2026 Nominees
The Musicians have voted!
Thank you to all of the musicians who participated in voting! Here are the 2026 Heartland Awards Nominees as determined by the votes of their peers in the music community.
The awards are set to be held on November 8th at the Granada Theater in Emporia KS. It is a formal attire event. Please let us know if you plan to attend by emailing heartlandmusicawards@gmail.com
MALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR
*Russ Brown
*Jake Stringer
*Sam Shilts
*Tyler Lyon
*Logan Mize
*Lucas Minor
*Johnny Woods
*Llew Brown
*Clay Clear
*Anthony Segovia
FEMALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR
*Aubrey Dale
*Airyn Duffy
*Laura Bowen
*Megan Marlene
*Megan Luttrell
*Briella Steiner
*Carolina Mendoza
*Taylor Fuggit
*Whitney Means
*Josephine Eve
JUNIOR ARTIST OF THE YEAR
*Rylan Unruh
*Harper Lynn
*Maybelle Lou
*Jackson Wayne
*Emmitt Dewater
*Ciara McGuigan
*Ivan Weinhold
BAND OF THE YEAR
*Grindstone Creek
*Southern Fryed
*The Boys
*Drew Phillips Band
*Bucky Fowler & Southern Charm
*2 Twenty 2
*Clay Clear Band
*Joey Dean & The Dry River Band
*Thunderbird Hotel
*Dallas Pryor Band
SONGWRITER OF THE YEAR
*Gus Burns
*Lee Klett
*Taylor Vincent
*Buster Davis
*Russ Brown
*Todd Keiffer
*Lucas Minor
*Kyle Kilgore
*Emma Jo
*Cynthia Rausch
SONG OF THE YEAR
* Pearl - Sons of Sterling
* Woman Like You - Dallas Pryor
* Pawn Shop Guitar - Lee Klett
* Born to Run - Laura Bowen
* Dreamin - Clay Clear
* Somebody New - DJ Bridwell
* A Man Who Will Never Forget - Ryan Chrys
*Ozark Home - Jake Stringer
*Genevive - Buster Davis
*Doublewide - Krislyn Aurthurs
LEAD GUITARIST OF THE YEAR
*Bradley Griffin
*Ryan McCall
*William Trigg
*Shane Berggren
*Mike Newsome
*Joe Parr
*Drew Tate
*Jon Irsik
*Roger Jones
*Jacob Reavis
BASS PLAYER OF THE YEAR
*Andy Woods
*Rick Holmes
*Dave Kilgore
*Dan White
*Donny Ramsey
*Loren Tilton
*Kyle Warwick
*Damien Gunn
*Aaron “Big A” Lewis
*Ian Johnson
DRUMMER OF THE YEAR
*Blake Blackim
*Brian Petterschmidt
*Jared Barnes
*Ian Wenzel
*Marty Sanders
*Tyler Jimenez
*Stevie Stixx
*Paul Peterson
*Brian North
*Doc O’Conner