The Hossey Music Award Song Voting Contest, this is probably the most disorganized, er, informal, contest you’ll find on the internet, and well, that’s one of the beauties of it. If you’re the competitive type, you might end up frustrated with my lackadaisical attitude toward determining an overall winner for 2009, but that’s okay. The world already has plenty of other contests to satisfy the emotional needs of competitive types. As we’ve said all year on the show, this contest is not so much about declaring a winner but, rather, about introducing listeners to songs by independent musicians that they likely would not have otherwise heard about. This is a social contest, where the “comments” section and the links to the bands’ websites, are arguably more important than the voting itself. But, alas, just as with any fun family football game on Thanksgiving weekend, we do sorta have to declare a winner eventually, and that’s what December is all about. Throughout the year, I have toyed with a number of ideas (and proposals from others) about how to conduct this finals contest and have only just recently settled upon the overall format described below — the simplest of all the formats we’ve discussed.

So, without further fanfare, here’s how this deal is going to work:

First Item of Business: The Prize

This remains a bragging rights only contest, dang it!  Several HossTheBoss.com fans have offered to donate a plaque or other such prize for the winner, but no one has formally committed to anything. We had a similar situation last year, and several well-meaning fans ended up donating stuff (such as tickets to a Corpus Christi minor league baseball team’s games) that wasn’t much use or value to most of the bands involved in the contest. We  also had one guy — who shall remain nameless because I forgive him entirely — never follow through on a promise to create a “traveling plaque” that would be presented to each year’s winner. So,  this year I’ve decided to encourage all fans interested in donating a prize to the winner to form a HossTheBoss.com prize committee that will “meet” via a Skype chat or two at some point in December to hammer out the specifics of creating a cool little prize for the winner(s). If you’re interested in being on this committee, just give me an email, and I’ll organize the first meeting for sometime in the next few days. Everyone’s welcome. Whatever that group decides about the prize — if anything — is official!  In the meantime, I’m still sticking with my story that the only thing anyone wins in this contest is bragging rights. I’ll keep you posted.

The Schedule

All bands that were in the Top 5 in each of our previous 2009 monthly contest (we missed March because of technical problems) are back for the finals, so that means 50 songs are battling it out. The finals officially begin on Saturday, Dec. 5 right after our live show, and the contest will run pretty much like all the rest that we’ve done, except that we’ll have more songs than usual to eliminate in some weeks.

• December 5 – Live Show - All 50 songs get played
• December 12 Live Show – Bottom 15 songs eliminated. 35 songs played
• December 19 Live Show - Next bottom 15 songs eliminated. 20 songs played
• December 26 Live Show – Bottom 10 songs eliminated 10 songs played
• January 1, 2010 Live Show – Grand Champion Song Named. All songs that we especially want to recognize get played.

Interviews

One of the most popular features of our silly little contest is the interviews we conduct each month with bands that have made it into our Top 10. For the last few months, we’ve taken to reserving the last two weeks of each month for these interviews, and we’ll certainly continue that tradition in December — only this time, everyone in the Top 20 has a good chance at getting interviews. All bands still in the contest on Dec. 19, Dec. 26 and January 1 will be subject to getting an interview invitation. Of course, this being a busy time of year for most of the musicians in the contest, we may not get to everyone (arranging interviews is often like herding cats), but we will definitely do our best.

Guest DJs

Six of the guest DJs who have been on the show in 2009 have picked songs that made it to the finals. These people have schedules that are as busy as the musicians (a lot of them ARE musicians), so it’s not certain how active they’ll all be on the show in December, but I will certainly do my best to include them all in every show in which their songs are to be played.

Rule Changes

I reserve the right to change all these dang rules if necessary — especially while it’s still, officially, a bragging rights only contest. Don’t be surprised if you hear us discussing modifications to the rules during our live shows and in the comments section of the site.

The Douche Bag Factor

As we’ve seen in previous months, some voters in this contest will occasionally take this deal a little too seriously and start posting comments and sending emails complaining about the integrity and credibility of this contest. Please don’t do that, dang it. Take this contest for what it’s worth. I already KNOW it is disorganized and prone to technical problems. No need to tell us.  Oh yeah, and don’t bother complaining that the contest is somehow rigged against your favorite band. That’s just silly and, depending upon my mood, I might just ban your IP address from the site if you insist on posting stupid stuff like that. (I’m not given to censorship, but, when people are just plain idiots, I sometimes think censorship might just be for their own good.)

