SAN DIEGO — It was a night of multiple victories Tuesday for country troubadour Kimmi Bitter, the brassy roots-reggae and ska group Boostive and the harmony vocal-driven Canadian American rock band Daring Greatly at the 2025 San Diego Music Awards at a sold-out Humphreys Concerts by the Bay.

Bitter won Song of the Year honors for “Cowboy Kind of Girl” and Best Country or Americana Album for “Old School.” Boostive won for Best World Music Artist, while its song “Lust” was voted Best World Music Song. Daring Greatly’s “Trouble,” a twangy, high-octane romp, took home the Best Video award and the Best Rock or Indie/Alternative Song award.

The Lifetime Achievement Award went to Nathan East, one of the most prolific and versatile bass guitar greats of the past 40 years with more than 2,000 recording credits to his name. He received his lifetime honor just hours after flying back from Tokyo, where East performed eight April concerts with Eric Clapton, his musical partner since the 1980s.

Before East took to the stage, he was hailed in video tributes by an array of his famous collaborators, including Clapton, Lionel Richie, Reba McIntire, Ray Parker Jr., Bob James (who is East’s band mate in the group Fourplay) and Ringo Starr (who smilingly referred to East as “my second favorite bassist in the world”).

“I can’t even get my head around this, how surreal it is,” said East, a graduate of Crawford High School and UC San Diego.

East recalled picking up a bass for the first time when he was 14 at San Diego’s Christ The King Catholic Church, where he immediately became a member of its folk-music mass band.

“It was great,” he said. “Because if you’re playing in church and make a mistake, they forgive you right away. That was the moment that changed my life. I could take this instrument to every corner of the earth, but it always came back to America’s Finest City, San Diego, California,”

East’s awards show performance included “Utopianoah,” a standout track from “Father Son,” his new album with his keyboard-playing 24-year-old son, Noah. It was followed by a spirited, bass-led rendition of Stevie Wonder’s “Sir Duke.”

Introducing Noah to the audience, East, 69, quipped: “I used to change his diapers, now he changes mine.”

Blues-rock guitar ace and singer Anthony Cullins won the Artist of the Year award. Known in his teen years as “The Fallbrook Kid,” the 24-year-old musician’s work has grown increasingly assured. His win Tuesday followed his Best Blues Artist victory at the 2024 San Diego Music Awards.

“This is a really good music scene to be a part of,” Cullins told the audience. He then thanked his dad for “driving me to jam sessions when I was 12 and 13.”

The 2025 Album of the Year award was won by Thee Sacred Souls, the San Diego band that specializes in fresh takes on 1960s-inspired slow-jam R&B ballads. The group’s victory Tuesday followed its two triumphant performances this month on the main stage at the 2025 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.

Tuesday’s awards fete raised $65,014 for the nonprofit San Diego Music Foundation, under whose auspices the awards are presented. The foundation’s Guitars in the Schools program, a joint undertaking with El Cajon’s Taylor Guitars, has provided free instruments and music instruction to more than 91,000 K-12 students in 129 schools across San Diego County.

Since debuting in 1991 the awards have raised $915,799, a testament to the tenacity of awards founder and foundation honcho Kevin Hellman. This is the second consecutive year that more than 840 submissions were received for consideration in the awards’ 27 categories.

Tuesday’s awards fete featured strong performances by four of the night’s winners — East, the show-opening Euphoria Brass Band, Matthew Phillips and the Tourmaliners. There were also memorable performances by Minaturized and MohaviSoul.

As in previous years, the increasingly well-lubricated audience that congregated near the bar at the rear of Humphreys grew louder and louder as the night progressed. The nonstop din they created did not go unnoticed by some of the evening’s performers and presenters.

“This is for all the drunk people at the back,” said miniaturized singer-guitarist Timothy Joseph, prior to the first of the two songs he and his band performed.

“Everybody in the back, you better pay attention,” said P.O.D. guitarist Marcos Curiel, prior to presenting the Best Indie/Alternative Artist Award a few minutes later. “I was in the back and I know you’re not paying attention.”

To which this longtime San Diego Music Awards attendee can only add: Same as it ever was.

2025 San Diego Music Awards winners

Lifetime Achievement Award: Nathan East

Artist of the Year: Anthony Cullins

Album of the Year: Thee Sacred Souls, “Got a Story to Tell”

Song of the Year: Kimmi Bitter, “Cowboy Kind of Girl”

Best New Artist: The Neighborhood Kids

Best Folk or Acoustic Song: Josh Weinstein, “Jesus of Neverland”

Best Jazz Artist: Ed Kornhauser

Best Jazz Album: Euphoria Brass Band, “Better Days”

Best Blues Artist: Johnny Vernazza

Best Blues Album: Robin Henkel, “Lurking”

Best Country or Americana Artist: The Sleepwalkers

Best Country or Americana Song: Alex Bergan, “Ghost in the Addict”

Best Country or Americana Album: Kimmi Bitter, “Old School”

Best Hip Hop or Rap Artist: The Neighborhood Kids

Best Hip Hop or Rap Song: The Gravities, “Find a Lil’ Time”

Best Pop Artist: Matthew Phillips

Best Pop Song: Jessie Lark, “Rainbows”

Best Pop Album: Gregory Page, “Once Long Ago”

Best Rock Artist: Mistress 77

Best Rock Album: Fuzz Huzzi, “Waiting on the Sun”

Best Indie/Alternative Artist: The Schizophonics

Best Indie/Alternative Album: Scary Pierre, “Sticky Situation”

Best Rock or Indie/Alternative Song: Daring Greatly, “Trouble”

Best World Music Artist: Boostive

Best World Music Song: Boostive, “Lust”

Best R&B, Funk or Soul Song: Doah’s Daydream, “Ready to Love”

Best Local Recording: The Tourmaliners, “Live & Alive”

Best Video: Daring Greatly, “Trouble”

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