Blues Foundation

2026 Blues Music Awards Winners

Thu, 28 May 2026 13:05:56 GMT

IBC 2026 Blues Music Awards Winners

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE INTERNATIONAL BLUES CHALLENGE’S TOP SELECTIONS FOR 2026!

BAND DIVISION

Winner: Derrick Dove & The Peacekeepers
2nd Place Band: MAMA
3rd Place Band: Big Mike & The R&B Kings

SOLO/DUO DIVISION

Winner: Weary Ramblers
2nd Place: Devin C. Williams

BEST GUITAR AWARD

Winner: Derrick Dove

MEMPHIS CIGAR BOX GUITAR AWARD (BEST SOLO/DUO GUITARIST)

Winner: Chad Elliott

LEE OSKAR HARMONICA AWARD (BEST HARMONICA PLAYER)

Winner: Johnathan Pittman

BEST SELF-PRODUCED CD

Winner: Ryan Hartt, “Be All About It”

BMA winner Keb’ Mo’ receives his award for Acoustic Blues Artist during the 46th Blues Music Awards.

Private: The Blues Foundation’s Statement Against Racism

Wed, 01 Apr 2026 13:39:02 GMT

Private: The Blues Foundation’s Statement Against Racism

The Blues Foundation unequivocally condemns all forms and expressions of racism, including all symbols associated with white supremacy and the degradation of people of color. We will hold ourselves as well as all blues musicians, fans, organizations, and members of the music industry accountable for racist actions and encourage concrete commitments to acknowledge and redress the resulting pain.

The Blues Foundation acknowledges that racism contributed to the historic oppression and exploitation of African American blues musicians and recognizes that hateful acts of racism continue to afflict the blues community today. We consistently strive to identify, discuss, and challenge issues of race within the blues community. We commit to the ongoing development and implementation of strategies to dismantle structural and systemic racism within our programs, special events and organization. We hereby adopt an action plan to purposefully address racism and contribute to a more equitable blues community.

The Blues Foundation will:

Employ practices to ensure diversity, equity, and inclusion in the production of all special events, including the International Blues Challenge and Blues Music Awards
Assess the policies and rules of the International Blues Challenge, Blues Music Awards, and Keeping the Blues Alive Awards to identify and remedy instances of exclusion, barriers to participation, and biased judging
Pursue a “Business of the Blues” initiative to encourage and support the fair and equitable participation of people of color in the production of festivals, artist management, public relations, and other aspects of the blues music industry
Utilize communication strategies to reach beyond our traditional constituency and to effectively broaden and diversify our audiences
Build upon Generation Blues and Blues In The Schools programs to educate young people of all backgrounds about the history of the blues and to encourage their appreciation of blues music
Attract a diverse board and staff, and create a welcoming and inclusive environment to encourage their retention
Enhance and prioritize our “Blues and Race” programming to facilitate honest dialogue within the blues community and identify impactful remedies

2025 Blues Music Awards Winners

Sun, 25 May 2025 13:00:00 GMT

2025 Blues Music Awards Winners

(Memphis TN) – The Blues Foundation has announced the winners at the 45th Annual Blues Music Awards that took place May 9 in Memphis.

Guitarist Christone “Kingfish” Ingram was the night’s biggest winner, taking home four awards, including “Album of the Year” for Live In London. Mike Zito, Bobby Rush, Ruthie Foster and John Primer also garnered multiple awards. Congratulations to all this year’s winners!

Doug MacLeod performs during the 45th annual Blues Music —photo by Roger Stephenson.

B.B. King Entertainer of the Year
Mr. Sipp (Castro Coleman)

Album of the Year
Blame It On Eve, Shemekia Copeland

Band of the Year
Rick Estrin and The Nightcats

Song of the Year
“Blues In My DNA,” Written by Ronnie Baker Brooks

Best Emerging Artist Album
Revelation, Piper & The Hard Times

Acoustic Blues Album
One Guitar Woman, Sue Foley

Blues Rock Album
Life is Hard, Mike Zito

Contemporary Blues Album
Blues In My DNA, Ronnie Baker Brooks

Soul Blues Album
Fine By Me, Curtis Salgado

Traditional Blues Album
Crawlin’ ‘Kingsnake, John Primer & Bob Corritore

Acoustic Blues Artist
Keb’ Mo’

Blues Rock Artist
Tommy Castro

Contemporary Blues Female Artist
Ruthie Foster

Contemporary Blues Male Artist
Ronnie Baker Brooks

Soul Blues Female Artist
Thornetta Davis

Soul Blues Male Artist
Curtis Salgado

Traditional Blues Female Artist(Koko Taylor Award)
Sue Foley

Traditional Blues Male Artist
John Primer

Instrumentalist – Bass
Bob Stroger

Instrumentalist – Drums
Kenny “Beedy Eyes” Smith

Instrumentalist – Guitar
Christone “Kingfish” Ingram

Instrumentalist – Harmonica
Billy Branch

Instrumentalist – Horn
Vanessa Collier

Instrumentalist – Piano(Pinetop Perkins Piano Player Award)
Eden Brent

Instrumentalist – Vocals
Ruthie Foster

2025 Blues Music Awards Winners

BMA winner Ruthie Foster receives her award for Instrumentalist- Vocals during the 45th Blues Music Awards—photo by Roger Stephenson.

2025 Blues Music Awards Winners

Wed, 14 May 2025 20:43:00 GMT

2025 Blues Music Awards Winners

(Memphis TN) – The Blues Foundation has announced the winners at the 46th Annual Blues Music Awards that took place May 9 in Memphis. Congratulations to all this year’s winners!

Ronnie Baker Brooks during the 46th annual Blues Music Awards

2025 Blues Music Awards Winners

Acoustic Blues Album Winner
One Guitar Woman, Sue Foley

Instrumentalist- Horn Winner
Vanessa Collier

Blues Rock Artist Winner
Tommy Castro

Instrumentalist- Harmonica Winner
Billy Branch

Soul Blues Female Winner
Thornetta Davis

Instrumentalist- Piano (Pinetop Perkins) Winner
Eden Brent

Instrumentalist- Bass Winner
Bob Stroger

Instrumentalist- Drum Winner
Kenny “Beedy Eyes” Smith

Blues Rock Album Winner
Life is Hard, Mike Zito

Contemporary Blues Male Winner
Ronnie Baker Brooks

Traditional Blues Album Winner
Crawlin’ ‘Kingsnake, John Primer & Bob Corritore

Traditional Blues Male Winner
John Primer

Instrumentalist- Guitar Winner
Christone “Kingfish” Ingram

BMA winner Keb’ Mo’ receives his award for Acoustic Blues Artist during the 46th Blues Music Awards.

Contemporary Blues Album Winner
Blues In My DNA, Ronnie Baker Brooks

Soul Blues Album Winner
Fine By Me, Curtis Salgado

Traditional Blues Female Winner
Sue Foley

Contemporary Blues Female Winner
Ruthie Foster

Soul Blues Male Winner
Curtis Salgado

Acoustic Blues Artist Winner
Keb’ Mo’

Band of the Year Winner
Rick Estrin and The Nightcats

Best Emerging Artist Winner
Revelation, Piper & The Hard Times

Instrumentalist- Vocals Winner
Ruthie Foster

Album of the Year Winner
Blame It On Eve, Shemekia Copeland

Song of the Year Winner
“Blues In My DNA,” Written by Ronnie Baker Brooks

B.B. King Entertainer of the Year Winner
Mr. Sipp (Castro Coleman)

2025 Blues Music Awards Week Events Schedule

Mon, 28 Apr 2025 20:49:00 GMT

2025 Blues Music Awards Week Events Schedule

BMA Week Events

Wednesday, May 7, 2025

Thursday, May 8, 2025

11:30am – 1pm

9:00am – 11:30am

Movie Screening: A Robert Mugge Film, “Deep Roots”

The Art and Music of Bill Steber and Friends

Noon – 4pm

Will Call and Merchandise Sales

Renasant Convention Center Lobby

2:00pm – 3:30pm

Celebrating 10 years of The Blues Foundation

Hall of Fame Museum
421 S. Main Street

5:30pm – 8pm

(Doors open at 5pm)

Blues Hall of Fame Reception and Induction Ceremony

Cannon Center for Performing Arts
255 N. Main St.

8pm – Late

Big Llou’s 10th Annual Hall of Fame Tribute Jam

Fundraiser for Blues Hall of Fame
Alfred’s
197 Beale Street

HART Fund Musician Health Screenings
Sheraton Downtown Memphis
250 N. Main Street

10am – Late

Will Call and Merchandise Sales
Renasant Convention Center Lobby

11:30am – 1:30pm

Recording Academy Panel Session
Renasant Convention Center
Classroom 202

6pm – Midnight

46th Blues Musician Awards
Renasant Convention Center
255 N. Main Street

Friday, May 9, 2025

9am – 10:30 am

Charter Member Breakfast
(Invite Only)
Sheraton Downtown Memphis
250 N. Main Street

11am – 1pm

Blues Foundation Board of Directors Meeting
Sheraton Downtown Memphis
250 N. Main Street

2023 Blues Music Awards Week Events Schedule

Fri, 05 May 2023 19:33:00 GMT

2023 Blues Music Awards Week Events Schedule

The 2023 Blues Music Awards schedule of events is now available!

Candace Dickerson | Blues Foundation

IBC 2026 Winners Announced

Sun, 29 Jan 2023 02:22:00 GMT

IBC 2026 Winners Announced

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE INTERNATIONAL BLUES CHALLENGE’S TOP SELECTIONS FOR 2026!

BAND DIVISION

Winner: Derrick Dove & The Peacekeepers
2nd Place Band: MAMA
3rd Place Band: Big Mike & The R&B Kings

SOLO/DUO DIVISION

Winner: Weary Ramblers
2nd Place: Devin C. Williams

BEST GUITAR AWARD

Winner: Derrick Dove

Winner: Chad Elliott

MEMPHIS CIGAR BOX GUITAR AWARD (BEST SOLO/DUO GUITARIST)

Winner: Johnathan Pittman

LEE OSKAR HARMONICA AWARD (BEST HARMONICA PLAYER)

Winner: Ryan Hartt, “Be All About It”

BEST SELF-PRODUCED CD

# # #

IBC 2022 Winners Announced

Mon, 09 May 2022 19:01:00 GMT

IBC 2023 Winners Announced

French Band The Wacky Jugs Win the IBCs Band Division

Phoenix Artist Eric Ramsey Triumphs in the Solo/Duo Division

THE WACKY JUGS
©Roger Stephenson

MEMPHIS, Tenn . — One act came from France and the other from Phoenix, but they both proved to be outstanding at this year’s International Blues Challenge finals, which took place May 9th in Memphis’ historic Orpheum Theatre.

The Wacky Jugs , representing France Blues, left Memphis with a first-place finish in the Band Division, while T.C. Carter took home the Gibson Guitar Award for Best Band Guitarist (Piedmont Blues Preservation Society.) Eric Ramsey from the Phoenix Blues Society triumphed in the Solo/Duo Division and also took home the Memphis Cigar Box Guitar Award.

Jhett Black from The San Angelo Blues Society picked up the Lee Oskar Harmonica Award for the Best Harmonica Player and also came in second place in the solo/duo division. Winning the Best Self-Produced CD was Memphis Lightning for their album, Borrowed Time .

Receiving recognition too at this year’s IBC Awards in the Band Division was Cros (Phoenix Blues Society), capturing 2nd place, and coming in third was Soul Nite featuring D.K. Harrell (Mississippi Delta Blues Society of Indianola).

New President and CEO, Judith Black effused, “It’s been a great return for the IBC. Congratulations to all of the winners and everyone who competed. We hope that this year’s IBC was the launch of many amazing blues artists’ careers.”

While the Challenge served as a centerpiece of IBC Week, The Blues Foundation also presented a varied line-up of unique events. This year’s recipients of the Foundation’s highly esteemed Keeping the Blues Alive Awards were celebrated at a special ceremony. Other highlights included screenings of the documentaries, Blues Trail Revisited , and Blues on Beale , the Jérôme Brunet Into the Light photography exhibit, and the IBC Silent Auction.

On Thursday, May 5th, The Blues Foundation presented its other signature event, the Blues Music Awards. The winners for the 43rd annual BMAs can be found at Blues.org .

The International Blues Challenge is sponsored by Americana Music Association, ArtsMemphis, Blues Festival Guide, Blues Matters, BMI, Canadian Consulate, European Blues Union, Folk Alliance International, Hohner Harmonica, Lancit Digital Media, Lansky Bros., Legendary Rhythm & Blues Cruise, Living Blues, Memphis Airport Authority, Memphis Music Hall of Fame, Memphis Tourism, Rock n’ Soul Museum, Silky O’Sullivan’s, Ted Reed Productions, and the TN Arts Commission.

The Blues Foundation is a world-renowned Memphis-based organization whose mission is to preserve blues heritage, celebrate blues recording and performance, expand worldwide awareness of the blues, and ensure the future of this uniquely American art form. Founded in 1980, the Foundation has approximately 4,000 individual members and 173 affiliated blues societies representing another 50,000 fans and professionals worldwide. Its signature honors and events — the Blues Music Awards, Blues Hall of Fame inductions, International Blues Challenge, and Keeping the Blues Alive Awards — make it the international hub of blues music. Its HART Fund provides the blues community with medical assistance for musicians in need, while Blues in the Schools programs and Generation Blues Scholarships expose new generations to blues music. The Blues Hall of Fame Museum, located in Downtown Memphis, adds the opportunity for blues lovers of all ages to interact with blues music and history. Throughout the year, the Foundation staff serves the global blues community with answers, information, and news.

ERIC RAMSEY
©Roger Stephenso

COMPLETE LIST OF INTERNATIONAL BLUES CHALLENGE’S 2022 WINNERS

BAND DIVISION
Winner: The Wacky Jugs
2nd Place Band: Cros
3rd Place Band: Soul Nite featuring D.K. Harrell

SOLO/DUO DIVISION
Winner: Eric Ramsey
2nd Place: Jhett Black

GIBSON GUITAR AWARD (BEST BAND GUITARIST)
T.C. Carter

MEMPHIS CIGAR BOX GUITAR AWARD (BEST SOLO/DUO GUITARIST)
Winner: Eric Ramsey

LEE OSKAR HARMONICA AWARD (BEST HARMONICA PLAYER)
Winner: Jhett Black

BEST SELF-PRODUCED CD
Winner: Memphis Lightning – Borrowed Time

T.C. CARTER
©Roger Stephenso

# # #

2022 Blues Music Awards Winners

Fri, 06 May 2022 15:22:00 GMT

2022 Blues Music Awards Winners

BLUES MUSIC AWARDS 2022 WINNERS
ANNOUNCED AT FIRST IN-PERSON BMA EVENT SINCE 2019

Tommy Castro is the big winner with three awards
with multiple honors going to Sue Foley & Christone “Kingfish” Ingram

MEMPHIS, Tenn. —The Renasant Convention Center was packed with blues musicians, fans, and music-world luminaries on May 5th, anxious to see who would be the winners at the 43rd Annual Blues Music Awards. Besides awarding honors in 25 categories, the BMAs, as is its tradition, featured performances from many nominees, with the gala ending in a jubilant all-star jam.

Tommy Castro was the evening’s top award winner, earning three BMAs, first for the B.B. King Entertainer of the Year (which he won previously in 2010 and 2008) and for Album of the Year for Tommy Castro Presents A Bluesman Came to Town , and lastly for taking home the honors for Band of the Year with his band, Tommy Castro & The Painkillers .

This year, Sue Foley was one of the two double winners, capturing Traditional Blues Album for the first time and winning Traditional Blues Female Artist – Koko Taylor Award , repeating her 2020 win. Fresh off his Grammy win, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram took home Contemporary Blues Male Artist for the third consecutive year. He was also awarded Contemporary Blues Album , which he previously won a BMA for in 2020.

Song of the Year was awarded for the first time to Selwyn Birchwood with “I’d Climb Mountains,” which he also recorded. Making their BMA debut for Best Emerging Artist Album was Rodd Bland & The Members Only Band for LIVE ON BEALE STREET: A Tribute to Bobby “Blue” Bland .

Tommy Castro

Photo credit: Andrea Zucker

Retaining their titles were seven-time BMA winners Keb’ Mo for Acoustic Blues Artist and Curtis Salgado for Soul Blues Male, Danielle Nicole won Instrumentalist Bass. Jimmy Carpenter captured Instrumentalist – Horn and, Mike Zito claimed the Blues Rock Album with Ressurection .

Re-gaining their BMA crowns were Eric Bibb for Acoustic Blues Album , Albert Castiglia for Blues Rock Artist, Annika Chambers for Soul Blues Female, and Jason Ricci for Instrumentalist – Harmonica.

Winners of multiple BMA Awards making their debut in a category were Taj Mahal for Traditional Blues Male Artist, Tom Hambridge for Instrumentalist – Drums, and Eric Gales for Instrumentalist – Guitar. In addition, Mike Finnegan won Instrumentalist – Piano (Pinetop Perkins Piano Player Award), and John Nemeth took home Instrumentalist – Vocals. Lastly, Zac Harmon was awarded Soul Blues Album for Long As I Got My Guitar .

2022 Blues Music Awards Winners

Sue Foley

Photo credit: Andrea Zucker

B.B. King Entertainer of the Year
Tommy Castro

Album of the Year
Tommy Castro Presents A Bluesman Came To Town , Tommy Castro

Band of the Year
Tommy Castro & The Painkillers

Song of the Year
“I’d Climb Mountains”, written & performed by Selwyn Birchwood

Best Emerging Artist Album
Live On Beale Street: A Tribute To Bobby “Blue” Bland , Rodd Bland and the Members Only Band

Acoustic Blues Album
Dear America , Eric Bibb

Blues Rock Album
Resurrection , Mike Zito

Contemporary Blues Album
662, Kingfish

Soul Blues Album
Long As I Got My Guitar , Zac Harmon

Traditional Blues Album
Pinky’s Blues , Sue Foley

Acoustic Blues Artist
Keb’ Mo’

Blues Rock Artist
Albert Castiglia

Contemporary Blues Female Artist
Vanessa Collier

Contemporary Blues Male Artist
Christone “Kingfish” Ingram

Soul Blues Female Artist
Annika Chambers

Soul Blues Male Artist
Curtis Salgado

Traditional Blues Female Artist(Koko Taylor Award)
Sue Foley

Traditional Blues Male Artist
Taj Mahal

Instrumentalist – Bass
Danielle Nicole

Instrumentalist – Drums
Tom Hambridge

Instrumentalist – Guitar
Eric Gales

Instrumentalist – Harmonica
Jason Ricci

Instrumentalist – Horn
Jimmy Carpenter

Instrumentalist – Piano(Pinetop Perkins Piano Player Award)
Mike Finnigan

Instrumentalist – Vocals
John Németh

Photo credit: Andrea Zucker

Rodd Bland and Jimmy Carpenter

The Blues Music Awards represented just one of the many highlights of the Blues Foundation’s exciting Blues Music Week, kicking off on May 4th with its Blues Hall of Fame induction ceremony. The BHOF inductees included pre-war performer and songwriter Lucille Bogan , the soul, blues, rock ‘n’ roll star Little Willie John , renowned songwriter, artist Johnnie Taylor , and legendary songwriter Otis Blackwell .

Classic recordings that the Blues Hall of Fame honored this year were Sonny Boy Williamson II’s “Eyesight to the Blind,” Bobby “Blue” Bland’s “Farther Up the Road ,” Roy Brown’s “Good Rocking Tonight,” B.B. King’s “Rock Me Baby,” “Rollin’ and Tumblin’ ” by the Baby Face Leroy Trio as well as Bo Diddley’s classic album, Bo Diddley . This year’s non-performing inductee was Mary Katherine Aldin , who worked as an editor, disc jockey, compiler, and annotator of blues and folk reissue albums. The Classic of Blues Literature entrant was Red River Blues: The Blues Tradition in the Southeast , written by British author Bruce Bastin .

Judith Black , President and CEO of The Blues Foundation, effused: “What an amazing reunion after nearly three years of separation. It was an awards evening filled with awesome music, wonderful fellowshipping, and exciting honors. It was apparent everywhere you looked that people were thrilled to be back and, I am sure they could tell we were ecstatic to welcome everyone back.”

###

2022 Blues Hall of Fame Inductees

Mon, 14 Mar 2022 22:21:00 GMT

2022 Blues Hall of Fame Inductees

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 17, 2022

LUCILLE BOGAN, LITTLE WILLIE JOHN, JOHNNIE TAYLOR, OTIS BLACKWELL, AND MARY KATHERINE ALDIN WILL BE CELEBRATED AS NEW BLUES HALL OF FAMERS ON MAY 4, 2022

Landmark recordings by:
Bobby “Blue” Bland, Roy Brown, Bo Diddley, B.B. King,
Baby Face Leroy Trio, and Sonny Boy Williamson II

To receive Hall of Fame recognition at The Blues Foundation’s ceremony in Memphis

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The 12 honorees of The Blues Foundation’s Blues Hall of Fame’s 42nd class encompass over 70 years of music, spanning from Lucille Bogan in the 1920s & 1930s, Little Willie John in the 1950s & 1960s, and Johnnie Taylor from the 1950s through the 1990s. This year’s inductees in the Blues Hall of Fame’s five categories — Performers, Individuals, Classics of Blues Literature, Classics of Blues Recording (Single), and Classics of Blues Recording (Album) — demonstrate how the blues intersects with a wide variety of American music styles: soul, blues, R&B, and rock’ n’ roll.

The new Blues Hall of Fame performers aren’t just exceptional musicians, but they also are educators, innovators, entrepreneurs, and activists determined to leave their mark on the world.

Lucille Bogan recorded some of the most memorable songs of the pre-World War II era, recording from 1923-1935 for Okeh, Paramount, Brunswick, Banner, Melotone, and other labels. Her songs were covered by B.B. King, John Lee “Sonny Boy” Williamson, Jimmy Rogers, Memphis Minnie, and others, but she became more well known for the controversial themes her music embodied. Little Willie John was a soul, blues, and rock ‘n’ roll star whose meteoric rise and tragic fall ended when at age 30 he died in prison. Labeled as a “singer’s singer” by none other than B.B. King, this blues and ballad vocalist extraordinaire had his first national hit while still a teenager. Ten of his records crossed over to the pop charts, which landed him three appearances on Dick Clark’s American Bandstand . Johnnie Taylor spent his early years as a solo performer singing gospel, although his first recording was as a member of the doo-wop group, The Five Echoes. While signed to Stax from 1966-1974, he recorded his breakthrough single “Who’s Making Love.” His next biggest hit came with the 1976 platinum-selling “Disco Lady.” Later, Taylor took his gospel-influenced blues, soul, and funk to Malaco, where he found a new home for his music until the end.

While he never met Elvis Presley, Otis Blackwell is best known for writing Presley’s massive hits, “Don’t Be Cruel,” “All Shook Up,” and “Return To Sender.” He’s also credited as writing “Breathless” and “Great Balls of Fire” for Jerry Lee Lewis as well as the Little Willie John/Peggy Lee hit, “Fever.” He recorded for RCA Victor, the Jay-Dee label, and others but avoided the limelight finding his niche in songwriting. Mary Katherine Aldin has spent the past 60 years behind the scenes in the blues and folk music worlds, as a voice on the radio and as compiler or annotator of blues and folk reissue albums for Rhino, Vanguard, MCA/Chess, Columbia, and other labels. She was nominated for a GRAMMY® for her liner notes for The Chess Box by Muddy Waters. Aldin also served in various editorial positions at Living Blues, Blues & Rhythm , and others and secured publishing rights for artists at Folklore Productions. She was inducted into the Folk DJ Hall of Fame in 2018 and is still broadcasting for KPFK’s “Roots Music & Beyond.”

Bo Diddley’s Bo Diddley is 2022’s Classic of Blues Recording: Album , which compiled 12 of his groundbreaking singles on Chess Records’ Checker subsidiary. There are five Classic of Blues Recording: Singles receiving Hall of Fame induction: Sonny Boy Williamson II’s 1951 single “Eyesight to the Blind” the first release by the master harmonica player and singer, Bobby “Blue” Bland’s 1957 hit “Farther Up the Road,” Roy Brown’s 1947 release “Good Rocking Tonight” hit No. 1 on the R&B charts when covered by Wynonie Harris, B.B. King’s “Rock Me Baby” released in 1964 was one of his biggest hits on the Billboard pop charts, and the exuberant “Rollin’ and Tumblin’” released in 1950 by the Baby Face Leroy Trio .

Entering the Blues Hall of Fame as a Classic of Blues Literature is Red River Blues: The Blues Tradition in the Southeast , written by British author Bruce Bastin and hailed as an acclaimed work of blues scholarship.

Due to the global shutdown in 2020 that forced The Blues Foundation to cancel in-person fundraisers, the celebration of the 2020 Blues Hall of Fame Inductees will officially take place along with the 2022 ceremony. Honorees include Billy Branch, Eddie Boyd, Syl Johnson, Bettye LaVette, George “Harmonica” Smith, Victoria Spivey, Ralph Peer, and more. Read the original 2020 press release here .

Bo Diddley’s Bo Diddley is 2022’s Classic of Blues Recording: Album , which compiled 12 of his groundbreaking singles on Chess Records’ Checker subsidiary. There are five Classic of Blues Recording: Singles receiving Hall of Fame induction: Sonny Boy Williamson II’s 1951 single “Eyesight to the Blind” was the first release by the master harmonica player and singer, Bobby “Blue” Bland’s 1957 hit “Farther Up the Road,” Roy Brown’s 1947 release “Good Rocking Tonight” which hit No. 1 on the R&B charts when covered by Wynonie Harris, B.B. King’s “Rock Me Baby” recorded in 1947 was one of his biggest hits on the Billboard pop charts, and the exuberant “Rollin’ and Tumblin’” released in 1950 by the Baby Face Leroy Trio .

Entering the Blues Hall of Fame as a Classic of Blues Literature is Red Rover Blues , written by British author Bruce Bastin and is the definitive study of traditional blues from the Southeastern United States.

The Blues Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony , held this year in conjunction with the Blues Music Awards and International Blues Challenge week, will occur on Wednesday, May 4, 2022, at the Halloran Centre (225 S. Main St., Memphis). A cocktail reception honoring the BHOF Inductees and Blues Music Awards nominees will begin at 5:30 p.m., with the formal inductions commencing at 6:30 p.m. in the Halloran Theater. Tickets, including the ceremony and reception, are $75 each and are available with Blues Music Awards tickets here .

Coinciding with the Induction Ceremony, The Blues Foundation’s Blues Hall of Fame Museum will showcase several special items representing the 2020 and 2022 class of inductees. These artifacts will be on display for public viewing beginning the first week of May and will remain on view for visitor enjoyment for the next 12 months.

The Blues Hall of Fame Museum, built through the ardent support and generosity of blues fans, embodies all four elements of The Blues Foundation’s mission: preserving blues heritage, celebrating blues recording and performance, expanding awareness of the blues genre, and ensuring the future of the music.

The museum’s current exhibit in the upstairs gallery features the work of music photographer Jérôme Brunet. This exhibition features blues legends and Blues Hall of Famers such as B.B. King, Robert Cray, Etta James, Mavis Staples, Honeyboy Edwards, and Johnny Winter to name just a few. Museum visitors can also explore the permanent exhibits and individualized galleries that showcase an unmatched selection of album covers, photographs, historical awards, unique art, musical instruments, costumes, and other one-of-a-kind memorabilia. In addition, interactive displays allow guests to hear the music, watch the videos, and read the stories about each of the Blues Hall of Fame’s over 400 inductees.

The museum will re-open in late April with amended hours that will be listed here . Admission is $10 for adults and $8 for students with I.D.; free for children 12 and younger and for Blues Foundation members. Membership is available for as a little as $25 per person; to join, visit www.blues.org . The Blues Foundation’s Blues Hall of Fame Museum is located at 421 South Main Street in Memphis, TN.

The Blues Foundation’s partners and sponsors include ArtsMemphis, Tennessee Arts Commission, Memphis Tourism, BMI, and Legendary Rhythm & Blues Cruise.

# # #

For more information about The Blues Foundation and the 2022 Blues Hall of Fame
Contact: Pati deVries / devious planet
PatideVries@deviousplanet.com

The Blues Foundation’s 2022 Blues Hall of Fame Inductees

Blues Hall of Fame Inductee biographies and descriptions were researched and written by Jim O’Neal ( bluesoterica.com ) with thanks to Bob Eagle, Bob McGrath, John Broven, Roger Armstrong, Larry Cohn, Malaco Records, and Roger Naber.

Performers

Sexual references were common in blues recording but the proprieties of the day called for them to be disguised in double entendre form. Bogan made a number of those, but presumably, for the entertainment of the recording staff and friends, she used explicit language in “Till the Cows Come Home” and an alternate take of “Shave ’Em Dry” that makes most hardcore rap lyrics seem tame. Though these were “private” recordings, bootleg pressings made their way into circulation and eventually were transferred to legitimate albums in more permissive modern times.

Bogan, however, had already long been a favorite among blues collectors and historians for the depth of her talent and recorded repertoire, and was a significant artist in the blues market of the 1920s and ‘30s. She lacked the name recognition of some of her contemporaries because most of her records were released under the pseudonym, Bessie Jackson.

Some of her songs embodied controversial themes including prostitution, lesbianism, and—since most were recorded during prohibition—drinking. Some veteran researchers doubt that she lived the rough street life she sometimes sang about, but her lyrics did reflect a familiarity with the underside of polite society. Bogan’s 1923-1935 recordings for OKeh, Paramount, Brunswick, Banner, Melotone, and other labels featured various notable accompanists including Will Ezell, Tampa Red, and Walter Roland. Among her influential records that survived via later artists were the first version of “Black Angel Blues” (later recorded by Tampa Red and Robert Nighthawk, and by B.B. King as “Sweet Little Angel”), “Sloppy Drunk Blues” (Leroy Carr, John Lee “Sonny Boy” Williamson, Jimmy Rogers, and others), and “Tricks Ain’t Walking No More” (Memphis Minnie).

Railroad references also cropped up in her songs, not surprisingly since her father, brother, and husband all worked for the railroad in Birmingham, Alabama, or Amory, Mississippi. Both towns have been purported as her birthplace (as Lucille or Lucile Anderson on April 1, 1897). Misinformation and speculation on her life is rampant on the internet, where Amory is most often cited. She and other relatives did live in Amory at times, but most census entries indicate Alabama, and Bogan herself gave Birmingham as the site on her Social Security application. She returned to the Birmingham area in between stays in Amory, Chicago, and elsewhere. Her brother Thomas “Big Music” Anderson was a musician, as was her son Nazareth Bogan Jr., whose group Bogan’s Birmingham Busters she reportedly managed. A few months before her death on August 10, 1948, she had moved to Los Angeles and kept a hand in the music business, as a song posthumously crediting her as writer appeared on a record on the L.A.-based Specialty label by bluesman Smokey Hogg.

Lucille Bogan recorded some of the most memorable blues songs of the pre-World War II era, including some that were landmarks in blues and some that continue to sensationalize her reputation decades after her death. She was the first African-American singer to record blues at a session outside of New York or Chicago when she sang at sessions for OKeh Records set up in a warehouse in Atlanta in 1923, and several of her records were later covered or adapted by various artists who preceded her into the Blues Hall of Fame. But by far the predominant association now made with Bogan is the lewdness of two unexpurgated songs she recorded in 1935 that were not intended for public release.

Small (five feet four and 126 pounds, according to his biography by Susan Whitall and John’s son Kevin) and boyish in appearance, John was a sharply attired and exciting showstopper, recalled by fellow singers as mischievous, fun-loving, and generous. But offstage troubles, drinking, and drugs took a toll on his career and lifestyle. An altercation at an after-hours party in Seattle in 1964 led to a manslaughter conviction, and he died on May 26, 1968, at Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla. The official cause of death was cited as a heart attack, but other sources said John—who suffered from epilepsy—had contracted tuberculosis and some suspected he died from an assault in prison. James Brown, both a friend and rival, later recorded an album, Thinking About Little Willie John and a Few Nice Things , and was one of many who have sung his praises and recorded his songs over the years. John was elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996. The Susan Whitall-Kevin John biography is aptly titled Fever: Little Willie John—A Fast Life, Mysterious Death and the Birth of Soul .

The meteoric rise and tragic fall of William Edward “Little Willie” John , who died in prison at the age of 30, is one of the most dramatic chapters in rhythm & blues history. A “singer’s singer” in the words of some (including one of his early inspirations, B.B. King), John was a pioneer of soul music, a rock ‘n’ roll star, and a blues and ballad vocalist extraordinaire who burst on the national scene as a teenager with the hit “All Around the World” in 1955. Born in Cullendale, Arkansas, on November 15, 1937, John grew up in Detroit, singing with his family’s gospel group (including sister Mable John, who also became a blues and soul singer) before he started sneaking out to nightclubs and theaters. He cut his first record, a Christmas single, for the local Prize label, in 1953. “All Around the World” (later recorded by Little Milton as “Grits Ain’t Groceries”) was the first song he waxed for King Records and was followed by 16 more R&B chart hits for the label over the next six years, including “Need Your Love So Bad,” “Talk to Me, Talk to Me,” “Heartbreak,” “Take My Love,” and, most famously, the original version of “Fever.” Ten of his records also crossed over to the pop charts, and John rode the wave of success headlining shows across the country and appearing three times on Dick Clark’s American Bandstand .

Individuals – Business, Production, Media, & Academic

Johnnie Taylor liked to emphasize that he could sing more than blues, as indeed he amply proved when performing gospel and soul, but among African-American audiences, he reigned as the top headliner of his era at blues events. Famed for his 1976 hit “Disco Lady,” Taylor set sales records for several labels and had more than three dozen hits on the national charts.

Gospel was Taylor’s forte in his early years, although he first recorded as a member of a doo-wop group, the Five Echoes, in 1954, in Chicago. Born on May 5, 1934, in Crawfordsville, Arkansas, Taylor was raised in West Memphis and Kansas City, where he sang gospel with the Melody Kings before he moved to Chicago. There he sang lead on most of the first songs recorded by the Highway Q-C’s gospel group in 1955-56 for the Vee-Jay label, and similarly took the lead role when he replaced Sam Cooke in the Soul Stirrers on their 1958-59 records for the Specialty imprint. Taylor became an ordained minister but followed Cooke into the secular world of rhythm & blues, cutting a series of records for Cooke’s SAR and Derby labels including “Rome (Wasn’t Built in a Day).” After Cooke’s death in 1964, Taylor, back in Kansas City with an uncertain future as an entertainer, enrolled in college. His career soon took an upturn when he signed with Stax Records in Memphis.

While he once sounded much like Sam Cooke, Taylor developed a more identifiable style incorporating gospel-influenced blues, soul, and funk during his tenure with Stax from 1966 to 1974. The company touted his 1968 hit “Who’s Makin’ Love” as “the fastest-selling single in the history of Stax Records,” and Taylor kicked his touring activity into high gear displaying a mix of polish and grit while continuing to hit the charts with his Stax recordings. In 1976 Taylor’s chart success peaked with “Disco Lady” on the Columbia label. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) instituted its platinum record category, symbolizing sales of a million units, that year, and the first platinum single award went to “Disco Lady.” By then residing in Dallas, Taylor hosted a local radio show and traveled to studios around the country to record for Columbia, but sales tailed off. He only truly his stride again when he began recording for Malaco Records of Jackson, Mississippi, the flagship of soul-blues labels where he likened the atmosphere to that at Stax. With two heart attacks a drug rehabilitation stint behind him, he recorded and toured as the top star of the “chitlin’ circuit,” purveying a mix of Southern soul and blues. His “Last Two Dollars,” “Still Called the Blues,” and “Wall to Wall” were among the favorites of blues followers. His Good Love album eclipsed Z.Z. Hill’s classic Down Home as Malaco’s best seller. Malaco owners Tommy Couch Sr. and Wolf Stephenson had decided to sign Taylor after hearing him sing at Hill’s funeral in Dallas. He also sang at the funeral of Little Willie John, among others. Taylor was honored with a Pioneer Award by the Rhythm and Blues Foundation in 1996.

