K-Love Fan Awards
6/1/13, at Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, TN

On June 1st, K-Love held their first fan-voted awards show at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee and broadcasted live over the radio. The K-Love Fan Awards excelled at focusing efforts on artist performances, with nearly 30 artists taking the stage. It seemed like over the course of the weekend's events, each fan likely had the opportunity to interact with their favorite artist. At the red carpet before the show, there was only a small barricade separating the artists from the decked out fans. The show was clearly tailored to the attending fans, dressed in a varying mixture of jeans and gowns.

Hosted by the stars of TV show Duck Dynasty (which I admit to having never seen), and containing a wide range of award presenters (athletes, coaches, artists, and film producers), the non-musical segments of the show almost always induced crowd laughter. While seeing performances by names like Audio Adrenaline, Third Day, TobyMac, and Newsboys in one sitting is an experience in itself, the greatest pleasure of the night was the collaborations between the artists, such as a duet between Natalie Grant and Kari Jobe, Brandon Heath, Bart Millard, and Matt Maher performing "Hold Us Together," or Steven Curtis Chapman and Amy Grant sharing the stage.

While the nominations scarcely scratched the surface of all that Christian music has to offer (with no genre-based awards, for example), as a K-Love event, it certainly covered the largest players in Christian radio. Perhaps in future years, the option to watch a live stream of the show or listen to the show in its entirely following the event will become possible. But for an inaugural offering, K-Love certainly succeeded in providing a performance and fan-oriented awards show.

-- Samantha Schaumberg, 6/3/13

Highlights of Sam's Live Tweets Via the JFH Account [@jfreakhideout] June 1st, 2013:

"Hey everyone! We just arrived at the K-Love Fan Awards red carpet and will be tweeting through the show! #klovefan"
7:07 PM - 1 Jun 13
--Sam
"Jamie Grace with her sister. She had us take a picture on her phone for her so she could send it to her mom haha http://pic.twitter.com/KZB4Vm2y5f"

"The new Audio A! http://pic.twitter.com/m0mWLx3DxT"

"I like to think that both Colton Dixon and Kevin Max are both being interviewed about their hair right now http://pic.twitter.com/Muwrh9yUYK"

"Mandisa with fans http://pic.twitter.com/3cvhdh2voi"

"Show starts in 30 minutes and less than a dozen artists have made it to the end of the red carpet... http://pic.twitter.com/8oMKcNlEtr"

"This photo does not capture the metallic magnitude of Building 429's suits #klovefan #bestdressed http://pic.twitter.com/JvYbt3uLVN"

"Best caption wins a cookie #klovefan http://pic.twitter.com/1kgkBuu07e"

"The Ryman is filling up http://pic.twitter.com/LWpdVcklg6"

"Sharing our row with All Things New! Love that the Ryman is small enough for fans and artists to be seated together http://pic.twitter.com/ddvmMTcF83"

"And Toby starts the night! #mewithoutyou #klovefan http://pic.twitter.com/5vv6Gc0gzN"

"I dare you to find another awards show with hosts wearing camouflage suits #KLOVEFanAwards #duckdynasty"

"Definitely recommend listening to the live stream on KLove's website if you can! #KLOVEFanAwards"

"Male Artist of the Year goes to.... Chris Tomlin! Thank you speech over video from Atlanta #KLOVEFanAwards"

"It took me months to feel confident pronouncing Francesca's last name, so I won't even try to spell it http://pic.twitter.com/dRsTNBECvy"

"Matthew West and Jason Hanson discussing Jason's 21 years in the NFL "Can I have one of your helmets maybe? I've got an eBay side business."

"Newsboys performing "God's Not Dead." Unfortunately no rotating drumset tonight ;) #KLOVEFanAwards http://pic.twitter.com/0lhfkZ52lV"

"Female Artist of the Year goes to Kari Jobe! #KLOVEFanAwards"

"It's the heart of the man that matters. The beard is just the exclamation point" #duckdynasty #KLOVEFanAwards

"Casting Crowns with their 14-member band tonight #KLOVEFanAwards http://pic.twitter.com/uIkCdaTPvB"

"Casting Crowns wins Group/Duo of the Year! #KLOVEFanAwards"

"Jamie Grace performing "Hold Me." Anyone know if it's true that this song was originally written about a Snuggie? http://pic.twitter.com/TmGdqWCjVw"

"Joined by TobyMac! (Looking a little pale, Toby...) #KLOVEFanAwards http://pic.twitter.com/MgAYr5mwg0"

"If anyone ever wants to spend 5 hours gushing over Kevin Max's voice with me...I'd be up for that #KLOVEFanAwards"

"You know what I say about guys in skinny jeans...there must not be anyone in their home that can cook" #duckdynasty #KLOVEFanAwards

"Tenth Avenue North with Moriah Peters and a fan choir! #KLOVEFanAwards http://pic.twitter.com/fKJeTPNgjf"

