Fanny Lumsden leads country genre at 2021 AIR Award nominations

The Australian Independent Record Labels Association (AIR) has announced the full list of nominees for the 2021 AIR Awards, with some of the biggest names in Australian country music receiving nods.

Fanny Lumsden leads with multiple nominations for her ARIA award winning album Fallow.

The album is nominated for ‘Independent Album Of The Year’ with other genre-based artists: Ball Park Music‘s self-titled album, DMA’S’ The Glow, Crossover by Emma Donovan & The Putbacks and Spacey Jane with Sunlight.

Namoi by Andy Golledge, Town Of A Million Dreams by Casey Barnes, Sleepers from Cool Sounds, Travis Collins’ Wreck Me and Lumsden’s Fallow are up for an ‘Best Independent Country Album or EP’ award.

Furthermore, the latest releases from #1 Dads, Emma Swift, Josh Teskey & Ash Grunwald, The Teskey Brothers and Vika & Linda will compete in the ‘Best Independent Blues and Roots Albums or EP’ category.

Amber Lawrence also scored a ‘Best Independent Children’s Album or EP’ nod for Kids Gone Country 2 – Fun For All The Family alongside Diver City, Spotty Kites, Teeny Tiny Stevies and The Wiggles too.

The AIR Awards recognise, promote, and celebrate the success of Australia’s Independent Music section. For many of the past winners and nominees, the recognition from the awards helped lead to an increase in both national and international attention. There is a total of 16 categories in this year’s AIR Awards, following the introduction of four new categories in 2020.

Set to take place at Adelaide’s Freemasons Hall on Thursday, August 5th, the awards will see some of Australia’s greatest independent artists recognised for their work over the past year. Meanwhile, AIR’s Indie-Con Australia conference will be held from Wednesday, August 4th to Friday, August 6th at Adelaide’s Freemason Hall as a hybrid event.

AIR members will receive complimentary invitations to attend the 2021 Indie-Con Australia conference as well as the AIR Awards. Non-members can also purchase tickets to attend Indie-Con Australia online, with details about speakers and the program to be announced next month.

Innovation and Skills Minister David Pisoni said the Marshall Government is proud to once again be a major partner for Indie-Con Australia and the AIR Awards.

“We congratulate all of the nominees and look forward to welcoming event organiser AIR, and delegates back to South Australia to celebrate the achievements of the independent music sector through the AIR Awards,” Minister Pisoni said.

AIR CEO, Maria Amato added, “We look forward to welcoming our members and speakers to Adelaide for the 2021 AIR Awards and our Indie-Con Australia Conference and are extremely grateful for the continued support from South Australia’s Department for Innovation and Skills, through the Music Development Office and the South Australian Tourism Commission, through Events South Australia.”

The full list of the nominees for the 2021 AIR Awards is available here.

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Image: Supplied