ASCAP Foundation Deems Taylor/Virgil Thomson Awards Recognize Authors and Journalists for Works About Bob Dylan & The Band, Sabrina Carpenter, Alice Coltrane, Lead Belly, Paul[...]

NEW YORK, Oct. 30, 2025- The winners of the 56^th annual ASCAP Foundation Deems Taylor/Virgil Thomson Awards for outstanding books, articles, liner notes and broadcast programs on the subject of music give fans, readers and scholars rich new insights on legends of pop, film, jazz, country, concert music and more.

Established in 1967 to honor the memory of composer, critic, commentator and former ASCAP President Deems Taylor, The ASCAP Foundation Deems Taylor/Virgil Thomson Awards are made possible by the generous support of the Virgil Thomson Foundation. Virgil Thomson (1896 - 1989) was one of the leading American composers and critics of the 20^th century and a former member of the ASCAP Board of Directors.

The 2025 award recipients are as follows:

The Deems Taylor/Virgil Thomson Broadcast/Media Award in pop music recognizes director Alex Stapleton, writer Stephen Witt and producer Philip Byron for their documentary, How Music Got Free. The Paramount+ film debuted at SXSW. Additional producers included Marshall "Eminem" Mathers, LeBron James, Paul Rosenberg, Maverick Carter, Jamal Henderson, Steve Berman, James Chapman, Bruce Gillmer, John Janick, Dan Sacks, Bridgette Theriault, James Thayer, Naomi Wright, Steve Stoute, Anthony Seyler, Stevenson Waite, Michael Maniaci and Malik Johnson. It tells the story of how technology-driven disruption changed music in the late '90s and early 2000s.

The Deems Taylor/Virgil Thomson Broadcast/Media Awardin concert music recognizes producer David Osenberg for the weekly program "Sounds Choral," a production of WWFM, The Classical Network. The program, which airs on Sunday afternoons at 2pm ET with an encore broadcast Tuesday afternoons at 3pm ET, explores the choral art form and is hosted by a rotating roster of world class choral conductors, composers and scholars including Ryan Brandau, Gabriel Crouch, Jason Max Ferdinand, Jacqueline Horner-Kwiatek, Christopher Jackson, James Jordan, Amanda Quist, Steven Sametz, Deborah Simpkin-King and Ethan Sperry. Past programs are archived as webcasts at wwfm.org.

The ASCAP Foundation Paul Williams "Loved the Liner Notes" Awardhonors Lauren Du Graf for "Alice Coltrane: The Artist in Ascension" from The Carnegie Hall Concert on Impulse Records.

Special Recognition Awardsin the above category are also given to:

• Elizabeth Nelson for "Hours in the Colosseum: Notes on the 1974 Tour" from The 1974 Live RecordingsbyBob Dylan & The Band on Sony Legacy.
• Shana L. Redmond for Paul Robeson - Voice of Freedom: His Complete Columbia, RCA, HMV and Victor Recordings on Sony Classical.

The "Loved the Liner Notes" Award was established in 2016 and is funded by ASCAP Foundation President Paul Williams.

The Deems Taylor/Virgil Thomson Book Awardsin pop music are presented to:

• Joe Boyd for And the Roots of Rhythm Remain, a history of music from all over the world that influenced jazz, rhythm & blues and rock 'n' roll, published by Faber & Faber
• Brian Wright for The Bastard Instrument: A Cultural History of the Electric Bass,published by University of Michigan Press.
• A Special Recognition Award in this category goes to Sheila Curran Bernard for Bring Judgment Day: Reclaiming Lead Belly's Truths from Jim Crow's Lies, published by Cambridge University Press.

The Deems Taylor/Virgil Thomson Book Award in concert music goes to:

• David Suisman for Instrument of War: Music and the Making of America's Soldiers, published by University of Chicago Press.
• A Special Recognition Award in this category goes to Mikel Rouse for The World Got Away: A Memoir,published by University of Illinois Press.

The Deems Taylor/Virgil Thomson Awardrecipients for articles published in 2024 are as follows:

• The Deems Taylor/Virgil Thomson Award for an articlein the pop music field goes to Robert Michael Marovich for his article on the prolific Black songwriter Ted Jarrett, "The Black Songwriter Who Took Nashville by Storm," published by Zocalo Public Square.
• The Deems Taylor/Virgil Thomson Award for an article in the concert music field goes to Jonathan Kregor for his article "Remembering Clara Wieck in Vienna: Gender, Genius, and Genre in the Post-Beethoven Biedermeier," published in Women's Agency in Schubert's Vienna.
• The Virgil Thomson Award for Outstanding Music Criticism in the pop music field is presented to Dan Charnas for his article on the popular but "nameless" musical genre that is the foundation for Sabrina Carpenter's "Espresso,""The Musical History Lesson Buried Beneath the Song of the Summer," published by Slate.
• The Virgil Thomson Award for Outstanding Music Criticism in the concert music field is presented to Kevin Bartig for his article, "Olin Downes and the Soviets," published by the Journal of the American Musicological Society.
• A Special Recognition Award in the above category goes to Andy Zax for "Extinctophonics: The Game of Jim," published in Third Man Records & Books' Maggot Brain.

The ASCAP Foundation Deems Taylor/Virgil Thomson Awards judging panel is composed of ASCAP members Robert William "Robbie" Fulks, Anne Kilstofte, Jorge Martín-Buján and Brandon Ross. Jim Steinblatt provided professional guidance and advice.

More information about The ASCAP Foundation Deems Taylor/Virgil Thomson Awards is available at https://www.ascapfoundation.org/taylorthomsonawards.

About The ASCAP Foundation
Celebrating its 50th anniversary, The ASCAP Foundation was founded in 1975. It is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization established as a separate entity from ASCAP, dedicated to supporting and encouraging American music creators through music education, talent development and humanitarian programs. Included in these are songwriting workshops, scholarships, awards, recognition and community outreach programs. The ASCAP Foundation is supported by contributions from ASCAP members and from music lovers throughout the United States. https://www.ascapfoundation.org

About the Virgil Thomson Foundation
The purpose of the Virgil Thomson Foundation is to further and promote the performance, preservation, dissemination and public appreciation of serious music in general and the music and writings of Virgil Thomson in particular. https://http://www.virgilthomson.org

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CONTACT:

Cathy Halgas Nevins, ASCAP

cnevins(at)ascap.com