"Breakthrough Artist of the Year is For King & Country! Most touching thank you speech of the night so far #KLOVEFanAwards"

"Brandon Heath presenting with Mike Fisher, captain of the Nashville Predators. "So, uh, is it very Christian to fight?" #KLOVEFanAwards"

Brandon: "Could you take a football player?" Mike: "On the ice, absolutely...Maybe a kicker." #KLOVEFanAwards

Brandon: "Who is your favorite blonde, American Idol singer?" Mike: "I'm gonna have to go with...Colton Dixon." #KLOVEFanAwards

"Smitty performing "Heart of Worship" with Missy Robertson #duckdynasty #KLOVEFanAwards http://pic.twitter.com/bpLtyG9oo5"

"Movie Impact award goes to Courageous! Fun to see Stephen Baldwin present #KLOVEFanAwards"

Amy Grant and Steven Curtis Chapman performing new music! Love it! #KLOVEFanAwards http://pic.twitter.com/YZR62ZxjMj

Matt Maher, Bart Millard, and Brandon Heath performing "Hold Us Together" #KLOVEFanAwards http://pic.twitter.com/wtgMwxBrCj

"Book Impact award goes to The Love Dare! #KLOVEFanAwards"

My little brother bought me that book for my birthday in high school. Guess he didn't realize it's basically a diary for married couples.

First time I've heard Natalie Grant perform live...wow #KLOVEFanAwards

Natalie Grant and Kari Jobe! #KLOVEFanAwards http://pic.twitter.com/WW1BziHPqh

The Afters performing "Every Good Thing" #KLOVEFanAwards http://pic.twitter.com/7JPwg2faSB

Reed Robertson performing "Hallelujah," awesome hearing the crowd sing along #duckdynasty #KLOVEFanAwards http://pic.twitter.com/PBxm7LJGSU

"Acoustic Needtobreathe...crazy good #KLOVEFanAwards http://pic.twitter.com/IpHXQeNcBz"

"Rhett Walker Band performing with baby. Hope everyone listening to the radio heard the crowd's collective "Awww" #klovefan http://pic.twitter.com/vWUJF7Iszh"

"If Songwriter of the Year was a category... Rhett Walker Band would be all over that #KLOVEFanAwards"

"Mike Fisher wins the Sports Impact award! Very cool to hear almost all the sports nominees speak tonight #KLOVEFanAwards"

"Colton Dixon performing "You Are" #KLOVEFanAwards http://pic.twitter.com/5kLOWYHTWY"

"Matthew West performing "Hello My Name Is" #KLOVEFanAwards http://pic.twitter.com/DjsdGcFQVq"

"Phil Robertson receiving a plaque for his NY Times #1 Bestselling book #duckdynasty #KLOVEFanAwards http://pic.twitter.com/Gl5mGGwwCt"

"Breakthrough Artist of the Year winners, For King & Country! #KLOVEFanAwards http://pic.twitter.com/FCbfbi986e"

"Song of the Year goes to..."Redeemed" by Big Daddy Weave! #KLOVEFanAwards http://pic.twitter.com/0ECtiD1xNP"

"Building 429 performing "Where I Belong," also nominated for Song of the Year #KLOVEFanAwards http://pic.twitter.com/rAcE9O4Kkq"

"Final award of the evening...Artist of the Year goes to TobyMac! #KLOVEFanAwards

"Closing the show is Third Day performing "I Need A Miracle" #KLOVEFanAwards http://pic.twitter.com/Ahxi5J2bkQ"

"Wow. Full stage to end the show! #KLOVEFanAwards http://pic.twitter.com/YxtcYlAZV5"


"And one video for the evening :) #KLOVEFanAwards http://yfrog.us/5b1czqstrivnrgkjjqywcwisz"


"Thanks for following along, everyone! More pictures will be up online soon! #KLOVEFanAwards"


"To end on the cheesiest possible note... Hope you K-Loved the show! (I know, I know, too easy) #KLOVEFanAwards"

12:26 AM - 2 Jun 13
END

 

 

K-Love Fan Awards click on an image for a bigger size
**vertical images cropped for thumbnails**

K-Love Fan Awards Red Carpet

Miscellaneous Event Photos

Audio Adrenaline

Big Daddy Weave

Brandon Heath, Matt Maher & Bart Millard

Building 429

Casting Crowns

Citizen Way

Colton Dixon

for KING & COUNTRY

Francesca Battistelli

Jamie Grace and TobyMac

Kari Jobe

Rhett Walker Band

Matthew West

Michael W. Smith

Natalie Grant and Kari Jobe

NEEDTOBREATHE

Newsboys

Rhett Walker Band

Steven Curtis Chapman and Amy Grant

Tenth Avenue North with Moriah Peters

The Afters

Third Day

TobyMac

*all photos by Holly Stewart and are the property of the photographer and Jesusfreakhideout.com