Five years ago, when I took on the mantle of music editor, I made a vow before the Oracle of Delphi. (And no, Seven Days did not reimburse my miles.) I swore I would uphold democracy when it came to the Vermont music scene, that I would defend the rights of the people to have their say and not rule as a curatorial tyrant. I was bathed in sheep’s blood and anointed — the standard swearing-in practice at the paper — before making my pledge to be an Editor for the People. Let musical democracy reign!

Yeah … about that.

Like a wrestler turning heel, I’ve broken bad, y’all. After years of watching Seven Days readers choose their favorite music-related winners for our annual Daysies awards, the power has finally gone to my head.

(A brief tangent: Did you know the word “idiot” comes from the ancient Greek idiòtès, which referred to people who didn’t engage in state politics? Also, all the big Greek philosophers pretty much hated democracy. Plato famously turned against the idea after watching his fellow Greeks vote to execute Socrates. That’s right, I’m going full edgelord! Give me a podcast!)

What I’m saying is that when you guys didn’t nominate my favorite instrumental post-rock/ambient band last year, it was pretty much the same thing as the Athenians voting to kill Socrates. Plato wrote The Republic. And me? I give you my answer to the Daysies: the Chrisanthemums.

(We paid a marketing firm thousands to think of that.)

That’s right: God is dead, and Chris is running the show now. I’m drunk with power and handing out my own awards. Do these awards carry prestige? No. Do they bring glory to the winners? I don’t see how. Will they bolster careers, much like Grammy wins generate album sales? Oh, hell no. If anything, I could see these doing the opposite.

You might wonder how I’ve come to decide who the winners are and what sort of process I’ve used to select them. The answer is none. This is all vibes and unadulterated personal opinion. It’s good to be king.

Read on, loyal subjects, for my completely arbitrary, often nonsensical, and 100 percent official and binding Chrisanthemum Awards, covering the past year or so in Vermont music.*

*While I’m doing this for my own sick pleasure, if the result is encouraging you to vote in the Daysies next year, that’s a win-win, baby. Find the winners Vermonters actually picked in the Daysies magazine, All the Best, in the center of this issue.

Best Year: The Entire Burlington Indie-Rock Scene

Who had the best year in the Vermont music scene? This wasn’t an easy one to decide, as it’s been an exciting year overall for Green Mountain music. Phish had a good one, played a lot of shows and made some funny jokes at their New Year’s Eve performance at Madison Square Garden. Grace Potter has a new record and is gearing up for another iteration of her waterfront music fest, Grand Point North. Noah Kahan released a massive new album and is currently selling out stadiums. I could pick any of them, to be honest.

Instead, I’m cheating because no one can stop me. I’m giving the Chrisanthemum for Best Year to the entire Burlington indie-rock scene. Between killer releases from Robber Robber, Dari Bay, Lily Seabird, Greg Freeman, the Eyetraps, Greaseface, Paper Castles, the Jesse Taylor Band, Daffodil-11 and the Leatherbound Books, the local contingent of shoegazers, post-punkers and Radio Beaners has been on absolute fire. They’re all pretty friendly with each other, so sharing the giant Chrisanthemum trophy shouldn’t be too much trouble.

Best Metal Band: Ordh

Ordh Credit: Courtesy

Rising from the ashes of Barishi, Ordh dropped the brutal Blind in Abyssal Realms earlier this year. Fun fact: It’s a great album to do dishes to. Rinse, maggot!

Best Country Band: Ponyhustle

Ponyhustle’s 2025 self-titled album is one of the best debut records I’ve heard in a long time. Between that, being a fixture at Honky Tonk Tuesdays at Burlington’s Radio Bean and helping to throw July’s Hill Fest at the Old Lantern in Charlotte, they take top spot.

Best Normal Jazz: Rachel Ambaye

Rachel Ambaye Credit: Courtesy of luke Awtry

Man, were the hepcats worked up when the Daysies ballot was announced and they discovered we’d eliminated genre-specific music categories. Not just jazz, mind you — all of them. To be fair, they’re mad a lot of the time for a bunch of dudes who get to sit for most of their shows. But they’re right that there’s a lot of top-notch jazz in the area, and not just in Burlington.

