Lamon Records and Gideon MACFF sponsor two music competitions

Posted by Paula K. Parker on Feb 2, 2011 in Cool Stuff, Latest News, Movies, Music

Lamon Records and the Gideon Media Arts Conference and Film Festival (MACFF) have just announced the “2011 Music Artist Talent Search and Songwriter Competition” to be held at this year’s event in the beautiful mountains of North Carolina, August 6th -11th.

The Artist grand prize will be a Lamon Records recording contract and nationally released 4-song EP produced by Grammy nominated and Dove Award winning producer Dave Moody, who is also the President of Lamon Records in Nashville. The Songwriter Competition grand prize will be a publishing contract with one of Lamon Records’ BMI, ASCAP or SESAC affiliated publishing companies. The winning composition will be recorded by the winner of the Artist Competition.

Lamon Records was formed nearly 50 years ago when Moody’s father – a Methodist minister – and mother produced a record as a church fund-raiser. “Over the years, my brothers and I had a couple of Grammy nominations in the 1980s and 90s,” said Moody. Beyond family records, they have an impressive roster of artists. “Currently we have George Hamilton IV, a Grand Old Opry singer for nearly 50 years. We just did a record this summer that included Pat Boone, Charlie Pride, Ricky Skaggs, Marty Stewart, George Beverly Shea, and Cliff Barrows.”

“As a record label, we constantly work with artists that are developing,” Moody said. “We’ve had a lot of success in Christian music as far as being nominated for and winning Dove Awards and we’re constantly looking to develop new artists.”

This desire to develop new artist was part of the impetus for the music competitions.

“We wanted to do two competitions,” Moody said. “One was the Songwriter Competition, because it was the kind of thing that thing that ties in with the Gideon Conference, in that they were dealing with writers, novelists, and scriptwriters. So, the Songwriter Competition made a lot of sense; we’re looking for good material that we can publish.

“The winning song will be recorded by the winner of the Artist Competition; which I thought was a neat connect between the two contests. We’re looking for great new singers, it can be individuals or groups; of course, the focus of the Gideon Conference is Christian.”

The rules for the competition states that the entries will be reviewed by industry professionals. Moody explains these judges are not yet selected, but they will be a combination of music publishers, execs, and musicians. “They will certainly be removed from Lamon Records,” he states. “We may have a voice in the selection, but we certainly don’t want it to be just our opinion.”

The finalists will compete at the Gideon MACFF and the winner be chosen by people not associated with Lamon Records. Selecting the winner of the Songwriter Competition will be open it up to all the participants at Gideon, Moody explained, through a voting system.

Although Gideon Media Arts Conference and Film Festival leans towards film, there are workshops for musicians. “I’ve taught a few workshops related to music,” Moody said. “We’re gearing up to have a strong music track this year, for artists and songwriters that will coincide with the competition.”

Moody and Lamon Records are excited about these competitions. “We hope people will participate in the competitions, and that people who know about it will encourage others – their neighbors, their friends, the lady who sang at church last week – to participate,” Moody states.  “We’ll take artists who established, but we would also welcome artists who are just beginning and who have never tried anything like this before. We want to open it up and find the best ‘unsung talent.’

Applications, rules and more information on the Artist and Songwriter contests are available at www.lamonrecords.com/gideon and on the Festival’s Contest page at www.gideonfilmfestival.com