The awards ceremony event took place last Friday, January 13, 2023 at HI-FI Indy in Fountain Square. As a local, volunteer-lead arts nonprofit, Musical Family Tree, was unable to continue our awards program over the last few years. Obviously, as we have all heard hundreds of times now, the pandemic put a pause on things. The last Musical Family Tree Community Awards event was held pre-pandemic.

However, we resumed this year with our full board voting on an awardee for 2023!

The purpose of the Musical Family Tree Community Award is to recognize individuals who make a significant and meaningful impact on the Indiana music scene. There are so many people to choose from but this year’s awardee really stands out and here’s why…

Richard “Sleepy” Floyd

Those who know Sleepy know what a gem he is to Indiana’s music culture. To put it simply, he’s a drummer, composer, and producer… but he is so much more than that. Our team at Musical Family Tree was very pleased to present him with our Community Award. Honoring him was such a special occurrence because he has done so much for our local music culture.

Sleepy has been a fixture in the Indianapolis music scene for the last 15+ years. Those who know him know that he is very active on the local scene. Recently, Sleepy produced “The Resolution,” a definitive 2023 Indy celebration featuring more than 20 local musicians and artists with support from GangGang Culture and The Mousetrap.

He is a phenomenal drummer, particularly in the genres of jazz, R&B, gospel, neo-soul, hip-hop, and fusion. Many of his projects are conceptual and deep-rooted in African American history and culture. His beats ring through in extremely meaningful ways through our current time. That relevancy is a big part of why he was selected for this award. He has played with groups and performed for, arts organizations and events all over the city and the state.

Below are just some of the groups and artists he has played with:

He has played and curated music for innumerable cultural events and projects in Indianapolis. He was also the primary curator and did the booking for Indy Jazz Fest and helped bring some amazing artists to our city in 2022. He has also been featured on Kyle Long’s Cultural Manifesto for his work with Indy Jazz Fest. Plus, he played a big part in the Indy Jazz Fest Kick-Off Celebration at The Jazz Kitchen where numerous Indiana artists were featured.

In addition to being such a talented guy in his professional music life, he is such a chill, kind, down-to-earth person. He cares about people, is humble, and genuine, and greets others with a smile. His personality really shined through when he accepted his award.

Sleepy’s Acceptance

Sleepy addressed the crowd as his musical family, and said…

“…I certainly do not seek this recognition. I just love to do the work and I love the collaboration with the artists, venue owners, foundations, and people who support the music scene here in Indianapolis… I put the community at the very top of my priorities. Advocating for musicians and advocating for creatives when we don’t have that much advocacy for ourselves, I have a vested interest in it. I will continue to do the work. I will continue killing the drums... I will continue making albums, booking gigs, and providing opportunities for musicians. I’m going to push organizations and hold them accountable to the arts communities. I’m going to continue to advocate for equity in all aspects of the arts community and (overall!) I’m going to continue to do the work.”

He went on to thank his wife and 2 daughters for supporting him. It was extremely evident how much he loves his family and values his time with them. He encouraged everyone to give back their time and lift each other up. It is so encouraging to see musicians and artists supporting each other! He truly wants to see our city’s music scene thrive. Let’s move Indianapolis towards being known for the Music City that it is and get the recognition it deserves!

A Musical Family Gathering

What would a Musical Family Tree event be without great local artists performing? Of course, there was live music at the awards event! This was truly a celebration of original local music at large.

The artists who performed at the 2022 Musical Family Tree Community Awards included DJ Gabby Love, Sadie Johnson, and Helping.

Jeb Banner, the founder of Musical Family Tree and the online MFT Indiana music archive spoke at the event to give some background and updates about what’s next. MFT is almost at our 20th year and Jeb has been working to put together a $100K fund for original Indiana musicians who want to record and tour. Indiana musicians need to be known outside of Indianapolis. We want to be part of funding creative opportunities and provide grants to Indiana artists with those goals. Jeb is excited to lead a committee that helps to get money directly into the hands of musicians who will spread Indiana music throughout the country and the world. We are so excited to get this fund going!

Annual Community Fundraiser

Our community awards event also serves as our annual fundraiser. We want to thank Premier Steel Inc. for being our main sponsor for this event. While admission to the event was free with RSVP, donations were encouraged. And, our music-loving community showed up!

MFT had a merch table with several items for sale. We also had a 50/50 raffle and a few raffle prize items donated by the Hi-Fi, Square Cat Vinyl, and Joyful Noise Recordings. Some of our very generous guests even donated their winnings back to Musical Family Tree.

Thank you to everyone who put in hard work to make this event successful and especially thank you to Richard “Sleepy” Floyd for your many contributions to our local music scene!

Event Photography by Elijah Gannaway, @gannawayphotography