The Bands

Here’s the list of the bands and songs that are tentatively scheduled to be in The Finals. I say “tentatively” because some of the bands or DJs may wish, for whatever reason, to go with a different song. That’s perfectly okay with me. All you gotta do is just contact me to let me know that’s what you want to do, and we’ll make the change when I post the official list of songs and bands on (or about) December 3.

January Finalists
Gary Bonnett – San Angelo (Tony Kinsel’s Pick)
Lance Strode – John Barleycorn (Hoss’s Pick)
Scott Johnson – Stop (Eric Malmstrom’s Pick)
Geoff Union – Chances (Hoss’s Pick)
D.B. Reilly – I’ve Got a Girlfriend (Tony Kinsel’s Pick)

February ’s Finalists
Herman Lammers Meyers – Puttin Tears on a Tune (Hoss’s Pick)
Pake Rossi – You’ll Always Be Blue (Kristy Luttrel’s Pick)
Sara Hickman – Are We Gonna Have Sex Again (Hoss’s Pick)
Sam Watson – Save Me (Hoss’s Pick)
Wicked Brew – Down South (Tony’s Pick)

April’s Finalists
Luna and the Mountain Jets – Honey (Hoss’s Pick)
Hobo – Love of Your Life (Hoss’s Picks)
Jackson Taylor – Humboldt County (Tony Kinsel’s Pick)
Billy Joe Shaver – Georgia on a Fast Train (Tony Kinsel’s Pick)
BlacktopGypsy – Ain’t Your Mama (Tony Kinsel’s Pick)

May’s Finalists
Kentucky Blue Collar Band – Missin’ You (Hoss’s Pick)
Dan May – Water Under the Bridge (Tony Kinsel’s Pick)
Hugh Fadal Band – Hill Country Hippie (Tony Kinsel’s Pick)
Sara Hickman – Learn You Like a Book (Hoss’s Pick)
Killdares – Seasons (Tony Kinsel’s Pick)

June’s Finalists
Mike Parrish – Blue Jean Baby (Hoss’s Pick)
Paul Callicoat – Raining Fire (Luna’s Pick)
Little Texas – God Blessed Texas (Tony Kinsel’s Pick)
Night Train – Nashville Connection (Luna’s Pick)
The Toluenes – Mexico (Hoss’s Pick)

July’s Finalists
The Whipsaws – Jessi Jane (Tony Kinsel’s Pick)
Rick Ryman – I’m a Believer (Hoss)
Stand – Thrwo Away People (Luna’s Pick)
Chad Hammock Band – Follow The Lone Star (Tony Kinsel’s Pick)
Hill Country Jane – Legend of The Beaver River (Tony Kinsel’s Pick)

August’s Finalists
Steve Carlson – Stop (Hoss Pick)
Ashley Austin – Harder to Breathe (Tony Kinsel’s Pick)
Paul McCormick – The Letter (Hoss’s Pick)
Sweating Honey – Grain of Truth (Tony Kinsel’s Pick)
Dirt Road Randy – Beer Bottles and Bandages (Tony Kinsel’s Pick)

September Finalists
Ashley Austin – To the Moon & Back (Tony Kinsel’s Pick)
Shelby Downing – Rebel Child (Rick Ryman’s Pick)
Sunday Morning Headcount – Pills & Wine (Tony Kinsel’s Pick)
Back Seat Molley – Texas Not Tennessee (Tony Kinsel’s Pick)
Leannasaurus Rex – You Can Have My Husband (TonyKinsel’s Pick)

October Finalists
The Life of Riley – Long Way Home (Dee Reeve’s Pick)
Michelle & Melinda – Maria (Tony Kinsel’s Pick)
Cosmic Gypsies – Johns Groove (Dee Reeve’s Pick)
Scufflegritt – Southern Boys (Tony Kinsel’s Pick)
Judge Parker – Louisiana Rain (Tony Kinsel’s Pick)

November
Sasha Eleyce – Just One of the Boys (Tony Kinsel’s Pick)
Steve Carlson -  She Loves (Hoss’s Pick)
Six Gun Britt – Jack Daniels & PBR (Tony Kinsel’s Pick)
Other two spots are still too close to call!