and fiery intensity. Shane Hall’s searing blues-rock guitar and gritty guttural vocals join forces with Michael Woodard’s thundering drums to create a trippy and intense sonic scape.
Singer-songwriter Charlie Rae’s “You Gotta Know When” is up for GRAMMY® consideration in three categories: Best Americana Performance, Best American Roots Song, and Song of the Year. Rae’s powerfully expressive and impassioned voice croons a story of heartbreak set to a downtempo riff and rhythm rife with soul and country twang.
“I’m super proud of what Pacific Records has accomplished thus far this year. Our GRAMMY® first-round submissions are reflective of the exceptional talent and diversity of our roster and the lofty standards we set and strive for as a label. I’m so thankful for the opportunity to play a part in creating a home and a platform for these extraordinarily gifted artists and to put this important music out into the world,” said Pacific Records CEO and founder Brian Witkin, who is also Slack Key ‘Ohana’s frontman.
Come January, Pacific Records artists will again gather to celebrate their year of recording accomplishments at a label showcase concert near the label’s San Diego base and possibly a second show in Los Angeles, both of which would feature most of the artists up for consideration in this GRAMMY® Awards cycle.
For more information, visit pacificrecords.com/fyc.
