Best Local Rockabilly/Surf Band/Artist

It’s tough keeping a band together in this town. Imagine the double trauma of your longtime group breaking up on the eve of finishing your first album, and having to put together a completely new lineup to keep things moving. Caroline Hull Engel, singer and guitarist for Caroline & the Ramblers did just that in 2013. For more than 20 years, Caroline has been Atlanta’s rockabilly and honky tonk queen, sporting a powerful voice, great material, and a band that’s matched to her vocal prowess. Just as the group was putting the final touches on its debut album, the band imploded. But when Caroline sets her mind to making something happen, it’s gonna get done. Without wasting a single moment, she formed a new group, featuring guitarist Danny Arana, bassist Big Joel G, and drummer Mike Z, to rise from the ashes and reclaim the Ramblers’ rightful place amid Atlanta’s roots music scene with fresh energy and renewed confidence. www.reverbnation.com/carolineandtheramblers. less...

Surf music is a quirky, guitar-driven, instrumental force of rock that comes in waves. Of course, it’s been around for years with artists like the Ventures and Dick Dale leading the movement since the late ’50s and early ’60s, but every few years, there’s a resurgence of surf in the South. Now a bright new combo is reverbing through the area, hanging 10 on cool vintage equipment. THE SURGE is a trio led by surf-meister guitarist John McCorvey, who goes by the stage name “Eddie Katcher.” He’s joined by bassist “Mitch Matrix” and drummer “Stix Stechkin,” a veteran of Alabama’s legendary Penetrators. Surf’s up! less...

This swanky retro swing band certainly deserves many accolades, but “rockabilly/surf”? Well, um, they do use a standup bass ... but then so does the Atlanta Symphony. Or is it because frontman Mike Geier’s bald pate suggests a smooth expanse of Pacific beach? Either way, Big Mike makes a great Elvis and a killer Poseidon. less...

Formed from the remnants of previous Best Of winners, Poor Little Fools, this suave new outfit sounds like what might have happened if Gene Vincent dropped by Sun Studios while Sam Phillips had a world-class pedal steel player on hand for an afternoon session. Jay Murphree’s voice puts the lula in the be-bop-a, but this band’s secret weapon is ace skin-pounder Kat Cunningham, a veteran of such esteemed local outfits as the Vidalias and Dry County. less...