The 2017 American Music Prize finalists include Whitney, Son Little and Margaret Glaspy in its sophomore year

Twelve finalists for the second annual American Music Prize (AMP) for “Best Debut Album” have recently been unveiled. Founded in 2016 by Scott Murphy, the pioneer of the coveted  Australian Music Prize, the AMP’s “Best Debut Album” award aims to celebrate the album format of music delivery, and discover, reward and promote brand new artists.

Last year’s inaugural AMP “Best Debut Album” award was given to American jazz musician Kamasi Washington for his studio album, The Epic. In an interview with Billboard earlier this week, Matt Nathanson (one of the 16 professionals judging the awards) said the AMP is “An award that shines a light on emerging artists and their art, at the very beginning of their careers. Artists from every genre are eligible and being short-listed for the AMP gives them a chance to cast a wider net and have their music heard by a larger audience.”

The list of artists who are up for this year’s AMP “Best Debut Album” award worth $25,000 are;

  • Big Thief – ‘Masterpiece’
  • Bob Moses – ‘Days Gone By’
  • case/lang/veris – ‘case/lang/veirs’
  • EL VY – ‘Return to the Moon’
  • Empress Of – ‘Me’
  • Gallant – ‘Ology’
  • Julien Baker – ‘Sprained Ankle’
  • Margo Price – ‘Midwest Farmer’s Daughter’
  • Fantastic Negrito – ‘The Last Days of Oakland’
  • Margaret Glaspy – ‘Emotions and Math’
  • Son Little – ‘Son Little’
  • Whitney – ‘Light Upon the Lake’

The winner of the  2017 AMP “Best Debut Album” will be announced on the 8th of March. You can follow the awards and find out more about the nominated artists on the official AMP Facebook page.

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