Best Local Singer/Songwriter

Before heading out West this year in the name of love, Adron left behind a treat for ATL - her latest record, Water Music. Perhaps because we're struggling to define what is "real" in this time of social media and political discourse, there's a great need for an artist like Adron, whose record grounds its listeners in reality while giving them the impetus to take on the world. Her shows are an intimate experience, as she explains in brutal honesty the meanings behind her songs. Water Music will continue her legacy of authenticity regardless of where she is. Thank you, Adron, for keepin' it real.

Photo Courtesy of Charles Mitchell

Combine equal parts peace-punk intellect, street poet and world-weary traveler with an outsider complex, and you have JUJU B. SOLOMON: a post-Dylan songwriting enigma. To his friends he is Benjamin, but on stage “JuJu” takes over as his songs wander through a whimsical terrain of ennui and sexual discovery tamed only by a unique sense of humor. His rich tales reveal much about his personality; in “The Only American in Coimbatore,” he combs through the intimate and emotional exploits of an American making sense of the peculiar ways of social life in India. His songs bend the boundaries of comfort, but that’s what makes them so alluring.

www.myspace.com/jujubsolomon

What sets ANNA KRAMER apart from the troubadour masses isn’t just the honesty in her songs, but her ability to wander through an array of musical styles while maintaining her own identity. Kramer’s voice is more honest-to-goodness human than seductress. Rather wielding feelings like a club, she confronts highs and lows with authentic emotions that bend to expose the subtleties in her songs. Kramer’s modest presence breathes realism into her performances whether she’s traversing country-music desolation and Kinks-style Brit rock, or simply covering Buck Owens, Buddy Holly or Carl Perkins. Sweet melancholy is as much her calling card as is her rockabilly twang.
www.annakramer.net.