Taylor, a Malaco artist until the end, succumbed to a heart attack on May 31, 2000, in Dallas. Among his children, he left several who carried on his music, including Floyd Taylor and Johnnie Taylor, Jr., who have both since passed on, T.J. Hooker Taylor in Kansas City, and Jon and Tasha Taylor in Los Angeles. The late Little Johnny Taylor, who recorded the Blues Hall of Fame single “Part Time Love,” was often confused with Johnnie Taylor, but the two were not related.

Mary Katherine Aldin began six decades of service to the music world when she worked at the Ash Grove, the legendary Los Angeles folk club, not long after she moved from New York in 1962. The first in a series of radio shows soon followed and she is still broadcasting on KPFK’s “Roots Music & Beyond” following long tenures on “Preaching the Blues” and “Alive and Pickin’,” which earned her entry into the Folk DJ Hall of Fame in 2018. While working at a record store specializing in blues, she began annotating and compiling albums for Rhino Records and has since worked on blues, folk, bluegrass, and country reissues albums for Rhino, Vanguard, MCA/Chess, Columbia, Decca, Mercury, Smithsonian Folkways, Hightone, and other labels. Her notes to The Chess Box by Muddy Waters were nominated for a GRAMMY. Her writings include chapters in Nothing But the Blues and other books, and she once served as associate editor of Living Blues magazine and U.S. editor of the British periodical Blues & Rhythm: The Gospel Truth , in addition to publishing a Blues Magazine Selective Index and contributing photos to various publications and record companies.

For 25 years Aldin worked for Folklore Productions, where her duties included securing publishing rights for the traditional artists the agency represented. A co-founder of the Southern California Blues Society, she served as a festival MC and organized fundraising benefits. Along with the way, Aldin developed friendships not only with Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters, Big Joe Turner, Pee Wee Crayton, Long Gone Miles, George “Harmonica” Smith, Roy Brown, and others but also with many of their wives and children, who knew they could call on her for help if they needed to arrange or pay for funerals. Many archival materials from her historic body of work are now housed at the University of North Carolina and the University of Mississippi. Always intent on shining the spotlight on the music and performers and not on herself, one of her mottos has been “It’s the work, not the worker.”

Otis Blackwell was a struggling blues singer in New York City when he struck gold on a different path—writing songs for others to sing, and in particular, Elvis Presley. A fortunate meeting with a music publisher led Blackwell to submit a demo of his song “Don’t Be Cruel,” and Elvis—singing it much like Blackwell—made it into a No. 1 single for RCA Victor in 1956. Many other hits, written wholly or in part by Blackwell, were to follow, including “All Shook Up,” “Paralyzed” and “Return To Sender” for Elvis, “Breathless” and “Great Balls of Fire” for Jerry Lee Lewis, “Hey Little Girl” and “Just Keep It Up” for Dee Clark, and “Handy Man” for Jimmy Jones. Because of a conflicting contract with another publisher, Blackwell also wrote songs under his stepfather John Davenport’s name, most notably the Little Willie John/Peggy Lee hit “Fever.” His catalog at Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI, the music rights organization that collects royalties for songwriters and publishers), numbers over 400 songs and he claimed to have written over 1000.

Blackwell was born in Brooklyn on February 16, 1932 (although other dates are sometimes cited) and began singing and dancing in local bars in his youth. He recalled that many songs he wrote were based on piano boogies and shuffles he devised. Blackwell began recording for RCA Victor in 1952 and for various labels thereafter. “Daddy Rollin’ Stone” on the Jay-Dee label was the best known of his records but none of them reached the national charts.

Finding his niche as a songwriter and less enamored with performing, he tended to avoid the limelight–so much so that he never even met Presley or many other singers who recorded his songs. “We had just a great thing going and I just wanted to leave it alone,” Blackwell later said. “I just wanted to keep writing and let him do the singing.”

Blackwell enjoyed a moment of fame when he sang “Don’t Be Cruel” on Late Night with David Letterman in 1984, and, capitalizing on the interest his songwriting reputation had generated, he began performing again in later years with a repertoire of his compositions made famous by the stars. A Brooklyn resident most of his life, he lived his final years in Nashville, where he died on May 6, 2002.

Classic of Blues Literature

Classic of Blues Recording – Album

Red River Blues: The Blues Tradition in the Southeast was hailed as the definitive study of traditional blues from the Southeastern states when it was published in 1986, and it remains so today thanks to the thoroughness of author Bruce Bastin ’s research. Bastin, an Englishman who earned a folklore degree at the University of North Carolina and co-founded the prolific Flyright record label in the U.K., covered all the seminal recording artists who emerged from the area as well as many who never recorded and were known only to local audiences. The biographies, data from record companies, census reports, sociological studies of various communities, and contributions of fellow researchers including Pete Lowry and Kip Lornell render this a densely packed volume, one of special interest to fans of Blind Boy Fuller, Reverend Gary Davis, Brownie McGhee, Sonny Terry, Blind Willie McTell, Josh White, Blind Blake and others who helped define the acoustic blues sound of the Carolinas, Virginia, Georgia and the surrounding areas.

(University of Illinois Press, 1986)

Bo Diddley was the stage name of Ellas McDaniel and the title of both his debut single and this, his first LP, which compiled 12 sides from the groundbreaking singles on Chess Records’ Checker subsidiary that made him a one-of-a-kind rock ‘n’ roll icon. Along with the “Bo Diddley beat” rockers are blues (including the original version of “I’m a Man”) and brash and boastful novelties from the fertile Diddley mind. Several of the 1955-58 sessions represented on the LP feature Bo with a cast of stellar Chicago bluesmen including Willie Dixon, Jody Williams, and Billy Boy Arnold.

(Chess/Checker, 1958)

Classics of Blues Recording – Singles

Rock fans may recognize “Eyesight to the Blind” as the only song from The Who’s rock opera Tommy that was not written by the band. This paean to a woman who could bring eyesight to the blind and heal the deaf and dumb came from Sonny Boy Williamson No. 2 (aka “Rice” Miller among many other names), who recorded it as an evocative blues piece for the Trumpet label in Jackson, Mississippi, in 1951. It was, in fact, the first record released by the master harmonica player and singer, and one of many to feature his poetic lyrical talents. Accompanying him on the session were guitarists Elmore James and Joe Willie Wilkins, pianist Willie Love, and drummer Joe Dyson.

(Trumpet, 1951)

Though famed for soft, romantic blues ballads, Bobby “Blue” Bland could wail hard-hitting blues, too, as he did in 1957 with the Bill Harvey Orchestra on “Farther Up the Road.” Guitarist Pat Hare’s menacing fills and sizzling solo push the intensity even higher. The song was copyrighted by Joe Medwick Veasey and Duke Records owner Don D. Robey as “Further On Up the Road,” which is the way Bland sings it. Joe Medwick, who dropped the Veasey from his stage name, later recorded as a singer for Duke and other labels in Texas.

(Duke, 1957)

A contender for the title of first rock ‘n’ roll record—or at least one that paved the way to rock, “Good Rocking Tonight” was a product of Cosimo Matassa’s legendary New Orleans studio where blues shouter Roy Brown and Bob Ogden’s Orchestra recorded in July 1947. DeLuxe Records released it as a single with some success but it was a cover version by Wynonie Harris on the King label that went to No. 1 on the R&B—or, as it was known then, “Race Music”—charts in 1948. Brown was still able to make it part of his trademark jump-blues sound and generated more sales with lively followups such as “Rockin’ at Midnight.” Elvis Presley’s 1954 Sun version introduced new listeners to the song, which has since been recorded by many blues, R&B, and rock singers.

(DeLuxe, 1947)

Many blues have been recorded on the “rock me” theme, but it was B.B. King ’s 1964 single that climbed the charts and solidified the song as a standard in the blues canon. King’s other hits featured larger combos or orchestras, but only a trio played on this staunch, straight-ahead blues. It was one of his biggest hits on the Billboard pop charts and made both the R&B and pop charts in the rival trade magazine Cash Box. Kent Records’ documentation of sessions was scanty, with no recording date to be verified, but it was released in 1964 while King was under contract to ABC Records. Sources at Ace Records, the U.K. company that acquired Kent and other labels owned by the Bihari brothers of Los Angeles, have speculated that “Rock Me Baby” and others may have been the products of “midnight sessions” King recorded under the ABC radar.

(Kent, c. 1964)

Few records can match the raw exuberance of the Baby Face Leroy Trio ’s two-part “Rollin’ and Tumblin’ ” on Parkway, a small and short–lived Chicago label. Muddy Waters and Little Walter join singer-drummer Leroy Foster on this rambunctious 1950 rendition of an old Hambone Willie Newbern tune. Part 2 has no verses at all—just a mélange of the trio’s moans, hums and yelps. When Leonard Chess heard the record, he had Muddy cut his own two-part version on Aristocrat, the label that preceded Chess Records. Muddy added more verses and delivered the goods but his record not did have the wild abandon of the original. When Little Walter’s fame later rocketed as a solo artist, the Herald label reissued Part 2 of the Parkway single as a Little Walter record, “Rollin’ Blues.”

(Parkway, 1950)

The Blues Foundation Announces the 43rd BMA Nominees

Thu, 10 Feb 2022 16:58:00 GMT

The Blues Foundation Announces the 43rd BMA Nominees

KEB’ MO’, TOMMY CASTRO, TOM HAMBRIDGE, CHRIS CAIN, SUGARAY RAYFORD, ERIC GALES, ARE AMONG THE DISTINGUISHED, DIVERSE GROUP OF NOMINEES TO BE CELEBRATED AT THE 43RD ANNUAL BLUES MUSIC AWARDS

The Blues Foundation will reveal the winners at its Gala Ceremony in Memphis on May 5
Blues Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony May 4

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — An impressive assembly of blues music masters, ranging from Blues Hall of Famers to rising stars, will gather in Memphis on Thursday, May 5th, for the 43rd Annual Blues Music Awards. Presented by The Blues Foundation, the BMAs honor the past year’s exceptional achievements in blues music recording, performance, and songwriting, as well as supporting the blues rich cultural traditions. This celebratory evening is recognized internationally as the blues world’s premier event brings nominees to town and many on stage to perform.

The event takes place at Memphis’ Renasant Convention Center , (255 North Main Street), where a Blue Carpet will lead to the theater. The Blue Carpet pre-show commences at 5pm. Tickets range from individual seats for $150 to Premium tables (seats 10) for $1800. Ticket sales are now open and can be purchased by clicking here .

Topping the list of talented BMA contenders is Tommy Castro , with five nominations, B.B. King Entertainer of the Year, Album of the Year, Band of the Year (with The Painkillers), Contemporary Blues Album, and Blues Rock Artist. Castro previously won Band of the Year (2010), B.B. King Entertainer of the Year (2008 & 2010), was a two-time winner for Contemporary Blues Album (2010, 2008), as well as winning Contemporary Blues Male Artist (2010). This is Castro’s fourth nomination for the B.B. King Entertainer of the Year award and his first nomination for Album of the Year.

And behind Tommy Castro in the nomination count is Tom Hambridge and Chris Cain , each receiving four nominations. Hambridge is up for Instrumentalist – Guitar, and has three entries for Song of the Year, a win he previously captured with a track co-written with Buddy Guy. Finishing the quadruplet nominations is Cain, with nods in both Contemporary categories (Male Artist and Blues Album). Further, this is Cain’s third nomination for Instrumental – Guitar and first nomination for Album of the Year ( Raisin’ Cain ).

Some of the past winners hoping to reclaim awards are Sugaray Rayford (B.B. King Entertainer of the Year), Eric Bibb (Acoustic Blues Artist), Mike Zito (Blues Rock Album), Kingfish (Contemporary Blues Album), Keb’ Mo’ (Acoustic Blues Artist), Ruthie Foster (Contemporary Blues Female Artist), Kim Wilson (Instrument – Harmonica), Danielle Nicole (Instrumentalist – Bass), and Kenny Neal (Contemporary Blues Male Artist).

Mike Finnigan , who passed away last August, was posthumously nominated for the Pinetop Perkins Player Award (Instrumentalist – Piano). In addition, Wee Willie Walker & The Anthony Paule Soul Orchestra have been nominated for Album of the Year and Soul Blues Album for Not In My Lifetime . Walker passed in 2019 just three days after finishing the album’s recording session.

The International Blues Challenge (IBC), taking place this year from May 6-9, has proved to be a fertile breeding ground for up-and-coming blues artists. Previous IBC winners nominated for this year’s Blues Music Awards include Altered Five Blues Band, Selwyn Birchwood, Eden Brent, Kevin Burt, Zac Harmon, Diunna Greenleaf, Dave Keller, Dave Keyes, Mr. Sipp, J.P. Soars, Gabe Stillman, GA-20’s Matt Stubbs, and Jontavious Willis . Freshman BMA nominees who once competed as IBC Solo/Duo Challengers are Veronica Lewis and Memphissippi Sounds . Lewis is also the youngest nominee this year at just 18 years old.

The night before the BMAs, The Blues Foundation’s Blues Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony takes place Wednesday, May 4, 2022, at Memphis’ Halloran Centre at the Orpheum (225 South Main Street). Following a 5:30pm cocktail reception, the inductions begin at the Halloran Theater. Tickets, which include ceremony and reception admission, begin at $75 each and, as with any other musical event or charitable donation, they are non-refundable. The 2022 class of inductees will be announced in the coming weeks.

The complete list of Blues Music Award nominees can be found below. The ballot will be open for voting to current Blues Foundation members only until 11:59 pm CST on Friday, March 18th. To become a Blues Foundation member, visit www.blues.org . Upon membership confirmation, new and renewing members will be sent instructions on how to access the 2022 Blues Music Awards Ballot.

Major funding for the 43 ^rd Blues Music Awards is provided by ArtsMemphis, Tennessee Arts Commission, and Memphis Tourism. Special thanks to partners Memphis Airport Authority and DittyTV.

B.B. King Entertainer of the Year
Tommy Castro
Eric Gales
Mr. Sipp
J.P. Soars
Sugaray Rayford

Album of the Year
Holler If You Hear Me , Altered Five Blues Band
Not In My Lifetime , Wee Willie Walker & The Anthony Paule Soul Orchestra
Pinky’s Blues , Sue Foley
Raisin’ Cain , Chris Cain
Tommy Castro Presents A Bluesman Came To Town , Tommy Castro

Band of the Year
Anthony Paule Soul Orchestra
J.P. Soars and the Red Hots
Lil’ Ed & the Blues Imperials
Sugaray Rayford Band
Tommy Castro & The Painkillers

Song of the Year
“Fragile Peace and Certain War”, written and performed by Carolyn Wonderland
“Holler If You Hear Me”, written by Jeff Schroedl & Mark Solveson
(performed by Altered Five Blues Band)
“I’d Climb Mountains”, written & performed by Selwyn Birchwood
“Real Good Lie”, written by Christine Vitale, Larry Batiste, Anthony Paule
(performed by Wee Willie Walker & The Anthony Paule Soul Orchestra)
“Somewhere”, written by Tommy Castro & Tom Hambridge
(performed by Tommy Castro & The Painkillers)

Best Emerging Artist Album
GA-20 Does Hound Dog Taylor: Try It… You Might Like It! , GA-20
Just Say The Word , Gabe Stillman
Live On Beale Street: A Tribute To Bobby “Blue” Bland , Rodd Bland and the Members Only Band
Welcome To The Land , Memphissippi Sounds
You Ain’t Unlucky , Veronica Lewis

Acoustic Blues Album
Dear America , Eric Bibb
Land of the Sky , Catfish Keith
Let’s Get Happy Together , Maria Muldaur
Let Loose These Chains, Hector Anchondo
The Trio Sessions , EG Kight

Blues Rock Album
Alafia Moon , Damon Fowler
Dance Songs For Hard Times , The Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band
Resurrection , Mike Zito
Tinfoil Hat , Popa Chubby
Unemployed Highly Annoyed , Jeremiah Johnson

Contemporary Blues Album
662 , Kingfish
Damage Control , Curtis Salgado
Holler If You Hear Me , Altered Five Blues Band
Raisin’ Cain , Chris Cain
Tommy Castro Presents A Bluesman Came To Town , Tommy Castro

Soul Blues Album
Let’s Have A Party, Gerald McClendon
Long As I Got My Guitar, Zac Harmon
Not In My Lifetime, Wee Willie Walker & The Anthony Paule Soul Orchestra
You Get What You Give: Duets, Dave Keller
You Gotta Have It , Tia Carroll

Traditional Blues Album
Be Ready When I Call You , Guy Davis
Bob Corritore & Friends: Spider In My Stew, Bob Corritore
Boogie w/ R.L. Boyce (Live), R.L. Boyce
Little Black Flies, Eddie 9V
Pinky’s Blues, Sue Foley

Acoustic Blues Artist
Eric Bibb
Kevin Burt
Guy Davis
Doug MacLeod
Keb’ Mo’

Blues Rock Artist
Albert Castiglia
Tommy Castro
Tinsley Ellis
Ana Popovic
Joanne Shaw Taylor

Contemporary Blues Female Artist
Vanessa Collier
Thornetta Davis
Ruthie Foster
Danielle Nicole
Carolyn Wonderland

Contemporary Blues Male Artist
Selwyn Birchwood
Chris Cain
Christone “Kingfish” Ingram
Kenny Neal
Mr. Sipp

Soul Blues Female Artist
Annika Chambers
Trudy Lynn
Terrie Odabi
Kat Riggins
Vaneese Thomas

Soul Blues Male Artist
William Bell
Don Bryant
John Nemeth
Johnny Rawls
Curtis Salgado

Traditional Blues Female Artist
Rory Block
Sue Foley
Rhiannon Giddens
Diunna Greenleaf
EG Kight

Traditional Blues Male Artist
Cedric Burnside
Super Chikan
Taj Mahal
Sugar Ray Norcia
Jontavious Willis

*************************************************************

Instrumentalist – Bass
Willie J. Campbell
Larry Fulcher
Jerry Jemmott
Scot Sutherland
Danielle Nicole

Instrumentalist – Drums
Danny Banks
June Core
Tom Hambridge
Derrick D’Mar Martin
Chris Peet

Instrumentalist – Guitar
Christoffer “Kid” Andersen
Chris Cain
Laura Chavez
Anson Funderburgh
Eric Gales
J.P. Soars

Instrumentalist – Harmonica
Billy Branch
Bob Corritore
Jason Ricci
Brandon Santini
Kim Wilson

Instrumentalist – Horn
Mindi Abair
Jimmy Carpenter
Marc Franklin
Regi Oliver
Nancy Wright

Instrumentalist – Piano
Eden Brent
Mike Finnigan
Dave Keyes
Veronica Lewis
Jim Pugh

Instrumentalist – Vocals
Thornetta Davis
Ruthie Foster
John Nemeth
Sugaray Rayford
Curtis Salgado

GET READY TO VOTE!

Blues Foundation members are invited to vote for the Blues Mu sic Awards. The ballot will be open to current Blues Foundation members only until 11:59pm CT Friday, March 18, 2022. To cast your vote, log in to your Member Portal and once logged in, the link to the BMA Ballot will be available at the top of the page.

To become a Blues Foundation member, visit www.blues.org and click on the Join button to learn about the different membership levels and how to easily and securely join online. Upon membership confirmation, new and renewing members will be sent instructions on how to access the 2022 Blues Music Awards Ballot.

If you do not remember your membership login or need assistance logging in, please contact bluesmembership@blues.org or 901-527-2583, ext. 10.

The 43rd Blues Music Awards will be held on May 5, 2022 at the Renasant Convention Center in Memphis, TN. The Blue Carpet will lead to the theater with doors opening at 5:30pm.

*************************************************************

TICKETS ARE ON SALE NOW

Individual Tickets – $150 per person
Regular Tables for 10 – $1,500
Premium Tables for 10 – $1,800

Our host hotel for the Blues Music Awards is the Sheraton Memphis Downtown Hotel , conveniently located across the street from the Renasant Convention Center where the BMA Ceremony takes place.

The room block at the Sheraton with discounted rates for BMA attendees is now open .

Important Update: Blues Hall of Fame Museum

Fri, 28 Jan 2022 06:18:00 GMT

Important Update: Blues Hall of Fame Museum

Dear Blues Foundation Members,

Passion. Devotion. Welcoming. Embracing. This is what I feel as I get to know everyone here. As the newcomer to the family, I thank you for the tremendous opportunity to serve as The Blues Foundation’s CEO.

In my short time here, I have learned your love for The Foundation stems from its history of extraordinary experiences. From amazing events to the Blues Hall of Fame – you support us because of the wonderful ways your membership allows you to celebrate and pay homage to the blues.

The Blues Foundation membership experience is so amazing, that you may be surprised by the small number of people on staff that make it all happen. Yes, they are among the passionate, devoted, welcoming, and embracing people I have met. They have done an admirable job navigating the worst crisis of our time – COVID-19. For all they have done to sustain this great organization, they deserve the chance to press pause (just briefly), to reset and set course for the great things ahead. I am sure you are finding yourself having to do the same in many ways.

To do this, The Blues Foundation’s Blues Hall of Fame is closed until late April allowing us to safely conduct facility maintenance, fill open staff positions, and gear up to bring back the International Blues Challenge, Blues Music Awards, Blues Hall of Fame inductions, Keeping the Blues Alive Award ceremony and all the other experiences you love in grand fashion.

The building may be closed but the great blues experience is still happening online. Our social media and website are the places where you can find the latest news.

As we are taking this brief pause for the cause , please stay safe and well because this spring we look forward to reopening our doors and welcoming you back home.

My Best,

Judith Black
President & CEO, The Blues Foundation

IBC 2022: NEW DATES

Fri, 07 Jan 2022 18:37:00 GMT

IBC 2022: NEW DATES

The Blues Foundation is excited to announce the new dates for the
International Blues Challenge: May 6 – 9, 2022

It will be a full week of blues this May in Memphis as we celebrate the Blues Music Award nominees and winners on Thursday, May 5 and are Back On Beale with IBC beginning Friday, May 6.

IBC Important Dates
Friday, May 6: Quarterfinals Night 1
Saturday, May 7: Quarterfinals Night 2
Sunday, May 8: KBA Ceremony, Youth Showcases, & Semifinals
Monday, May 9: IBC Finals at The Orpheum

Stay tuned for the updated IBC event schedule that includes workshops, panels, and showcases.

All previously purchased passes will be honored for the new dates, without any action on your part. Passes will now be mailed out in mid-April.

Your room reservations can be updated and rebooked directly with the hotel. For a list of our partner hotels, click here .

Thank you for your patience and support during this transition. We hope to see you in Memphis this May!

2022 KBA Award Recipients

Tue, 28 Dec 2021 00:42:00 GMT

2022 KBA Award Recipients

Get to know the 2022 KBA Award Recipients

Big Blues Bender’s HART Party
The Big Blues Bender is a 4-day music festival held annually in Las Vegas, NV. Each year the opening night is a fundraiser that supports the HART (Handy Artist Relief Trust) Fund. The Bender graciously donates all of the door proceeds towards the HART Party, as well as donating items for auction. In addition, many artists voluntarily donate their time to the cause because they have been recipients of the HART Fund grant. To date, over $200,000 has been raised by the Bender. A truly incredible support to the HART Fund program, this party helps reach a broader audience to inform them of these artist relief efforts.

Can’t Stop The Blues
“Can’t Stop the Blues” (CSTB), was founded by Karen Gottheimer in March of 2020. The CSTB virtual concert series, streamed on Facebook and YouTube, created a groundbreaking and desperately needed virtual space for the blues scene, during a time when all live performances came to a halt due to COVID-19. Karen, with assistance from Judy Eliyas and a handful of other part-time volunteers, streamed over 8 shows a week for 13 months. CSTB broadcast over 450 performances, helping over 350 blues artists generate hundreds of thousands of dollars in tip revenue and merchandise sales from fans all over the world. At the same time, CSTB became a virtual community for over 50,000 blues lovers and artists. All CSTB shows are archived and accessible on Facebook and YouTube for the foreseeable future, providing a historical document of how the blues world survived through a most challenging time.

Tom Claypool
Fashioning his adult life around giving back to the music community, Tom Claypool has followed music for most of his life. Going to concerts and events eventually led to him hosting a blues show on WEVL FM 89.9, a non-profit, public radio station based in Memphis, TN. Tom has hosted on WEVL for 31 years, starting off playing blues then Cajun and Zydeco. For the last 17 years, Tom’s focus has been tunes from the Crescent City with his show New Orleans Big Beat that airs every Friday. Tom is no stranger to volunteering for The Blues Foundation; he’s worked with the International Blues Challenge for over 25 years, with duties ranging from MC to working in production; and 23 years on the Blues Music Awards production crew. For the past three decades, Tom has chosen to donate his time and talents to music organizations, music events, and public radio in order to give back to the community that first inspired him.

FitzGerald’s Roadhouse
Since 1981, FitzGerald’s Roadhouse in Chicago has been a champion for all kinds of American roots music that has included a constant flow of top-notch blues artists. In 2018, Bill FitzGerald put the club up for sale, but only to someone who would continue to support American roots music in all its forms, including blues. It took a few years for Bill to find the right buyer. In a move that shows the club’s continued commitment to blues, the first annual Berwyn Blues Festival was held in September 2021. For decades, the club has prided itself on a first-rate sound system and sound mixers, professional staging, artist hospitality, and a great atmosphere for patrons. If you ask any artist who has played the club, they’ll tell you it’s among their favorites. These days, the club insists on proof of vaccination or recent testing to protect artists and guests. Between the club’s founder, Bill FitzGerald, and the current owner, Will Duncan, FitzGerald’s has been a welcome home to blues artists for 40 years

Fueling Musicians Program
Award-winning blues guitarist Joe Bonamassa founded the Keeping the Blues Alive Foundation in 2011. The foundation aims to support arts and music education through grants, scholarships, and donations to schools, colleges, and other nonprofit organizations. One of the most notable programs funded by the foundation is the Fueling Musicians initiative, designed to provide critically needed assistance to musicians whose income has been eliminated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Since its inception in 2020, this initiative has raised over $500,000, distributing over 300 cash awards. Fueling Musicians has attracted the attention and support of Gibson, Fender, Guitar Center, Ernie Ball Music Man, and George Thorogood and the Destroyers. The foundation is not only recognized by the Internal Revenue Service but also accredited by the Florida Nonprofit Alliance and GuideStar, which has helped garner substantial donors and invaluable partners.

Jerry Mason
Following his 22-year-long career in traditional radio, Jackson, Mississippi-based entrepreneur and promoter Jerry “Boogie” Mason built a network of traditional and new media connections via e-mail, print advertising, and social media, to promote blues, Southern soul, and other genres of music rooted in communities of color. His email blast, The Boogie Report, continues to alert the world’s blues communities with up-to-date information on the latest recordings, tours, emerging artists, and cultural opportunities amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Through Mason Media Services, Jerry aggregates relevant material from various social media and local community websites to provide a forum for readers to exchange ideas, share information, and remain connected to the arts community at large. Building on the success of The Boogie Report, Jerry hosts the Southern Soul Video Network, The Blues Buffet Radio Program, and a digital daily newsletter. Jerry has served as Publicity Chairman of the Central Mississippi Blues Society, advisory board member of the Jus’ Blues Foundation, member of the Board of Directors of The Blues Foundation, and Information Officer of Solomon D. Loche American Legion Post 501.

Phil Ranstrom
Phil Ranstrom is an American documentary filmmaker living in Chicago, Illinois. He has been writing, producing, and directing documentaries since the 1980s. Among his credits is the Emmy Award-winning, feature-length documentary, Cheat You Fair: The Story of Maxwell Street, narrated by actor Joe Mantegna. This epic film is told in three acts and details the rise and fall of Chicago’s Maxwell Street, the birthplace of electric, urban blues. During the span of more than a decade, Ranstrom continued to interview and record countless vendors, residents, and blues artists, and capture an oral history that was never told. Cheat You Fair stands today as the most comprehensive history of Maxwell Street in any medium. It features interviews from blues icons including Bo Diddley, Junior Wells, Hubert Sumlin, Buddy Guy, Charlie Musselwhite, John Primer, and Uncle Johnnie Williams. Ranstrom continues to travel the world and document the blues. He’s currently working on a project titled Heavenly Birds, that tells of his journey to Poland where he discovered what can only be described as “one of the greatest stories in blues and rock’n’roll history never told.”

Raúl de la Rosa
Raúl de la Rosa has been a broadcaster, journalist, and cultural promoter and curator of the blues since 1964. In 1978 he organized Mexico’s first blues festival to help share the blues and its history with the Mexican people. Raul produced eleven blues festivals between 1978 and 2012, which were held in some of Mexico’s most prestigious venues. These festivals attracted an average of 10,000 – 30,000 attendees per event. While the first four festivals featured artists such as Willie Dixon, John Lee Hooker, Sunnyland Slim, and Jimmy Rogers, Raúl ensured that the final seven festivals featured more Mexican artists. This awoke significant public interest as well as related workshops, conferences, and exhibitions, which were open to the public and to students of Mexico’s top-rated universities. In 2002, Raúl authored the first journalistic column about blues in a Mexican newspaper which continues to be published to this day. He has been a radio host and product of Por los Senderos del Blues (Down the Trail of Blues) since 2005, where he continues to keep the blues alive in Mexico!

Jack Sullivan
For over 30 years Jack Sullivan has used his skills in magazine circulation sales for various publishing houses including Time Inc., Wenner Media, and Hearst to excel in his passion for blues music. To this day, Jack continues to be an ambassador and trendsetter for the blues. Jack has achieved national and international success as a magazine publisher, festival promoter, and online music store marketer. His many highlights over the past decade include co-founding the Bradenton Blues Festival and Camping With The Blues, launching Mojo Wax Media, publishing Blues Music Magazine, and launching online stores Blues Music and All Music Styles. Just a few years ago, Jack and his wife Susan relocated to Memphis, TN to open their office in the Home of the Blues.

2022 International Blues Challenge – ON SALE NOW!

Fri, 01 Oct 2021 03:02:00 GMT

2022 International Blues Challenge – ON SALE NOW!

The worldwide search for blues talent ready for the international stage is coming to Memphis in just a few short months!

The 2022 International Blues Challenge is now LIVE! Below you'll find information to purchase IBC passes and merchandise, reserve discounted hotel rooms, and learn about IBC Event Program advertising opportunities.

Stay tuned for continued email communications as we announce the IBC event week schedule that will include special panels, musician workshops, and more.

Make the most of your experience at the International Blues Challenge by purchasing an IBC Pass! The pass grants you access to:

• Tuesday Night International Showcases
• Wednesday - Friday Beale Street Competition Venues
• Youth Showcases held Friday on Beale Street
• All seminars & workshops throughout IBC week
• IBC Orpheum Finals on Saturday, January 22, 2022

IBC Pass - Week-long event access, including general admission to Finals - $100
Keeping the Blues Alive Awards - Brunch & Ceremony (Friday, January 21) - $60
Orpheum Theatre Finals - Premium Seating Upgrade (Saturday, January 22) - $26

(Single-day wristbands will be available at participating Beale Street venues.)

The DoubleTree by Hilton is the host hotel for the 37th Annual International Blues Challenge. The Blues Foundation has reserved blocks of rooms at special discounted rates for guests of the 2022 IBC. Click on the link below for a full list of partner hotels, room rates, and information to help you book your rooms.

Please take note that each hotel has its own COVID-19 policies in place that can be reviewed on the individual hotel pages.

The Official IBC 2022 merchandise is available for pre-order!

IBC apparel featuring the 2022 theme "Back on Beale" comes in a black unisex t-shirt and a ladies v-neck. The ladies v-neck will be a pre-order only and not available during IBC week . The IBC 2022 theme is also featured on a pinback button and sticker.

We invite you to advertise in the IBC commemorative event program. This is a great advertising opportunity for anyone looking to reach the top performers, industry representatives, and blues fans from around the globe.

To reserve your 2022 IBC Program ad space, please contact:
Addison Hare - addison@blues.org (ad artwork)
Elizabeth Montgomery Brown - elizabeth@blues.org (ad payment)

Thank you to our sponsors for the International Blues Challenge:

If you are interested in becoming a sponsor, please email Addison at addison@blues.org .

NEWS: The Blues Foundation names Blues Hall of Fame 2020 inductees: Bettye LaVette, Syl Johnson, Victoria Spivey, Eddie Boyd, George Smith, Billy Branch, Ralph Peer, and more!

Mon, 09 Dec 2019 19:32:00 GMT

NEWS: The Blues Foundation names Blues Hall of Fame 2020 inductees: Bettye LaVette, Syl Johnson, Victoria Spivey, Eddie Boyd, George Smith, Billy Branch, Ralph Peer, and more!

This post was originally published on December 19, 2020. The 2020 Class of Inductees will be formally inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in conjunction with the 2022 honorees at the upcoming ceremony on May 4, 2022. More info here .

BETTYE LAVETTE, SYL JOHNSON, VICTORIA SPIVEY, EDDIE BOYD,
GEORGE “HARMONICA” SMITH, BILLY BRANCH, AND RALPH PEER WILL BE CELEBRATED AS NEW BLUES HALL OF FAMERS ON MAY 6, 2020

Landmark recordings by B.B. King, Ruth Brown, Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup, Willie Brown, Bertha “Chippie” Hill, and Howlin’ Wolf will also receive Hall of Fame recognition at the Blues Foundation’s jubilant ceremony in Memphis.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The 14 honorees of The Blues Foundation’s Blues Hall of Fame ’s 41st class encompass nearly a century of music, spanning from 1920s stars Victoria Spivey and Bertha “Chippie” Hill to contemporary luminaries Bettye LaVette, Syl Johnson, and Billy Branch. This year’s inductees in the Blues Hall of Fame’s five categories — Performers, Non-Performing Individuals, Classics of Blues Literature, Classics of Blues Recording (Song), and Classics of Blues Recording (Album) — also vividly demonstrate how the blues intersects with a broad variety of American music styles: soul, funk, country, R&B, and rock ’n’ roll.

The new Blues Hall of Fame performers aren’t just exceptional musicians, but they also are educators, innovators, entrepreneurs, and activists determined to leave their mark on the world.

Piano-man Eddie Boyd scored several hits in the early ’50s (most notably “Five Long Years”) for Chess Records, but the outspoken Mississippi-born Chicago bluesman, dismayed over racial injustice and record business chicanery, left America in the mid-’60s for Europe, where his career prospered for several decades. Harmonica ace Billy Branch , part of the “New Generation of Chicago Blues,” is a multiple Blues Music Award winner who also has taught hundreds of blues classes around the globe and is a two-time recipient of the Keeping the Blues Alive Award in Education. Powerhouse singer Bettye LaVette finally achieved her much-deserved acclaim in the new millennium after several decades of struggles within the industry, garnering many honors — including several Blues Music Awards — and performing at President Obama’s 2009 inauguration celebration.

Victoria Spivey may be best known to general music fans for including a young Bob Dylan on a 1962 recording session; however, her unparalleled 50-year career began with her breakout tune, “Black Snake Blues,” and included her roles as songwriter, manager, bandleader and label owner. Guitarist Syl Johnson (brother of Blues Hall of Famer Jimmy Johnson) starred in Chicago’s soul scene during the ’60s and ’70s. His funky, often politically charged blues-fueled tunes (like “Different Strokes” and “Is It Because I’m Black”) have made him a favorite for sampling among hip-hop artists. The enigmatic George “Harmonica” Smith , who played with legends like Muddy Waters, Big Mama Thornton and Big Joe Turner, has been widely hailed by blues aficionados and musicians as one of the premier blues harmonicists, and influenced a generation of west coast harp players.

The revolutionary producer Ralph Peer , 2020’s honoree in the Individual (Business, Media & Academic) category, is most associated for his formative recordings in the country music field, but he first did pioneering work in the blues world (including co-producing the Mamie Smith historic 1920 “Crazy Blues” session). Entering the Blues Hall of Fame as a Classic of Blues Literature is Earl Hooker, Blues Master , the insightful biography of the blues guitar giant (and 2013 Hall of Fame inductee) written by French writer/producer/translator, and American roots music authority, Sebastian Danchin.

