2007 Dallas Observer Music Awards Showcase

You. Will. Not. Stop. Dancing. The best part about living in the '00s is the different genres of music that smash like atoms, creating a brilliant flash of energy. Such is the genesis of the Inner City All Stars, who slam together old-school funk, New Orleans jazz, rap from back in the day and blaxploitation wah-wah rock into one big booty-shakin' jam. If your ass ain't movin' by the end of their set, you better see a preacher, cuz you got no soul.

Sorta

11 p.m.

Nominated for Best Act in Town, Musician of the Year (Danny Balis, Chris Holt), Best Album (Strange and Sad but True), Best Song ("85 Feet"), Best Instrumentalist (Danny Balis, Chris Holt)

Building on a somewhat traditional base of acoustic guitar and melodies that ride the line between finely honed and charmingly ragged, Sorta plays like a California rock all-star group: low-key but not monotonous, equal parts alt-country and AOR rock. This is a popular crew with a penchant for writing hook-filled music for grownups. "85 Feet and Falling," perhaps their best-known song, is a true gem.

Greenville Avenue Public House

Carmen Rodgers

6 p.m.

Nominated for Best Funk/R&B

Anybody can belt out a soulful tune, but the true test of a singer is if they can rock a slow jam. And that, friends, Carmen Rodgers can do. Rodgers harks back to the heyday of R&B and soul—you know, Luther and Anita, rather than R. Kelly and Christina. Ten seconds into her song "Love," you'll find yourself floating on jazz-drum and wah pedal groove, buoyed by a voice that's mature, sexy and spot-on strong.

Money Waters

7 p.m.

Nominated for Best Rap/Hip-hop

Money, as in bling culture, reppin' for the Dirty, and celebrating cars, girls (but not those who don't pay for lunch) and hip-hop life. Waters, as in Muddy Waters, as in a long-standing tradition of intelligent black men making intelligent music. Seems like a contradiction, but it's not—Money Waters slings rhymes like freakin' T.S. Eliot, if Eliot had grown up in Oak Cliff.

J.D. Whittenburg

8 p.m.

Nominated for Best Album (J.D. Whittenburg)

He's known as the singer/guitarist for the alt-country band Trainwreck, but with his recent self-titled solo debut, Whittenburg went out on a poppy limb, and it paid off. The man's got songwriting in his blood, and the spot-on production from local genius Salim Nourallah fits him like a thrift store pearl-snap shirt. Whether he's crooning over a moaning pedal steel or ambling in a more Abbey Road direction, Whittenburg is a talent that always keeps you guessing, without straying too far from his roots.

The Valentines

9 p.m.

Nominated for Best Act in Town, Best Indie Rock

Sometimes music should make you want to lean over and kiss the person next to you on the shabby couch at the party, all Dolce Vita-like. The Valentines make such music—mod-ish pop filled out with simple keys, '60s vocals with just the right amount of jaggedness and shimmy-shake drums. Oh, and don't forget the handclaps.

Steve Austin

10 p.m.

Nominated for Best Rap/Hip-hop

Standing at 6-foot-5 and as cut as LeBron James, Steve Austin, aka the Bioniq MC, is a buff and boisterous MC, his lyrical flow so impressive he landed a deal with Universal to distribute his latest disc, 800-LB. Gorilla, whose single "Bussa Move" made its mark on the Billboard charts. Impressive, and a testament to a man who's as much brain as brawn.

The Von Ehrics

11 p.m.

Nominated for Best Act in Town

Like the troubled, talented and cursed wrestling family from which they take their name, the Von Ehrics are big, messy fun with a dark, pudgy underbelly. And they wouldn't have it any other way. This is a crew that clearly believes in rock and freakin' roll—guitars that sound like a buzz saw meeting a chainsaw in Hank Williams III's backyard. Perfect hick-tinted vocals and a chunk-a-chunk rockabilly backbeat. This is whiskey with a whiskey chaser music, for crowds in which footwear from cowboy boots to Doc Martens are equally apropos.

Suede

Tame...Tame and Quiet

6 p.m.

Nominated for Best New Act

It's a difficult task to create art rock, or even semi-art rock, and still make it accessible, enjoyable even. In that context, Tame...Tame and Quiet should win an award for bringing unexpected twists and turns to the world of popular music. Think mid-'80s Lower East Side music, vacillating between angular and jangly (jangular?), with hummable tunes and crackling drums.

Sarah Jaffe

7 p.m.

Nominated for Best New Act, Best Folk/Acoustic, Best Female Singer