Damned Rivers touch their music with flavors of Americana, indie rock, punk, and soul to create a blend of genres which evoke memories of Elvis Costello, Bruce Springsteen, and Tom Petty. Fans of those classic rockers, as well as newer indie legends such as The Menzingers, will enjoy Damned Rivers' debut album The Pugilist, which the band released earlier this month. The album tells the tale of a boxer near the end of his career, with each song diving deeper into the boxer's understanding of his life-changing situation. Songwriter Ian Mauldin used inspiration from his own hardships during one of the most difficult years of his life to write the story of the boxer. The Pugilist is Damned Rivers' first since their debut EP in 2015; go listen to the band perform tracks from the album at No Billiards in East Nashville on July 27th. Take a listen to "Prizefighter" below. - Will Sisskind

The political season is on, and it can get nasty. Even if you're able to ignore the attack ads and mud-covered debate spectacles, we've all probably sneered a vicious sneer or two at a neighbor's disagreeable lawn sign or bumper sticker.

But who said a tight voting contest has to tear households apart? While the stakes may be a little lower than the fate of a nation, it still warms our rotten hearts to see Deli Readers' Poll competitors Damned Rivers sharing a bottle of bubbly and a song with their second-place co-occupants Terrible. In our analysis of the poll results and the dead tie between the two bands, you may remember that we suggested "maybe Damned Rivers could make an appearance on that rad-ass live series Terrible has been producing," and we're delighted to see that they delivered. Check out the video of that session below and, since they're such a bunch of upstanding guys and a personal favorite of ours, we've also embedded the inuagural episode featuring Terrible. -Austin Phy

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Fresh off the polls, the results for our Artist of the Year Readers' poll are in! We'd like to thank everyone who voted in support of their favorite artists, and a hardy congrats to everyone who made the poll this year!

1. All of our top nominees brought their A-game when it came to letting fans know about the poll, but the long arm of Smooth Hound Smith (pictured above) had the reach to snag them the top spot. This bluesy-folk duo had a busy 2015-2016 between putting out a new album, releasing a couple live videos while maintaining a demanding tour schedule, and even dropping by the Daytrotter studio to record a killer session. Now they can add winning the top spot as the Deli Nashville Artist of the Year to that list!

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2/3. If anyone ever tells you that a single vote doesn't mean anything, point them right here to our TIE for second place. Terrible came out swinging with a commanding early lead, but Damned Rivers wasn't about to sit back and let the poll slide by them. Both groups put up a strong fight for the top spot in our Alt-Folk category and, listening to these groups side-by-side, we can't help but think this is a great chance to get two top-notch bands talking to each other about sharing the stage sometime. Or maybe Damned Rivers could make an appearance on that rad-ass live series Terrible has been producing. How about it, guys?

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4. In fourth place is electronic dance-freakout project Night Auditor. Their live show is not to be missed, and we happen to know that they're working on funding a new album, so how about you click on over to their Bandcamp and congratulate them by picking up a tape copy of the excellent Romance EP?

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5. In fifth place is the bluesy-as-all-getout Bentley Caldwell. He released a way-solid album back in 2014, which you should check out at your earliest convenience.

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Again, congrats to everyone who was included! Our nominees went out of their way to promote the poll, and they certainly deserve your attention.

If you want to take a look at the results organized by genre, check them out here:
ALT FOLK - ALT ROCK - AMERICANA - ELECTRONIC - INDIE POP - INDIE/PSYCH ROCK - REVIVAL ROCK - SINGER-SONGWRITER

Thanks to everyone who shared and voted, and remember to keep an eye on the Deli year-round for all the freshest coverage on new music coming from Nashville!

The Folks at The Deli

2015 may be behind us, but we here at the Deli spent the past year with our ears tuned to the future. Now that the dust from our most recent journey around the sun has settled, we're excited to reveal the results of our Open Submissions poll. We asked local Nashville artists to submit their work, and the list below reflects our editors' rankings of what we received. Next we'll be revealing the results of our local jurors' nominations, followed by one more round of voting by our readers and our writers. Stay tuned and keep it coming in 2016, Nashville.

Step Sisters Score: 7.5/10

10 String Symphony Score: 7.5/10

Cosmic Coast Score: 7.33/10

Birdtalker Score: 7.33/10

Smooth Hound Smith Score: 7/10

Damned Rivers Score: 7/10

Annalise Emerick Score: 7/10

Honorable Mentions:

Erin Rae; Robert Sieben's Sidecar Sazerac; Jack Berry; Oh Grandpa; Ashley Leone; The Drag; The Ignorist; Brave Town; Future Thieves; Gnarly Parkers; Michael McQuaid

As most Nashvillians know, crossing the Cumberland from East Nashville to Downtown isn't always done... willingly. And for music to be suited for Broadway AND Gallatin, it has to fit into the very particular union of heart-tugging roots music, DIY-ing indie rock and boot-stompin' Americana.