Howlin’ Wolf: The Chess Box is 2020’s Classic of Blues Recording: Album , the latest BHOF honor for the seminal bluesman. There are five Classic of Blues Recording: Singles receiving Hall of Fame induction: Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup ’s original recording of “That’s All Right (Mama),” later made famous by Elvis Presley; Bertha “Chippie” Hill ’s 1926 hit version of the oft-recorded “Trouble in Mind” ; “Future Blues,” an exemplary example of Pattonesque blues by early-Delta bluesman Willie Brown , and two tunes from the early ’50s — “3 O’Clock Blues,” B.B. King ’s first breakout song and No. 1 R&B hit in 1952, and Ruth Brown ’s remarkable rendition of “Mama, He Treats Your Daughter Mean,” 1953’s best-selling R&B record.

The Blues Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony , held in conjunction with Blues Music Awards Week , will occur on Wednesday, May 6, 2020 at the Halloran Centre at the Orpheum (225 S. Main St., Memphis). A cocktail reception honoring the BHOF inductees and Blue Music Awards nominees will begin at 5:30 p.m., with the formal inductions commencing at 6:30 p.m. in the Halloran Theater. Tickets, which include the ceremony and reception admission, are $75 each and will be available starting on Tuesday, January 7, as will Blues Music Awards tickets.

Coinciding with the Induction Ceremony, the Blues Hall of Fame Museum will showcase a number of special items representing each of the Hall’s new inductees. These artifacts will be on display for public viewing beginning the week of the BHOF inductions and will remain enshrined in the museum throughout the next 12 months. The Blues Hall of Fame Museum, built through the ardent support and generosity of blues fans, embodies all four elements of the Blues Foundation’s mission: preserving blues heritage, celebrating blues recording and performance, expanding awareness of the blues genre, and ensuring the future of the music.

Museum visitors are able to explore permanent and traveling exhibits as well as individualized galleries that showcase an unmatched selection of album covers, photographs, historic awards, unique art, musical instruments, costumes, and other one-of-a-kind memorabilia. Interactive displays allow guests to hear the music, watch videos, and read the stories about each of the Blues Hall of Fame’s over 400 inductees.

The museum (421 S. Main St.) is open 10 a.m.–5 p.m. Mondays-Saturdays and 1–5 p.m. on Sundays. Admission is $10 for adults and $8 for students with ID; free for children 12 and younger and for Blues Foundation members. Membership is available for as a little as $25 per person; to join click here .

ABOUT THE INDUCTEES

Performers

Eddie Boyd , a proud, outspoken artist, channeled the injustices and mistreatment he experienced and witnessed into memorable songs that embodied the heartaches and outrage of the blues. During his years singing and playing piano in the Southern United States, Chicago, and Europe, he learned how to entertain audiences with more upbeat blues as well, but his legacy is more widely hailed for the themes of hard times and troubled affairs in his three chart hits, “Five Long Years,” “24 Hours,” and “Third Degree.”

Born November 25, 1914, on Frank Moore’s plantation near Stovall, Mississippi, Boyd was childhood friends with Muddy Waters. He worked the cottonfields when he had to, but after learning enough piano he began traveling the route of Highway 61 from the Mississippi Delta through Memphis, Arkansas, and Missouri playing at boarding houses and nightspots, and worked with a band in Memphis for a few years. In 1941 he headed for Chicago, where he hooked up with Big Maceo, John Lee “Sonny Boy” Williamson, and others. He made his first records for RCA Victor in 1947 but his classic hit “Five Long Years” came with a much smaller label, J.O.B., in 1952. Two hits followed on Chess Records in 1953, but his relationship with the company was contentious, and he never had another hit despite coming up with more fine material on singles for Chess, Bea & Baby, and other labels.

Finding a welcoming atmosphere in Europe when touring with the 1965 American Folk Blues Festival, Boyd decided to stay and leave behind his battles with American racism and record business practices. He lived and performed in several countries, finally settling in Helsinki, Finland, where he was a vital force in generating interest in the blues. He recorded over a dozen albums for European labels, and collections of his vintage Chicago sides were also compiled in Europe and Japan; the only albums of his work ever issued in the U.S. were reissues of the foreign releases, including some historic sides with Peter Green and Fleetwood Mac. He visited the U.S. on occasion and although he believed America had improved, he continued to live with his wife in Helsinki, where he died on July 13, 1994.

A belle of the blues with a head for business and a visceral gift as a songwriter, Victoria Spivey enjoyed a long career that took her from the role of ingenue to that of queen mother. Along the way she was a theater pianist, movie star, comedienne, bandleader, manager, church organist, record label owner, historian, and an inspiration to Bob Dylan and many others. Spivey was born on October 15, 1906, (or November 12 in one official document) in Houston, Texas, where her father and brothers had a string band. Two of her sisters, Addie (“Sweet Peas”) and Elton (“The Za Zu Girl”) became blues recording artists, but Victoria’s talent stood out, and the family sent her to St. Louis to pursue a singing career like her lifelong friend from Houston, Sippie Wallace. Spivey hit it big with her first record, the risqué “Black Snake Blues,” in 1926 and wrote many more songs for herself and other artists. “Blues Is My Business” would become her motto, and she started taking care of matters early on by suing her publisher for royalties in 1928.

“T.B. Blues,” another popular record, was one of her many stark, moaning blues on OKeh, Victor, Vocalion, and Decca to employ grim, somber, or deathly themes. Blind Lemon Jefferson, Lead Belly, John Lee Hooker, and many others recorded her songs. “You Done Lost Your Good Thing Now,” written with her husband, trumpeter Rubin Floyd, was a duet with Lonnie Johnson, later covered by B.B. King. Spivey’s sessions included stellar accompanists Louis Armstrong, King Oliver, Tampa Red, and many others. She earned lasting fame playing “Missy” in the historic all-black 1929 film Hallelujah! She also led an orchestra and became wife and manager to famous tap dancer Billy Adams. Like her idol Ida Cox, she continued to work theaters and nightclubs during and after the Great Depression, which put many other blues women out of business.

After living in Moberly, Missouri with her sister Addie and their mother, she moved to Chicago and then New York, buying a home in Brooklyn. In the 1950s she sang at jazz clubs and played in church but only embarked on a career comeback in the 1960s with the support of jazz and blues buff Len Kunstadt, who became her companion and manager of the label they launched, Spivey Records. In 1961 Spivey also recorded for Prestige Bluesville. With her regal reputation and friendships in the blues world, “Queen Vee” was able to entice many legendary blues figures to record for her label, at the same time nurturing up-and-coming talent including Bob Dylan, who recorded with her and Big Joe Williams on March 2, 1962. Dylan made no secret of his affection for Spivey, and a photo of the pair adorns the back cover of his New Morning album. The Spivey Records catalog includes music by the Muddy Waters band, Willie Dixon, Otis Spann, Lonnie Johnson, Roosevelt Sykes, Sonny Boy Williamson, and many more.

Spivey remained a coy, charismatic performer, touring Europe with the 1963 American Folk Blues Festival, playing the Ann Arbor Blues & Jazz Festival, the Philadelphia Folk Festival and others, gracing various documentaries, and continuing to appear in New York until shortly before her death from a hemorrhage on October 3, 1976. As befitting her professional endeavors, collections of her business and personal papers and memorabilia are archived at Emory University and the Rutgers Institute of Jazz Studies.

Billy Branc h, once hailed as a leader of “the New Generation of Chicago Blues,” now finds himself a respected elder of the scene following many of his idols into the Blues Hall of Fame. One of the premier harmonica players in the blues, he is also an avid spokesman for the music and the culture and history it represents, dedicated to passing the legacy on to future generations.

Branch has carried the torch for the blues with a band called the Sons of Blues (S.O.B.’s), a group that originally indeed featured sons of blues musicians—except, ironically, Billy Branch. Born at the Great Lakes Naval Station hospital north of Chicago on October 3, 1951, Branch grew up in Los Angeles and returned to Chicago to attend the city campus of the University of Illinois. When he attended the city’s 1969 blues festival in Grant Park, his passion for the blues was ignited. Picking up blues licks on his harp and sitting in at blues bars, he approached blues maestro Willie Dixon and was hired for a session. The first public recognition of his talent came in 1975 when he was denied the prize at a legendary harmonica contest staged (and judged by) Little Mack Simmons, who declared himself the winner. The Sons of Blues came together in 1977 as a part of the New Generation of Chicago Blues package assembled for the Berlin Jazz Festival by Living Blues magazine and hosted by Dixon. In Chicago, Branch worked with pianist Jimmy Walker and others and continued to learn by watching Carey Bell, Big Walter Horton, and Junior Wells. He soon replaced Bell to go on tour with Willie Dixon’s Chicago Blues All Stars while also regrouping the Sons of Blues. In addition to putting the blues world on notice with their spirit and talent, it became part of their mission to attract younger African-American audiences at South Side clubs with their fresh approach to the blues.

Meanwhile, in 1978 Branch began teaching in the Illinois Arts Council’s Blues in the Schools program, and has since conducted hundreds of blues classes around the country and overseas, instructing students not only about musical technique but about the roots and cultural importance of the blues, just as he had learned from Willie Dixon. Either on his own or with the Sons of Blues or other artists, he has recorded albums for Red Beans, Verve, Blind Pig, Alligator and other labels, continuing to grow as an artist and songwriter, and he is the most in-demand harmonica player for blues sessions in Chicago. A two-time recipient of the Keeping the Blues Alive Award in Education, Branch has shared top billing on three winning Blues Music Awards albums, including Harp Attack!, a 1990 collaboration with James Cotton, Junior Wells and Carey Bell spotlighting Branch as “The New Kid on the Block.”

Bettye LaVette had a hit singing blues as a teenager on her first record, “My Man” on Atlantic in 1962, and though her repertoire has evolved into one of the most eclectic imaginable, blues audiences have embraced the depth and passion of her performances, no matter what she may sing. No one puts more of herself into her songs with such soul-baring drama than Bettye LaVette.

However LaVette may identify herself as a song interpreter, her life story could certainly be turned into a series of blues songs. Her autobiography, A Woman Like Me , begins with a pimp dangling her over the ledge of a 20-story building and brazenly recounts her years of struggles, catastrophes, and dashed hopes, pulling no punches about herself or anyone else. Onstage she exudes the same brash boldness.

Born Betty Jo Haskins in Muskegon, Michigan, on January 29, 1946, she was raised briefly in Pontiac and mostly in Detroit in a house where her parents sold corn liquor to a clientele that included R&B and gospel singers. She adopted the name Betty LaVett when she first recorded, later modifying the billing to Bettye LaVette. An introduction to singer, producer, and songwriter Johnnie Mae Matthews led to the hit recording of Matthews’ song “My Man,” and despite cutting many more records over the years, some of them (“Let Me Down Easy” in particular) regarded as soul classics, LaVette never enjoyed another Top Ten record. Some 45s generated chart action, but spurts of success ended in misfortune or in lack of interest or promotion by record labels, and LaVette sometimes had to take other jobs or find local club gigs to support herself. Joining the cast of the Broadway musical Bubbling Brown Sugar kept her going for several years.

LaVette’s perseverance into the new millennium finally set her on the road to widespread acclaim. Soul and blues aficionados not only sought out her old records but discovered that as a live performer she was even more exciting—even stunning. One such LaVette devotee, Kevin Kiley, brought her not only continuing support, but also wedded bliss. European labels issued a live CD and rescued a Muscle Shoals album that had been kept in the can by Atlantic. A U.S. album on Blues Express netted her a Handy Award from the Blues Foundation in 2004, and she subsequently was voted best female artist in both the contemporary blues and soul blues categories in the Blues Music Awards. Her unique adaptations of songs from country singers, British rock groups, Bob Dylan and other sources on albums for ANTI-, Cherry Red and Verve earned GRAMMY nominations in the fields of R&B, Americana, and blues. Rosebud Agency bookings, blues and soul festival appearances, performances at the Kennedy Center and the inauguration celebration for President Obama, and television guest spots brought her profile into well-deserved prominence at last.

Syl Johnson parlayed a background steeped in blues and a streetwise sensibility for soul and funk into a hitmaking career that turned even more profitable when hip-hop artists began sampling his vintage records. Johnson, who joins his older brother Jimmy in the Blues Hall of Fame, was born into a blues family in rural Benton County, Mississippi, on July 1, 1936. Their surname was Thompson, but when Syl recorded under the name Johnson in Chicago in 1959, Jimmy followed suit. Their brothers Mac and Grundy and their father Sam Thompson also played.

After moving to Chicago, Syl befriended a young Magic Sam and brother Mac became Sam’s regular bass player. Johnson’s guitar playing came to the attention of fellow 2020 Blues Hall of Fame inductee Eddie Boyd, who hired Syl to play in his band. Johnson also teamed with Billy Boy Arnold and played on recording sessions with him in 1956 and 1957. The Blues Discography also lists him on sessions with Elmore James, Junior Wells and Harmonica George Robinson, and Johnson recalls playing in a five-guitar lineup with Jimmy Reed in the studio. Johnson secured his own contract with Federal Records in 1959 and waxed several blues and R&B singles for Federal and other labels, finally hitting pay dirt in 1967 with a funky play on a popular catchphrase, “Come On Sock It to Me” on the Twilight label. In keeping with the times, “Different Strokes” and “Dresses Too Short” also hit the R&B charts. In a more serious, socially conscious mode, the classic “Is It Because I’m Black” and “Concrete Reservation” joined his Billboard hit list, which came to encompass 19 singles on Twilight, Twinight, Hi, Boardwalk and his own Shama imprint. The biggest hit was “Take Me to the River,” produced by Hi Records’ Willie Mitchell in Memphis.

One of the top stars on Chicago’s soul scene during the 1960s and ‘70s, Johnson embraced his blues roots in the ‘80s beginning with the LP Brings Out the Blues in Me —inspired, he says, by the request of Japanese fans. His last hit, “Ms. Fine Brown Frame,” was recorded with James Cotton’s Blues Band, and Buddy Guy’s brother Phil accompanied him on sessions in Chicago and in France, where Johnson cut the LP Suicide Blues . Mixing his soul, blues, and funk, he recorded for blues-oriented labels Delmark and Antone’s and began playing more guitar and harmonica at blues clubs and festivals while also launching a chain of seafood restaurants which soon took up most of his time but eventually failed. He and Jimmy—whose musical path had likewise taken him from blues to soul and back—recorded together on the 2001 CD Two Johnsons Are Better Than One .

Meanwhile, many hip-hop stars had been picking up on Johnson’s 1960s work, especially “Different Strokes,” which has been sampled several dozen times. The resulting income—some of it by litigation—allowed Johnson a comfortable lifestyle he never earned through his own record sales and performance fees. A new wave of enthusiasm for Johnson greeted the release of a 2010 box set of his early recordings from the Numero Group, and the Johnson legacy has continued as his daughter Syleena has recorded hits of her own.

George “Harmonica” Smith is often rated by hardcore blues fans and musicians in the top tier of harmonicists ever to play the blues—not as widely known as others who have entered the Blues Hall of Fame before him, but in the same league. A master of the traditional 10-hole diatonic blues harp, Smith was also celebrated for his superior skills on the larger chromatic harmonica. Smith played with the Muddy Waters band at different times, recorded with some of the leading names in blues, and mentored a corps of young disciples in California including William Clarke, Rod Piazza, and Doug MacLeod.

Smith learned harmonica from his mother, Jessie Smith, and began traveling to play with older musicians and on the street, learning pop standards and swing tunes as well as blues. His published biographies offer conflicting details due in part to the fact that none of them reveal his real name, which he gave as Allen George Washington when he applied for a Social Security card in 1939, citing his birthplace as Barton, Phillips County, Arkansas, and the date as April 5, 1921 – (In various bios he was born in Helena, Arkansas, or Cairo, Illinois, in 1924). The fact that he recorded under different names, including Little Walter Jr., Harmonica King, and George Allen, and said he also performed as Big Walter, further obscured his identity. He joined the Kansas City musicians’ union as George Washington in 1955 but when his first records came out that year, he was Little George Smith—yet he was not a little man, either.

His family lived in the Missouri bootheel and Southern Illinois after leaving Arkansas, but his rambles took him back to his parents’ home state of Mississippi, where he sang with a spiritual group in Jackson and played harmonica in Itta Bena and other towns. The first band he joined in Chicago was Otis Rush’s, and his first recording session was with Otis Spann in 1954. His first stint with Muddy Waters ended when he decided to go on his own in 1955. He found work in Kansas City, where he recorded for the RPM label and attracted enough attention for Universal Attractions to book him on an R&B package tour with other artists, including Champion Jack Dupree. Some of his finest recorded work came on a session with Dupree in 1955. He ended up in Los Angeles and recorded more singles under his various stage names and eventually created a following in a city not previously known for harmonica players. Though he did not lack in originality either in style or songwriting, he was called on to do a set of Little Walter tunes for his first album in 1968, backed primarily by the Muddy Waters band (which he had rejoined in 1966, only to resign so he could take care of his large family at home). Thereafter his albums, most recorded in L.A., Europe, or Japan, focused on his own music, and the renown of George “Harmonica” Smith continued to grow even without the benefit of hit recordings. He also played on sessions with Lowell Fulson, Sunnyland Slim, Little Johnny Taylor, Big Mama Thornton, Big Joe Turner, Eddie Taylor, Jimmy Witherspoon and others. Despite heart trouble and financial struggles, he never gave up, and recorded his final album in Tempe, Arizona, just a few months before his death on October 2, 1983.

Individual (Business, Academic, Media & Production):

Ralph Peer is universally recognized as the foremost champion of roots music during the early days of the American recording industry. He is well known for his role in country music (then called hillbilly music) and was the first person to record Jimmie Rodgers, the Carter Family, and many more. However, Peer was recording blues prior to (and during) his country ventures. In fact, he participated in Mamie Smith’s “Crazy Blues” session in 1920, which is acknowledged as the catalyst for record companies to launch “race music” catalogs of African-American blues, jazz, and gospel music. In fact, he is among those credited with coining the now long-retired term “race music” — a phrase which initially symbolized pride within the African American community. For OKeh Records, or, later, Victor Records, Peer recorded the Memphis Jug Band, Tommy Johnson, Blind Willie McTell, Bukka White, Sleepy John Estes, Gus Cannon, Memphis Minnie, Alberta Hunter, Sippie Wallace, Victoria Spivey, and blues guitar pioneer Sylvester Weaver. While instrumental in devising the concept of blues, hillbilly, and other genres, Peer, ever the businessman, shifted his attention to pop music in later years because he knew it had greater monetary potential.

Classic of Blues Recording: Album

MCA released several outstanding compilations of classic blues and R&B sides from the Chess Records catalog in The Chess Box series. The Howlin’ Wolf box (Chess CH5-9332) is the second in the series to win Blues Hall of Fame recognition, following the selection of the Muddy Waters set. It is also the sixth Hall of Fame compilation by Wolf (Chester Burnett) and in fact is loaded with songs also issued on the previous five along with some previously unreleased gems. It kicks off with the seminal 1951 recording of “Moanin’ at Midnight” and proceeds chronologically through 1973, with the performances time and again bristling with the raw power and primal force that only Wolf possessed. Released on a five-LP vinyl set or as three cassette or CDs, the 71 tracks in the box include some insightful and entertaining spoken snippets from Wolf, recalling, among his stories, how angry he once was that he could not escape the nickname Howlin’ Wolf.

Howlin’ Wolf: The Chess Box (MCA/Chess box, 1991)

Classic of Blues Recording: Singles

“That’s All Right (Mama)” – Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup (RCA Victor, 1946)

Big Boy Crudup’s infectious down-home jump “That’s All Right,” an infectious down-home jump often called “That’s All Right Mama,” was a historic record not only for Crudup but for Elvis Presley. Recorded on September 6, 1946, in Chicago and released as a 78rpm single in 1947 (RCA Victor 20-2205), the track became one of the first blues 7-inch singles when RCA Victor introduced the 45rpm record in 1949 (release number 50-0000). Elvis then covered it on his first record for Sun in 1954. Not so coincidentally, the executive who soon signed Elvis to RCA, Steve Sholes, had also produced Crudup’s Chicago session.

“Mama, He Treats Your Daughter Mean” – Ruth Brown (Atlantic, 1952)

The best-selling R&B record of 1953, “Mama, He Treats Your Daughter Mean” (Atlantic 986) racked up over 400,000 sales, according to Billboard magazine . The third of five Ruth Brown’s No. 1 R&B hits, “Mama, He Treats Your Daughter Mean” was also the first to cross over into the pop charts. The writers credited for the song, Johnny Wallace and Herb Lance, reportedly told Atlantic producer Herb Abramson, that the idea came from a street singer in Atlanta (possibly Blind Willie McTell, who recorded a Blind Lemon Jefferson song, “One Dime Blues,” with the line “Mama, don’t treat your daughter mean”). On December 9, 1952, Abramson tried the song at different tempos to finally arrive at the hit, highlighted by Brown’s squeals amidst her spirited vocal delivery (despite her initial objections to the song) and the insistent rhythm of Mickey Baker’s guitar riffing and Connie Kay’s drumbeat.

“Trouble in Mind” – Bertha “Chippie” Hill (OKeh, 1926)

The oft-recorded Richard M. Jones composition “Trouble In Mind” was first waxed in 1924 by Thelma La Vizzo, but it was Bertha “Chippie” Hill who made the classic version in Chicago on February 23, 1926, OKeh 8312, that paved the way for many to follow with their own renditions. Accompanied by Jones on piano and Louis Armstrong, who plays the introductory stanza on cornet, Hill sings three verses of misery and despair. But the first verse, repeated again at the end, is one of the enduring anthems of the blues as hope for the future even in the darkest of times: “Trouble in mind, I’m blue, but I won’t be always, the sun gonna shine in my back door some day.”

“Future Blues” – Willie Brown (Paramount, 1930)

Willie Brown may be best known in blues lore as a sidekick to the legends of Delta blues–Charley Patton, Son House, and Robert Johnson—but he was regarded as a top-notch guitarist and could have achieved more fame had he been offered more opportunities to record on his own. “Future Blues,” one of the handful of sides he made as a singer, was recorded at Paramount’s Grafton, Wisconsin, studio in the summer of 1930, when Brown traveled to Grafton with Patton and House and accompanied them on a few songs as well. An exemplary Delta blues with some now-familiar verses, “Future Blues” might be called Pattonesque in its rhythm and rough vocal timbre. And, just as Patton reworked blues from Ma Rainey and other singers, so did Brown: “Future Blues” opens with verses from Rainey’s “Last Minute Blues,” composed by Thomas A. Dorsey. While not a big seller, the record (originally Paramount 13090) had an extended life when it was rereleased on the Champion label, and Paramount also slotted it on its Broadway subsidiary under the pseudonym Billy Harper.

“3 O’Clock Blues” – B.B. King (RPM, 1951)

“3 O’Clock Blues” (RPM 339) was B.B. King’s breakthrough record, becoming a No. 1 R&B hit in 1952 after none of his first seven records ever hit the national charts. It was the first record to amply capture the emerging brilliance of both his singing and guitar playing talents which audiences across the country soon discovered as he embarked on a nonstop touring career. King had been recording for the Bihari brothers’ RPM label at Sam Phillips’ studio in Memphis, but after the Biharis fell out with Phillips, they had to find a new place to record. They set up their portable equipment at the black YMCA in Memphis, and with the valued support of Ike Turner on piano, King turned in a classic reworking of the mournful blues that had already been a hit for Lowell Fulson in 1948.

Classic of Blues Literature

Earl Hooker, Blues Master , by Sebastian Danchin
(University Press of Mississippi, 2001)

French writer, producer, and translator Sebastian Danchin, who played guitar with blues bands in Chicago in the 1970s, was a few years too late to spend time with Earl Hooker, who had died of tuberculosis in 1970. But Danchin was living in musicians’ homes on the South Side, gleaning invaluable insights through the friendships he made. Musicians who knew the colorful Hooker always had stories to tell, whether about his awesome guitar skills, his incessant traveling, or his penchant for pilfering equipment. They provided plenty of material in Danchin’s quest to document the story of a Mississippi-born virtuoso not widely known to the public but hailed as the best by countless fellow musicians, including B.B. King. Earl, a cousin of the more famous John Lee Hooker, was, Danchin writes, the “epitome of the modern itinerant bluesman.” His biography is incisive, first-rate and to the point, just as Earl Hooker’s artistry was.

The Blues Foundation announces its 2020 Keeping the Blue Alive Award recipients

Mon, 11 Nov 2019 18:13:00 GMT

The Blues Foundation announces its 2020 Keeping the Blue Alive Award recipients

THE BLUES FOUNDATION LAUNCHES 40TH YEAR BY SALUTING ITS KEEPING THE BLUES ALIVE HONOREES DURING INTERNATIONAL BLUES CHALLENGE WEEK, JANUARY 28 – FEBRUARY 1, 2020.

The broad diversity found in this year’s nine “Keeping the Blues Alive” Award recipients reflects the impact that blues music has across the globe.

2020 Keeping the Blues Alive Award Recipients

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Since The Blues Foundation was founded in 1980, it has held the mission of preserving and promoting blues around the world, and this year’s Keeping the Blues Alive Award honorees demonstrate just how successful the organization has been over the past four decades. The nine individuals and organizations receiving KBAs in 2020 don’t just hail from the blues’ traditional territory of the American South but from such far-reaching blues outposts as Denmark, Poland, and Colombia.

The KBA Awards, chosen annually by a select panel of blues professionals, salutes those who have played crucial roles in advancing the art and commerce of blues. This year’s esteemed honorees will be recognized for their achievements at the Keeping the Blues Alive Awards brunch, taking place on Friday, January 31, 2020 , 10:30 a.m., in the Holiday Inn Memphis-Downtown Ballroom.

The KBA ceremony represents just one part of The Blues Foundation’s 36th Annual International Blues Challenge . The IBC Week kicks off Tuesday, January 28, 2020, with International Showcase performances on historic Beale Street, and concludes with the finals at Memphis’ Orpheum Theatre on Saturday, February 1 at 12 noon. More than 800 musicians will arrive in Memphis from all across the globe to battle for glory — along with prizes and bookings — in the International Blues Challenge, the world’s largest and most renowned blues music competition. Showcases, jams, panels, workshops, and master classes will occur daily up and down Beale Street, with the music jamming on into the wee hours after the IBC challenger performances conclude each evening.

Get to know the 2020 Keeping the Blues Alive Awards recipients:

PETER ASTRUP
Well known to thousands of musicians in Europe and the United States, Peter Astrup has dedicated his life to establishing and expanding, the blues music scene in his native Denmark and throughout Europe. After two decades of producing and promoting blues events in Europe, he founded the Frederikshavn Blues Festival in that northern Danish port city in 2006. Recently renamed the Blues Heaven Festival, this premier blues event now attracts audiences from 17 countries to enjoy performances by 15 blues, soul, and gospel bands over two full days. In 2018, Astrup launched a second festival, Blues Paradise, that is held the same weekend as the Frederikshavn event. His dedication to blues music has been widely recognized and he has been honored with many awards and accolades, including the French website ZicaZic’s International Festival of the Year in 2018 and the 2018 Danish Music Award as Hoochie Coochie Man of the Year for being a pioneer of blues music in Denmark.

DR. ROB BOWMAN
Dr. Rob Bowman, associate professor of music at Toronto’s York University, is an accomplished blues educator lauded for his scholarship as well as for his support of Toronto’s blues music community and his involvement in Canada’s prestigious Juno Awards. A six-time Grammy nominee, Dr. Bowman received the 1996 Best Album Notes Grammy® for his 47,000-word monograph in the 10-CD box set The Complete Stax/Volt Soul Singles, Vol. 3: 1972-1975 . In 1998, he won the prestigious ASCAP Deems Taylor/Virgil Thompson Award for his book Soulsville U.S.A.: The Story of Stax Records , which was inducted into The Blues Foundation’s Blues Hall of Fame in 2013. Dr. Bowman has written liner notes for more than 88 blues releases, has been published in distinguished academic journals, and has produced compilations by Isaac Hayes, Carla Thomas, Lou Reed, Otis Redding, and Booker T. & the MG’s. Besides teaching the blues in university classrooms, as he has since 1978, he also currently mentors and manages the award-winning Toronto blues band Samantha Martin & Delta Sugar.

THE CALI BLUES & FOLK FESTIVAL
The Cali Blues & Folk Festival is a signature event of the Centro Cultural Colombo Americano in Cali, Colombia. Founded in 1954, this nonprofit binational center is dedicated to enhancing the friendship between Colombia and the United States through an array of arts, cultural, and English language education programs. In 2007, the Centro began the Cali Blues & Folk Festival, which presents blues artists from the USA, Mexico, Argentina, Spain, and Colombia. Its substantial education and community outreach initiatives include the formation of the Colombian Blues Society in 2014. U.S. blues artists such as Michael “Hawkeye” Herman, Rich DelGrosso, J.P. Soars, and Jon Del Toro Richardson have co-led blues education master-classes and educational workshops with local artists that annually attract 500-plus youths (from elementary schools through universities) in eight cities during the festival. Sustained by partnerships with the Mayor’s Office and the Secretary of Culture and Tourism, the Valle del Cauca Promotion of Cultural Programs, the Colombia Ministry of Culture, and the U.S. Embassy, the Cali Blues & Folk Festival has networked with other Colombian festivals to expand performing opportunities for their nation’s blues musicians.

HAL & MAL’S USA BLUES CLUB
Operating out of the circa-1923 GM&O freight depot building in downtown Jackson, Mississippi, Hal & Mal’s USA Blues Club was founded in 1985 by brothers Hal White (now deceased) and Malcolm White, current director of the Mississippi Arts Commission. While Hal & Mal’s has presented all types of music, the main focus has been blues and R&B. The club, in fact, was one of the first white-owned venues in central Mississippi to book black bands. Albert King was their first act, and B.B. King, Koko Taylor, Little Milton, Mose Allison, James Brown, Charlie Musselwhite, Buckwheat Zydeco, Johnny Winter, R.L. Burnside, Pinetop Perkins, and Bobby Rush performed there over the years. For the past 13 years, Hal & Mal’s has partnered with the Central Mississippi Blues Society to host Blue Monday, a show/jam featuring local blues talent as well as visiting musicians who come to play with the Blue Monday Band. With more than three decades of blues music history, the venue has been identified by scholars as deserving of a Mississippi Blues Trail marker from the Mississippi Blues Commission; installation of the marker currently awaiting funding.

JIMIWAY BLUES FESTIVAL
In 1994, the father-and-son team of Benedykt Kunicki and Oskar Kunicki founded the Jimiway Blues Festival in Ostrów Wielkopolski, Poland. Named in tribute to Jimi Hendrix, this nonprofit initiative is rooted in the mission of presenting a broad spectrum of blues music styles. Music enthusiasts travel from far and wide to attend this two-day event, which is held annually on the third weekend of October. The festival contains a diverse lineup of live concerts, jam sessions, and exhibits of music photos. Internationally renowned blues artists including Sugaray Rayford, Lil’ Ed & the Blues Imperials, Kenny Neal, Joe Louis Walker, John Németh, Curtis Salgado, Nick Moss, Coco Montoya, Tommy Castro, Toronzo Cannon, Mr. Sipp, Lucky Peterson, and Albert Cummings have performed at Jimiway. Its organizers also are devoted to showcasing Polish blues stars and promising young blues acts as a way to bring together multiple generations of musicians and fans.

DR. JANICE JOHNSTON
Dr. Janice Johnston has been an advocate for blues musician health since becoming involved with The Blues Foundation in 2013. As the chairperson of The Blues Foundation’s HART Fund, Dr. Johnston has worked tirelessly to expand the offerings of this fund, which was established to ensure that blues musicians can get the resources needed to secure healthcare for both acute and chronic conditions. She spearheads the free health screenings originally held as part of the International Blues Challenge and Blues Music Awards and that now has expanded to other music festivals and conferences. Dr. Johnston regularly negotiates on behalf of musicians to lower their costs for services and seeks outpatient assistance programs so that musicians can independently continue their care. She also helped develop teams of volunteers in Memphis, Nashville, Las Vegas, and other cities, along with coordinating the hiring of registered nurses to support the program where volunteers were not available. Blues musicians the world over continue to benefit from her ongoing health advocacy on their behalf.

JUS’ BLUES MUSIC FOUNDATION
Established in 1995, this Georgia-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization was founded “to preserve blues heritage through cultural arts by nurturing the soul of the blues with historical blues education programming.” Jus’ Blues has promoted that education to youths and performing artists in communities nationwide and around the world. The foundation acknowledges the originators of the blues by archiving and preserving the legacy of those artists, and also honors those under-the-radar musicians who are still performing in the blues and soul traditions. The foundation has expanded its goals by recognizing the best in blues and soul music artistry through the annual Jus’ Blues Music Awards and Conference, while also establishing itself as a prominent leading blues and soul music advocacy and outreach organization.

KENTUCKIANA BLUES SOCIETY
Located in Louisville, Kentucky, the Kentuckiana Blues Society was founded in 1988 with the goal to preserve, promote, and perpetuate the blues tradition in all its forms. Through extensive research and documentation, the KBS has made major inroads in authenticating the history of the blues in Louisville. Their work has resulted in the discovery of valuable rare photos and interviews, as well as the locations of many early blues-related sites. From its inception, the KBS also has played an active role in the local blues scene. Albert Collins, Pinetop Perkins, Henry Townsend, and other blues greats were all able to appear in Louisville under the auspices of the KBS. Since 1988, the KBS has been involved with, and supportive of, multiple local events including the Garvin Gate Blues Festival, the Germantown-Schnitzelburg Blues Festival, and the Louisville Blues & Barbecue Festival. Through its historical work and present-day community involvement, KBS reveals a strong commitment to keep blues tradition flourishing so that generations to come will be able to know and appreciate this style of music.

KATHLEEN LAWTON
One of the world’s preeminent blues DJs, Kathleen Lawton has hosted the radio show Crazy ’Bout the Blues on San Mateo-based KCSM-FM since 1988. It can be heard live on terrestrial radio at 91.1 FM and streaming via the Internet, every Friday from 9 p.m. until midnight Pacific time. The program has also aired on Radio Free America (www.radiofreeamerica.com) for the past several years. As a result, Lawton’s listenership extends beyond the Bay Area to blues fans worldwide, from Montevideo to Mumbai and Miami. Lawton received the Blues DJ of the Year Award in 2004 from the Bay Area Blues Society. While jazz is KCSM’s core music, Lawton’s mission has been to show listeners how the roots of jazz, and so much modern music, lie in the blues, from Son House and Hop Wilson right up to the Cash Box Kings and Howell Devine. Above all, she aims to entertain and delight all during her three-hour Friday-night show with the passion, wit, wildness, and diversity of the blues — plus gospel, zydeco, and soul music —and make her listeners become “crazy ’bout the blues.”

For more information about the International Blues Challenge , including the full schedule of events, IBC merchandise, and links to reserve discounted hotel rooms in Downtown Memphis, please the image below.

The International Blues Challenge is sponsored by ArtsMemphis, Tennessee Arts Commission, Memphis Tourism, Memphis Airport Authority, AutoZone, BMI®, Four Roses Bourbon, Gibson Foundation, Old Dominick’s Distillery, Consulate General of Canada, and broadcast partner Ditty TV.

BREAKING: Blues Music Awards 2019 Winners Announced

Fri, 10 May 2019 07:34:00 GMT

BREAKING: Blues Music Awards 2019 Winners Announced

SHEMEKIA COPELAND, MIKE WELCH, AND MICHAEL LEDBETTER SCORED BIG AT THE BLUES FOUNDATION’S 40TH ANNUAL BLUES MUSIC AWARDS

First-time winners Ben Harper and Sugaray Rayford joined veteran BMA honorees Buddy Guy and Marcia Ball among the triumphant musicians at the gala ceremony hosted by Little Steven Van Zandt

Billy Branch & Lurrie Bell
photo by Joseph A. Rosen

MEMPHIS, Tenn. —The Memphis Cook Convention Center was packed with blues musicians, fans, and music-world luminaries on May 9th anxious to see who would be announced as winners at the 40th Annual Blues Music Awards . For the second consecutive year, Little Steven Van Zandt emceed the festivities, with such notable musicians as Maria Muldaur, Latimore, Colin Linden, Scott Barnhart, Colin James, Kenny Wayne Shepherd , and Victor Wainwright serving as presenters. Besides awarding honors in 25 categories, the BMAs, as is its tradition, featured performances from many nominees, with the gala ending in a jubilant all-star jam.

