The Schizophonics, Anthony Cullins, Slightly Stoopid and Tigers In Cairo took home top honors at the 35th annual San Diego Music Awards, which drew a sold-out crowd from the local music community on a cool Wednesday evening at Humphreys by the Bay.
Garage-rock trio the Schizophonics were named Artist of the Year. Fallbrook blues/soul artist Cullins won Album of the Year for “Inside Out & Backwards.” Ocean Beach reggae-rockers Slightly Stoopid won Song of the Year for “Step Into The Sun.” And postpunk band Tigers In Cairo was named Best New Artist.
Awards shows can be difficult propositions, and SDMA’s organizers should be commended for getting through an extensive program in three hours. In addition to handing out 28 awards, SDMA presented six performances by nominated artists, plus another by musicians from the educational nonprofit Young Lions Jazz Conservatory.
View this post on InstagramA mid-show highlight was former San Diego Padres player and coach Tim Flannery’s presentation of the Country Dick Montana Lifetime Achievement Award to singer-songwriter Steve Poltz, who also performed two songs. Flannery told hilarious stories about how he and Poltz first became friends decades ago, and Poltz regaled the crowd with memories of his adventures rising up from Round Table Pizza lackey to internationally touring musician.
The evening also included SDMA founder Kevin Hellman’s presentation of an oversized check for $86,465.20 to the charity group Guitars for Schools, which provides instruments from El Cajon company Taylor Guitars to students in more than 100 San Diego-area schools. This year’s amount put SDMA’s total contributions in its 35-year history over $1 million.
And there was the “In Memoriam” segment, a video roll-call of names from the San Diego music community who died in 2025. The last name in that video was Tim Lowman, whose death in a motorcycle accident in late 2025 hit many San Diegans hard. Awards voters acknowledged the loss of Lowman by selecting his one-man-band Low Volts’ last album, “Forbidden Frequency,” as the winner of Best Blues Album. (Lowman had won several San Diego Music Awards in the past 15 years, for both Low Volts and his Americana group Blackout Party.)
Accepting the award for Low Volts were Lowman’s friends Tim Mays (co-founder of the Casbah) and Tony Sanfilippo, the latter of whom said that Lowman “really is what San Diego music is all about.” Mays called Lowman “a treasured friend and an amazing guitar player and just an amazing human.”
The musical performances, most just one or two songs, helped keep the evening rolling, and stage crews did an exemplary job with quick set-changes. Horn-driven rock/pop/R&B outfit Sullvn kicked off the proceedings at 7 p.m. sharp. Other first-half performers included six of the Young Lions students and a solo-acoustic song from “latin/alternative/hip-hop” artist Obed Padilla that was arguably the best musical performance of the night. (Padilla was nominated for Artist and Album of the Year.)
View this post on InstagramJust before Poltz’s lifetime-achievement presentation, the San Diego Blues Allstars served up three songs that put the spotlight on keyboardist Sue Palmer, whose shiny gold jacket drew all eyes toward her.
Later, Palmer and her Motel Swing Orchestra won Best Local Recording for their album Eight To The Bar! A native San Diegan, the seventy-something Palmer was gracious and joyful in accepting. “I can’t believe I’m still recording, but I just love music so much,” she beamed.
The downsides of awards shows are difficult to change. Yes, there’s a lot of crowd chatter, but given that the evening was about socializing with friends and fellow music community members, that’s hard to avoid. And while it’s sad to see the major awards given out when three-quarters of the crowd has departed, it’s understandable that some audience members leave early on a long night.
Ultimately, the greatest value of the San Diego Music Awards is simply as a gathering of the tribes — and as a reminder to residents that the city has a wide range of musical experiences to offer on any given night.
Palmer put it best at the end of her speech. “It’s nice to see all the people here,” she said. “I don’t know everybody’s genre, but when I see it here, I want to go out and hear everybody.”
View this post on InstagramHere’s the full list of award winners:
Artist of the Year — Schizophonics Album of the Year — Anthony Cullins, “Inside Out & Backwards” Song of the Year — Slightly Stoopid, “Step Into The Sun” Best New Artist — Tigers In Cairo Country Dick Montana Lifetime Achievement Award — Steve Poltz Best Blues Artist — Chickenbone Slim Best Blues Album — Low Volts, “Forbidden Frequency” Best Country or Americana Artist — Kimmi Bitter Best Country or Americana Album — Elizabeth Bowersox, “California Queen” Best Country or Americana Song — Alex Bergan with Ash Easton, “Hair Of The Dog” Best Folk or Acoustic Song — The Beard and the Bird, “My Dearest Eloise” Best Hip Hop/Rap Artist — Brothers Burns Best Hip Hop/Rap Song — Neighborhood Kids, “The World Is Worth Saving” Best Indie/Alternative Artist — Dusk Drama Best Indie/Alternative Album — Film Company, “Starving Artist And The Holy Ghost” Best Jazz Artist — Leonard Patton Best Jazz Album — Irving Flores, “Armando Mi Conga” Best Local Recording — Sue Palmer & Her Motel Swing Orchestra, Eight To The Bar! Best Pop Artist — Cassie B Best Pop Album — Hillandale Drive, “Love, Fear & Everything In Between” Best Pop Song — Sara Jade, “Hippies Raised A Cowgirl” Best R&B, Funk or Soul Song — Rebecca Jade, “Not Me No Way” Best Rock Artist — Mistress 77 Best Rock Album — Suede Grenades, “Flashbulb Memories” Best Rock or Indie/Alternative Song — Daring Greatly, “Lucid Ride” Best World Music Artist — Boostive Best World Music Song — Smoke & Mirrors Sound System , “Ain’t That Lovin’ You” Best Video — Gravities, “Stuck In The Desert”Hence then, the article about slightly stoopid schizophonics cullins score top honors at san diego music awards was published today ( ) and is available on Times of San Diego ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
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