Singer Carolyn Martin was recently honored at the 19th Annual Texas Natural and Western Swing Festival in San Marcos Texas.
In a ceremony on May 21, 2011, Nashville based vocalist Carolyn Martin was inducted into the Texas Western Swing Hall of Fame. A Texas born swing singer, Martin received the honor during her headlining performance at the Texas Western Swing Hall of Fame Show in the San Marcos Plaza. Festival organizer Al Dressen, assisted by 2010 Texas Western Swing Hall of Fame inductee Billy Mata and former Asleep at the Wheel vocalist Maryann Price, named Martin an “Ambassador for Western Swing” and presented her with a Texas shaped plaque to celebrate her induction.
Martin was the recipient of the Academy of Western Artists’ Will Rogers Award for Female Western Swing Vocalist of the Year in 2008 and 2010 and received nominations for Song of the Year for her composition “That’s What I Call Cookin’” and for Western Swing Album of the Year for her CD “Cookin’ With Carolyn”. The Western Music Association also nominated Martin for Outstanding Female Vocalist, Western Swing Album of the Year and Song of the Year in 2010.
Martin’s success comes, she said, from her belief that “the only difference between big band swing and western swing is the instrumentation; big bands use trumpets and saxes while western swing features fiddles and steel.”