The night’s joyful celebration, however, also held a note of sadness. This year’s top award winner was Michael Ledbetter , who passed away in January. Ledbetter was honored with the Instrumentalist-Vocals award and named B.B. King Entertainer of the Year while his group, The Welch-Ledbetter Connection , were victors as the Band of the Year . Additionally, his co-bandleader, Monster Mike Welch , topped the Instrumentalist-Guitar category. At the ceremony, Welch noted of his late musical partner: “I am the guitarist I am in 2019 because I had to keep up with Mike Ledbetter.”

Shemekia Copeland earned two BMAs for her acclaimed album America’s Child , which was first recognized as Contemporary Blues Album and then took home top honors as Album of the Year . The evening’s only other double winner was Danielle Nicole , who took home the Instrumentalist-Bass and Contemporary Blues Female Artist honors. Ruthie Foster was the sole musician to retain their title as she again received the Koko Taylor Award for Traditional Blues Female Artist . Cedric Burnside and Kenny Neal , meanwhile, re-gained their 2017 crowns for Instrumentalist-Drums and Contemporary Blues Male Artist , respectively.

Amanda Fish , whose album Free was proclaimed the Best Emerging Artist Album , followed in the footsteps of her sister Samantha, last year’s Contemporary Blues Female Artist recipient. Eric Gales ( Blues Rock Artist ), Dennis Gruenling ( Instrumentalist-Harmonica ), Vanessa Collier ( Instrumentalist-Horn ), Annika Chambers ( Soul Blues Female Artist ) also made their debuts as BMA awardees, while Billy F Gibbons , of ZZ Top fame, won Blues Rock Album for The Big Bad Blues .

The road to winning a BMA was far longer for Nick Moss ( Traditional Blues Male Artist ) and Sugaray Rayford ( Soul Blues Male Artist ), whose triumphs came after years of nominations. Although Johnny Rawls had won before, he had been nominated more than a dozen times between receiving the Soul Blues Album prize in 2010 and this year for the aptly titled I’m Still Around .

Several musicians added to their collections of BMA honors. Rory Block was picked as the top Acoustic Artist and the Pinetop Perkins Piano Player of the Year went to Marcia Ball . Buddy Guy , the all-time leader in BMA awards, had his release, The Blues Is Alive and Well , chosen the best Traditional Blues Album . Guy was not the only victorious Blues Hall of Famer this year. Joe Louis Walker won in the Acoustic Album category for Journeys to the Heart of the Blues , a project he did with Bruce Katz and Giles Robson . Charlie Musselwhite, who ranks with Guy among prolific BMA winners, had his collaboration with first-time winner Ben Harper on Harper’s tune “No Mercy in This Land” honored as Song of the Year .

Here is the complete list of Blues Music Award winners:

1.     Acoustic Album: Journeys to the Heart of the Blues – Joe Louis Walker/Bruce Katz/Giles Robson
2. Acoustic Artist :  Rory Block
3. Album : America’s Child – Shemekia Copeland
4. B.B. King Entertainer : Michael Ledbetter
5. Band : Welch-Ledbetter Connection
6. Best Emerging Artist Album : Free – Amanda Fish
7. Blues Rock Album: The Big Bad Blues – Billy F Gibbons
8. Blues Rock Artist : Eric Gales
9. Contemporary Blues Album : America’s Child – Shemekia Copeland
10. Contemporary Blues Female Artist : Danielle Nicole
11. Contemporary Blues Male Artist : Kenny Neal
12. Instrumentalist-Bass: Danielle Nicole
13. Instrumentalist-Drums: Cedric Burnside
14. Instrumentalist-Guitar : Monster Mike Welch
15. Instrumentalist-Harmonica : Dennis Gruenling
16. Instrumentalist-Horn : Vanessa Collier
17. Instrumentalist- Pinetop Perkins Piano Player: Marcia Ball
18. Instrumentalist-Vocals: Michael Ledbetter
19. Song: “No Mercy In This Land” Written By Ben Harper and Performed by Ben Harper and Charlie Musselwhite
20. Soul Blues Album: I’m Still Around – Johnny Rawls
21. Soul Blues Female Artist: Annika Chambers
22. Soul Blues Male Artist:   Sugaray Rayford
23. Traditional Blues Album: The Blues is Alive and Well – Buddy Guy
24. Koko Taylor Award for Traditional Blues Female Artist: Ruthie Foster
25. Traditional Blues Male Artist: Nick Moss

The Blues Music Awards represented just one of the many highlights of the Blues Foundation’s exciting Blues Music Week . The festivities kicked off May 8th with its Blues Hall of Fame induction ceremony. The BHOF 40th class included the iconic singer Aretha Franklin, the renowned composer/pianist/bandleader Count Basie , 1920s-era blues queen Ida Cox , influential guitarist Pee Wee Crayton , and the revered Memphis-based band Booker T. & the MG’s. In a moving moment, MG’s guitarist and Memphis music legend Steve Cropper represented his band at the induction ceremony. “We didn’t see color over at Stax,” he said in a short but emotionally charged acceptance speech. “We were family.”

The classic recordings that the Blues Hall of Fame honored this year were B.B. King ’s “ Every Day I Have the Blues,” Muddy Waters’ “ Rollin’ Stone,” Ray Charles ’ “I Got a Woman,” Bessie Smith ’s “The St. Louis Blues,” and Elmore James ’ “Shake Your Moneymaker” as well as James’ album The Sky Is Crying . Folkways Records founder Moses “ Moe” Asch was this year’s non-performing individual inductee and 2019’s Classics of Blues Literature entrant was Lost Delta Found : Rediscovering the Fisk University — Library of Congress Coahoma County Study, 1941-1942 , compiled by John W. Work, Lewis Wade Jones , and Samuel C. Adams, Jr.

The Blues Hall of Fame Museum saluted the opening of its new exhibit, “The Blues According to Arhoolie,” on May 8th with a meet-and-greet Q&A with label founder and Blues Hall of Famer Chris Strachwitz . It also hosted a Dick Waterman: A Life in Blues book signing, featuring author Tammy L. Turner and her subject, the noted blues historian/photographer Dick Waterman. Another prominent label founder, Alligator Records’ Bruce Iglauer , also appeared at the BHOF to celebrate his new memoir, Bitten by the Blues .

A particularly notable Blue Music Week event was “The Blues and Race” panel. Continuing the keynote discussion that took place at January’s International Blues Challenge, this spirited dialogue explored the significance of race within the blues genre. Noelle Trent, PhD ., the National Civil Rights Museum’s Director of Interpretation, Collections and Education, again acted as the moderator, with musicians Bobby Rush, Billy Branch, Thornetta Davis, Terrie Odabi , and concert promoter Paul Benjamin participating on this lively panel. Rush cited ’60s club dates during which he and is band played behind a curtain so that the audience could not see he and his band were black. According to Odabi, an educator as well as an artist: “When we came to America, our culture was taken away from us. We created the blues out of nothing. Our history has not been taught.”

Colin James & Colin Linden
Photo by Alex Ginsbur

Shemekia Copeland
Photo by Joseph A. Rose

Mindi Abair, William Bell, & Vanessa Collier
Photo by Alex Ginsbur

Bobby Rush
Photo by Joseph A. Rosen

Rory Block
Photo by Alex Ginsburg

NEWS: Blues Music Awards Week schedule announced, kicking off May 8th in Memphis. BMA Awards Ceremony, Blues Hall of Fame Induction gala and more!

Thu, 18 Apr 2019 22:17:00 GMT

NEWS: Blues Music Awards Week schedule announced, kicking off May 8th in Memphis. BMA Awards Ceremony, Blues Hall of Fame Induction gala and more!

BLUES MUSIC’S PAST AND PRESENT GREATS WILL BE CELEBRATED DURING BLUES MUSIC AWARDS WEEK, KICKING OFF MAY 8 IN MEMPHIS

The BMA Awards Ceremony and Blues Hall of Fame Induction Gala highlight the Blues Foundation’s festivities, which also include
a new exhibit, book events, panel discussions and music, music, music!

MEMPHIS, Tenn.— The Blues Foundation’s Blues Music Week delivers an abundance of amazing events for acclaimed musicians, industry professionals, ardent fans, and the general public to experience in the cradle of blues, Memphis, Tennessee. This popular annual gathering provides an exhilarating opportunity to pay tribute to today’s top performers along with saluting blues’ vital history and heritage.

The Blues Foundation’s Blues Hall of Fame welcomes its 40th class Wednesday, May 8 in an Induction Ceremony at the Halloran Centre for Performing Arts (225 S. Main St.). Inductees and their families will be in attendance to accept this prestigious honor that covers five key areas of the blues music world: Performers; Individuals from Business, Production, Media or Academic; Classics of Blues Recording (Singles); Classics of Blues Recording (Albums); and Classics of Blues Literature.

The iconic singer Aretha Franklin ,the legendary composer/pianist/band leader Count Basie , 1920s-era blues queen Ida Cox , influential guitarist Pee Wee Crayton , and the revered Memphis-based band Booker T. & the MG’s are the musicians joining the Hall this year, and Folkways Records founder Moses “ Moe” Asch is the non-performing individual inductee. The recordings being added to the Blues Hall of Fame are B.B. King ’s “Every Day I Have the Blues,” Muddy Waters ’ “Rollin’ Stone,” Ray Charles ’ “I Got a Woman,” Bessie Smith ’s “The St. Louis Blues,” and Elmore James ’ “Shake Your Moneymaker” as well as his album The Sky Is Crying, while Lost Delta Found: Rediscovering the Fisk University —Library of Congress Coahoma County Study, 1941-1942 is 2019’s Classics of Blues Literature entrant.

The Blues Hall of Fame evening starts at 5:30 p.m. with a cocktail reception honoring the BHOF inductees and BMA nominees, followed by the ceremony at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $75 per person and can be purchased at this link. ( THIS EVENT HAS NOW SOLD OUT ).

The cream of today’s blues scene will convene for the 40th Blues Music Awards the following night, Thursday, May 9 , at Memphis’ Cook Convention Center (255 N. Main St.). Steven Van Zandt will return to host the event and award presenters will include Maria Muldaur , who has earned multiple Grammy® and BMA nominations over the years, recent Juno Winner Colin James , Blues Hall of Famer and soul icon Latimore , Steppenwolf’s John Kay , and more. Awards will be handed out in 25 categories, with keyboard dynamo Anthony Geraci , majestic songstress Shemekia Copeland , and Chicago-based guitarist Nick Moss leading the way in this year’s nomination count. Blues Hall of Famers Bobby Rush, Joe Louis Walker , and Buddy Guy also are up for awards, and the room will be filled with BMA nominees, many of whom will perform during the course of the evening . The pre-event reception, featuring nominee music and a silent auction, commences at 5:30 p.m. The awards show, which begins at 7 p.m., includes a seated dinner and nominee performances. Individual BMA tickets are $150, while Regular Tables for 10 are $1,500, tickets are available at this link. (THIS EVENT HAS NOW SOLD OUT) .

Blues Music Week offers even more than those two illustrious events. On May 8, the Blues Hall of Fame Museum (421 S. Main St.) will open a new exhibit, “ The Blues According to Arhoolie ,” which comes packed with memorabilia and historic items celebrating this important roots-music label. Arhoolie Records founder Chris Strachwitz will appear that day, 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m., to greet visitors and answer questions about his career and the label and its music. Following that, at 1 p.m., is a book signing for Dick Waterman — A Life in Blues , by Tammy L. Turner . The author and her subject, the noted blues historian/photographer Dick Waterman , will be there for a short Q&A and to sign books (which can be purchased in the Museum’s gift shop).

On May 9 the Blues Foundation will curate a special BMA panel, “ The Blues and Race – Part II ,” a continuation of the keynote panel at January’s International Blues Challenge. Noelle Trent, PhD ., the Director of Interpretation, Collections and Education at the National Civil Rights Museum, will moderate as musicians Bobby Rush, Billy Branch, Thornetta Davis, Terrie Odabi , and festival promoter Paul Benjamin explore the historical significance of race within the blues genre, and what the future holds for the next generation.This event will take place at the Blues Music Awards’ host hotel, the Sheraton Memphis Downtown Hotel (250 N. Main St.), from 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. The panel is open to the community and free of charge.

Also on May 9 are the Blues Foundation’s BMA HART Fund Musician Health Screenings , occurring from noon-2:30 p.m.in the Sheraton Hotel. Doctors, nurses, and other health practitioners will provide blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes, PSA testing, vision and other health screenings. The HART Fund will also offer ear molds for custom-made professional-quality ear plugs for all musicians or qualified members of the music industry. Also that day is the Recording Academy Reception at the Sheraton, 1-3 p.m. Blues musicians and blues music industry members are invited to celebrate with food and drinks and to learn how they might get involved in the GRAMMY Awards process, from submitting current projects for awards consideration to voting.

May 10 finds another prominent label founder, Alligator Records’ Bruce Iglauer , visiting the Blues Hall of Fame. From 1-2 p.m., Igluaer will share stories about his career and answer questions relating to his new memoir, Bitten by the Blues . He will sign copies of the book that are available for purchase.

Blues Music Week concludes on May 10, from 4 p.m. and on into the night, with what this event is all about — music, as the Hard Rock Café (126 Beale Street) hosts a benefit for the Blue Foundation’s youth program, Generation Blues . Many BMA nominees and other musicians will perform at this show, hosted by the Andy T Band. All of Beale Street , in fact, will be alive with the sounds of blues, as BMA Fest presents blues musicians, including many nominees, from 4-9 p.m. in clubs along this iconic blues street. BMA Fest wristbands can be bought on Beale Street that day for just $10.

Little Steven Van Zandt hosts the 2018 BMAs
Photo by J Skolnick

THE QUEEN OF SOUL, THE COUNT, AND THE UNCROWNED QUEEN OF THE BLUES ARE AMONG THE MUSIC ROYALTY BEING WELCOMED INTO THE BLUES HALL OF FAME ON MAY 8

Fri, 01 Mar 2019 05:00:00 GMT

THE QUEEN OF SOUL, THE COUNT, AND THE UNCROWNED QUEEN OF THE BLUES ARE AMONG THE MUSIC ROYALTY BEING WELCOMED INTO THE BLUES HALL OF FAME ON MAY 8

Pee Wee Crayton, Moe Asch, and Booker T. & the MG’s join Aretha Franklin, Count Basie, and Ida Cox in The Blues Foundation’s 40th Blues Hall of Fame induction class, which also honors historic recordings by Muddy Waters, Ray Charles, B.B. King, Bessie Smith, and Elmore James

MEMPHIS, Tenn.—It will be quite the regal evening when The Blues Foundation salutes its milestone 40th class of Blues Hall of Fame inductees with a special ceremony at the Halloran Centre for the Performing Arts and Education in Memphis on May 8. This year’s lucky 13 honorees represent all five of the Blues Hall of Fame’s categories: Performers, Non-Performing Individuals, Classics of Blues Literature, Classics of Blues Recording (Song), and Classics of Blues Recording (Album).

The five performers entering the Blues Hall of Fame this year reflect the breadth of the blues’ influence throughout the music world. The legendary singer Aretha Franklin has been hailed as the Queen of Soul, but the blues is very much a foundation of her music, as albums like Aretha Sings the Blues and her Dinah Washington tribute stand as a testament to. Count Basie busted out of the blues-rich Kansas City music world to become the King of Swing, and the blues certainly has proven integral to his sound. Ida Cox rose to fame in the 1920s during the classic vaudeville blues era. Dubbed “The Uncrowned Queen of Blues,” Cox might not be as well-known as her peers Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith, but she has achieved a lasting influence, particularly with her song “Wild Women Don’t Have the Blues,” which has become a feminist anthem.

Texas-born guitarist Pee Wee Crayton found his greatest success after moving to California, where he became a kingpin of the West Coast blues scene of the late ’40s. From 1948, his tune “Blues After Hours” represents the first and only instrumental by a guitarist to top Billboard’s R&B (then still called “Race Records) charts. Booker T. & the MG’s , a band synonymous with Memphis and Stax Records, played on a galaxy of great soul and blues albums, including all of Albert King’s Stax studio records in the 1960s. Entering the Blues Hall of Fame in its Business, Academic, Media & Production category this year is Moses “ Moe” Asch . While leading Folkways Records and other labels, Asch helped to document and disseminate a remarkable range of roots music. Acoustic blues was prominent among his releases, with Lead Belly, Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee, Elizabeth Cotten, Reverend Gary Davis, and Big Bill Broonzy among the artists whose records he released.

This year’s selections for landmark recordings spotlight works by several long-time Blues Hall of Famers. Elmore James ’ 1965 album The Sky Is Crying and his song “Shake Your Moneymaker” both are entering the Blues Hall of Fame. Last year, the Blues Hall inducted B.B. King ’s album Blues Is King , and this year it is recognizing King’s 1954 classic tune “Everyday I Have the Blues.” Muddy Waters adds to his Blues Hall of Fame honors with the induction of his influential 1950 tune “Rollin’ Stone.” Ray Charles ’ iconic “I Got a Woman” and Bessie Smith ’s signature version of “The St. Louis Blues” round out 2019’s recording honorees. Additionally, the Blues Hall’s choice for the Classic of Blues Literature is the revelatory historical work Lost Delta Found: Rediscovering the Fisk University-Library of Congress Coahoma County Study, 1941-1942 , which was compiled by John W. Work, Lewis Wade Jones, and Samuel C. Adams, Jr.

Taking place during Blues Music Week, the Blues Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony will be held May 8 at the Halloran Centre (225 South Main Street, Memphis). A cocktail reception kicks off the festivities at 5:30 p.m. before the Ceremony begins at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $75 per person. The celebrating continues the next night (May 9) when The Blues Foundation presents the 40th Annual Blues Music Awards at Memphis’ Cook Convention Center (7 p.m. start time). Individual BMA tickets are $150 per person with Tables for 10 at $1,500 each. Both events are open to the public and tickets can be purchased now at this link ( THIS EVENT HAS NOW SOLD OUT ). Reservations can be made for The Blues Foundation’s block of rooms at the Sheraton Memphis Downtown and the reservation link can be found at www.blues.org .

As part of the Induction Ceremony, the Blues Hall of Fame Museum is securing special items representing each of the new inductees, and those artifacts will be installed and available for viewing beginning May 8. The Museum has been a treasure for both serious blues fans and casual visitors since opening in May 2015. Through intriguing exhibits (including traveling exhibits that rotate every six months) and individualized galleries, it offers an entertaining and educating exploration into all that is blues culture. The Museum features interactive touchscreen displays along with three master databases where visitors can hear the music, watch videos, and read the stories about each of the Blues Hall of Fame’s over 400 inductees. Each gallery also displays a fascinating array of album covers, photographs, historic awards, unique art, musical instruments, costumes, and other one-of-a-kind memorabilia.

The Blues Hall of Fame Museum (421 S. Main St., Memphis) was built through the generosity and support of blues fans so that it would serve all four components of the Blues Foundation’s mission: preserving blues heritage, celebrating blues recording and performance, expanding awareness of the blues genre, and ensuring the future of the music. Its hours are 10 a.m.–5 p.m. Monday-Saturday and 1–5 p.m. on Sundays. Admission is $10 for adults and $8 for students with ID; entry is free for children 12 and younger and Blues Foundation members. You can become a member for a little as $25 per person; find out how by visiting www.blues.org and clicking on Join Now.

ABOUT THE INDUCTEES:

Performers

Aretha Franklin was long recognized as the Queen of Soul; however, she also was viewed as the Queen of the Blues as well as gospel royalty. Regardless of the genre, her powerful vocal range, striking intimacy, and impeccable timing made her one of the greatest singers ever. Her father, the famous preacher Reverend C.L. Franklin, was from the Mississippi Delta. He moved the family to Memphis (where Aretha was born) before settling in Detroit. He also guided Aretha to sign with John Hammond at Columbia, where her first release was “Today I Sing the Blues”. At Atlantic Records, she scored hits with “Respect,” “Chain of Fools,” and many others which entered the repertoires of blues and soul bands, including the flip side of “Respect,” “Dr. Feelgood.” Franklin, who died in 2018, garnered more than 20 Grammys (including the Lifetime Achievement Award), along with receiving the prestigious Kennedy Center Honors, the NAACP Vanguard and Hall of Fame awards, and induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

William James “Count” Basie , who was born in Red Bank, New Jersey, began his career on the East Coast but his sound was forever linked to Kansas City, a freewheeling crossroads that was a hotbed for both jazz and blues. Dubbed “The King of Swing,” Basie created music rooted in the blues. He played blues piano with an easy, economical touch; wrote or revamped an impressive cache of blues and jump tunes; and employed acclaimed vocalists who could sing the blues with a mastery that matched Basie band’s musicianship such as Jimmy Rushing, Billie Holiday, and Joe Williams. While he has been honored with too many awards to mention, it is only appropriate that the Blues Hall of Fame recognize Count Basie both for the debt he owed to the blues and for what he gave back in return.

Connie Curtis“Pee Wee” Crayton grew up in Austin, Texas and migrated to California in the mid-1930s, living first in Los Angeles and then Oakland. With tutelage from T-Bone Walker and jazz guitarist John Collins, Crayton developed his own guitar style, incorporating their sophistication but picking with a harder edge. One of West Coast blues’ brightest stars, Crayton reached No. 1 in 1948 on Billboard’ s “Race Records” chart (renamed “Rhythm & Blues” in 1949) with “Blues After Hours,” which remains the only instrumental credited to a guitarist ever to top the R&B charts. After his chart success ran out in 1950, Crayton continued to display a dynamic flair on later records and delivered many memorable live performances. His periodic guitar battles with longtime friend T-Bone Walker always made headlines. Crayton, who died in 1985, also has been cited as an influence on both Elvis Presley and Chuck Berry.

Booker T. & the MG’s delineated the soulful sound of Memphis playing behind a cavalcade of stars at Stax Records, all the while making instrumental hits of their own. Their first record, 1962’s “Green Onions,” was followed by 14 more chart hits, including ”Hip-Hug-Her” and “Time Is Tight.”The original group — consisting of Booker T. Jones (organ), Steve Cropper (guitar), Lewie Steinberg (bass), and Al Jackson, Jr. (drums) — came together in 1962, with Donald “Duck” Dunn taking over on bass a few years later. They also were an integrated band, which was rare then, particularly in the South. Their Stax, Volt and Atlantic sessions included recordings with Albert King, Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, The Staple Singers, Rufus Thomas, and Carla Thomas. The group entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992 and received a Recording Academy Lifetime Achievement award in 2007, while “Green Onions” was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 2018.

Ida Cox was touted as the “Uncrowned Queen of the Blues” from the start of her recording career in 1923. Although Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith typically are mentioned as the top stars of the classic vaudeville blues era, Cox was every bit their rival. A high-class entertainer who dressed in the finest gowns, Cox also was a composer of note. Her tune “Wild Women Don’t Have the Blues” has become a feminist anthem, while other titles and verses of hers have resurfaced in the work of legendary bluesmen — for example, “How Long, Daddy, How Long” (Leroy Carr), “Death Letter Blues” (Son House), “Mojo Hand” (Lightnin’ Hopkins) and “I Am So Glad” (Skip James). Cox retired in 1945 following a stroke; however, she was coaxed into recording again during the 1960s blues revival and cut an LP with the Coleman Hawkins Quintet in 1961. Cox passed away in 1967.

Individual (Business, Academic, Media & Production):

Moses “Moe” Asch ranks as one of the preeminent figures in the history of folk music, thanks to his tireless work in releasing more than 2000 albums on Folkways Records along with records on Asch, Disc and his other labels. The extraordinary scope of his catalog encompasses ethnic music from around the globe in addition to spoken word, sounds of nature, and other esoteric audio documentation. Folkway’s blues roster contained such luminaries as Lead Belly, Elizabeth Cotten, Reverend Gary Davis, Champion Jack Dupree, Honeyboy Edwards, Memphis Slim, and Big Joe Williams. Important too were Folkways’ field recordings that documented traditional African-American music from the American South. The educational value of the Folkways albums was further enhanced by detailed liner note inserts, another example of Asch’s pioneering vision. He also made sure that every Folkways record stayed in print, a policy that continued after the Smithsonian acquired his catalog following Asch’s death in 1986.

Classics of Blues Literature

Lost Delta Found: Rediscovering the Fisk University-Library of Congress Coahoma County Study, 1941-1942 presents a unique and valuable perspective on the pioneering Coahoma County study that also was recounted in Alan Lomax’s Land Where the Blues Began , a prior Classics of Blues Literature honoree. Written by African-American scholars from Fisk University, Lost Delta Found documents their crucial but often overlooked work on the project. First planned for publication back in the ’40s, the original manuscript, written by John W. Work and by Lewis Wade Jones, was submitted to the Library of Congress but was reported missing or misplaced for years. This 2005 Vanderbilt University Press publication, edited by Robert Gordon and Bruce Nemerov, also includes the 1947 master’s thesis by Samuel Adams, who was part of the Fisk crew, along with additional information on the county’s black music that was documented by others during their trips there.

Classics of Blues Recording: Singles:

“Rollin’ Stone” by Muddy Waters stands as a landmark recording for several reasons. Cut in February of 1950, it was the first blues record that Chess ever issued (and the second overall, following a Gene Ammons instrumental). It also is the only classic Chess track Muddy sang and played by himself, demonstrating that he didn’t always need his stellar band in order to deliver a stirring performance. And then, of course, there was that English rock group that took its name from this song as well as a San Francisco-born music magazine whose name drew inspiration from the song title.

“Shake Your Moneymaker” by Elmore James was recorded in New Orleans in 1961, and marked an exuberant, up-tempo departure from the slide guitar master’s deep blues recordings. First issued as a 45 on Bobby Robinson’s Fire label, the single reveals a more hard-driving musical approach than that of its predecessor, “Roll Your Moneymaker,” by Shakey Jake. “Shake Your Moneymaker” has remained popular with rock bands — Black Crowes, George Thorogood, Fleetwood Mac, and Rod Stewart have all recorded it.

“I Got a Woman” by Ray Charles perfectly illustrates the way Charles transformed the sacred into the secular. He heard the Southern Tones’ gospel tune “It Must Be Jesus” (a 1954 Duke Records release) on a car radio, and when he went into the studio in Atlanta on November 18, 1954, he kept the music but changed the words, exemplifying a common assertion that the thin musical line between gospel and blues often lies only in the lyrics. “I Got a Woman” became his first No. 1 R&B hit and remains one of the iconic works in the annals of rhythm & blues.

“Everyday I Have the Blues” rates as one of the most ubiquitous blues tunes. Its late entry into the Blues Hall of Fame reflects the fact that no strong consensus emerged on which of the hundreds of recorded versions was most deserving. B.B. King is most associated with the tune, and so the first of his own many versions gets the honor. Issued as a single on the RPM label, it was recorded on March 2, 1954, and hit Billboard’s R&B charts in January 1955, just weeks before another hit rendition by Joe Williams and the Count Basie band.

“The St. Louis Blues” is one of the most recorded songs of all time, in any genre. Few versions of the W.C. Handy tune, however, can compare with Bessie Smith’s. Part of the magic of this 1925 Columbia single is its spare arrangement. “The Empress of the Blues” was accompanied by only Louis Armstrong on cornet, and Fred Longshaw on pump organ (a rare instrument on recordings during that era). The only surviving film footage of Bessie Smith is a 1929 short film St. Louis Blues, which features her singing the song again; this time backed by a larger group.

Classic of Blues Recording: Album

Elmore James: The Sky is Crying is the other James recording being honored with a Blues Hall of Fame induction this year. James, who died in 1963, did not live to see the release of this 1965 compilation, which was the first U.S. album to collect sides he recorded for Bobby Robinson from 1959-1961. Seven of the 12 tracks on this classic collection were first issued as singles on Robinson’s Fire label, with the other tunes, including a remake of his signature song, “Dust My Broom,” came out on other Robinson imprints, Sphere Sound and Enjoy.

The Blues Foundation’s 35th International Blues Challenge winners announced; more than 200 artists competed in Memphis Jan. 22-26.

Mon, 04 Feb 2019 22:36:00 GMT

The Blues Foundation’s 35th International Blues Challenge winners announced; more than 200 artists competed in Memphis Jan. 22-26.

THE BLUES FOUNDATION CROWNS MS. HY-C & FRESH START AS BEST BAND
AND JON SHAIN AS BEST SOLO/DUO ACT AT THE 35th ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL BLUES CHALLENGE

More than 200 acts performed in Memphis January 22-26 for a chance to grab top honors at the prestigious IBC Event, which lit up Beale Street and the historic Orpheum Theatre.

1st Place Band Winner
Ms. Hy-C & Fresh Start (St. Louis Blues Society)
©Ty Randall

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — “Memphis, Here I Come” could stand as the rallying cry for all the performers competing in this year’s International Blues Challenge . It is actually, however, the title of the song that Ms. Hy-C & Fresh Start have on the St. Louis Blues Society’s 2018 compilation album — and the soulful blues group, led by the vivacious Ms. Hy-C (a.k.a. Jacinta Branch-Griffin) came, saw, and conquered the blues world as they wound up taking home the Best Band award at the IBC finals at the historic Orpheum Theatre on January 26.

IBC’s Best Solo/Duo winner, Jon Shain (North Carolina’s Triangle Blues Society) also has several Memphis-focused tunes on his 2018 album Getting’ Handy With the Blues , but how can you not when you do a W.C. Handy tribute record? Shain’s Piedmont-style acoustic guitar picking, and Fresh Start’s spirited juke-joint music reflect the variety, both musically and geographically, that could be found at the International Blues Challenge.

This year’s Gibson Guitar Award for the best band guitarist went to Gabe Stillman , representing the Billtown Blues Association from Williamsport, Penn., and the Memphis Cigar Box Guitar Award for the top solo/duo guitarist was bestowed on Steve Strongman of the Grand River Blues Society in south central Ontario, Canada. Meanwhile, the Santa Monica, Calif.-born Darryl Carriere earned the Lee Oskar Harmonica Award.

Carriere (Santa Clarita Valley Blues Society) plays with the Celso Salim Band , which also placed third in the band category. Curiously, last year’s Best Band third place finisher was another Santa Clarita Valley Blues Society group, Artur Menezes, and both Menezes and Salim are Brazil natives. 2019’s top band runner-up traveled all the way from the Pacific Northwest: Sammy Eubanks & the Work’in Class represented the Washington Blues Society. The Solo/Duo second place finisher, Theresa Malenfant & Scott Medford (East Coast Blues Society), hail from the far northeast, as in New Brunswick, Canada, while The Little Red Rooster Blues Band (Central Delaware Blues Society), which picked up the Best Self-Produced CD for Lock Up The Liquor , are well-known around the Mid-Atlantic region for mixing West Coast Jump Blues with the traditional Chicago variety.

The winners and finalists all are honored with various prizes for their victories. The winning instrumentalists, not surprisingly, got instruments: a Gibson Custom Guitar and a Category 5 amp to Gabe Stillman; a special Memphis Cigar Box Guitar to Steve Strongman, and a set of Lee Oskar harmonicas (including an autographed, gold-plated limited edition Lee Oskar harmonica) and accessories to Carriere. Winners each took home a plaque, cash, and a package to include a variety of national and international club and festival gigs. In addition, Ms. Hy-C & Fresh Start, as band division winners, received time to record, mix or master at the Showplace Studios.

The Blues Foundation assembled an elite crew of judges for the IBC. The solo/duo finalists were critiqued by Blues Music Award- and Grammy Award-nominated musician Dom Flemons ; blues radio DJ/producer and 2019 Keeping the Blues Alive Award recipient Jesse Finkelstein ; Blues Hall of Famer and founder of Living Blues Magazine and Rooster Blues Records Jim O’Neal ; multi-Blues Music Award-winning slide guitarist Rory Block ; and producer of the KBA-winning Edmonton Blues Festival Cam Hayden . Those judging the band challenger finalists included the legendary Memphis songwriter William Bell ; blues producer and music executive Jerry Williams ; founder and President of Alligator Records and Blues Hall of Famer Bruce Iglauer ; acclaimed vocalist (best-known for the hit “Misty Blue”) Dorothy Moore ; and Grammy Trustee Ken Shepherd , who also is Kenny Wayne Shepherd’s manager.

The 35th Annual International Blues Challenge packed Memphis with an array of exciting performers — from established musicians to young upstarts. This big week of blues also presented networking events, panels, workshops, master classes, exhibits, film, and the always-popular Keeping the Blues Alive Award ceremony. Mark January 28–February 1 on your 2020 calendar — the dates of the 36th annual IBC.

Next up for The Blues Foundation is its other signature event: the Blues Music Awards . Now in its 40th year, the BMA ceremony will take place at 7 p.m. on Thursday, May 9, 2019 at the Memphis Cook Convention Center. Individual tickets are $150 per person; Regular Tables for 10 are $1,500, while Premium Tables for 10 are $1,800 each. All tickets can be purchased at www.blues.org . The Blues Foundation’s block of rooms at the Sheraton Memphis Downtown also are now open for reservations; and Sheraton reservation link is up on www.blues.org .

The International Blues Challenge was sponsored by ArtsMemphis, Tennessee Arts Commission, Memphis Tourism, Memphis Airport Authority, AutoZone, BMI®, Four Roses Bourbon, Old Dominick’s Distillery, The Gibson Foundation, Lee Oskar Harmonicas , and broadcast partner, DittyTV .

The Blues Foundation is Memphis-based, but world-renowned, as THE organization whose mission is to preserve blues heritage, celebrate blues recording and performance, expand worldwide awareness of the blues, and ensure the future of this uniquely American art form. Founded in 1980, the Blues Foundation has 4,000 individual members with 181 affiliated blues societies representing another 50,000 fans and professionals around the world. Its signature honors and events — the Blues Music Awards, Blues Hall of Fame, International Blues Challenge, and Keeping the Blues Alive Awards — make it the international center of blues music. Its HART Fund provides the blues community with medical assistance for musicians in need, while Blues in the Schools programs and Generation Blues Scholarships expose new generations to blues music. The recent opening of the Blues Hall of Fame Museum, in Memphis, Tenn., now adds the opportunity for music lovers of all ages to interact with the music and the history. Throughout the year, the Foundation staff serves the global blues community with answers, information, and news. Support the Blues Foundation by becoming an affiliated organization, corporate, or individual member, or simply by making a charitable donation.

Complete List of 2019 International Blues Challenge Winners

Band Division
Winner: Ms. Hy-C & Fresh Start (St. Louis Blues Society)
2nd Place: Sammy Eubanks & the Work’in Class (Washington Blues Society)
3rd Place: Celso Salim Band (Santa Clarita Valley Blues Society)

Solo/Duo Division
Winner: Jon Shain (Triangle Blues Society)
2nd Place: Theresa Malenfant & Scott Medford (East Coast Blues Society)

Gibson Guitar Award For Best Band Guitarist
Winner: Gabe Stillman (Billtown Blues Association)

Memphis Cigar Box Guitar For Best Solo/Duo Guitarist
Winner: Steve Strongman (Grand River Blues Society)

Lee Oskar Harmonica Player
Winner: Darryl Carriere, the Celso Salim Band (Santa Clarita Valley Blues Society)

Best Self-Produced CD
Winner: Lock Up the Liquor – The Little Red Rooster Blues Band (Central Delaware Blues Society)

1st Place Solo/Duo Winner
Jon Shain (Triangle Blues Society)
©Ty Randal

2019 IBC Challenger
Keith Johnson & the Big Muddy
©Roger Stephenso

2019 IBC Challenger
Jose Luis Pardo & the Mojo Worker
s©Moriah Loy

40TH BLUES MUSIC AWARD NOMINATIONS ANNOUNCED

Mon, 07 Jan 2019 18:08:00 GMT

40TH BLUES MUSIC AWARD NOMINATIONS ANNOUNCED

40TH BLUES MUSIC AWARDS ANNOUNCED

BUDDY GUY, BILLY F GIBBONS, BOBBY RUSH, CANDI STATON, AND BEN HARPER ARE AMONG THE DISTINGUISHED, DIVERSE GROUP OF NOMINEES TO BE CELEBRATED AT THE 40th ANNUAL BLUES MUSIC AWARDS

The Blues Foundation will reveal the winners at its gala ceremony in Memphis on May 9.

