Los Alamos Native Eric Diamond Wins Country Vocalist Award at Grand Ole Opry

Eric Diamond, a Los Alamos native, was named Traditional Country Music Male Vocalist of the Year at the Josie Music Awards on Nov. 2, 2025, at the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville, Tenn.

"That was a nice surprise," Diamond said during a recent interview at the Los Alamos Daily Post newsroom.

The Josie Music Awards celebrates independent music artists of all genres from around the world, and its panel of judges is made up of musicians and music industry professionals. It is the largest music award show in the independent music industry, drawing thousands from around the globe each year.

Diamond's path to Nashville's most storied stage traces directly back to the Hill. He was born in Los Alamos to Charles and Catherine Fenstermacher; his father worked as head engineer on Star Wars, with the atomic bomb and nuclear fusion at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Diamond attended Pajarito and Mountain elementary schools, Pueblo Junior High School and Los Alamos High School through his junior year, then moved to Colorado and graduated from Bayfield High School in 1984.

He started singing in his elementary school choir at age 10 and began his music career at 15 in Santa Fe and Durango, Colo., adopting the stage name Eric Diamond at 20. The first 22 years of his career were primarily country music, followed by 18 years devoted entirely to Western swing. During his career Diamond and some friends formed the popular band the Rocky Mountain Playboys, which he described as having a phenomenal following.

The Josie award is the latest in a string of major recognitions. In October 2021, he was named Western Swing Male Vocalist of the Year and received the Will Rogers Award along with a yearlong recording deal from Clarksville Creative Sound co-owner and producer Curt Ryle. In 2023, Diamond won Entertainer of the Year from Ousley, Williams and Gentry Promotions, and in May of that year Texas Gov. Greg Abbott presented him with the Hero of Western Swing Award, as Western swing is the official state music of Texas. On Oct. 5, 2024, he was inducted into the Western Swing Hall of Fame in Sacramento, Calif., and also received the Singer of the Year Award in 2025 from Brokeman Radio in West Virginia.

His album "All of Me" was the most played western swing album of 2023 in the world, finishing in the top five with the International Singer Songwriter Association, in the top five in the International Western Music Association, and as a top five finalist for Album of the Year at the Red Carpet Awards in the Netherlands. Diamond moved back to Los Alamos in 2020 and has no plans to leave.

"I love this community … I love the summer concerts and hope to perform there … this is my home," he said. "This is where I am going to stay.