Judges announced for Make Music Alabama competition

Eric Essix, Scott Register, Daniel Beard, Carla Jean Whitley and Jeffery Cain are the judges for the Alys Stephens Center’s second annual music competition.

mmaThe judges have been announced for Make Music Alabama, a competition presented by the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Alys Stephens Performing Arts Center.

The ASC is looking for original songs or music about living in Alabama for the competition. Six finalists will be chosen to perform live Saturday, June 20, in the ASC’s second annual LOCAL, a free community music and family-friendly event. From the six finalists, one winner will be selected to win a $1,000 performance fee. Entries will be accepted until Monday, April 20. The six finalists will be announced Wednesday, May 20.

The panel of judges was selected based on their impressive credentials and their ability to contribute to fostering musicians and artists in Alabama.

The judges are:

  • Eric Essix, guitarist, recording artist, music educator, member of the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame, UAB Artist-in-Residence and founder of Jazz Escape
  • Scott Register, host of “The Morning Blend with Reg” and “Reg’s Coffeehouse” on Birmingham Mountain Radio and artist/repertoire at Junketboy/Coalition of Independent Music Stores
  • Daniel Beard, Grammy Award-nominated producer and recording engineer at Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals
  • Carla Jean Whitley, author of “Muscle Shoals Sound Studio: How the Swampers Changed American Music,” writer for Birmingham magazine and features writer for Alabama Media Group
  • Jeffery Cain, owner of Birmingham independent record label Communicating Vessels, producer, writer, recording artist and former guitarist for the band Remy Zero.

A video of any production quality must be submitted to ASC email address makemusicalabama@uab.edu via YouTube link. If your song includes lyrics, please email those as well. More information about the competition and concert is available online; send questions via the email address provided. Last year’s finalists received more than 20,000 views on the ASC YouTube channel alone.

Produced and presented by the Alys Stephens Center, LOCAL will celebrate everything Alabama. A crowd of more than 1,000 people attended the inaugural LOCAL festival and enjoyed Alabama craft breweries, eclectic merchants, and goods and edibles from vendors, farmers and food trucks. This year, LOCAL will be even bigger with more local vendors and flair. Call 205-975-2787 or visit the ASC online at www.AlysStephens.org.

Make Music Alabama is made possible by the support of the Alabama State Council on the Arts and BBVA Compass.