MEMPHIS, Tenn.— For the 40th year, the Blues Music Awards will present a one-of-a-kind gathering of renowned performers and rising stars who reflect the breadth and variety of talent found in today’s blues music scene. Universally recognized as the top accolade for blues musicians, the BMAs annually honor the past year’s exceptional achievements in performances, recordings, and songwriting, along with serving to sustain the blues’ rich cultural traditions. This celebratory evening, which ranks as a premier event in the music world, traditionally attracts almost all its nominees; the musicians typically perform at the award show too.

The Blues Foundation will host its historic 40th Annual Blues Music Awards on Thursday, May 9 at 7 p.m. at Memphis’ Cook Convention Center. Individual tickets are $150 per person; Regular Tables for 10 are $1,500; while Premium Tables for 10 are $1,800 each. All tickets can be purchased at www.blues.org beginning January 9. The Blues Foundation’s block of rooms at the Sheraton Memphis Downtown Hotel will be open for reservations January 9 as well, and Sheraton reservation links will be up on www.blues.org that day too.

Leading the way this year with the most nominations is the keyboard whiz Anthony Geraci , who is in the running in six categories. The Boston-area musician is up for consideration for Song of the Year (“Angelina, Angelina”); Album of the Year and Traditional Blues Album ( Why Did You Have To Go ); Traditional Blues Male Artist; Pinetop Perkins Piano Player Award, and, with his group, the Boston Blues All-Stars, Band of the Year. If this six-pack isn’t enough, Geraci also is a part of the band The Proven Ones , which garnered a Contemporary Blues Album nod for Wild Again . Furthermore, his fellow Proven Ones mates, Jimi Bott and Willie J. Campbell , are up for best drummer and bassist honors, respectively.

Also standing out are the sublime singer Shemekia Copeland and Chicago-based bluesman Nick Moss , who each are nominated in four categories. They both are battling Geraci in the Album of the Year category; Copeland for America’s Child and Moss for The High Cost of Low Living , the Nick Moss Band effort featuring Dennis Gruenling . Additionally, Copeland is up for consideration for the Contemporary Blues Album, Vocalist of the Year, and Contemporary Blues Female Artist honors. Worth noting too is that her hit single, “Ain’t Got Time For Hate,” is a Song of the Year candidate for its songwriters John Hahn and Will Kimbrough . Moss’ other three nominations are for Traditional Blues Album, Traditional Blues Male Artist, and Band of the Year (for the Nick Moss Band). Gruenling, meanwhile, nabbed his own nomination in the Harmonica instrumentalist category.

The Blues Music Award nominations are just the start of a big January for The Blues Foundation. They will close the month with another signature event: the 35th Annual International Blues Challenge will take over Memphis January 22-26. This big week of blues, which is packed with performances, panel discussions, meet & greets, film screenings and exhibits, is highlighted by honoring of 2019’s Keeping the Blues Alive Award recipients (January 25) and the IBC Finals competition concert (January 26). To purchase an International Blues Challenge Pass and final seating upgrades, along with tickets to the Keeping the Blues Alive Awards Brunch and Ceremony, please visit this link: http://bit.ly/2scWEhP

A trio of Blues Hall of Famers — Bobby Rush, Joe Louis Walker, and Buddy Guy — could add a 2019 BMA award to their trophy cases. Rush is nominated for the B.B. King Entertainer Award (an honor he won in 2015). Walker’s collaboration with Bruce Katz and Giles Robson , Journeys to the Heart of the Blues , is a contender for both best Acoustic Album and Album of the Year. Guy garnered nods for Traditional Blues Album for The Blues Is Alive and Well and Song of the Year for “Cognac,” which he co-wrote with Tom Hambridge and Richard Fleming .

Hambridge, Guy’s producer, is among the contenders in the Drums Instrumentalist category.

Among those battling Guy, Hahn, Kimbrough, and Geraci for Song of the Year (for “No Mercy in This Land”) is Ben Harper , who is one of several nominees whose name will be familiar to rock music fans. ZZ Top’s Billy F Gibbons is contending for Blues Rock Album ( The Big Bad Blues ) and Blues Rock Artist, where Kenny Wayne Shepherd also is in the running. The Fabulous Thunderbirds’ Kim Wilson is on the ballot for the Harmonica Instrumentalist title, while the legendary soul/gospel singer Candi Staton is vying for Soul Blues Female Artist honors.

This year’s crop of nominees holds a significant increase of recognition for female instrumentalists, which reflects The Blues Foundation’s continuing work of diversifying its large group of BMA nominators. Laura Chavez is among the Instrumentalist: Guitar contenders, while Marcia Ball is up for the Pinetop Perkins Piano Player Award (a title she has won several times before). Instrumentalist: Bass is one of Danielle Nicole ’s three nominations; she is also among the four women (out of five) in the Instrumentalist: Vocals category. Meanwhile, Mindi Abair, Nancy Wright, and Vanessa Collier represent three of the six Instrumentalist: Horn nominees.

This year’s sisterhood of nominees also includes two pairs of actual sisters. Samantha Fish , who is on the ballot for Contemporary Blues Album and Contemporary Blues Female Artist (which she won last year), is joined by her sister Amanda Fish , a contender for Best Emerging Artist Album. Larkin Poe , fronted by sisters Rebecca Lovell and Megan Lovell, was an Emerging Artist Album nominee last year, and is up for Band of the Year this year. Notable too in the Emerging Artist category, which offers a glimpse of the next generation of blues stars, is that two of the performers have also earned additional nods: Ben Rice for Acoustic Album and Acoustic Artist while Lindsay Beaver is a Koko Taylor – Traditional Blues Female Artist nominee.

Several 2018 BMA winners are trying to achieve back-to-back victories. Michael “Mudcat” Ward and Tony Braunagel have the chance to keep their respective titles as top bassist and drummer. Ruthie Foster can reclaim the Koko Taylor Award for Traditional Blues Female Artist, and Beth Hart hopes to hold onto the top honors for Vocals while she also is a nominee in the B.B. King Entertainer and Contemporary Blues Female Artist categories,

The complete list of 40th Blues Music Award nominees can be found below as well as on The Blues Foundation’s website, www.blues.org . A ballot will be sent soon to all Blues Foundation members, who have the privilege of deciding which artists will go home with a Blues Music Award in May. Blues Foundation membership remains open through the entire voting period, which ends at 11:59 p.m. CT on February 28. Ballots are sent to all current members and to new members after they join the organization, which can be done easily by clicking on the “Join Now” button found at www.blues.org .

Major funding for the Blues Music Awards is provided by ArtsMemphis and Tennessee Arts Commission . The 40th BMAs also are sponsored by BMI®, DittyTV, Four Roses Bourbon, Gibson Foundation, Memphis Airport Authority, and Memphis Tourism.

40th Blues Music Awards Nominees

Acoustic Album:
A Woman’s Soul , Rory Block
Black Cowboys , Dom Flemons
Global Griot , Eric Bibb
Journeys To The Heart Of The Blues , Joe Louis Walker/Bruce

Katz/Giles Robson
Wish The World Away , Ben Rice

Acoustic Artist:
Ben Rice
Guy Davis
Hadden Sayers
Harrison Kennedy
Rory Block

Album of the Year:
America’s Child, Shemekia Copeland
The High Cost Of Low Living, The Nick Moss Band Featuring

Dennis Gruenling
Journeys To The Heart Of The Blues , Joe Louis Walker/Bruce Katz/Giles Robson
Rough Cut , Curtis Salgado and Alan Hager
Why Did You have To Go, Anthony Geraci

B.B. King Entertainer:
Beth Hart
Bobby Rush
Lil’ Ed Williams
Michael Ledbetter
Sugaray Rayford

Band of the Year:
Anthony Geraci & The Boston Blues All-Stars
Larkin Poe
Lil’ Ed & the Blues Imperials
Nick Moss Band
Welch-Ledbetter Connection

Best Emerging Artist Album:
Burn Me Alive , Heather Newman
Free , Amanda Fish
Heartland And Soul , Kevin Burt
Tough As Love , Lindsay Beaver
Wish The World Away , Ben Rice

Blues Rock Album:
The Big Bad Blues , Billy F Gibbons
High Desert Heat , Too Slim and the Taildraggers
Live At The ’62 Center, Albert Cummings
Poor Until Payday, The Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band
Winning Hand , Tinsley Ellis

Blues Rock Artist:
Billy F Gibbons
Eric Gales
J.P. Soars
Kenny Wayne Shepherd
Tinsley Ellis

Contemporary Blues Album:
America’s Child , Shemekia Copeland
Belle Of The West , Samantha Fish
Chicago Plays The Stones , The Living History Band
Hold On , Kirk Fletcher
Wild Again , The Proven Ones

Contemporary Blues Female Artist:
Beth Hart
Danielle Nicole
Samantha Fish
Shemekia Copeland
Vanessa Collier

Contemporary Blues Male Artist:
Kenny Neal
Rick Estrin
Ronnie Baker Brooks
Selwyn Birchwood
Toronzo Cannon

Instrumentalist – Bass:
Danielle Nicole
Michael “Mudcat” Ward
Patrick Rynn
Scot Sutherland
Willie J. Campbell

Instrumentalist – Drums:
Cedric Burnside
Jimi Bott
June Core
Tom Hambridge
Tony Braunagel

Instrumentalist – Guitar:
Anson Funderburgh
Christoffer “Kid” Andersen
Laura Chavez
Monster Mike Welch
Ronnie Earl

Instrumentalist – Harmonica:
Billy Branch
Bob Corritore
Dennis Gruenling
Kim Wilson
Mark Hummel

Instrumentalist – Horn:
Doug James
Jimmy Carpenter
Kaz Kazzanof
Mindi Abair
Nancy Wright
Vanessa Collier

Pinetop Perkins Piano Player (Instrumentalist – Piano):
Anthony Geraci
Bruce Katz
Jim Pugh
Marcia Ball
Mike Finnigan

Instrumentalist – Vocals:
Beth Hart
Danielle Nicole
Janiva Magness
Michael Ledbetter
Shemekia Copeland

Song of the Year:
“Ain’t Got Time For Hate,” written by John Hahn and Will Kimbrough
“Angelina, Angelina,” written by Anthony Geraci
“Cognac,” written by Buddy Guy, Tom Hambridge, Richard Fleming
“No Mercy In This Land,” written by Ben Harper
“The Ice Queen,” written by Sue Foley

Soul Blues Album:
Back In Business , Frank Bey
Every Soul’s A Star , Dave Keller
I’m Still Around , Johnny Rawls
Love Makes A Woman , The Knickerbocker All-Stars
Reckoning , Billy Price

Soul Blues Female Artist:
Annika Chambers
Barbara Blue
Candi Staton
Thornetta Davis
Whitney Shay

Soul Blues Male Artist:
Frank Bey
Johnny Rawls
Sugaray Rayford
Wee Willie Walker
William Bell

Traditional Blues Album:
The Blues Is Alive And Well , Buddy Guy
The High Cost Of Low Living , Nick Moss Band Featuring Dennis Gruenling
The Luckiest Man , Ronnie Earl & The Broadcasters
Tribute to Carey Bell , Lurrie Bell & the Bell Dynasty
Why Did You Have To Go , Anthony Geraci

Koko Taylor Award (Traditional Blues Female Artist):
Fiona Boyes
Lindsay Beaver
Ruthie Foster
Sue Foley
Trudy Lynn

Traditional Blues Male Artist:
Anthony Geraci
Cedric Burnside
James Harman
Lurrie Bell
Nick Moss

2018 BMA Peformers
Walter Trout & Little Steven Van Zandt
(photo by JSkolnickPhotography

2018 BMA Winner
Contemporary Blues Male Artist
Keb’ Mo’
(photo by Joseph A. Rosen

2018 BMA Winner
Instrumentalist – Harmonica
Jason Ricci
(photo by JSkolnickPhotography

The Blues Foundation announces the recipients of 2019’s prestigious Keeping The Blues Alive Awards!

Tue, 13 Nov 2018 04:00:00 GMT

The Blues Foundation announces the recipients of 2019’s prestigious Keeping The Blues Alive Awards!

THE BLUES FOUNDATION ANNOUNCES THE RECIPIENTS OF 2019’s PRESTIGIOUS “KEEPING THE BLUES ALIVE” AWARDS

The eleven honorees will be feted at the KBA Awards event to be held during the 35th International Blues Challenge taking place in Memphis January 22-26

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — On Friday, January 25, 2019 , The Blues Foundation will honor 11 individuals and organizations at its Keeping the Blues Alive Awards brunch, taking place at the Doubletree Hotel -Downtown Memphis at 10:30 a.m. Decided by a select panel of blues professionals, the annual KBA Awards recognize the writers, disc jockeys, photographers, record labels, blues societies, music clubs, festivals, and others in the blues world that have played vital roles in advancing the art and commerce of blues.

The KBA Awards are just part of The Blues Foundation ’s 35th Annual International Blues Challenge. Held in Memphis, along historic Beale Street, the IBC kicks off Tuesday, January 22, 2019 , with International Showcase performances and culminates with the finals at the Orpheum Theatre on Saturday, January 26, 2019, at 12 noon. More than 800 musicians from around the globe are anticipated to converge in Memphis to battle for glory — along with prizes and bookings — at the world’s largest and most renowned blues music competition. Showcases and jam sessions will occur daily along Beale Street with more music happening after the Challenge concludes each evening, going into the wee hours.

To purchase an International Blues Challenge Pass and final seating upgrades, along with tickets to the Keeping the Blues Alive Awards Brunch and Ceremony, please visit this link: IBC and KBA TICKETS AND UPGRADES

2019 Keeping the Blues Alive Awards recipients are:

ATLANTA BLUES SOCIETY
Founded in 1995, the Atlanta Blues Society promotes and preserves the blues through an innovative Blues in the Schools program, a weekly blues calendar, charitable events, monthly support of the Blue Flame Fund to assist blues musicians in need, and partnerships with Atlanta’s KBA awarded clubs, Darwin’s and Blind Willie’s. Since its inception, the ABS has grown to 400 members and has attracted 30 local sponsors. In addition to creating paying gigs for local bands, the ABS works with local music camps, providing scholarships for young musicians. The society also supports its IBC contestants each year by filming and recording all acts who compete and giving each entry their recorded set in hi-def video and mixed down multi-track audio, and the ABS winners receive as much studio time as needed to record a master disc, all free of charge. Perhaps most importantly, the ABS supports sustainable and popular charitable events including Blues Stotts, which raises money for cystic fibrosis care and research in memory of founding ABS member Larry Stotts. The ABS is particularly proud of its Georgia Blues & Roots Festival, its Georgia Music Legends Award, and its annual Toys for Tots drive.

BLUES ALIVE FESTIVAL
Blues Alive Festival, the oldest blues festival in the Czech Republic, was established in Sumperk in 1996. In the festival’s first years, performances were limited to Czech blues bands only. Later, acts from Slovakia and Germany and then the rest of Europe and the USA were added to the annual lineup. Soon Blues Alive became a major event not only for Czech blues fans but for blues fans from around the world. The roster of performing artists has included the Holmes Brothers, C.J. Chenier, Louisiana Red, Hubert Sumlin, Cephas & Wiggins, Joe Louis Walker, Sue Foley, Curtis Salgado, James Cotton, Lurrie Bell, Johnny Winter, Guitar Shorty, Shemekia Copeland, Nikki Hill, Maria Muldaur, Billy Branch, Lucky Peterson, Mark Hummel, Anson Funderburgh, Otis Taylor, Rick Estrin, Walter Wolfman Washington, John Németh, Mike Zito, Warren Haynes, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Samantha Fish, Otis Taylor, Jonny Lang, and many more. Beginning sixteen years ago, the festival added a final performance in Chorzow, Poland, to further expand its reach. On this special weekend in November each year, fans from around the world come together to celebrate the blues.

CAPITOL OYSTER BAR
Since 1996, Lewis Mashburn’s Capitol Oyster Bar in Montgomery, Alabama, has been a dedicated supporter of live blues. The club is one of the premier venues in the South to showcase and promote top blues artists from across the United States. Mashburn’s passion for the blues is evident in the way he and his staff treat both artists and patrons. Everyone who visits or plays at the Capital Oyster Bar is treated with great respect and warm hospitality. A sampling of artists who have performed over the years includes Bobby Rush, Charlie Musselwhite, Marcia Ball, Eddie Shaw, Bob Margolin, Watermelon Slim, Johnny Rawls, Golden State Lone Star Revue, Duke Robillard, John Primer, Bobby Blue Bland, Magic Slim and the Teardrops, Super Chikan, the Kinsey Report, Rory Block, and Jarekus Singleton. Lewis Mashburn and his club have helped build one of the most thriving blues scenes in the South. The Capital Oyster Bar exists for the music, cares for the musicians, and treats everyone like family.

CROATIAN BLUES FORCES
Organized in 2008, Croatian Blues Forces, a founding member of the European Blues Union, got its start when blues aficionado Drazen Buhin, the secretary of the Croatian Musicians Union, arranged for representation of Croatia at the first European Blues Conference, held that year in Parma, Italy. In June 2009, CBF sent its first musician to compete in the International Blues Challenge in Memphis. Later that year, CBF held its Croatian Blues Challenge following the model and rules of the IBC, and in January 2010, CBF sent the winners in both the solo/duo and band categories to Memphis. Every year since, CBF has conducted a Croatian Blues Challenge and sent representatives in both categories to the IBC. Ensuring the future of blues music in Croatia, CBF has sent representatives to the Youth Showcase three times, in 2013, 2014, and 2017. In cooperation with record labels Spona and Croatia Records, CBF has produced nine blues releases, with four more being finalized. CBF continues to support Blues in the Schools programs, both locally and internationally, produces local blues concerts throughout the year, and has either started or helped produce a number of blues festivals across Croatia.

HANS EKESTANG
Swedish blues photographer Hans Ekestang has been capturing the blues through his impressive photography since 1971. He has devoted the better part of his life to traveling internationally to create a superior catalog of photographs, having attended blues festivals across Scandinavia, Europe, and the United States. His subjects have included blues legends B.B. King, Muddy Waters, Chuck Berry, James Brown, Little Richard, Fats Domino, and Luther Allison, among countless others. 2008 Keeping the Blues Alive Award recipient Jefferson magazine has been featuring Ekestang’s images for over 45 years, with Ekestang providing his photos at no charge to ensure that they are seen by a broad public. His photographs have also been exhibited at numerous public events in Sweden, further educating the public about the blues. A 196-page book of his blues and R&B photos, Great Feelings and Meetings, has recently been published in Sweden and warmly welcomed by blues enthusiasts. Hans Ekestang has a unique talent for catching the moment and expressing the feelings of these artists on stage. His aim is to evoke the same feelings in anyone looking at the pictures.

JESSE FINKELSTEIN
Jesse Finkelstein has been keeping the blues alive for decades as the producer and host of Blues Radio International and co-founder of the Shining Stone Music Group. Blues Radio International is the world’s only weekly worldwide shortwave blues music broadcast streaming simultaneously on the internet. Rather than play only recorded music, Blues Radio International features exclusive live performances and interviews with top blues artists and others in the industry. Blues Radio International is heard by a vast audience that no other existing blues radio show, internet stream, or domestic broadcast has ever reached. It has confirmed listeners in nearly 200 countries, and its powerful shortwave radio signal reaches every continent. People listen to Blues Radio International not only on the internet but most importantly, the half of the world where there is no internet. Some listeners live in refugee camps or in extreme poverty. Others live in war zones or countries that restrict internet access. Jesse Finkelstein has personally provided all the funding for the international transmissions of Blues Radio International. Rather than accept contributions, he has asked instead that all donations be directed to The Blues Foundation to support its mission. Blues Radio International continues to strive to keep the blues alive through Jesse Finkelstein’s commitment and dedication to the genre.

SARAH FRENCH
Sarah French is the leading blues publicist in Canada. Her hard work, dedication, and experience in the music industry have earned her a reputation as the go-to publicist for Canadian musicians. In addition to an extensive current client roster of some of the best in Canadian blues and roots music, French has worked with 2010 KBA recipient Richard Flohil, Stony Plains Records, and late musician Jeff Healey. She represents several Juno Award and Maple Blues Award winners and nominees. For the past nine years, French has been responsible for the publicity for Canada’s national blues awards gala, the Maple Blues Awards, held each year in Toronto. She is also an active member of the Toronto Blues Society’s board of directors. A goal of French’s is to let the world know that Canadians have their own blues, and there are many blues music fans and musicians in the country who support and promote the music. Another goal is to help younger music fans discover blues music and how the blues has influenced today’s popular music.

JEAN GUILLERMO
Jean Guillermo’s passion is keeping the blues alive in France, and he has put thousands of hours into this endeavor. He is one of the six founding members of the European Blues Union and has served as both board member and vice president. In 2011 he helped found the French national blues society, France Blues, and has served as both vice president and president. He has spent his life dedicated to promoting blues music and blues musicians throughout France, Europe, and the world by facilitating relationships between festival promoters, radio stations and deejays, venues and clubs, magazines and print media, and the artists themselves. He founded and managed, as a full-time volunteer, a 17-day, multi-city blues festival with a mix of evening performances by blues musicians and daytime Blues in the Schools activities. He has brought blues music into all levels of education, from primary schools through universities, and to senior care centers, homeless shelters, jails and prisons, and hospitals. In 2018 he was honored by the European Blues Union with a Blues Behind the Scenes Award.

TOM HYSLOP
Since 1981, when he saw one of Muddy Waters’ last road performances, Tom Hyslop has been obsessed with the blues. It has been suggested that he has more CDs than most music stores or radio stations. Hyslop has been a staff writer and contributing editor for both Blues Revue and Blues Music Magazine. He has written liner notes as well as hundreds of CD reviews, and has conducted interviews with blues musicians for more than 20 years, with articles on Big Jack Johnson, Gary Clark Jr., Magic Slim, Rick Estrin, Nikki Hill, Nick Moss, John Németh, John Primer, Jody Williams, Li’l Ed Williams, and many others. Hyslop has also contributed year-end best-of lists for Blues Music Magazine and Blues Junction Productions for several years. He has been a talent-buying consultant for the Marquette (Michigan) Area Blues Fest for almost all of its 15-year existence, and for a short time he booked a Marquette restaurant and club, bringing artists such as Johnny Rawls, Phillip Walker, Sean Costello, and Eddie C. Campbell, among others, to his very small hometown. Hyslop has also been a supporter of and organized two successful fundraisers for the Sean Costello Memorial Fund for Bipolar Research.

DON OTTENSMAN
Don “Don O.” Ottensman has been playing the blues on KNON-FM, Dallas’s noncommercial 55,000-watt radio station, for 35 years. Ottensman’s show has been one of the biggest fundraisers during the station’s pledge drive for over 30 years. He has interviewed dozens of artists and blues celebrities for his show, including B.B. King, Buddy Guy, Little Milton, Denise LaSalle, Sonny Rhodes, Johnny Copeland, Jimmy Rogers, Sam Myers, and many more. On his radio show, musicians such as Larry Garner, Joe Louis Walker, Tutu Jones, and more were interviewed and played on the radio for the first time or very early in their careers. For 33 years he has produced an annual Freddie King birthday tribute and was part of the team that arranged for Gov. Ann Richards to declare Freddie King Day in the state of Texas on September 3, 1993. In 2002, he organized Dallas-Fort Worth Blues History Week around the 65th anniversary of Robert Johnson’s Dallas recording session.

BOB TRENCHARD
Catfood Records owner Bob Trenchard has worked in the music business for over 50 years in a variety of roles. Originally linked with Johnny Rawls and Kay Kay and the Rays as a bass player, songwriter, and producer, Trenchard launched Catfood Records in 2001 with the Rays’ Texas Justice CD. The Rays went on to record several albums for Catfood with Johnny Rawls, Barbara Carr, Otis Clay, James Armstrong, Jackie Johnson, Daunielle, Sandy Carroll, Dave Keller, and others. Catfood artists have won Living Blues Southern Soul Album of the Year four times, and five albums have made Downbeat magazine Critics’ Best Albums of the Year List. In addition, Catfood artists have been nominated for Blues Blast Music Awards and received nine BMA nominations. Trenchard’s service to the blues and to his community does not stop with his work for Catfood. He has served on the Blues Foundation’s board of directors and is president of the Trenchard Foundation, which has awarded 33 college scholarships to students in West Texas and New Mexico. In 2016, when his youngest son, Trey, died, Trenchard partnered with the University of Nebraska Foundation to ensure that his family’s support would continue in perpetuity through the Trenchard Institute of Excellence college scholarship program.

In addition to the KBA Awards brunch and the IBC’s multiple rounds of performances, the Blues Foundation will present a lineup of seminars, showcases, master classes, film screenings, exhibits, networking events, and receptions that musicians, blues professionals, and fans can attend. On Wednesday, January 23, the Blues Hall of Fame Museum hosts a noontime meet-and-greet for French photographer Sylvie Bosc , with a selection of her photographs on display. At 3:15 p.m., Bruce Iglauer , Blues Hall of Famer and founder of Alligator Records, will discuss and sign his just-released memoir, Bitten By the Blues . The documentary Two Trains Runnin’ , about the ’60s Civil Rights Movement and the search for forgotten blues musicians, screens at 1:00 p.m. on Thursday, January 24 at Blues City Café, with one of the film’s subjects, Dick Waterman (a three-time KBA recipient and 2000 Blues Hall of Fame inductee), participating in a post-screening Q&A. The IBC’s Keynote Panel (2:30 p.m. Friday, January 25) concerns “The Blues and Race,” with National Civil Rights Museum’s President and CEO Terri Freeman moderating this panel on the historical significance of race from blues music’s early origins through the present. Panelists will include Blues Hall of Famer Bobby Rush , 2005 IBC finalist Teeny Tucker , Marquise Knox , representing the new generation of blues musicians, and Blues Hall of Famer, Jim O’Neal , the co-founder of Living Blues magazine and Rooster Blues Records.

The Blues Foundation will again host health screenings for diabetes, cholesterol, PSA, Hepatitis C and other conditions free of charge to IBC musicians and attendees. MusiCares will be on site too as a partner to provide custom ear molds to those who qualify. Sponsored by the Blues Foundation’s HART (Handy Artists Relief Trust) Fund, the screenings take place on Wednesday, January 23 and Thursday, January 25, noon-2:30 p.m., on the second floor of Club 152 (152 Beale Street).

For more information about the International Blues Challenge, including the full schedule of events, IBC merchandise, and links to reserve discounted hotel rooms in Downtown Memphis, please visit: https://blues.org/international-blues-challenge/

The International Blues Challenge is sponsored by ArtsMemphis, The Tennessee Arts Commission, Memphis Tourism, The Memphis Airport Authority, AutoZone, BMI®, Four Roses Bourbon, Old Dominick’s Distillery, The Gibson Foundation, Lee Oskar Harmonicas , Consulate General of Canada , and broadcast partner, Ditty TV.

2018 IBC Band Winner, Keeshea Pratt Band
(photo by Sean Davis)

2018 IBC Solo/Duo Winner, Kevin “B.F.” Burt
(photo by Tom Davis)

2018 IBC Finalist, Betta Blues Society
(photo by Andrea Zucker)

BENEFIT 10/19: Across The Great Divide feat. John Prine, Bob Weir, Joe Louis Walker, & more

Wed, 22 Aug 2018 01:30:00 GMT

BENEFIT 10/19: Across The Great Divide feat. John Prine, Bob Weir, Joe Louis Walker, & more

UpperWest Music Group Presents

ACROSS THE GREAT DIVIDE

A Benefit Concert for
The Americana Music Association & The Blues Foundation
at The Ace Theatre in Los Angeles
on Friday, October 19

Stellar lineup to feature Americana, roots rock and blues stars including
John Prine, Bob Weir, Lucinda Williams, Lee Ann Womack, Shemekia Copeland, Doyle Bramhall II, Larkin Poe, Joe Louis Walker, Tash Neal and Surprise Guests

August 20, 2018–New York, NY – UpperWest Music Group is proud to present ACROSS THE GREAT DIVIDE , a benefit concert for The Americana Music Association and The Blues Foundation at the Ace Theatre in Los Angeles on Friday, October 19 . This will be the first time that these two outstanding music organizations join forces to shine a light on the deep connectivity between The Blues & Americana Music.

“It’s an honor to have a small part in helping the Americana Music Association and The Blues Foundation,” said Greg Williamson, concert producer and founder of UpperWest Music Group. “These two organizations represent some of the most significant artists in American music.”

ACROSS THE GREAT DIVIDE will bring together a stellar lineup featuring some of the leading names in Americana, Roots Rock, and Blues today including John Prine, Bob Weir, Lucinda Williams, Lee Ann Womack and Joe Louis Walker alongside younger contemporaries including Shemekia Copeland, Doyle Bramhall II, Larkin Poe, and Tash Neal , plus surprise guests. The superb house band will be led by musical director Jimmy Vivino from The Conan O’ Brien show .

“ The intersection of Americana and the Blues is a place of integrity, passion, and love of American roots traditions, ” said Jed Hilly, Executive Director of The Americana Music Association. “We are so grateful for Greg Williamson and UpperWest Music Group for their support and passion for the music we love. It’s a perfect partnership.”

“The Blues Foundation is most appreciative of UpperWest Music Group and Greg Williamson for creating an evening to celebrate the ties between The Blues and Americana music,” said Barbara Newman, President & CEO, The Blues Foundation, “Each of our organizations and the genres we represent are intricately linked. While The Blues Foundation and the Americana Music Association have had a strong working relationship behind the scenes for many years now, I am especially excited for this opportunity to publicly spread the word of our missions together during what I know will be a unique and special night of music.”

Pre-sale tickets will go on sale on THURSDAY AUGUST 23 at 12 Noon ET/9:00 am PT and tickets for the public will go live on FRIDAY AUGUST 24 12 Noon ET/9:00 am PT . All tickets can be purchased through AXS.COM .

###

About the Americana Music Association:
The Americana Music Association® is a professional not-for-profit trade organization whose mission is to advocate for the authentic voice of American roots music around the world. The Association produces events throughout the year; including AMERICANAFEST®: The Americana Music Festival & Conference and the critically acclaimed Americana Honors & Awards program. The Americana Music Association® receives enormous support from the Tennessee Department of Tourism, Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp, Lagunitas Brewing Company, RAM, Mountain Valley Water, ASCAP, BMI, SESAC.

About The Blues Foundation:
The Blues Foundation is Memphis-based but world-renowned as THE organization whose mission is to preserve blues heritage, celebrate blues recording and performance, expand worldwide awareness of the blues, and ensure the future of this uniquely American art form. Founded in 1980, The Blues Foundation has over 4,000 individual and business members and 187 affiliated local blues societies representing another 50,000 fans and professionals around the world. Its signature honors and events – The Blues Music Awards, Blues Hall of Fame, International Blues Challenge, and Keeping the Blues Alive Awards – make it the international center of blues music. Its HART Fund provides the blues community with medical assistance for musicians in need while Blues in the Schools programs and Generation Blues scholarships expose new generations to blues music. The Blues Hall of Fame Museum, located in Memphis, TN, offers the opportunity for music lovers of all ages to interact with the music and the history.

Support The Blues Foundation by becoming an affiliated blues society, blues business associate, or individual member, or by making a charitable donation. The Blues Foundation is a 501C-3 not-for-profit organization and your donations are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.

About UpperWest Music Group:
The UpperWest Music Group curates. produces, and executes exceptional, one-of-a-kind concerts nationwide. Entrepreneurial and philanthropic at our core, we concept and produce rock ‘n’ roll, soul, blues, roots and funk marquee concerts. All of our shows feature world-class artists who have a deep respect for each other’s craft and musicianship. We are deeply passionate about every project we take on, and the experience, cause, and purpose are always of the utmost importance to us.

Press Contact:
DKC
Aliza Rabinoff
2 12-981-5157
Aliza_rabinoff@ dkcnews.com

BREAKING: Blues Music Awards winners announced; Taj Mahal & Keb’ Mo’s ‘TajMo’ wins seven awards

Fri, 11 May 2018 07:44:00 GMT

BREAKING: Blues Music Awards winners announced; Taj Mahal & Keb’ Mo’s ‘TajMo’ wins seven awards

Blues Music Awards winners announced!

TAJMO COLLABORATORS TAJ MAHAL AND KEB’ MO’ TEAM UP AGAIN TO WIN SEVEN AWARDS COMBINED AT THE BLUES FOUNDATION’S 39TH ANNUAL BLUES MUSIC AWARDS

Rick Estrin scored a trio of honors too at blues music’s big night, with Mavis Staples, Trombone Shorty, and Robert Cray also among the winners.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The 39th annual Blues Music Awards turned into something of a one-year anniversary party for Taj Mahal and Keb’ Mo’ . Their acclaimed collaboration TajMo , which was released on May 4, 2017, picked up both Album of the Year and Contemporary Blues Album honors at this all-star ceremony that The Blues Foundation hosted on May 10. An American roots music legend who was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 2009, Taj Mahal also was named the B.B. King Entertainer of the Year and best Acoustic Artist, while his equally heralded musical partner Keb’ Mo’ was chosen best Contemporary Blues Male Artist .

Rick Estrin was the night’s other big multi-award winner. Estrin, who had garnered the most BMA nominations with eight, was selected best Traditional Blues Male Artist , his song “The Blues Ain’t Going Nowhere” won Song of the Year , and Rick Estrin & the Nightcats earned the Band of the Year honors.

Little Steven Van Zandt was a masterful host for the festivities presented at Memphis’ Cook Convention Center . He also served as one of the evening’s award presenters along with such revered musicians as Tony Joe White, Joe Louis Walker, Candi Staton, Janiva Magness, David Porter , and Ruthie Foster . Van Zandt capped off the night by joining guitarist Mike Zito on stage to close down the dynamic show on a high note.

Mike Zito also was picked as the best Blues Rock Artist , which was one of the two new categories that the Blues Foundation added to the Blues Music Awards this year. The other new category, best Instrumentalist-Vocals , was nabbed by Beth Hart .

Ruthie Foster not only was a presenter but a winner too of the Koko Taylor Award for Traditional Blues Female Artist. Another fine blues guitarist, Samantha Fish , was chosen Best Contemporary Female Blues Artist , while Mavis Staples retained her title as Soul Blues Female Artist. The Soul Blues Male Artist winner also was a returnee from last year, Curtis Salgado . Victor Wainwright , similarly, held on to the Pinetop Perkins Piano Award for Instrumentalist–Piano, a title he has won four of the last six years.

Doug MacLeod , the Acoustic Artist award winner the last two years, topped the Acoustic Album category this year for Break the Chain . The other best album honors went to Walter Trout ’s We’re All In This Together for Rock Blues Album , Monster Mike Welch and Mike Ledbetter ’s Right Place, Right Time for Traditional Blues Album , and Robert Cray & Hi Rhythm ’s self-titled effort for Soul Blues Album .

Wainwright and Hart’s fellow winners in the Instrumentalist categories were Trombone Shorty as Horn Player of the Year , Michael “Mudcat” Ward as Bass Player of the Year , Tony Braunagel as Drummer of the Year , Jason Ricci as Harmonica Player of the Year , and Ronnie Earl as Guitarist of the Year .

The Blues Music Awards encompass a broad range of blues styles as well as recognizing both great old and new blues performances. This year’s winner for best Historical Album was Ruf Recordings ’ Luther Allison compilation A Legend Never Dies, Essential Recordings 1976-1997 , while the Best Emerging Artist Album went to hometown heroes Southern Avenue for their eponymous debut on Stax Records.

