By Richard Skanse

(May/June 2012/vol. 5 – Issue 3)

Hayes Carll (pictured) and the other winners at this year’s Lone Star Music Awards, held April 1 at the Texas Music Theater in San Marcos, all went home with something even better than bragging rights: their very own Doug Moreland-chainsaw-carved LSM Dillo. Or, in some cases, Dillos. This year’s winners, as determined by our online fan poll, were: Stoney LaRue (Album of the Year; Best Vocal Performance/Male); Hayes Carll (Songwriter of the Year); Jason Boland & the Stragglers (Country Album of the Year); Reckless Kelly (Americana/Roots Album of the Year; Song of the Year; Album Artwork of the Year; and, for band member Cody Braun, Musician of the Year); Adam Hood (Singer-Songwriter/Folk Album of the Year); Kevin Fowler (Live Act of the Year); Miranda Lambert (Best Vocal Performance/Female); Whiskey Myers (Emerging Artist of the Year); and Gruene Hall (Music Venue of the Year).

Songwriter of the Year Hayes Carll with his LSM Award (a Doug Moreland-chainsaw carved LSM Dillo!) (Photo by Christopher Durst)

Songwriter of the Year Hayes Carll with his LSM Award (a Doug Moreland-chainsaw carved LSM Dillo!) (Photo by Christopher Durst)

Perhaps the biggest news of the evening, though, came right before LaRue’s full band set at the end of the night, when Lone Star Music owner Zach Jennings took the stage with Greg Ellis, manager of San Marcos’ beloved Sundance Records, which closed shop for good after 35 years earlier that same day. As Jennings acknowledged, Sundance will be dearly missed by Central Texas music fans, but its old home at 202 University Drive will soon be home to a new record store: Lone Star Music, which will be moving out of Gruene and up to San Marcos at the end of the summer, with Ellis onboard as the newest member of the LSM team. Stay tuned for more details soon!