Local Atlantic Records’ artist Ty Stone is nominated for a plethora of awards at this year's Detroit Music Awards, and he’ll be following up the event by releasing a Kid Rock-produced EP on May 16.
He and the On the Rocks team even rented out the Detroit Princess to celebrate the release with an event he’s dubbed Shiprocked (tickets are available at www.myspace.com/shiprockeddetroit).
Before he steps foot on that boat though, he has to find out just how big a winner he really is. Exciting times, as the Stone himself attests…
What awards are you up for?
I am up for Outstanding Acoustic Artist, Outstanding Rock/Pop Artist, Outstanding Rock/Pop Vocalist and Outstanding Rock/Pop Songwriter.
I’ve had an outstanding year, apparently. It’s just an honor to be nominated. I’ve been practicing saying that.
If you win, where will you put the awards?
I think I’ll give them to my mom because she’s been so supportive of me for the 15 years that I’ve been doing this. If I get one this year, it’ll be my first award and she deserves one for hanging in there for all of that time.
If you win, will you cry and thank God?
I’ll probably thank God. I doubt that I’ll cry though. You never know. If I weep, it’ll be tears of joy.
Do you have a face prepared for if you don’t win?
I’ll be totally honest with you – I do. I know the cameras will all be zooming in on me. I want to make sure that I don’t have that look on my face that says “Goddamnit.”
I do have a fake smile all ready to go. I’m gonna win though, man. I’m going to get my real smile ready.
Are you performing?
No, I’m presenting an award this year. I performed last year and I think they’ve had enough of me. They gave me a year off.
What do the DMAs mean to you?
It’s a really valuable thing in my eyes. It’s the one time of the year where all of the bands in the music scene get recognized for all of the work that they do all year long.
It’s a jury of your peers. Bands can’t go out and get their fans to vote for them. It’s not a popularity contest. You have to be involved with the music industry in some way. It’s a really cool thing.
Is Detroit the only city with a local awards show that would mean a damn?
I’ve lived all over the country and almost every city has them. But nothing sounds as cool as Detroit. You can put the word Detroit in front of anything and it’ll sound cool.
Is there anybody else you’re going to be rooting for?
Absolutely. I’m a big Doop & the Inside Outlaws fan. This year’s great. I’m really excited about this year because it’s really the first year that a lot of my friends are up for awards.
We all did a lot this year. It’s good to see people like Whitey Morgan and obviously Vinnie Dombroski and Brandon Calhoon and Frankie D’Angelo up for stuff.