The packed house of top blues musicians, music business professionals and devoted fans from around the globe not only got to salute the best in blues for the past year but also enjoyed a night filled with terrific live performances. Many of the nominees and winners lit up the stage, including Keb’ Mo’, Rick Estrin & the Nightcats, Walter Trout, Southern Avenue, Monster Mike Welch & Mike Ledbetter Band, North Mississippi Allstars, Guy Davis, Vanessa Collier, Larkin Poe, and The Anthony Paule Soul Orchestra featuring Vaneese Thomas, Trudy Lynn, Sugaray Rayford, Wee Willie Walker . Blues music continues to grow and thrive; half of the performances on the BMA stage were led by artists who are under the age of 45, with many still in their 20s and 30s. Blues Foundation President and CEO Barbara Newman reports, “We are watching the trends closely, and the blues, as a genre, is definitely on an uptick, with younger musicians being drawn to create and play this style of music and a continually growing following of the music on our social media outlets and beyond.”

Here is the complete list of Blues Music Award winners (final)

1. Acoustic Album: Break the Chain – Doug MacLeod

2. Acoustic Artist : Taj Mahal

3. Album : TajMo – Taj Mahal & Keb’ Mo’

4. B.B. King Entertainer : Taj Mahal

5. Band : Rick Estrin & the Nightcats

6. Best Emerging Artist Album : Southern Avenue – Southern Avenue

7. Contemporary Blues Album : TajMo – Taj Mahal & Keb’ Mo’

8. Contemporary Blues Female Artist : Samantha Fish

9. Contemporary Blues Male Artist : Keb’ Mo’

10. Historical : A Legend Never Dies, Essential Recordings 1976-1997 – Luther Allison (Ruf Recordings)

11. Instrumentalist-Vocalist: Beth Hart

12. Instrumentalist-Bass: Michael “Mudcat” Ward

13. Instrumentalist-Drums: Tony Braunagel

14. Instrumentalist-Guitar : Ronnie Earl

15. Instrumentalist-Harmonica : Jason Ricci

16. Instrumentalist-Horn : Trombone Shorty

17. Pinetop Perkins Piano Player (Instrumentalist – Piano): Victor Wainwright

18. Koko Taylor Award (Traditional Blues Female): Ruthie Foster

19. Rock Blues Album: We’re All In This Together – Walter Trout

20. Rock Blues Artist: Mike Zito

21. Song: “The Blues Ain’t Going Nowhere” written by Rick Estrin and performed by Rick Estrin

22. Soul Blues Album: Robert Cray & Hi Rhythm – Robert Cray & Hi Rhythm

23. Soul Blues Female Artist: Mavis Staples

24. Soul Blues Male Artist: Curtis Salgado

25. Traditional Blues Album: Right Place, Right Time – Mike Welch and Mike Ledbetter

26. Traditional Blues Male Artist: Rick Estrin

Mavis Staples had more to celebrate this week besides being named the best Soul Blues Female Artist. The day before her Blues Music Awards victory, her father, the late guitar great Roebuck “Pops” Staple s , was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame . This year’s other new members included the incomparable drummer Sam Lay ; the renowned blues pianist and songwriter Georgia Tom Dorsey ; acclaimed Chicago blues band The Aces ; the first “Queen of the Blues,” singer Mamie Smith ; and, in a non-musician category, Al Benson , the legendary Chicago disc jockey, promoter and music entrepreneur. The historic recordings honored by the Blues Hall of Fame were Ma Rainey ’s “See See Rider Blues,” Albert King ’s “Cross Cut Saw,” Joe Turner ’s “Roll ‘Em Pete,” Booker T. & the MG’s’ “Green Onions,” and Bo Diddley ’s “I’m a Man,” while B.B. King ’s 1967 album Blues Is King was this year’s Classic of Blues Recording Album entrant. Additionally, the Bob Riesman authoritative 2011 biography I Feel So Good: The Life and Times of Big Bill Broonzy was inducted as 2018’s Classic of Blues Literature selection.

While the Blues Hall of Fame Induction ceremony and the Blues Music Awards certainly rank as highlights, the Blues Foundation’s Blues Music Week also contained a variety of special events, including a Little Steven concert, a special meet-and-greet with painter Michael P. Maness (whose art is currently on display in the Blues Hall of Fame Museum), a Bob Porter book signing, a Recording Academy luncheon, free health screenings hosted by the Blues Foundation’s HART Fund, and a lively jam session fundraiser that followed the Induction ceremony.

As Little Steven said in his introductory speech, “At a time our country is more segregated than at any time in the past 100 years, music holds us together and touches all our souls.”

About the Blues Foundation : This world-renowned, Memphis-based organization holds a mission to preserve blues heritage, celebrate blues recording and performance, expand worldwide awareness of the blues, and ensure the future of this uniquely American art form. Founded in 1980, the Blues Foundation has more than 4,000 individual members and close to 200 affiliated blues societies representing another 50,000 fans and professionals around the world. Its signature honors and events — the Blues Music Awards, International Blues Challenge, and Keeping the Blues Alive Awards — make it the international hub of blues music. Its HART Fund provides the blues community with medical assistance for musicians in need, while Blues in the Schools programs and Generation Blues Scholarships expose new generations to blues music. Throughout the year, the Foundation staff serves the global blues community with answers, information, and news.

http://www.blues.org
# # #

For more information regarding the Blues Foundation’s 39th Annual International Blues Challeng e, please contact Conqueroo :
Cary Baker • (323) 656-1600 • cary@conqueroo.com
Brian O’Neal • (310) 702-8844 • brian@conqueroo.com

Photo by Joseph A. Rosen

Photo by Jeff Fasano

Photo by Joseph A. Rosen

Photo by Jeff Fasano

Photo by Joseph A. Rosen

Photo by Jeff Fasano

Photo by Joseph A. Rosen

NEWS: Little Steven joins Blues Foundation’s Hall of Fame inductees and Blues Music Awards winners

Wed, 11 Apr 2018 14:44:00 GMT

NEWS: Little Steven joins Blues Foundation’s Hall of Fame inductees and Blues Music Awards winners

The sounds, and the stars, of the blues rule Memphis when Blues Music Week kicks off on May 8.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — There has never been a Blues Music Week quite like one that will be happening this May, and it all starts and ends with Little Steven Van Zandt . Back in January, Little Steven served as a finals judge for the International Blues Challenge, and came away so impressed with The Blues Foundation’s work to preserve blues heritage and celebrate blues recording and performance that he offered to return as the host of the Blues Music Awards in order to help bring even greater awareness to the significance of this music form. He will launch Blues Music Week with a special Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul show at Memphis’ Minglewood Hall on Tuesday, May 8. Then, on Thursday, May 10, he’ll emcee the biggest awards show in Blues at the Cook Convention Center, where he will be joined on stage by such big-name award presenters as Steve Miller , Joe Louis Walker , Janiva Magness , Tito Jackson , Candi Staton , and Tony Joe White .

Wednesday, May 9 holds its own rewards for music fans when The Halloran Centre for Performing Arts will open its doors for the Blues Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony . There is a cocktail reception at 5:30 pm, which leads into the ceremony at 6:30 pm. This event is open to the public; tickets are $75 per person and are available at 2018 Blues Hall of Fame Ceremony Tickets .

The 39th class of Hall of Fame inductees features an illustrious lineup: guitar great Roebuck “Pops” Staples , the incomparable drummer Sam Lay , the renowned blues pianist and songwriter Georgia Tom Dorsey , the acclaimed Chicago blues band The Aces , and the first “Queen of the Blues,” singer Mamie Smith .

After the joy-filled BHOF ceremony concludes, everyone is invited attend Big LLou’s 6th Annual Blues Hall of Fame Tribute Jam & Juke Joynt Party at the Warehouse. The show, which begins at 9 pm, serves as a fundraiser for the Blues Foundation and Generation Blues, a program that sends qualified music students to blues camps or workshops to study their instrument of choice.

The Blues Hall of Fame Museum is the starting point for the festivities on Thursday, May 10. Visitors will get a first look at newly installed memorabilia from its 2018 inductee class, to include such items as Sam Lay’s cape and cane to Aces’ member Louis Myers’ harmonica. Then, from 11:30 a.m. until 1:30 p.m., the museum will host a special meet-and-greet with painter Michael P. Maness, whose art is currently on display in its Legendary Rhythm and Blues Cruise Gallery. The exhibit showcases his portraits of Blues Hall of Famers and past Blues Music Award winners, and many are signed by the performers represented in the works. Don’t be surprised if a number of the musicians depicted in the paintings visit this program to sign paintings. All the artwork is available for purchase, with a portion of each sale being donated by the artist to the Blues Foundation.

Also May 10, from noon-2:30 pm, the Blues Foundation’s HART Fund will hold health screenings for all musicians, free of charge, on the mezzanine level of Sheraton Hotel, which is the official BMA host hotel. MusicCares will be on hand to fit musicians who qualify for custom-made ear molds to protect their hearing. Additionally, The Memphis, Chicago and Texas chapters of the Recording Academy will host their annual BMA reception, at 1 pm. Taking place at the Sheraton Downtown Memphis Hotel, this event is open to all BMA attendees.

The day’s main event is the Blues Music Awards, which starts off with a reception beginning at 5:30 pm in the Grand Lobby of the Memphis Cook Convention Center. There will be live music from various nominees, along with a cash bar. The BMA ceremony, hosted by Little Steven, commences at 7 p.m. sharp in the Convention Center’s Grand Ballroom. The exciting evening includes a seated dinner, 26 award presentations and a full night of nominee performances. The fun will spill out into the Grand Ballroom’s foyer, where you’ll find a one-of-a-kind silent auction. BMA tickets are available to the public and are on sale now — $150 per person or a table of 10 for $1500 — at www.blues.org .

The first big event for Little Steven during Blues Music Week is the Minglewood Hall concert on Tuesday, May 8. This Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul show is part of their landmark tour benefiting the Rock and Roll Forever Foundation’s TeachRock initiative, which is centered around a national middle and high school curriculum. This outreach program fits in with the Blues Foundation’s own educational mission to bring more blues to the next generation. Before the concert’s sound-check, the Rock and Roll Forever Foundation will also host free TeachRock Professional Development Workshops, and educators who attend will receive a complimentary ticket to that evening’s show. Educators in the Memphis area can contact Christine@RockAndRollForever.org for more information.

About The Blues Foundation: This world-renowned, Memphis-based organization holds a mission to preserve blues heritage, celebrate blues recording and performance, expand worldwide awareness of the blues, and ensure the future of this uniquely American art form. Founded in 1980, the Blues Foundation has over 4,000 individual members and close to 200 affiliated blues societies representing another 50,000 fans and professionals around the world. Its signature honors and events — the Blues Music Awards, International Blues Challenge, and Keeping the Blues Alive Awards — make it the international hub of blues music. Its HART Fund provides the blues community with medical assistance for musicians in need, while Blues in the Schools programs and Generation Blues Scholarships expose new generations to blues music. Throughout the year, the Foundation staff serves the global blues community with answers, information, and news.

About the Blues Hall of Fame Museum: Since opening in May of 2015, the Blues Hall of Fame Museum has become a must-see destination for blues aficionados and casual fans alike. Through its ten permanent galleries and the Upstairs Legendary Rhythm and Blues Cruise Gallery’s temporary exhibit space, the museum exposes, educates, and entertains visitors, providing them a unique way to explore blues culture and history, while also highlighting its 400 inductees. Visitors can use interactive touch-screens to access databases that allow them to hear music, watch videos, and read stories about every museum’s inductees. Guests can also view one-of-a-kind memorabilia, from musical instruments and tour attire to awards and artwork. Located at 421 S. Main Street, Memphis, the museum is open seven days a week (Mon.-Sat., 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; Sun., 1-5 p.m.). Admission is $10 per person; free for children and Blues Foundation members. The museum is also available for private parties and events after hours. For more information, call 901-527-2583.

# # #

For more information regarding The Blues Foundation’s Blues Music Week, please contact Conqueroo:
Cary Baker • (323) 656-1600 • cary@conqueroo.com

NEWS: THE BLUES HALL OF FAME WELCOMES ROEBUCK “POPS” STAPLES, SAM LAY, MAMIE SMITH, GEORGIA TOM DORSEY AND THE ACES AS ITS NEWEST MEMBERS ON MAY 9 AT THE BLUES FOUNDATION’S 39TH ANNUAL INDUCTION CE...

Mon, 05 Mar 2018 17:17:00 GMT

NEWS: THE BLUES HALL OF FAME WELCOMES ROEBUCK “POPS” STAPLES, SAM LAY, MAMIE SMITH, GEORGIA TOM DORSEY AND THE ACES AS ITS NEWEST MEMBERS ON MAY 9 AT THE BLUES FOUNDATION’S 39TH ANNUAL INDUCTION CEREMONY

Historic recordings by Ma Rainey, B.B. King, Joe Turner, Bo Diddley, Albert King, and Booker T. & the MG’s will also be recognized with

Hall of Fame induction.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — On May 9 , The Blues Foundation will celebrate the 39th class of Blues Hall of Fame inductees in a ceremony taking place at the Halloran Centre for the Performing Arts and Education in Memphis, Tennessee. This year, there will be 13 illustrious honorees, representing all five of the Hall of Fame’s categories: Performers, Non-Performing Individuals, Classic of Blues Literature, Classic of Blues Recording (Song) and Classic of Blues Recording (Album).

The 2018 class of performers covers nearly a century of music making . The inductees include Mamie Smith , the 1920s singer who has been hailed as the first “Queen of the Blues,” and Georgia Tom Dorsey , the blues pianist and songwriter who was Ma Rainey’s accompanist in the 1920s and later Tampa Red’s musical partner. The golden age of Chicago blues is represented by renowned band The Aces (featuring Louis Myers, Dave Myers, and Fred Below) and the legendary drummer Sam Lay . The late Roebuck “Pops” Staples will be joining his daughter Mavis, a 2017 inductee, in the Blues Hall of Fame.

B.B. King ’s 1967 album Blues Is King is this year’s Classic of Blues Recording Album entrant, while the five classic blues recordings feature Ma Rainey ’s “See See Rider Blues,” Albert King ’s “Cross Cut Saw,” Joe Turner ’s “Roll ‘Em Pete,” Booker T. & the MG’s “Green Onions,” and Bo Diddley ’s “I’m a Man,” the B side to “Bo Diddley,” which was inducted last year as a Classic of Blues Recording.

The year’s honoree in the Non-Performer category is Al Benson , the disc jockey, promoter, and music entrepreneur who was the long-time powerbroker of the Chicago blues scene. The 2018 pick for the Classic of Blues Literature is I Feel So Good: The Life and Times of Big Bill Broonzy , the authoritative 2011 biography written by Bob Riesman .

May 9’s Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony will kick off at the Halloran Centre (225 South Main Street, Memphis) at 5:30 p.m. with a cocktail reception, which will be followed by formal inductions at 6:30 p.m. More music magic continues the next evening, May 10, when the Blues Foundation presents the 39th Annual Blues Music Awards at Memphis’ Cook Convention Center. Both events are open to the public and tickets are now on sale at THIS LINK . The Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony Tickets cost $75 per person; Blues Music Award tickets are $150 per person.

Since opening in May, 2015, the Museum has been a treasure for both serious blues fans and casual visitors. Offering intriguing exhibits (including traveling exhibits that rotate every four months) and in-depth history, the museum educates and entertains visitors with all that is blues culture, while 10 individualized galleries feature interactive touchscreen displays along with three master databases where they can hear the music, watch videos, and read the stories about each of the Hall of Fame’s over 400 inductees. Additionally, each gallery displays an array of cool items: album covers, photographs, historic awards, unique art, musical instruments, costumes, and other one-of-a-kind memorabilia such as R.L. Burnside’s guitar, Koko Taylor’s dress, Otis Spann’s piano, Eddy Clearwater’s Indian Headdress, and Charlie Musselwhite’s harmonica.

The Blues Hall of Fame Museum was built through the generosity and support of blues fans so that it would serve all four components of the Blues Foundation’s mission: preserving blues heritage, celebrating blues recording and performance, expanding awareness of the blues genre, and ensuring the future of the music. The Museum (421 S. Main St., Memphis) is open Monday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., and Sundays, 1 p.m.-5 p.m. Admission for adults is $10; students with ID are $8. Entry is free for children under 12 and for Blues Foundation members. To become a member, visit www.blues.org and click on Join Now, for as little as $25 per person.

ABOUT THE INDUCTEES:

Roebuck “Pops” Staples
Roebuck “Pops” Staples, one of the foremost figures in American gospel music as a singer, guitarist, and patriarch of the Staple Singers family group, was a blues performer in his younger days, and his blues-drenched guitar work was a constant trademark of the Staple Singers’ gospel sound. Staples traced his style back to the hymns and spirituals he learned from his grandfather and the blues he heard in Mississippi. Roebuck and his older brother Sears, the last two of fourteen Staples children, were named after the Chicago mail-order company that numbered many rural African-Americans among its millions of customers, including many who ordered guitars by mail. Another Staples brother, David, played blues guitar before becoming a preacher, and a famous relative born years later was Oprah Winfrey, whose great-grandmother was Roebuck’s aunt, Ella Staples.

Staples was born on a farm near Winona, Mississippi, on December 28, 1914. The family moved around, ending up at the famous Dockery plantation—longtime home of Delta blues king Charley Patton—around 1923. Inspired by Patton and Howlin’ Wolf (a Patton devotee who often performed in the nearby town of Drew), Staples took up guitar and began frequenting local juke house parties, but also sang in church and at local gospel gatherings, sometimes with the Golden Trumpets. Although he chose to stay on the gospel path, he remained a lifelong blues fan and was a friend to many blues singers, from Wolf and Muddy Waters to Albert and B.B. King.

Staples’ children Cleotha and Pervis were born at Dockery, followed by Yvonne, Mavis, and Cynthia after the family moved to Chicago. Staples put the guitar aside for several years while he worked meatpacking, factory, and construction jobs to support his brood, although he sang locally with the Trumpet Jubilees. The success of their 1956 recording “Uncloudy Day” enabled Pops, Pervis, and Cleotha to quit their day jobs to become full-time singers. Pops and Pervis had been lead vocalists when the group began, but Mavis’ powerful voice soon took center stage. Under Pops’ guidance, the Staple Singers not only earned the title “the first family of gospel music,” but also developed followings among blues, soul, folk, rock, and jazz audiences with their inspirational “message songs.”

The Staple Singers’ Vee-Jay 45 “Too Close,” featuring Pops’ down-home guitar, was recorded live at a concert in Clarksdale, Mississippi, in 1960 by legendary WROX blues and gospel DJ and promoter Early Wright. Revenant Records later included it on the award-winning box set The Worlds of Charley Patton . Staples was heard to play Patton’s blues note-for-note at home or backstage, but would not perform the songs onstage.

Although he professed not to be a blues singer, Staples did collaborate with guitarists Albert King and Steve Cropper on the Stax album Jammed Together , and he won a Grammy in the Contemporary Blues category in 1994 for his final CD, Father Father . “It’s just my way of playing,” he explained. “I can’t get away from it—it’s gonna have a little touch of blues.” The Rhythm & Blues Foundation honored Staples with a Pioneer Award in 1992, and in 1998 he was awarded a National Heritage Fellowship by the National Endowment for the Arts. The Staple Singers were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999. Pops died on December 19, 2000. His daughter Mavis was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 2017.

Sam Lay
Sam Lay joins his main influence, Fred Below of the Aces, as the first Chicago blues drummers elected to the Blues Hall of Fame. Lay is one of the rare blues drummers to earn crossover fame in the rock world, beginning with his work with the Paul Butterfield Blues Band and others, but his résumé is loaded with blues credentials both before and after he played on the Butterfield band’s historic debut album in 1965. He is the fourth member of the band to enter the Blues Hall of Fame, following Butterfield, Mike Bloomfield, and Elvin Bishop.

Lay says his drumming trademark, the double shuffle, is based on the double-time rhythms of the hand-clapping and tambourines he heard in church in Birmingham, Alabama, where he was born on March 20. 1935. He began performing with bands after moving to Cleveland, and arrived in Chicago when recruited by harmonica wizard Little Walter. Lay left Walter’s combo to begin a long stint with Howlin’ Wolf’s band, playing on the Blues Hall of Fame classics “Killing Floor” and “I Ain’t Superstitious.” Lay recalls that he only switched bands again when Paul Butterfield offered him a pay raise—to play Chicago clubs for $20 a night. During his tenure with Butterfield he also accompanied Bob Dylan at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival and on one studio session for the Highway 61 Revisited album. Lay’s time with Butterfield was cut short when an illness landed him in the hospital in late 1965, and he joined James Cotton’s new band and later began a long association with the Siegel-Schwall Band. As his own name was established, he launched a career leading a band while continuing to lay down the beat for many others in the studio, in Chicago clubs, and on the road. In the ’60s he played with Muddy Waters, Butterfield, and others on the historic Fathers and Sons concert and album, recorded in the studio with Cotton, and accompanied Magic Sam, Lightnin’ Hopkins, and Wolf on shows that were taped and later released on LP or CD.

Lay sang “Got My Mojo Working” on the Paul Butterfield Blues Band album and followed that with four 1966 tracks on the Testament LP Goin’ to Chicago and his first full album, Sam Lay in Bluesland , for Blue Thumb, in 1969. Later albums appeared on Appaloosa, Telarc, Evidence, and other labels in the U.S. and Europe, and Lay added to his discography by drumming on sessions by the Bob Riedy Blues Band, Wild Child Butler, Johnny Littlejohn, Carey Bell, Eddy Clearwater, Siegel-Schwall, Mojo Buford, Jimmy D. Lane, Hubert Sumlin, Rockin’ Johnny, Sunnyland Slim, Barrelhouse Chuck, Eomot Rasun, Easy Baby, Bonnie Lee, Mississippi Heat, Kenny Neal, Byther Smith, Taj Mahal, and others. His Sam Lay Blues Revival Band toured the U.S. and Canada, with Butler, Littlejohn, Jimmy Rogers, Eddie Taylor, and others featured in the revue. Lay also developed a talent as a down-home blues guitar player.

In addition to his musical skills, Lay earned a reputation for his cordiality and for the silent home movies he shot in the Chicago clubs, capturing rare footage of Howlin’ Wolf, Little Walter, and others. He was elected to the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame in 1992.

Mamie Smith
Mamie Smith, the first true queen of the blues, created a sensation with the phenomenal success of her 1920 recording of “Crazy Blues” and her extravagant stage shows. Not only did she help pioneer a new trend that led to the creation of what was called the “race record” market for African-American buyers, but she also validated the blues, which was not regarded as a valuable commodity in certain musical circles. Her following cut across racial lines, and she broke new ground by taking blues into uncharted territories—a reviewer in Anaconda, Montana, in 1923, for instance, gushed: “Nothing of the kind has ever been seen or heard here before. . . . Mamie Smith is a riot of whirling color, twinkling feet and jazz melodies.”

Smith’s training in the theater and vaudeville prepared her to emerge on the blues circuit with a formidable act for other divas to challenge. Her blues had polish, her wardrobe was lavish, and her troupes of dancers, singers, and comedians brought press notices such as “the cleanest and most wholesome colored attraction now touring” and “high-class dancing and clean-cut comedy.” Her flamboyance carried over into a luxurious lifestyle afforded by the sudden wealth she amassed. She bought three houses in New York, complete with fine accoutrements, servants, and, one visitor noted, “rugs on the floor as thick as mattresses.”

Smith continued to record until 1931 for OKeh and other labels, scoring early hits with “Dangerous Blues,” “Lonesome Mama,” a reissue of her first release, “You Can’t Keep a Good Man Down,” and others. Her popularity as a recording artist was soon eclipsed by other women such as Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith, but she remained a major attraction on the Theatre Owners Booking Association (TOBA) circuit. In a retrospective piece in 1955, Floyd G. Snelson wrote in the Chicago Defender : “Mamie carried thousand dollar bills in her money belt. She bought gilt securities, and a farm in the South. All of this went with the crash of 1929 and the poor gal lived off charity and friends until her death.” This was somewhat at odds with how Snelson described her in 1939: “Mamie is hale and hearty and looks the picture of health, having lost many fortunes during her eventful career. . . . She’s a grand gal if you ask me!” While the 1930s were lean years in the business, Mamie’s management continued to feed the press with stories of her touring in “a blaze of glory” and headlines such as “Mamie Smith is Still the South’s Favorite Singer” in 1934 and afterward. From 1939 to 1942 Mamie revived a film career which began with Jail House Blues in 1929, appearing in movies such as Sunday Sinners, Paradise in Harlem, and Murder on Lenox Avenue . She was reportedly married to promoter and film producer Jack Goldberg at one point.

Some details of her life remain sketchy, and there is still debate about her birth and death dates. The 1939 Chicago Defender article offered some important details, stating that she was born Mamie Robinson in Cincinnati on September 19, 1890, and began performing at the age of ten. The 1890 citation is in line with her age as entered in the census and mentioned in obituaries. Sheldon Harris, author of Blues Who’s Who , published information he obtained from a Mamie Smith death certificate that listed her dates of birth (May 26, 1883) and death (September 16, 1946), but he noted that both dates were unconfirmed (the certificate turned out to be for a different Mamie Smith). He listed other possible death dates and, based on a report from a New York columnist in Pittsburgh’s African-American paper the Courier , one of them was correct: October 30, 1946.

The former blues queen was buried without a headstone. Singer Victoria Spivey, an admirer and rival, helped put together a tribute to her memory at New York’s Celebrity Club in 1964 to raise money for a monument, and a headstone was reportedly sent from Germany. Finally, after a new campaign by Michael Cala, a headstone was dedicated in 2014, engraved with the unconfirmed dates quoted in Blues Who’s Who .

Georgia Tom Dorsey
Thomas A. Dorsey was famed as the “Father of Gospel Music,” but earlier in his career he was “Georgia Tom,” a Chicago blues pianist, Ma Rainey accompanist, partner of Tampa Red, and composer of the some of the most humorous and risqué songs of the 1920s and early ’30s.

Dorsey was born July 1, 1899, in Villa Rica, Georgia, and developed his piano-playing skills as a teenager in Atlanta, where he was known as “Barrelhouse Tom.” He moved to Chicago in 1916 and began playing with local groups, and started traveling with Ma Rainey’s troupe in the 1920s. Dorsey learned to write, arrange, and publish songs, and by 1923 his compositions were being recorded for the Paramount label by Alberta Hunter and others. He collaborated with Tampa Red from 1928 to 1932, and their Vocalion recording of “It’s Tight Like That” became one of the biggest hits of the era. In need of a name that could be paired with Tampa Red’s, Tom Dorsey became Georgia Tom. Dorsey also had a number of releases of his own, in addition to recording with Ma Rainey, Memphis Minnie, Jim Jackson, the Hokum Boys, and others. With his many roles, he could be viewed as the Willie Dixon of his particular era of Chicago blues.

Dorsey was also writing gospel songs at the same time, and eventually left the blues to devote himself to gospel. He did not record much as a gospel singer, but launched a lucrative career as a music publisher and wrote two famous gospel songs, “Precious Lord,” inspired by the tragic deaths of his wife and day-old child, and “Peace in the Valley.” One of the keys to gospel, a more modern style than the old spirituals and hymns, Dorsey said, was the infusion of “the feeling and the pathos and the moans and the blues . . . that got me over.”

Dorsey directed choirs at Pilgrim Baptist Church in Chicago, in addition to organizing national gospel conventions and operating his publishing business. He died on January 23, 1993. Dorsey never condemned the blues, and told Living Blues magazine in 1975: “There’s just as great a message in the blues as it is in gospel. It depends on the position in which the individual is in.”

The Aces (Louis Myers, Dave Myers, and Fred Below)
Brothers Louis and Dave Myers and their longtime friend Fred Below (pronounced BEE-low) formed the Three Aces, one of Chicago’s premier blues combos, in the early 1950s. Also known as the Three Dukes, the Four Aces (when they hooked up with Junior Wells), the Jukes (when they teamed with Little Walter), or more often just the Aces, the band was in demand to play behind various singers, but also could deliver top-notch blues with Louis Myers taking a lead role.

The Myers brothers and their older harmonica-player sibling Bob were born into a musical family in the country near Byhalia, Mississippi—Louis on September 18, 1929, and Dave on October 30, 1927. They moved to Chicago 1941. Louis had started playing guitar in Mississippi and took it up again in Chicago, followed by Dave, who later switched to electric bass. They played with other blues artists on the South Side and on their own, without a drummer until Below joined. Below, who was born in Chicago on September 6, 1926, brought experience from playing in high school and U.S. Army bands and studying at a percussion school. Trained in jazz, he found the blues difficult at first but before long he had developed his own backbeat style, which set the standard for generations of blues drummers to come.

The group first recorded in 1952, backing Little Walter on “Mean Old World” and other numbers for Checker, a subsidiary of Chess Records in Chicago. Other sessions, club dates, and tours with Walter followed. The foursome toured widely as one of the country’s most popular and energetic young blues acts. Although Louis and Dave played with Junior Wells before Walter, they recorded with Wells only in 1953. Louis and Below also recorded with him 1954. All three Aces later backed Wells on a live recording in Boston.

As a unit the Aces were not a constant presence on the blues scene, although the individual members stayed busy in town or on the road. In testament to their prowess as an all-purpose band, the Aces backed Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Muddy Waters, T-Bone Walker, Koko Taylor, Lightnin’ Slim, Jimmy Dawkins, and others at the 1972 Montreux Jazz Festival, in addition to doing their own set, and all the proceedings were recorded, resulting in several albums. They also recorded behind Jimmy Reed, Roosevelt Sykes, Billy Boy Arnold, Louis Jordan, Jimmy Rogers, Robert Lockwood Jr., Eddie Taylor, and numerous others in the U.S., Europe, or Japan. As the Aces, they recorded albums of their own for three French labels and a few tracks on various compilations. Louis Myers, heralded primarily for his skills on guitar, also possessed a potent harmonica attack and was featured on an instrumental single for the Abco label in Chicago in 1956. He later recorded albums on Advent, JSP, and Earwig. Both Louis and Dave also recorded a few songs for the Wolf label, and Dave concluded his recording career with a CD for Black Top in 1996.

Below was a prolific session drummer, providing the beat for dozens of other Chicago blues artists from 1952 through 1979, including Sonny Boy Williamson, Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters, Otis Rush, and Koko Taylor. Louis and Dave, together or individually, added further session credits to the collective discography, recording with John Lee Hooker, Earl Hooker, Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup, and others. Below, also a photographer, had one number he liked to sing, “Route 66,” introduced by “a one, a two, a you know what to do,” and his renditions were recorded as a bonus on various sessions.

The Aces’ Blues Hall of Fame induction would have been welcomed by the genial Below and likely viewed as a vindication by the Myers brothers, who were known to many for voicing conspiracy theories about the lack of respect and opportunities offered them. Below died on August 13, 1988, followed by Louis on September 4, 1994, and Dave on September 3, 2001.

INDIVIDUAL ( BUSINESS, PRODUCTION, MEDIA, or ACADEMIC)

Al Benson
In the heyday of Chicago blues, no one had more say about which records became hits or which products and businesses got advertised to the Windy City’s huge African-American population than the powerful disc jockey, promoter, and music entrepreneur Al Benson. A college-educated Jackson, Mississippi, native, Benson delighted his target radio audience, especially those who had also migrated from the Deep South, with his blues playlist and down-home patter, famed for his blatant and sometimes intentional disregard for schoolbook English and proper pronunciation. He worked with a label named after his on-air moniker, Old Swingmaster, and owned several others, including Parrot, Blue Lake, Crash, Mica, and The Blues.

Benson, whose legal name was Arthur Leaner, was born June 30, 1908. He sang with the Leaner family band as a youngster and held an assortment of jobs, from working on the railroad to presenting shows at the Alamo Theater in Jackson, his nephew Ernie Leaner recalled. In Chicago he was a probation officer, political worker, and pastor of his own church. His radio career started on WGES with a religious program, but blues, R&B, and jazz became his forte. He became so popular that in 1948 he was elected “Mayor of Bronzeville,” an honorary title bestowed upon South Side community leaders by vote of readers of the Chicago Defender newspaper and others. Brokering his position at the station, he built a lucrative business among advertisers, record labels, and distributors, all of whom paid him to put their products on the air during an era of lax radio regulations. He expanded his empire to include a broadcasting studio in his home, a television show, record shops, a nightclub, concert promotion, and record labels, while nephews George and Ernie Leaner founded United Record Distributors, further strengthening the family’s hold on the black music industry in Chicago. Complaints ensued from competing record shops, DJs, and labels, along with allegations of illegal activities, but Benson prevailed and ruled the roost for years with a less than beneficent hand. His loyal listeners supported him, however, as did the crowds for the big blues and R&B shows he promoted at the Regal Theater, and his success led WGES to transform into a black-oriented station with several Benson protégés hosting shows. Among the records named in tribute to him were Duke Ellington’s “Bensonality” (1952) and Lionel Hampton’s “Benson’s Boogie” (1949). On his labels Benson released 78s or 45s by Albert King, Snooky Pryor, Willie Mabon, J.B. Lenoir, Sunnyland Slim, Jody Williams, Magic Sam, and many more. Benson’s influence declined after WGES was sold in 1962 and payola came under fire, but he stayed in the radio and record business for several years. In 1974 he was saluted both by a three-day tribute from the record industry and by a resolution in the Illinois House of Representatives. He died in Three Oaks, Michigan, on September 6, 1978.

CLASSICS OF BLUES LITERATURE

I Feel So Good: The Life and Times of Big Bill Broonzy , by Bob Riesman
One of the most definitive blues biographies ever written, I Feel So Good (University of Chicago Press, 2011) is also one of the most revelatory. Following a trail that led from Chicago to Holland to a church in Arkansas and an introduction to Broonzy’s grandnieces, author Bob Riesman learned that Broonzy had reinvented himself in name, birth date and birthplace, and many other details he gave of his life. Lee Conley Bradley (Broonzy’s real name) was “capable of exquisitely contradictory behavior,” Riesman writes, but whatever misdirection Big Bill orchestrated was only a creative piece of his towering persona and did nothing to lessen his importance as a premier blues artist, influence, mentor, and spokesman in America and in Europe, all extensively documented in I Feel So Good. With the induction of I Feel So Good , Broonzy becomes the first artist to be the subject of two books in the Blues Hall of Fame. His own story, Big Bill Blues , published in 1955, was inducted in 1990 and can be appreciated in a new light thanks to Riesman’s investigations and analyses.

CLASSICS OF BLUES RECORDING: ALBUM

B.B. King: Blues Is King (ABC BluesWay, 1967)
Blues Is King is the third B.B. King album selected for the Blues Hall of Fame, following Live at the Regal and Live in Cook County Jail . All three were recorded live in Chicago for the ABC label group. Neither King nor ABC was ever based in Chicago, but the capital city of the blues may have been home to B.B.’s strongest fan base. King was in Chicago at least six different times in 1966, and on November 5 he recorded the bulk of Blues Is King live at The Club (formerly the Club DeLisa and later the Burning Spear) at 5523 South State Street. Twelve days later he was back in town to record more tunes, including one track, “Waitin’ on You,” that became the opening track on the album. The Club was a large, historic African-American showcase nightclub managed by WVON DJs Pervis Spann (a Blues Hall of Fame inductee) and E. Rodney Jones, and in this club setting the crowd response spurred an inspired performance by King and his band (Bobby Forte, Duke Jethro, Sonny Freeman, Kenneth Sands, and Louis Satterfield). In addition to his biting, incisive guitar phrasing and impassioned vocals, the song selection is a bonus, as it includes gems that were not the greatest hits that filled so many of King’s later sets.

Although the Regal and Cook County Jail albums sold far better and achieved classic status first, many aficionados rate Blues Is King , which failed to even reach the charts, as B.B.’s best. Produced by Johnny Pate and B.B.’s manager Lou Zito, it was the first release on ABC’s new BluesWay imprint in 1967. Listeners who know King only through his later performances as the grandfatherly ambassador of the blues can get a taste of the king on fire at his peak on Blues Is King , when he was shouting, “I’ve got so many women, baby, till they’re standing in line.”