Lewis Franco, who dropped the excellent Open Field this year, was a strong contender in this category, as was trumpeter and composer Connor Young. But I’m still playing Rachel Ambaye’s Clockwise Motion a year after she released it, so she gets the flowers.

Best Weird Jazz: Astral Underground

Look, there are two types of jazz: normal and weird, all right? I’ll hear no arguments for fusions and “post” tags, no hot houses, no indie jazz, OK? What the fuck is indie jazz, anyway? (Please direct all jazz complaints to culture coeditor Dan Bolles. He really wants to hear about it.)

OK, I’ll relent. Astral Underground are cosmic jazz. That means their music goes great with weed. Roll one up and put Star Struck Gutz on, then tell me I’m wrong. You’ll probably just get so high you’ll wonder why you’re arguing with a music critic about jazz from Enosburgh.

Best Folk Artist: Henry Jamison

Henry Jamison Credit: Courtesy

I almost cheated on this one, too — that’s how much quality folk music Vermont boasts. Picking one winner seemed hard, but when you decide to suspend democracy and set yourself up as Seven Days Music Tyrant, heavy is the head that wears the crown. So for all my love of Cricket Blue, Milton Busker & the Grim Work, English Major, William Lee Ellis, and Emerald Ground Water, I have to give the Chrisanthemum to Burlington singer-songwriter Henry Jamison, who released the excellent Big Flower Light Go Boom earlier this year.

Best Jam Band Other Than Phish: LaMP

When you’re the God of your genre, you don’t get to win the little awards anymore. That’s the rules, Phish. I know you’re devastated.

So this year’s Chrisanthemum goes to LaMP, the funk-driven instrumental trio of Russ Lawton, Scott Metzger and Ray Paczkowski. Honorable mentions to WiseAcres and Acid Wash, who are making moves.

Best DJ: Everyone Who Has Ever Been a DJ

Oh, no. Nope. Not doing that. You EDM folks are savage. I’ll have 100 emails by tomorrow morning, lecturing me about the difference between jungle and house DJs and why they can’t be in the same category. So you all win, OK? Every DJ in Vermont just won a Chrisanthemum. Yes, even the shitty one you saw at that wedding last month. They’re all winners, so just relax. The trophies are in the mail.

Best Hip-Hop: Flywlkr

I was close to picking Freddie Losambe, a favorite Vermont MC of mine who dropped the killer Homeboy Megachurch at the end of spring. You’ve got the 99 Neighbors crew, with Maari and Conswank both dropping new tracks recently. There are new NasteeLuvzYou and Konflik records.

But I mean … c’mon. Flywlkr made a song dissing fake fishermen, and that shit went viral. Bass Pro Shops made the fumble of the year not endorsing him.

Other Awards

  • Best Band Name: Polkarobics
  • Best Release From an Expat: Love Songs, Expired by Charlie Hill
  • Best Instrumental Moment in a Song: Bob Wagner’s multitracked guitar solo on “Fly Away”
  • Best Lyric: “Every snowflake is rococo, I connect the dots like I’m Joan Miró,” from “Let It Go” by Famous Letter Writer
  • Best Description of a Band’s Sound by a PR Agent: “It’s like taking LSD in a graveyard and finding out you’re the one who was dead all along.” (For the Ohio band Beartooth.)
  • Show So Good I’d Go No. 2 in My Seat: None. It doesn’t exist. The Beatles could reunite and be in the middle of the Abbey Road medley, and if I had to take a crap, I’d find a Porta-Potty the way God intended.

I hope you enjoyed the first-ever Chrisanthemum Awards. Friendly reminder that winners take home nothing, life is an illusion, and art isn’t a contest. (And to anyone with complaints, that’s Dan B-O-L-L-E-S.)

The original print version of this article was headlined “Introducing the Chrisanthemums: Our music editor’s made-up awards highlight the Farnsworthiest music on the Vermont scene”

This article appears in August 5 • 2026.

Music editor Chris Farnsworth has written countless albums reviews and features on Vermont's best musicians, and has seen more shows than is medically advisable. He's played in multiple bands over decades in the local scene and is a recording artist in...