For over three decades, D.C. musicians have gained exposure from a local version of the Grammys.

The 36th annual Wammies will be held Saturday night at Capital One Hall in Tysons, Virginia.

The public event is hosted by the nonprofit organization The MusicianShip, which took over the ceremony from the Washington Area Music Association in 2018 and held it last year at the Capital Turnaround in Southeast D.C.

“We are really excited this year to move to a different venue,” executive director and CEO Eric Liley told WTOP. “We kind of outgrew the space we had last year and had 1,000 people that came through, so we waitlisted another 200 or 300 additional tickets. … This year, we are moving to the Capital One Hall. … We are looking forward to it, the venue itself is beautiful and we welcome anyone who is a music enthusiast.”

Local music fans submitted nominations online to help the judges determine the finalists.

“The nominations process is open to the public,” Liley said. “This year, I think we broke records, we had about 20,000 votes for about 1,000 nominees. … Those nominees go to an industry committee that consists of 40 or 50 judges. … Ultimately, there’s 51 awards representing all genres of music, everything from bluegrass to country, R&B and hip-hop, jazz, classical, techno, best music venue, best music video.”

Honorary awards will go to Paul Reed Smith, founder of PRS Guitars, which serves musicians Carlos Santana and John Mayer; Dr. Natalie Hopkinson of Don’t Mute D.C. movement; Sandra M. Granobles, DCPS Music Teacher of the Year; Dan Spears, vice president of licensing for BMI; Stephen Parker, head of the National International Venue Association; and the late Sandra Butler-Truesdale, who passed in October after a life of mentoring D.C. musicians.

Beyond the awards, Saturday’s event will feature 10 live performances for a “Hitmakers Ball.”

“We’re going to have some big local names that are performing live,” Liley said. “Everyone from The Future Band in D.C.; Alex Hamburger, a jazz singer; Samia, who’s this emerging rock performer; Eightlock Band, which is the band of Paul Reed Smith … this great funk band; and the featured performance of the evening is Red, Gold & Green, a band out of Virginia who have actually performed with Dave Grohl and the Foo Fighters.”

It’s all a way to highlight the D.C. music scene from its rich historical past to its vibrant present.

“The DMV has a history of great musicians whether it be Marvin Gaye, Emmylou Harris, Dave Grohl, Ruth Brown, Chuck Brown, Johnny Gill, Duke Ellington … Joan Jett, the list goes on,” Liley said. “There are probably 40 Hall of Fame honorees that have spent a great deal of their musical lives in and around the DMV. … We’re trying to honor the region, the culture, the musicians, the music and the sound to unify this whole scene.”

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