CLASSICS OF BLUES RECORDING: SINGLES

“See See Rider Blues” – Ma Rainey (Paramount, 1924)
The original rendition of “See See Rider,” which became a standard recorded by countless artists in many genres, was a low-moaning version by the “Mother of the Blues,” Ma Rainey, in October 1924 in New York City. Her accompanying Georgia Jazz Band on this occasion starred Louis Armstrong on cornet, joined by horn men Buster Bailey and Charlie Green, with Fletcher Henderson on piano and Charlie Dixon on banjo. Rainey and Lena Arant were credited as co-writers of the song, which was originally advertised as the B side of a Paramount single, “Jealous Hearted Blues,” in 1925. Its longevity was established not only by reissues of two takes of the Paramount recording, but by hit singles (some of them titled “C.C. Rider”) on the Billboard charts by Wee Bea Booze, Chuck Willis, LaVern Baker, Bobby Powell, the Animals, and Mitch Ryder & the Detroit Wheels (in a medley with “Jenny Take a Ride”), not to mention the many other versions by blues, soul, jazz, pop, country and rock performers. The cover versions generally omitted the introductory verse of Rainey’s song and were also played with either a lighter feel or a more rocking approach. The meaning of “rider” has long been debated, with definitions ranging from an unfaithful lover to a dynamic sexual partner to a traveling preacher or judge, but when Willis’ Atlantic single hit the charts in 1957, the African-American press reported that some radio stations had banned it after learning that it meant “a dirty old low-down pimp.”

“I’m a Man” – Bo Diddley (Checker, 1955)
“I’m a Man,” the first song recorded by Bo Diddley in 1955, became the flip side of his debut single, the eponymous “Bo Diddley,” which was selected as a Blues Hall of Fame classic in 2017. While the infectious “Bo Diddley” was the primary hit, the bold, brash blues declaration “I’m a Man” also made it onto the charts. According to Cash Box magazine’s regional reports, “I’m a Man” actually charted higher at some points than “Bo Diddley” in some Southern markets, including Memphis. Bo’s band on the Chicago session included Billy Boy Arnold, Otis Spann, Jerome Arnold, Willie Dixon, and Clifton James. Bo’s theme gained new life when Muddy Waters recorded a very similar follow-up, “Manish Boy.”

“Roll ’Em Pete” – Joe Turner (Vocalion, 1938)
The exuberant “Roll ’Em Pete” was the first studio recording of Big Joe Turner’s powerful pipes and Pete Johnson’s rollicking boogie-woogie piano. Recorded in New York City on December 30, 1938, a week after the Kansas City duo’s appearance at the historic From Spirituals to Swing concert at Carnegie Hall, “Roll ’Em Pete” became an enduring classic. Turner later claimed that rock ’n’ roll was nothing more than the boogie-woogie and blues he and Johnson trademarked in K.C., and it’s certainly not much of a jump from “Roll ’Em Pete” to 1950s rockers like Turner’s “Shake Rattle and Roll” or Jerry Lee Lewis’ “Great Balls of Fire.”

“Green Onions” – Booker T. & the MG’s (Stax/Volt, 1962)
A No. 1 R&B hit which also reached No. 3 on the pop charts in an era of hit instrumentals, “Green Onions” embodied a simple but memorable 12-bar blues groove laid down by session musicians Booker T. Jones, Steve Cropper, Lewie Steinberg, and Al Jackson at the Stax studio in Memphis. Neither the tune nor the band had a name when they recorded it; various stories circulate but Jones has said that bassist Steinberg suggested “Funky Onions.” When the 45 came out on Stax’s Volt subsidiary and subsequently on the hit Stax re-pressing, it was “Green Onions” by Booker T. & the MG’s.

“Cross Cut Saw” – Albert King (Stax, 1966)
“Cross Cut Saw,” one of Albert King’ early chart hits, was a song with a complicated evolution. Originally a downhome Delta blues recorded in 1941 by Tony Hollins and Tommy McClennan, it was later recorded as a slow B.B. King-style 45 by a Memphis group, the Binghampton Blues Boys, led by Wilroy Sanders. In the Stax studio on November 2, 1966, drummer-producer Al Jackson reworked it again for Albert King, infusing it with a snappy Latin beat, and King’s version became a standard in the repertoire of countless blues bands. A 1974 Stax version by King introduced yet another arrangement. (All the Stax versions gave writer credit to R.G. Ford, owner of a label that released the Binghampton Blues Boys 45.) By one account, the song came to Albert via WDIA DJ A.C. “Moohah” Williams. But King, who said in an unpublished Living Blues interview that he had never heard the song, gave fellow Stax artist William Bell credit for bringing it to him; Bell in turn gives the primary credit to Jackson, and according to Stax historian Rob Bowman, Booker T. Jones and Steve Cropper of the MG’s agree. Bell says Stax was looking for another “wood song” to follow up Eddie Floyd’s monster hit of 1966, “Knock on Wood,” and the line “I can cut your wood so easy for you” made “Cross Cut Saw” a perfect choice.

# # #

For more information regarding The Blues Foundation’s 39th Blues Music Awards, please contact Conqueroo:
Cary Baker • (323) 656-1600 • cary@conqueroo.com
Wendy Brynford-Jones • (818) 762-7063 • wendy@conqueroo.com

NEWS: Winners of International Blues Challenge announced: Kevin “B.F.” Burt, the Keeshea Pratt Band, and more

Tue, 23 Jan 2018 21:58:00 GMT

NEWS: Winners of International Blues Challenge announced: Kevin “B.F.” Burt, the Keeshea Pratt Band, and more

KEVIN “B.F.” BURT PICKS UP A TRIO OF VICTORIES AND THE KEESHEA PRATT BAND EARNS BEST BAND HONORS AT THE 34th ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL BLUES CHALLENGE

Photo by Larry Hsia

Photo by Roger Stephenson

Artur Menezes, Daniel Eriksen, Fuzzy Jeffries, and Jontavious Willis also triumph over the nearly 250 acts competing in the Blues Foundation’s prestigious event.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The harmonica wizard from Coralville, Iowa, a brassy blues band out of Houston, a Brazil-born guitar master, and a 21-year-old “wunderkind.” These are the acts that rose to the top of the pack at The Blues Foundation’s 34th annual International Blues Challenge Awards ceremony, which took place at Memphis’ historic Orpheum Theatre on Saturday, January 20.

Kevin “B.F.” Burt was the big man of the evening as the bluesman representing the Central Iowa Blues Society, picking up three awards: First Place Solo/Duo, Best Solo/Duo Guitarist, and the Lee Oskar Award for Best Harmonica Player. The Keeshea Pratt Band , from the Houston Blues Society, stormed out of Texas to grab First Place Band honors with judges universally rating them ready to headline major festivals and take the international blues scene by storm. The local band Fuzzy Jeffries and the Kings of Memphis (Memphis Blues Society) finished in second place, with Artur Menezes coming in third.

Menezes, however, did not leave Memphis empty-handed, as the Santa Clarita Blues Society member took home the Best Band Guitarist honors, receiving the Gibson Guitar Award. A Brazilian native now living in Los Angeles, Menezes also reflects the true international quality of the IBCs. 15 countries, as well as 36 states, were represented in the Challenge. In fact, Norwegian slide guitarist Daniel Eriksen , of the Oslo Bluesklubb, received second place honors in the Solo/Duo category. Menezes, for being named Best Band Guitarist, received a Gibson Guitar and Category 5 Amp, while Burt got a special Matt Isbell Cigar Box Guitar and Lee Oskar harmonicas for his victories in the Best Solo/Duo Guitar and Best Harmonica categories.

Best Self-Produced CD honors, the night’s other major award, went to Jontavious Willis ’ debut album, Blue Metamorphosis . The 21-year-old guitarist, representing the Atlanta Blues Society, is a rising star with none other of an authority than Taj Mahal hailing him as a “wunderkind.” Willis was chosen over a talented group of finalists: The Jimmys’ Live From Transylvania at Sighisoara Blues Festival (Crossroads Blues Society of Illinois); Polly O’Keary and the Rhythm Method’s Black Crow Callin’ (Washington Blues Society); Randy McQuay’s My Kind of Blues (Cape Fear Blues Society), and Jason Buie’s Driftin’ Heart (Victoria Blues Society). A complete list of the International Blues Challenge 2018 Winners is at the bottom of this press release.

The IBC Finals featured performances by the 16 solo/duo and band finalists. Picking the winners were an esteem panel of judges. The band contestants were judged by E Street Band guitarist Steven Van Zandt (a Rock & Roll Hall of Famer and creator of Little Steven’s Blues School); drummer Tony Braunagel (a multiple BMA Nominee and winner), co-founder of Australia’s Bluesfest Byron Bay Peter Noble (a 2018 Keeping the Blues Alive recipient); harmonica master/blues educator Billy Branch (a multiple BMA nominee and winner and past KBA recipient), and Jostein Forsberg (the Director of Notodden Blues Festival, a KBA recipient). Judging the Solo/Duo finalists were songwriter/publicist Karen Leipziger (a past KBA recipient); blues festival promoter/artist manager Paul Benjamin (a KBA recipient for his North Atlantic Blues Festival); blues mandolinist/educator Rich DelGrosso (a multiple BMA nominee and winner); Grammy-winning ethnomusicologist/writer/producer David Evans (a Blues Hall of Fame writer), and Rosebud Agency founder Mike Kappus (a 2014 Blues Hall of Fame Inductee and multiple KBA recipient).

While the judges were selecting the winners, the Blues Foundation surprised the crowd of over 2,000 people with an amazing all-star jam session. Organized and led by last year’s BMA winner for Best Emerging Artist Album (and prior IBC Albert King Guitarist winner and a member of the 2005 IBC First Place Band) Jonn Del Toro Richardson , the jam’s illustrious performers included guitarists Bob Margolin , Ben Rice , and Gary Hoey as well as keyboardist Victor Wainwright , bassist Russell Jackson , drummer Tony Braunagel , harmonicist Billy Branch , saxophonist Jimmy Carpenter , and vocalists Terrie Odabi , Annika Chambers , and Karen Lovely .

International Blues Challenge Finals represented the crowning event of the Blues Foundation’s five-day festival. Beginning January 16, more than 800 musicians in approximately 250 bands, solo/duos, and youth showcase acts filled Beale Street venues day and night, to the delight of thousands of fans, music industry folks, fellow musicians, and members of 180 Blues Foundation affiliates around the globe. The Foundation estimates that upwards to 2,500-3,000 people daily attended these performances. IBC Week also presented an impressive lineup of expert panels, master classes, a documentary movie screening, a memorabilia auction, and Blues Hall of Fame installation unveilings, which were all well-received by attendees. Friday was highlighted by the 2018 Keeping the Blues Alive Awards . With the KBAs, the Blues Foundation recognized a dozen outstanding individuals and organizations for their laudable work at bringing more awareness to the blues around the world.

Next up for the Blues Foundation will be its other signature event: The Blues Music Awards. Now in its 39th year, the BMA ceremony will be held on Thursday, May 10, 7 p.m., at Memphis’ Cook Convention Center. Individual tickets are $150 per person; regular tables for 10 are $1,500 and premium tables for 10 are $1,800 each. Tickets can be purchased at www.blues.org/. The Blues Foundation also has a block of rooms at the Sheraton Memphis Downtown; the Sheraton reservation link is also on the Blues Foundation’s website. Blues Foundation membership, which costs as little as $25 per year, includes a ballot to vote in this year’s Blues Music Awards. Visit www.blues.org and click on the Join Now button.

The International Blues Challenge was sponsored in significant part by ArtsMemphis, AutoZone, Beale Street Merchants Association, BMI, First Tennessee Foundation, Four Roses Bourbon, Lee Oskar Harmonicas, Memphis Convention & Visitors Bureau, Old Dominick Distillery, and Tennessee Arts Commission. Media sponsors include Beale Street Caravan, Big City Rhythm and Blues, Blues Festival Guide, Blues Matters! , Downtowner, Living Blues, and Music on the Couch.

The Blues Foundation is Memphis-based, but world-renowned as THE organization whose mission is to preserve blues heritage, celebrate blues recording and performance, expand worldwide awareness of the blues, and ensure the future of this uniquely American art form. Founded in 1980, the Blues Foundation has over 4,000 individual members with close to 200 affiliated blues societies representing another 50,000 fans and professionals around the world. Its signature honors and events — the Blues Music Awards, Blues Hall of Fame, International Blues Challenge, and Keeping the Blues Alive Awards — make it the international center of blues music. Its HART Fund provides the blues community with medical assistance for musicians in need, while Blues in the Schools programs and Generation Blues Scholarships expose new generations to blues music. The Blues Hall of Fame Museum, in Memphis, Tenn. now adds the opportunity for music lovers of all ages to interact with the music and the history. Throughout the year, the Foundation staff serves the global blues community with answers, information, and news. Support the Blues Foundation by becoming an affiliated organization, corporate, or individual member, or simply by making a charitable donation.

Complete List of International Blues Challenge 2018 Winners

Band Division
Winner: The Keesha Pratt Band (Houston Blues Society)
2nd place: Fuzzy Jeffries & The Kings of Memphis (Memphis Blues Society)
3rd Place: Artur Menezes (Santa Clarita Valley Blues Society)

Solo/Duo Division
Winner: Kevin “B.F.” Burt (Central Iowa Blues Society)
2nd Place: Daniel Eriksen (Oslo Bluesklubb)

Gibson Guitar Award For Best Band Guitarist
Winner: Artur Menezes (Santa Clarita Valley Blues Society)

Best Solo/Duo Guitarist
Winner: Kevin “B.F.” Burt (Central Iowa Blues Society)

Lee Oskar Harmonica Player
Winner: Kevin “B.F.” Burt (Central Iowa Blues Society)

Best Self-Produced CD
Winner: Blue Metamorphasis, Jontavious Willis (Atlanta Blues Society)

# # #

For more information regarding The Blues Foundation’s 34th Annual International Blues Challenge, please contact Conqueroo:
Cary Baker • (323) 656-1600 • cary@conqueroo.com
Wendy Brynford-Jones • (818) 762-7063 • wendy@conqueroo.com

Photo by Ronnie Booze

Photo by Roger Stephenson

Photo by Addie Ray

BREAKING: 2018 Blues Music Award nominees announced: Taj Mahal, Mavis Staples, Keb’ Mo’, N. Mississippi Allstars among nominees.

Tue, 09 Jan 2018 15:50:00 GMT

BREAKING: 2018 Blues Music Award nominees announced: Taj Mahal, Mavis Staples, Keb’ Mo’, N. Mississippi Allstars among nominees.

TAJ MAHAL, KENNY WAYNE SHEPHERD, ROBERT CRAY, NORTH MISSISSIPPI ALL-STARS, MAVIS STAPLES AND KEB’ MO’ NUMBER AMONG THE NOMINEES FOR THIS YEAR’S
BLUES MUSIC AWARDS

Winners will be announced at the Blues Foundation’s Gala Ceremony on May 10th In Memphis

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – The nominees for the 39th Annual Blues Music Awards represent a prestigious collection of acclaimed performers and rising stars that reflect the breadth and diversity of today’s blues music scene. It encompasses North Mississippi Allstars ’ updated Hill Country stomps and Mavis Staples ’ gospel-infused soul as well as Taj Mahal ’s eclectic global fusion and Kenny Wayne Shepherd ’s fiery blues rock. The Blues Music Awards, which is universally recognized as the top accolade afforded blues musicians, upholds blues’ rich cultural traditions while every year honoring the exceptional achievements in performances, recordings and songwriting.

The Blues Foundation will present the 39th Annual Blues Music Awards on Thursday, May 10th at 7 p.m. at The Memphis Cook Convention Center. Individual tickets cost $150 per person; Regular Tables for 10 are $1,500 and Premium Tables for 10 are $1,800 each. All tickets can be purchased at www.blues.org beginning January 9th. The Blues Foundation’s block of rooms at the Sheraton Memphis Downtown Hotel will be open for reservations on January 9th; and Sheraton reservation links will be up on blues.org that day too. The Awards show is a premier event for blues musicians, professionals, and fans around the globe because not only do almost all the nominees attend the ceremony but they typically perform at it too.

Leading the nomination pack for this year’s BMAs is harmonica wizard Rick Estrin . With his group The Nightcats, Estrin is up for Band of the Year, as well as Album of the Year and Traditional Blues Album for Groovin’ In Greaseland . Estrin, a past BMA winner, also is up for Traditional Blues Male Artist, Best Instrumentalist: Harmonica, B.B. King Entertainer of the Year and Song of the Year for his tune “The Blues Ain’t Going Nowhere.” Additionally, Nightcats’ guitarist Christoffer “Kid” Andersen is among the Instrumentalist-Guitar contenders.

The B.B. King Entertainer of the Year and Song of the Year look to be hotly contested categories because they feature acts with multiple nominations. Don Bryant (4 nominations) and Wee Willie Walker (5 noms) are contenders in both categories. Estrin, meanwhile, faces the duo Mike Ledbetter and Monster Mike Welch for Album of the Year, Traditional Blues Album, and Band of the Year. Ledbetter also is a B.B. King Entertainer of the Year contender and is in the running for Contemporary Blues Male Artist and Instrumentalist–Vocals, while Welch ranks among the Instrumentalist–Guitar finalists. Another multiple nominee, The North Mississippi Allstars will battle Estrin and Ledbetter & Welch for Band of the Year and are competing for Song of the Year and Rock Blues Album honors too.

This year, the Blues Foundation will be handing out 26 BMAs as they have added a pair of new categories. There now is a Blues Rock Artist of the Year award to go along with Blues Rock Album of the Year. Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Mike Zito, Walter Trout, Jason Ricci and Eric Gales are all candidates for this honor. The other new category is Instrumentalist-Vocals, which will honor the great voices that make songs so memorable. Beth Hart, Don Bryant, John Nemeth, Michael Ledbetter, Sugaray Rayford and Wee Willie Walker compose this category’s impressive list of performers.

Several winners from last year’s BMAs are back among 2018’s nominees. Curtis Salgado , a triple winner in 2017, will try to retain his Soul Blues Male Artist award, while Diunna Greenleaf and Lurrie Bell , the reigning Female and Male Traditional Blues Artists respectively, are returnees in those categories. Bobby Rush , who took home Best Album and Best Historical Album honors last year, is one of the B.B. King Entertainer of the Year candidates. 2017’s Acoustic Artist of the Year Doug MacLeod now is an Acoustic Album of the Year nominee. Multiple BMA winner Kim Wilson will attempt to hold on to his Instrumental: Harmonica crown in conjunction with nominations for Traditional Blues Album, Blues and Boogie Vol.1 , and Traditional Blues Male Artist while another multi-BMA honoree Victor Wainwright has a chance to win the Instrumentalist Pinetop Perkins Piano Player again.

The Best Emerging Artist Album category offers a snapshot of blues’ multi-generational, geographically diverse appeal. Nominees include a couple of young acts: the Southern multi-instrumentalist blues duo Larkin Poe composed of the Atlanta-bred, Nashville-based Lovell Sisters, and Southern Avenue , a power-packed Memphis band whose debut disc came out on their hometown Stax Records. The Altered Five Blues Band , Miss Freddye, and Tas Cru are regional success stories (Milwaukee, Pittsburgh, and Upstate New York, respectively) that are attracting more attention in the music world. Lastly, there’s the second-ever album from R.L. Boyce , who has lived, and made music, in Mississippi’s Hill Country for over five decades.

Blues’ vibrant heritage is wonderfully demonstrated in the five choices for Historical Album of the Year. Live at Notodden ’97 presents a previously unissued Norwegian blues festival live recording that captures the Paul deLay Band in their prime. Sony Legacy’s American Epic: The Collection soundtrack fills five discs with blues and all sorts of other Americana sounds from the acclaimed PBS TV series. Commemorating the 20th anniversary of his death, Luther Allison: A Legend Never Dies 1976-1997 represents Ruf Records’ comprehensive Luther Allison boxset, boasting 7 CDs and 4 DVDs. Craft Records compiled 100 John Lee Hooker songs (including rarities, live recordings and several previously unreleased tracks) into King of the Boogie to celebrate Hooker’s centennial anniversary. Craft also put together Mr. Luck: The Complete Vee-Jay Singles , a 3-CD feast of Jimmy Reed ’s work from the early 1950s through the mid-1960s.

The complete list of 39th Blues Music Award nominees can be found below as well as on the Blues Foundation’s website, www.blues.org . A ballot will be sent soon to all Blues Foundation members as they have the privilege of deciding which nominees actually will take home a Blues Music Award in May. Membership to The Blues Foundation will remain open through the entire voting period from January 23rd to March 1st and ballots will be sent to new members as they join the organization by clicking on the Join Now button when visiting blues.org.

Major funding for the Blues Music Awards is provided by ArtsMemphis and Tennessee Arts Commission . The 39th BMAs also are sponsored by AutoZone, BMI, Ditty TV, First Tennessee Foundation, Gibson Foundation, and Memphis Convention and Visitors Bureau .

The Blues Foundation is known around the world as being THE organization whose mission is to preserve blues heritage, celebrate blues recording and performance, expand worldwide awareness of the blues, and ensure the future of this uniquely American art form. Founded in 1980, the Memphis-based Blues Foundation has approximately 4,000 individual members and 200 affiliated local blues societies representing another 50,000 fans and professionals around the world. Its signature honors and events – the Blues Music Awards, Blues Hall of Fame, International Blues Challenge and Keeping the Blues Alive Awards – make the Blues Foundation the international center of blues music. For more information, log onto www.blues.org .

39 ^th Blues Music Award Nominees

Acoustic Album of the Year

Catfish Keith – Mississippi River Blues
Doug MacLeod – Break the Chain
Guy Davis & Fabrizio Poggi – Sonny & Brownie’s Last Train
Harrison Kennedy – Who U Tellin’?
Mitch Woods – Friends Along The Way
Rory Block – Keepin’ Outta Trouble

Acoustic Artist
Doug McLeod
Guy Davis
Harrison Kennedy
Rory Block
Taj Mahal

Album of the Year
Don Bryant – Don’t Give Up on Love
Monster Mike Welch and Mike Ledbetter – Right Place, Right Time
Rick Estrin & The Nightcats – Groovin’ In Greaseland
TajMo – TajMo
Wee Willie Walker & The Anthony Paule Soul Orchestra – After a While

Band of the Year
The Cash Box Kings
Monster Mike Welch and Mike Ledbetter
Nick Moss Band
North Mississippi Allstars
Rick Estrin & the Nightcats

B.B. King Entertainer of the Year
Bobby Rush
Michael Ledbetter
Rick Estrin
Sugaray Rayford
Taj Mahal

Best Emerging Artist Album
Altered Five Blues Band – Charmed & Dangerous
Larkin Poe – Peach
Miss Freddye – Lady of the Blues
R.L. Boyce – Roll and Tumble
Southern Avenue – Southern Avenue
Tas Cru – Simmered & Stewed

Contemporary Blues Album of the Year

Beth Hart – Fire on the Floor
Corey Dennison Band – Night After Night
Ronnie Baker Brooks – Times Have Changed
Selwyn Birchwood – Pick Your Poison
TajMo – TajMo

Contemporary Blues Female Artist
Beth Hart
Karen Lovely
Samantha Fish
Shemekia Copeland
Vanessa Collier

Contemporary Blues Male Artist
Keb’ Mo’
Michael Ledbetter
Ronnie Baker Brooks
Selwyn Birchwood
Toronzo Cannon

Historical Album of the Year
Jimmy Reed, Mr. Luck: The Complete Vee-Jay Singles – Craft Recordings
John Lee Hooker, King of the Boogie – Craft Recordings
Luther Allison, A Legend Never Dies – Ruf Records
The Paul deLay Band, Live at Notodden ’97 – Little Village Foundation
Various, American Epic: The Collection – Lo-Max Records/Sony Legacy

Instrumental-Bass
Benny Turner
Bob Stroger
Larry Fulcher
Michael “Mudcat” Ward
Patrick Rynn

Instrumentalist-Drums
Jimi Bott
June Core
Kenny Smith
Tom Hambridge
Tony Braunagel

Instrumentalist-Guitar
Anson Funderburgh
Chris Cain
Christoffer “Kid” Andersen
Monster Mike Welch
Ronnie Earl

Instrumentalist-Harmonica
Billy Branch
Dennis Gruenling
Jason Ricci
Kim Wilson
Rick Estrin

Instrumentalist-Horn
Al Basile
Jimmy Carpenter
Nancy Wright
Trombone Shorty
Vanessa Collier

Instrumentalist- Pinetop Perkins Piano Player
Anthony Geraci
Henry Gray
Jim Pugh
Mitch Woods
Victor Wainwright

Instrumentalist – Vocals
Beth Hart
Don Bryant
John Németh
Michael Ledbetter
Sugaray Rayford
Wee Willie Walker

Koko Taylor Award (Traditional Blues Female)
Annika Chambers
Diunna Greenleaf
Janiva Magness
Miss Freddye
Ruthie Foster

Rock Blues Album of the Year
Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band – Lay It On Down
Mike Zito – Make Blues Not War
North Mississippi Allstars – Prayer for Peace
Savoy Brown – Witchy Feelin’
Walter Trout – We’re All In This Together

Rock Blues Artist
Eric Gales
Jason Ricci
Kenny Wayne Shepherd
Mike Zito
Walter Trout

Song of the Year
“The Blues Ain’t Going Nowhere” – written by Rick Estrin on Groovin’ In Greaseland
“Don’t Give Up On Love” – written by Scott Bomar and Don Bryant on Don’t Give Up on Love
“Don’t Leave Me Here” – written by Kevin R. Moore, Taj Mahal, and Gary Nicholson on TajMo
“Hate Take a Holiday” – written by Willie Walker, Anthony Paule, and Eugene Williams on After a While
“Prayer for Peace” – written by Luther Dickinson, Cody Dickinson, and Oteil Burbridge on Prayer For Peace

Soul Blues Album of the Year
Don Bryant – Don’t Give Up on Love
Johnny Rawls – Waiting for the Train
Robert Cray & Hi Rhythm – Robert Cray & Hi Rhythm
Sugaray Rayford – The World That We Live In
Wee Willie Walker & The Anthony Paule Soul Orchestra – After a While

Soul Blues Female Artist
Bettye LaVette
Denise LaSalle
Mavis Staples
Trudy Lynn
Vaneese Thomas

Soul Blues Male Artist
Curtis Salgado
Don Bryant
Johnny Rawls
Sugaray Rayford
William Bell
Wee Willie Walker

Traditional Blues Album of the Year
The Cash Box Kings – Royal Mint
Elvin Bishop’s Big Fun Trio – Elvin Bishop’s Big Fun Trio
Kim Wilson – Blues and Boogie Vol. 1
Monster Mike Welch and Mike Ledbetter – Right Place, Right Time
Rick Estrin & The Nightcats – Groovin’ In Greaseland
Various Artists – Howlin’ At Greaseland

Traditional Blues Female Artist
Annika Chambers
Diunna Greenleaf
Janiva Magness
Miss Freddye
Ruthie Foster

Traditional Blues Male Artist
John Primer
Kim Wilson
Lurrie Bell
R.L. Boyce
Rick Estrin

# # #

For more information regarding the 39 ^th Annual Blues Foundation’s Blues Music Awards ,
please contact Conqueroo: Cary Baker • (323) 656-1600 • cary@conqueroo.com
Wendy Brynford-Jones • (818) 762-7063 • wendy@conqueroo.com

LITTLE STEVEN VAN ZANDT AND JOHN OATES JOIN MUSICIANS AND FANS FROM AROUND THE GLOBE FOR THE 34TH INTERNATIONAL BLUES CHALLENGE

Wed, 13 Dec 2017 23:03:00 GMT

LITTLE STEVEN VAN ZANDT AND JOHN OATES JOIN MUSICIANS AND FANS FROM AROUND THE GLOBE FOR THE 34TH INTERNATIONAL BLUES CHALLENGE

Memphis will be alive with the blues January 16-20 when The Blues Foundation hosts its annual summit

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The Blues Foundation’s 34th annual International Blues Challenge definitely is about competition; however, the five-day celebration also is about community. Musicians, music business professionals and fans converge in Memphis every year not just to hear the terrific blues being played in the Challenge and the many other showcase events, but also to enjoy the entire IBC experience, which includes expert panels, master classes, documentary movie screening, a memorabilia auction, a Blues Hall of Fame memorabilia unveiling, networking events, and receptions for blues societies, fans, and professionals. It is a wonderful and unique opportunity to salute the past, present and future of this American-bred musical style that is loved around the world.

The International Blues Challenge certainly stands as the centerpiece of the Blues Foundation’s signature event. Hundreds of musicians from across America, as well as from more than a dozen other countries, come to Memphis to play their hearts out, hoping to nab top honors in the Challenge’s five performance categories: best band, best solo/duo act, best band guitarist, best solo/duo guitarist, and best harmonica player.

The International Showcase kicks off the festivities Tuesday, January 16, at 5 p.m. With its stellar lineup of talented blues players from around the world, this is a celebration of music that transcends race, creed, and culture. It’s quite appropriate then that the concert is held at the historic Clayborn Temple, the site of numerous Memphis civil rights events during the 1960s. Beginning Wednesday evening, the Challenge’s competition shows will commence at 21 different Beale Street venues, and continue through Friday the 19th, culminating Saturday with the IBC Finals event starting at high noon in the iconic Orpheum Theatre.

The Challenge, however, represents only one part of the IBC’s exciting activities. Each day comes packed with a variety of musical performances as well as special events. On Wednesday, the Blues Hall of Fame Museum welcomes John Oates (3:15 p.m.) for a book signing and conversation that is open to the public. He’ll share stories from his autobiography, Change of Seasons , and discuss his latest CD project, Arkansas , which began as a tribute to his idol Mississippi John Hurt and was expanded to include some rootsy original tracks. Don’t be too surprised if Oates brings out a guitar and plays a few tunes.

Little Steven Van Zandt is one of the participants at the “Blues and Social Action” panel Thursday at the Blues Hall of Fame (2:45 p.m.). Open to the community, the panel discussion will look at how blues music can be used to create a better world. Van Zandt will talk about his work as founder and director of Little Steven’s Blues School in Norway. Panelist and moderator Mike Kappus will discuss his charitable work with the Logan and Arhoolie Foundations, and Little Village Foundation Founder/CEO Jim Pugh will address the ways he has seen blues music positively affect musicians and society, while Blues Foundation board member and HART Fund Committee Chair Dr. Janice Johnston will share the Foundation’s work to ensure musicians’ health.

Blues music’s societal role also is at the heart of the IBC’s Keynote Panel — “AAB: Addiction, Abuse, and the Blues.” Taking place Friday (2:15 p.m.) at Alfred’s on Beale, this panel expands upon last year’s “Blues as Healer” theme by examining blues music’s relationship with the often stigmatized struggles that individuals have with addiction and abuse. Author Marie Trout ( The Blues: Why It Still Hurts So Good ), who was part of last year’s panel, returns to serve as the moderator, with musicians Eric Gales , LaDonna Gales , Doug MacLeod , and Karen Lovely relating their very personal stories.

The Blues Hall of Fame, on Thursday at noon, will welcome Lonnie Brooks ’ guitar and signature hat into its collection. Ronnie Baker Brooks and Wayne Baker Brooks , the sons of the late, great Chicago bluesman, will be in attendance along with other family members, and will share stories and answer questions about their father.

This year’s featured documentary, Shake ’Em on Down: The Blues According to Fred McDowell , will be screened Thursday at 1 p.m. at the Blues City Café. The acclaimed one-hour film takes a look at the life of the legendary musician who was a major figure in the North Mississippi blues scene. Filmmaker Scott Baretta will do a post-screening Q&A.

At a special luncheon on Friday, the Blues Foundation salutes the recipients of the 2018 Keeping the Blues Alive Awards in the Doubletree Hotel’s Grand Ballroom. Twelve individuals and organizations are being recognized for their laudable work to bring more awareness to the blues. During Saturday’s International Challenge Award Finals, the Foundation will present a fundraising Silent Auction featuring an amazing array of blues memorabilia and blues-related items.

Showcases and jam sessions provide a bevy of marvelous music listening opportunities day and night throughout the IBC. Wednesday afternoon, for example, features the Pacific Northwest Showcase, while the Great Canadian Polar Bear Blues Showcase, the National Women in Blues’ Annual Showcase and the International Jam fill up Thursday from noon until late into the night. All Star Jams will also be happening late on Thursday and Friday nights, with Youth Showcases occurring Friday afternoon at several Beale Street clubs.

A number of showcases also serve as fundraising events with proceeds benefitting the HART Fund, to support musician health, and the Generation Blues Scholarship Fund, to assist young musicians for summer blues camps and workshops. A wonderful variety of blues music will be performed in these showcases during the daytime before the Challenge begins and each evening once the Challenge performances conclude for the night. For schedule details, please visit The Blues Foundation’s IBC Schedule ( https://blues.org/ibc-schedule-2018/ ).

Bob Margolin also is participating in an exciting program of Master Classes scheduled on Thursday afternoon at various Beale Street venues. Margolin will teach the electric guitar workshop, with Bob Corritore leading the harmonica class, Danny Banks doing the drum class, and Russell Jackson running the workshop on upright and electric bass. Additionally, Doug MacLeod is doing a master class in his specialties: the slide guitar and special blues tuning for guitar.

As exemplified throughout the International Blues Challenge, the Blues Foundation takes a big-picture approach — from preserving the music’s history and growing blues appreciation worldwide to fostering the next generation of blues musicians and helping out current performers. The IBC, in fact, offers a health fair and screenings on Wednesday and Thursday afternoons, and there will even be a Blues Yoga Class held at the Hall of Fame Museum on Thursday morning.

Wristband tickets for the International Showcase and Tuesday & Wednesday IBC Beale Street shows cost $10 and $15 for Thursday & Friday shows, while the Orpheum Finals tickets are $55. IBC Passes for the entire week are $100 and can be purchased at www.blues.org or by calling (901) 527-2583. In addition, event attendees can buy upgrades for premier seating at the finals ($25 per person) and for the Keeping the Blues Alive Luncheon ($50). Passes are encouraged because they are required for entry into daytime events.

The International Blues Challenge is sponsored in significant part by ArtsMemphis, AutoZone, Beale Street Merchants Association, BMI, First Tennessee Foundation, Gibson Foundation, Lee Oskar Harmonicas, Memphis Convention & Visitors Bureau, and Tennessee Arts Commission . Media sponsors include Beale Street Caravan, Big City Rhythm and Blues , Blues Festival Guide , Blues Matters!, Ditty TV , Downtowner , Living Blues , and Music on the Couch.

The Blues Foundation is Memphis-based but world-renowned as THE organization whose mission is to preserve blues heritage, celebrate blues recording and performance, expand worldwide awareness of the blues, and ensure the future of this uniquely American art form. Founded in 1980, the Blues Foundation has more than 4,000 individual members with close to 200 affiliated blues societies representing another 50,000 fans and professionals around the world. Its signature honors and events — the Blues Music Awards, Blues Hall of Fame, International Blues Challenge, and Keeping the Blues Alive Awards — make it the international center of blues music. Its HART Fund provides the blues community with medical assistance for musicians in need, while Blues in the Schools programs and Generation Blues Scholarships expose new generations to blues music. The recent opening of the Blues Hall of Fame Museum, in Memphis, Tenn., now adds the opportunity for music lovers of all ages to interact with the music and the history. Throughout the year, the Foundation staff serves the global blues community with answers, information, and news. Support the Blues Foundation by becoming an affiliated organization, corporate, or individual member, or simply by making a charitable donation.

# # #

A few downtown Memphis hotels have partnered with the Blues Foundation for discounted rates: https://blues.org/ibc-lodging/

For more information regarding The Blues Foundation’s 34rd Annual International Blues Challenge, please contact Conqueroo :
Cary Baker • (323) 656-1600 • cary@conqueroo.com
Wendy Brynford-Jones • (818) 762-7063 • wendy@conqueroo.com

All live performance photos by James Wessels

THE BLUES FOUNDATION ANNOUNCES 2018 KEEPING THE BLUES ALIVE AWARD RECIPIENTS

Mon, 13 Nov 2017 16:54:00 GMT

THE BLUES FOUNDATION ANNOUNCES 2018 KEEPING THE BLUES ALIVE AWARD RECIPIENTS

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The Blues Foundation’s 34th Annual International Blues Challenge (IBC) will be held in Memphis, Tenn. along historic Beale Street beginning Tuesday, January 16, 2018. The event will open with its International Showcase at the historic Clayborn Temple and will culminate with finals on January 20 at the Orpheum Theatre at the foot of Beale Street. In addition to featuring these final rounds of the world’s largest and most prestigious blues music competition, this year’s IBC will offer a host of seminars, showcases, master classes, film, networking events, and receptions for blues societies, fans, and professionals.

In conjunction with the 2018 International Blues Challenge, the Blues Foundation will honor 12 individuals and organizations with its 2018 Keeping the Blues Alive Awards during a recognition luncheon Friday, January 19, 2018 beginning at 11 a.m. As determined by a select panel of blues professionals, the KBA Awards are presented annually, honoring those who make significant contributions to the genre.

Blues Foundation President and CEO Barbara Newman reports that “each year, our KBA Selection Committee does a wonderful job of pinpointing those individuals and organizations that are working behind the scenes to celebrate, promote, and bring greater awareness to the blues. Our 2018 Keeping the Blues Alive award recipients are all wonderful examples of blues flame keepers, each working in their own sphere of influence to move the genre forward while honoring its past.”

The International Blues Challenge is sponsored in significant part by ArtsMemphis , AutoZone , Beale Street Merchants Association , BMI , First Tennessee Foundation , Lee Oskar Harmonicas , Memphis Convention & Visitors Bureau , and Tennessee Arts Commission .

Media sponsors include Beale Street Caravan , Big City Rhythm and Blues , Blues Festival Guide , Blues Matters! , Downtowner , Living Blues ,
and Music on the Couch .

The Blues Foundation is Memphis-based, but world-renowned as THE organization whose mission is to preserve blues heritage, celebrate blues recording and performance, expand worldwide awareness of the blues, and ensure the future of this uniquely American art form. Founded in 1980, The Blues Foundation has over 4,000 individual members with close to 200 affiliated blues societies representing another 50,000 fans and professionals around the world. Its signature honors and events — the Blues Music Awards, Blues Hall of Fame, International Blues Challenge, and Keeping the Blues Alive Awards — make it the international center of blues music. Its HART Fund provides the blues community with medical assistance for musicians in need, while Blues in the Schools programs and Generation Blues Scholarships expose new generations to blues music. The recent opening of the Blues Hall of Fame Museum, in Memphis, Tenn., now adds the opportunity for music lovers of all ages to interact with the music and the history. Throughout the year, the Foundation staff serves the global blues community with answers, information, and news.

Support The Blues Foundation by becoming an affiliated organization, corporate, or individual member, or simply by making a charitable donation here .

The 2018 Keeping the Blues Alive Awards recipients are:

1. Gary and Gillian Atkinson
2. Jonas Bernholm
3. Bluesfest Byron Bay
4. Blues Society of Omaha
5. Chesapeake Bay Blues Festival
6. Lucky Clark
7. European Blues Union
8. Tim Fik
9. Brian Kelm
10. Poor House Bistro
11. Albertina Wassenhove
12. Rueben Williams

Blues’ Biggest Night! Joe Bonamassa, Bobby Rush, Curtis Salgado, and The Tedeschi Trucks Band grab multiple wins at The Blues Foundation’s 38th Annual Blues Music Awards!

Tue, 16 May 2017 21:30:00 GMT

Blues’ Biggest Night! Joe Bonamassa, Bobby Rush, Curtis Salgado, and The Tedeschi Trucks Band grab multiple wins at The Blues Foundation’s 38th Annual Blues Music Awards!

Photo by Brian Anderson

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — An amazing gathering of musicians joined music business professionals and devoted fans on May 11 to honor the best in blues for the past year. The Cook Convention Center in downtown Memphis, Tennessee transformed into a joyous blues party during the 38th annual Blues Music Awards as The Blues Foundation shined the spotlight on the remarkable work created by the night’s honorees.

Bobby Rush not only picked up an Album of the Year victory for Porcupine Meat, he also saw Omnivore Recording’s four-disc retrospective Chicken Heads: A 50-Year History of Bobby Rush named Historical Album of the Year. These wins, his 11th and 12th BMA awards, continue a triumphant year for the 83-year-old blues legend, who also earned his first Grammy earlier this year. Rush also served as co-presenter with his Grammy Award-winning counterpart Fantastic Negrito.

Curtis Salgado won Song of the Year for “Walk a Mile in My Blues,” which he co-wrote with David Duncan and Mike Finnigan. It was one of three victories for Salgado, who also was named Soul Blues Male Artist and received the Soul Blues Award for The Beautiful Lowdown . Salgado addresed the crowd via video as he is recuperating from open heart surgery.

Susan Tedeschi had a big night as well. Tedeschi added to her BMA award collection by being named best Contemporary Blues Female Artist, while the Tedeschi Trucks Band took home Band of the Year and Rock Blues Album ( Let Me Get By ) honors.

For Mavis Staples, the evening added to an already milestone week. Her victory as Soul Blues Female Artist came a night after she was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame at a memorable ceremony held one mile away at the Halloran Centre for Performing Arts.

The prestigious B.B. King Entertainer of the Year title went to Joe Bonamassa, who also garnered Guitarist of the Year honors.

The Entertainer of Year award held great personal significance for Bonamassa because one of his first performances was opening for B.B. King when he was only 12 years old. Another double winner, Kenny Neal, was selected as the Contemporary Blues Male Artist of the Year while his album Bloodline was rewarded as the best Contemporary Blues Album.

The night also saw several musicians holding on to their crowns from last year’s Blues Music Awards. The back-to-back winners were Doug MacLeod (Acoustic Artist of the Year), Cedric Burnside (Drummer of the Year), Kim Wilson (Harmonica Player of the Year) and Terry Hanck (Horn Player of the Year), while last year’s B.B. King Entertainment of the Year Victor Wainwright picked up the Pinetop Perkins Piano Player prize.

Other notable winners included Eric Bibb for Acoustic Album of the Year ( The Happiest Man in the World ), Jonn Del Toro Richardson for Best Emerging Artist Album ( Tengo Blues ), Diunna Greenleaf for Koko Taylor Award/Best Traditional Blues Female Artist, Lurrie Bell for Traditional Blues Album ( Can’t Shake This Feeling ), and Bob Margolin for Traditional Blues Male Artist.

Here is the complete list of Blues Music Award winners:

Acoustic Album: The Happiest Man in the World – Eric Bibb
Acoustic Artist: Doug MacLeod
Album: Porcupine Meat – Bobby Rush
B.B. King Entertainer: Joe Bonamassa
Band: Tedeschi Trucks Band
Best Emerging Artist Album: Tengo Blues – Jonn Del Toro Richardson
Contemporary Blues Album: Bloodline – Kenny Neal
Contemporary Blues Female Artist: Susan Tedeschi
Contemporary Blues Male Artist: Kenny Neal
Historical: Chicken Heads: A 50-Year History of Bobby Rush – Bobby Rush (Omnivore Recordings)
Instrumentalist-Bass: Biscuit Miller
Instrumentalist-Drums: Cedric Burnside
Instrumentalist-Guitar: Joe Bonamassa
Instrumentalist-Harmonica: Kim Wilson
Instrumentalist-Horn: Terry Hanck
Koko Taylor Award: Diunna Greenleaf
Pinetop Perkins Piano Player: Victor Wainwright
Rock Blues Album: Let Me Get By – Tedeschi Trucks Band
Song: “Walk a Mile in My Blues” written by David Duncan, Curtis Salgado & Mike Finnigan and performed by Curtis Salgado
Soul Blues Album: The Beautiful Lowdown – Curtis Salgado
Soul Blues Female Artist: Mavis Staples
Soul Blues Male Artist: Curtis Salgado
Traditional Blues Album: Can’t Shake This Feeling – Lurrie Bell
Traditional Blues Male Artist: Bob Margolin

Mavis Staples was just one of the distinguished honorees inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame on May 10. This year’s class numbered a pair of legendary guitarists, Magic Slim and Johnny Copeland (inducted by video by daughter Shemekia), and two longtime Howlin’ Wolf sidemen, guitarist Willie Johnson and piano-man Henry Gray, along with singer/songwriter Latimore. Entering the Hall of Fame as this year’s non-performer selection was Living Blues Magazine co-founder and radio show host Amy van Singel, who passed away just last September. The Hall of Fame also recognized W.C. Handy’s Father of the Blues as its Classic of Blues Literature selection. Honored in the Classic of Blues Recording Album category was John Lee Hooker’s 1966 Chess album The Real Folk Blues , as were a quartet of Classic of Blues Recording songs: Bo Diddley’s signature tune “Bo Diddley,” Tommy Tucker’s “Hi Heel Sneakers,” Albert King’s “I’ll Play the Blues for You,” Son House’s “Preachin’ the Blues” and Howlin’ Wolf’s “I Ain’t Superstitious.”

The Hall of Fame Induction ceremony and the Blues Music Awards capped off an exciting Blues Music Week in Memphis. Organized by The Blues Foundation, the week featured live performances, a special Born In Chicago movie screening and the opening of two Blues Hall of Fame Museum exhibits: one honoring the new inductees and the other spotlighting music business legend Mike Kappus and his Rosebud Agency.

About The Blues Foundation: This world-renowned Memphis-based organization holds a mission to preserve blues heritage, celebrate blues recording and performance, expand worldwide awareness of the blues, and ensure the future of this uniquely American art form. Founded in 1980, the Blues Foundation has approximately 4,000 individual members and 200 affiliated blues societies representing another 50,000 fans and professionals around the world. Its signature honors and events — the Blues Music Awards, International Blues Challenge, and Keeping the Blues Alive Awards — make it the international hub of blues music. Its HART Fund provides the blues community with medical assistance for musicians in need, while Blues in the Schools programs and Generation Blues Scholarships expose new generations to blues music. Throughout the year, the Foundation staff serves the global blues community with answers, information, and news.

MAVIS STAPLES, MAGIC SLIM, JOHNNY COPELAND, HENRY GRAY, LATIMORE AND WILLIE JOHNSON TO BE INDUCTED INTO BLUES HALL OF FAME THIS SPRING

Mon, 27 Feb 2017 14:39:00 GMT

MAVIS STAPLES, MAGIC SLIM, JOHNNY COPELAND, HENRY GRAY, LATIMORE AND WILLIE JOHNSON TO BE INDUCTED INTO BLUES HALL OF FAME THIS SPRING

Six performers, one album, five singles, one book and one magazine founder will be inducted at the Blues Foundation’s 38th Annual Induction Ceremony on May 10, 2017

The Blues Foundation welcomes the 38th class of Blues Hall of Fame inductees in a ceremony taking place on May 10, 2017. This year’s 14 richly deserving honorees represent all five of the Hall of Fame’s categories: Performers, Non-Performing Individuals, Classics of Blues Literature, Classics of Blues Recording (Song) and Classics of Blues Recording (Album).

The six performers chosen for induction include two distinctive vocalists, Mavis Staples and Latimore; a pair of legendary guitarists, Magic Slim and Johnny Copeland along with longtime Howlin’ Wolf sidemen guitarist Willie Johnson; and piano-man Henry Gray. They will join the more than 125 performers who already are Hall of Fame members. The year’s non-performer selection is Living Blues magazine co-founder and radio show host Amy van Singel, who passed away in Sept. 2016.

The Classic of Blues Literature pick is the rightfully recognized Father of the Blues , W.C. Handy’s 1941 memorable autobiography. John Lee Hooker was among the Hall’s first inductees in 1980 and now his 1966 Chess album The Real Folk Blues will enter the Hall of Fame in the Classic of Blues Recording Album category. The quintet of Classic of Blues Recording songs includes Bo Diddley’s signature tune “Bo Diddley,” Tommy Tucker’s much covered classic “Hi-Heel Sneakers,” the Albert King hit “I’ll Play the Blues For You,” Son House’s “Preachin’ the Blues” and “I Ain’t Superstitious,” which features 2017 inductee Henry Gray playing on Howlin’ Wolf’s well-known 1961 recording.

The Blues Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony takes place Wednesday, May 10 at Memphis’ Halloran Centre for the Performing Arts and Education. The evening begins at 5:30 p.m. with a Cocktail Reception, followed by the Induction Ceremony at 6:30 pm. Tickets for this open-to-the-public ceremony are $100 per seat and can be purchased online at blues.org or by calling The Blues Foundation Offices at (901) 527-2583.

More festivities occur the following day, May 11, with the Blues Music Awards. Celebrating the past year’s best in blues recordings and performances, this event will be held at the Memphis Cook Convention Center. A pre-ceremony party commences at 5:30 p.m., while the Awards Show, including a seated dinner and featuring performances by many of the nominees, starts at 7 pm. Individual tickets and tables may be purchased for $150 per seat at the same link as above.

ABOUT THE INDUCTEES:

PERFORMERS

Henry Gray , who played piano in the Howlin’ Wolf band and other Chicago blues groups before returning to his native Louisiana in 1968, has rarely been in the spotlight, but has steadily built an impressive resume entertaining audiences around the world with his blues-drenched piano pounding. Gray, born in 1925, is still performing regularly six decades after his first recording sessions in Chicago.

©James Fraher

Willie Johnson (1923-1995) recorded only a few songs on his own, but as a sideman his storming barrage of distortion and incendiary guitar licks in the 1950s, especially on the early records of Howlin’ Wolf, earned him a lasting reputation as a groundbreaking commando in the annals of electric guitar playing. Mentored by Wolf in their Mississippi days, Johnson played in Wolf’s band in the South and in Chicago, and recorded for Sun Records in 1955.

Mavis Staples , one of America’s premier singers of gospel and soul music, has expanded her musical mastery with her performances in more blues-based settings in recent years. The blues is nothing new to the Staples family, as Mavis’ father and founder of the Staple Singers, Roebuck “Pop” Staples, was a devotee of Delta blues master Charley Patton back in Mississippi. Mavis, born in Chicago in 1939, remains on her lifelong mission to inspire and uplift her listeners no matter what musical genre she employs.

Johnny Copeland (1937-1997) was one of a bevy of blazing guitar slingers to emerge from the vibrant Third Ward of Houston, Texas, and one of the city’s most powerful singers as well. Establishing himself with a series of blues and soul singles beginning in 1958, he attained national prominence in the 1980s recording blues albums for Rounder Records. His daughter Shemekia has followed in his footsteps by winning multiple Blues Music Awards.

Magic Slim led one of the most relentless, hard-driving bands in Chicago blues history for several decades until his death in 2013. Born Morris Holt in Mississippi in 1937, he earned his nickname from his friend and fellow blues guitar ace Magic Sam. Slim was also known for possessing perhaps the largest repertoire of any blues artist, always able to pick up another song from the radio or the jukebox, enabling him to record more than 30 albums and garner dozens of Blues Music Awards nominations. His son Shawn “Lil Slim” Holt is ably carrying on the family blues tradition.

Latimore , the abbreviated stage name of singer, keyboardist and songwriter Benny Latimore, has cut a dashing figure on the Southern soul circuit ever since he began touring in the 1970s on the strength of hits such as “Stormy Monday” and his best-known original, “Let’s Straighten It Out.” Latimore, who was born in Tennessee in 1939 but has called Florida home since the 1960s, is now a distinguished and still spirited love philosopher and elder statesman of the scene.

INDIVIDUALS: BUSINESS, PRODUCTION, MEDIA, or ACADEMIC

©Caren Mulford

Amy van Singel , known to blues radio audiences as “Atomic Mama,” was a cofounder of Living Blues magazine in Chicago in 1970. She and her former husband Jim O’Neal published the magazine from their home in Chicago until they transferred the publication to the University of Mississippi in 1983. Her radio career began at Northwestern University and included stints at stations in Chicago, Mississippi, Memphis, Alaska and Maine. Amy died in her sleep at her home in Maine on Sept. 19, 2016, at the age at 66.

CLASSICS OF BLUES LITERATURE

Father of the Blues by W.C. Handy is a monumental opus that is indispensable to the study of American musical history. Published in 1941, the book traces Handy’s background as a trained orchestra leader, his discovery of the blues and the struggles he endured to become a successful music publisher. It is often cited as a primary resource on the earliest years of blues history. No book is more deserving of designation as a Classic of Blues Literature.

The 1966 John Lee Hooker album The Real Folk Blues is the latest of several Chess Records’ The Real Folk Blues albums to be elected to the Blues Hall of Fame. Whereas the rest of the LPs in the series by Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf and others were compilations of older recordings, the Hooker album was newly recorded in May of 1966 in Chicago. Hooker was his inimitable and spontaneous self, reworking some of his older songs and improvising new ones, accompanied by his Detroit guitarist Eddie Burns and Chicago sidemen Lafayette Leake and S.P. Leary.

CLASSICS OF BLUES RECORDING: ALBUM

“Bo Diddley” was not only the 1955 hit record that made Ellas McDaniel famous — it also gave him his professional name. The famed “Bo Diddley beat,” an energized update of the old “Hambone” rhythm, rocked the world, and Bo continued to create classics for Checker Records in Chicago with his innovative blend of blues and rock ’n’ roll.

CLASSICS OF BLUES RECORDING: SINGLE

“Hi-Heel Sneakers” by Tommy Tucker was the last blues record from the mighty Chess Records catalogue to hit No. 1 on the charts. Recorded in New York in 1963, the single on Chess’ Checker subsidiary label topped the Cash Box magazine R&B charts in 1964. Tucker’s enticement to “put on your red dress” and hi-heel sneakers has resounded on countless bandstands ever since.

“I Ain’t Superstitious,” an ominous Willie Dixon composition recorded by Howlin’ Wolf in 1961, is best known to rock audiences through the Jeff Beck Group’s 1968 cover version featuring Rod Stewart on vocals. On the original session for Chess Records in Chicago, Wolf’s band included Hubert Sumlin, Jimmy Rogers, Sam Lay and 2017 Blues Hall of Fame inductee Henry Gray.

“I’ll Play the Blues for You,” recorded by Albert King in Memphis for the Stax label in 1971, was written by Jerry Beach, a longtime fixture on the Shreveport, Louisiana, music scene who died in 2016. In Beach’s lyrics, sung with warmth and tenderness by King, the blues becomes a source of soothing and comfort. King’s 45 spent eight weeks on Billboard magazine’s Best Selling Soul Singles chart in 1972

“Preachin’ the Blues,” a two-part single by Son House on the Paramount label from 1930, is a prime example not only of House’s intensity as a Delta blues singer and guitarist but also of his lifelong inner conflict between the lure of the blues life and devotion to the church. House, who did preach in church at times, also sang of the hypocrisy he saw in religion with lyrics such as “I’m gonna be a Baptist preacher and I sure won’t have to work.”

DAWN TYLER WATSON AND AL HILL SCORE TOP HONORS AT THE 33rd ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL BLUES CHALLENGE

Wed, 15 Feb 2017 15:40:00 GMT

DAWN TYLER WATSON AND AL HILL SCORE TOP HONORS AT THE 33rd ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL BLUES CHALLENGE

260 bands from 38 states and 14 countries filled Memphis with the joyous sounds of the blues during this week-long competition

Four years ago singer Dawn Tyler Watson reached the top five at the Blues Foundation’s 2017 International Blues Challenge. This year, she left Memphis a winner after grabbing Best Band honors. Not only did Watson wow the judges with her powerhouse vocals, but she did so only months after having triple bypass surgery. Her victory at the IBC, the world’s largest and most prestigious blues music competition, should serve as a launching pad for the Montreal Blues Society-nominated songstress who has been has been hailed as “one of Canada’s true blues treasures.”

For Al Hill, winning Best Solo/Duo Award represents long-overdue recognition for the hard-working musician. The Michigan native racked up numerous blues awards in his home state before moving to Nashville in 2008. Nominated for the IBC by the Nashville Blues Society, Hill probably is best known for his role as music director for soul legend Bettye LaVette. Hill, whose gritty, soulful sound impressed the judges, was double IBC winner as he also was chosen Best Solo Guitarist in the Best Instrumentalists category.

Brody Buster finished second to Hill as the Best Solo/Duo act, but he didn’t go home empty-handed. Buster, nominated by the Kansas City Blues Society, was named Best Harmonica Player. The other Best Instrumental Award, for top guitarist in a band, went to Montreal-based Ben Racine, who frequently collaborates with Dawn Tyler Watson. Fellow Canadian JW Jones, representing the Ottawa Blues Society, earned Best Self-Produced CD honors for his album High Temperature . Worthy of recognition too are the Souliz Band featuring Sugar and Spice (Suncoast Blues Society) and Rae Gordon & the Backseat Drivers (Cascade Blues Association) for finishing second and third, respectively, in the Best Band category.

The International Blues Challenge’s opening round kicked off on Wednesday, February 1, with more than 260 bands, representing 14 countries and 38 U.S. states, battling it out on Beale Street to be named Best Band or Solo/Duo act. The quarterfinals and semifinals shows occurred the following two days, with judges selecting the top nine finalists in each category to perform in the big Saturday showdown at the Orpheum Theatre. Besides the Challenge competition performances, the IBC also presented a variety of stellar showcases, and blues fans crowded Beale Street to see the amazing performers playing their hearts out. The Blues Foundation estimated IBC attendance figures at approximately 3,000 people per day.

The IBC, however, wasn’t just about competition. It was also about community. The five-day event opened with a free International Showcase on Tuesday, January 31. Held this year in Memphis’ historic Clayborn Temple, the concert brought together musicians and festival attendees from Europe, Asia, Australia, North and South America, along with local Memphians, to celebrate the power and joy that the blues can bring. Whether they were from Poland, Ireland or Israel, everyone spoke the common language of music. This community of the blues played out at packed IBC events up and down fabled Beale Street, which Blues Foundation’s President and CEO Barbara Newman describes at “the Mecca” for the blues.

The power of the blues might have been best epitomized by the conference’s keynote panel entitled “Blues as Healer.” Musicians Walter Trout, Patti Parks and Kenny Neal all shared personal testimonies on the positive impact that the blues have played in their lives, getting them through personal trauma, illness, family deaths, PTSD and more. Dr. Marie Trout shared her research dealing with the healing effect that people have experienced through the blues. The panel’s moderator, journalist and Vietnam veteran Don Wilcock, said he knows music saved his life or at least his sanity when he was overseas but never thought he’d have the opportunity to drive home the power of music to so many, as he was able to at the “Blues as Healer” seminar. He is convinced the music saves lives and he saw the audience weeping and being transformed in front of his eyes.

The role of healing is one that the Blues Foundation takes seriously. Its HART Fund, which provides medical assistance to blues musicians in need, was a strong presence at the IBC, with Health Fairs offering free mammograms; blood pressure tests; screenings for diabetes, cholesterol and other illnesses; even custom-made earplugs provided at no cost by MusicCares for qualifying musicians .

Music education holds high priority for the Blues Foundation, which collaborates with local blues societies for Blues in the Schools programs and provides Generation Blues Scholarships. The result of its youth outreach efforts was well in evidence at the IBC. The Blues Foundation produces a special Youth Showcase on Friday of the IBC, and close to 40 youth bands were sponsored by their local affiliated societies to perform. Each day, you could watch impressive young musicians, some not even old enough to drive yet, playing the blues like they were old masters.

Besides working to build blues’ future, the Blues Foundation strives to maintain the music’s rich heritage. During the IBC, the Blues Foundation bestowed its annual Keeping the Blues Alive Awards, which salute non-performers who have worked to keep blues flame glowing strong. This year’s 16 honorees, who were recognized at a luncheon on February 3, included record labels, music festivals, recording studios, clubs, radio stations, publications and individuals located all around the world.

The Blues Foundation’s International Blues Challenge was sponsored in significant part by ArtsMemphis, AutoZone, Beale Street Merchants Association, BMI, First Tennessee Foundation, Gibson Guitar, Lee Oskar Harmonicas, Legendary Rhythm & Blues Cruise, Memphis Convention & Visitors Bureau, Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, Tennessee Arts Commission, Canada Department of Tourism, and VividPix & Design.

Stage Sponsors for the 33 ^rd Annual International Blues Challenge included Redirect Health, Global Electronic Technology, I-55 Productions, Four Roses Bourbon, Handy Brothers Music Company, West Memphis Convention and Visitors Bureau, Notodden Blues Festival, Berkshire Hathaway – Taliesyn Realty, and Biscuits and Blues.

Media sponsors included Beale Street Caravan, Big City Rhythm and Blues, Blues Festival Guide, Blues Matters!, Downtowner, Elwood’s Bluesmobile, Living Blues, and Music on the Couch.

The Blues Foundation Announces its 2017 Blues Music Awards Nominees

Mon, 09 Jan 2017 06:00:00 GMT

The Blues Foundation Announces its 2017 Blues Music Awards Nominees

Awards ceremony to be held May 11, 2017 in Memphis

The Blues Foundation is pleased to announce the nominations for its annual Blues Music Awards, which the international organization will present on Thursday, May 11, 2017 at the Cook Convention Center in downtown Memphis, Tennessee. Universally recognized as the highest accolade afforded blues musicians, The Blues Music Awards upholds its rich cultural tradition by honoring the past year’s superior achievements in blues performance, songwriting, and recording. This annual ceremony represents the premier event for blues professionals, musicians, and fans around the globe.

Sugar Ray Norcia, individually, and collectively with his band, The Bluetones, received the most nominations with seven, including B.B. King Entertainer Award, Best Song, Best Album and Best Band. The total reaches ten with the inclusion of his Bluetones bandmates Monster Mike Welch (Instrumentalist-Guitar), Michael “Mudcat” Ward (Instrumentalist-Bass) and Anthony Geraci (Pinetop Perkins Piano Player). Chicago-based guitarist Toronzo Cannon garnered four nominations and he faces off against Norcia in both the Best Song and Best Album categories. Best Album probably ranks as the most competitive category, with Norcia and Cannon battling Bobby Rush, Kenny Neal, William Bell and the Nick Moss Band, who all have three nominations.

Several nominees will be defending their titles won at last year’s Blues Music Awards. Instrumentalist-Harmonica winner Kim Wilson is one of this year’s nominees, and Cedric Burnside might again claim the Instrumentalist-Drums crown. Shemekia Copeland and Bettye LaVette also return to the categories they won last year (Contemporary Blues Female Artist and Soul Blues Female Artist, respectively), while 2016’s Acoustic Artist winner, Doug MacLeod, is one of this year’s contenders too.

The Awards also honor the next generation of blues performers with the Best Emerging Artist Album category. In fact, two Emerging Artist nominees also are contenders for a second award. Detroit native Thornetta Davis’s “I Gotta Sang the Blues” is up for Best Song, while Terrie Odabi is competing against the likes of Bettye LaVette and Mavis Staples to be named Soul Blues Female Artist.

A ballot will soon be sent to all Blues Foundation members, as they have the privilege of deciding which nominees will actually take home a Blues Music Award in May. Anyone interested in casting a vote to decide this year’s winners may receive a ballot by joining or renewing their membership with The Blues Foundation at any time up to February 28, 2017.

The Blues Music Awards ceremony annually proves to be one of the year’s best shows. Not only does almost every nominee attend, but they also perform, creating a lineup featuring the best of the best in blues all in one evening.

Major funding is provided by ArtsMemphis and the Tennessee Arts Commission. The 38th Blues Music Awards are also sponsored by BMI, GET and I-55 Productions, Legendary Rhythm & Blues Cruise, Memphis Convention and Visitors Bureau, the Sierra Nevada Brewing Company and Sony/Legacy.

38th Blues Music Award Nominees

Acoustic Album
Eric Bibb – The Happiest Man in the World
Fiona Boyes – Professin’ the Blues
Jimmy “Duck” Holmes – Live at Briggs Farm
John Long – Stand Your Ground
Luther Dickinson – Blues and Ballads (A Folksinger’s Songbook) Vol I and II

Acoustic Artist
Doug MacLeod
Eric Bibb
Fiona Boyes
Jimmy “Duck” Holmes
Luther Dickinson

Album
Bobby Rush – Porcupine Meat
Kenny Neal – Bloodline
Nick Moss Band – From the Root to the Fruit
Sugar Ray & the Bluetones – Seeing is Believing
Toronzo Cannon – The Chicago Way
William Bell – This Is Where I Live

Band
Golden State Lone Star Blues Revue
Lil’ Ed & The Blues Imperials
Nick Moss Band
Sugar Ray and the Bluetones
Tedeschi Trucks Band

B.B. King Entertainer
Joe Bonamassa
John Nemeth
Lil’ Ed Williams
Sugar Ray Norcia
Sugaray Rayford

Best Emerging Artist Album
Corey Dennison Band – Corey Dennison Band
Guy King – Truth
Jonn Del Toro Richardson – Tengo Blues
Terrie Odabi – My Blue Soul
Thornetta Davis – Honest Woman

Contemporary Blues Album
Al Basile – Mid Century Modern
Kenny Neal – Bloodline
Nick Moss Band – From the Root to the Fruit
The Record Company – Give It Back To You
Toronzo Cannon – The Chicago Way

Contemporary Blues Female Artist
Alexis P Suter
Ana Popovic
Janiva Magness
Shemekia Copeland
Susan Tedeschi

Contemporary Blues Male Artist
Albert Castiglia
Kenny Neal
Mike Zito
Sugaray Rayford
Toronzo Cannon

Historical Album
Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup, A Music Man Like Nobody Ever Saw , Bear Family Records
B.B. King, More B.B. King: Here’s One You Haven’t Heard , Ace Records
Bobby Rush, Chicken Heads: A 50-Year History of Bobby Rush , Omnivore Recordings
Doug MacLeod – Live in Europe , Under the Radar and Doug MacLeod
Michael Burks, I’m A Bluesman , Iron Man Records
Pinetop Perkins & Jimmy Rogers, Genuine Blues Legends , Elrob Records

Instrumentalist-Bass
Biscuit Miller
Bob Stroger
Michael “Mudcat” Ward
Patrick Rynn
R W Grigsby

Instrumentalist-Drums
Cedric Burnside
Jimi Bott
June Core
Tom Hambridge
Tony Braunagel

Instrumentalist-Guitar
Bob Margolin
Joe Bonamassa
Kid Andersen
Monster Mike Welch
Ronnie Earl

Instrumentalist-Harmonica
Dennis Gruenling
Jason Ricci
Kim Wilson
Mark Hummel
Sugar Ray Norcia

Instrumentalist-Horn
Al Basile
Nancy Wright
Sax Gordon Beadle
Terry Hanck
Vanessa Collier

Koko Taylor Award (Traditional Blues Female Artist)
Annika Chambers
Diunna Greenleaf
Inetta Visor
Shaun Murphy
Trudy Lynn

Pinetop Perkins Piano Player
Anthony Geraci
Barrelhouse Chuck
Henry Gray
Jim Pugh
Victor Wainwright

Rock Blues Album
Albert Castiglia – Big Dog
Mike Zito – Keep Coming Back
Moreland & Arbuckle – Promised Land or Bust
Tedeschi Trucks Band – Let Me Get By
Walter Trout – Alive in Amsterdam

Song
“Blues Immigrant” written by Matthew Skoller & Vincent Bucher and performed by Matthew Skoller on Blues Immigrant
“I Gotta Sang The Blues” written and performed by Thornetta Davis on Honest Woman
“Seeing Is Believing” written by Ray Norcia and performed by Sugar Ray & The Bluetones on Seeing Is Believing
“Walk A Mile In My Blues” written by David Duncan, Curtis Salgado & Mike Finnigan and performed by Curtis Salgado on The Beautiful Lowdown
“Walk it Off” written and performed by Toronzo Cannon on The Chicago Way

Soul Blues Album
Bobby Rush – Porcupine Meat
Curtis Salgado – The Beautiful Lowdown
Johnny Rawls – Tiger in a Cage
Wee Willie Walker – Live! Notodden Blues Festival
William Bell – This Is Where I Live

Soul Blues Female Artist
Bettye LaVette
Lara Price
Mavis Staples
Terrie Odabi
Vaneese Thomas

Soul Blues Male Artist
Curtis Salgado
Johnny Rawls
Wee Willie Walker
William Bell

Traditional Blues Album
Big Jon Atkinson & Bob Corritore – House Party at Big Jon’s
Bob Margolin – My Road
Golden State Lone Star Blues Revue – Golden State Lone Star Blues Revue
Lurrie Bell – Can’t Shake This Feeling
Sugar Ray & the Bluetones – Seeing is Believing

Traditional Blues Male Artist
Bob Margolin
John Primer
Lil’ Ed Williams
Lurrie Bell
Sugar Ray Norcia

THE ROLE OF “BLUES AS HEALER” WILL BE EXPLORED AT A UNIQUE PANEL DURING THE BLUES FOUNDATION’S 33rd ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL BLUES CHALLENGE

Tue, 13 Dec 2016 19:23:00 GMT

THE ROLE OF “BLUES AS HEALER” WILL BE EXPLORED AT A UNIQUE PANEL DURING THE BLUES FOUNDATION’S 33rd ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL BLUES CHALLENGE

Noted musicians Walter Trout and Kenny Neal will participate on this panel along with blues singer, and registered nurse, Patti Parks, journalist Don Wilcock, and

Dr. Marie Trout, the author of the new book The Blues — Why It Still Hurts So Good

The Blues Foundation’s annual International Blues Challenge is best known for its big musical competition that draws performers from around the globe. The IBC, however, offers more than a great battle of rising blues stars. Taking place January 31-February 4, 2017 in Memphis, “The Home of the Blues,” this five-day event also presents a fascinating schedule of jam sessions, receptions, workshops and seminars for attendees to enjoy.

Ranking among the IBC’s marquee offerings is the Keynote Panel “Blues as Healer” on February 3. The panel will look at the restorative power that music, especially blues music, can hold. The impressive, and diverse, lineup of participants — coming from the worlds of music, medicine, academia and journalism — will bring their own unique perspectives and personal testimonies to this discussion.

Walter Trout is a world-renowned guitarist who apprenticed with such blues legends as John Lee Hooker, Big Mama Thornton, Canned Heat and John Mayall before starting his own highly honored solo career. Besides releasing more than 20 albums, Trout has racked up a pair of Blues Music Awards, a trio of British Blues Awards and the prestigious SENA European Guitar Award. In 2013, the same year his album Blues for the Modern Daze received a BMA Best Rock Blues nomination, he was struck by a bout of Hepatitis C and liver failure that brought him close to death. Trout’s fans from around the world, who had found joy from his music for so many years, rallied together to raise funds to finance his medical care, which included a critically needed liver transplant. Trout returned to the stage in 2014 and the following year released Battle Scars, an album that chronicled his near-death experience.

Swamp blues king Kenny Neal ’s long, illustrious musical journey began some 40 years ago when he landed a gig as Buddy Guy’s bassist while just a teenager. Since striking out on his own in the late ’80s, Neal has been accumulating accolades, including a 2017 Best Contemporary Blues Album Grammy nomination for Bloodlines. In 1991, he starred on Broadway in the Langston Hughes/Zora Neale Hurston-penned musical Mule Bone, featuring music by Taj Mahal. About a decade ago, however, his career came to a sudden halt when he was diagnosed with Stage 4 Hepatitis C. After successfully beating this often-fatal disease, Neal went on to record Let Life Flow, and the title track has inspired many with its tale of Neal’s survival. Like Trout, Neal has a moving personal story to tell about the blues’ impact on his life and his recovery from this savage virus.

Singer Patti Parks has experienced the recuperative power of blues music in a different way. Known for her dynamic live performances, Parks has been honored by the National Women in Blues organization and was elected into Buffalo Music Hall of Fame. She also is a registered nurse and through her work has gained first-hand insights into the way music, especially the blues, can aid in a patient’s wellbeing. Parks started Nurs’n Blues, a bi-weekly program at two in-patient rehab sites that aids those dealing with chemical dependency and other physical and mental issues. In 2017, the Buffalo, N.Y.-based program will open a library and resources center stocked exclusively with blues historical information, posters and CDs. Parks will share some dramatic stories illustrating how the blues has helped young people, veterans and performers in their road to recovery.

The fourth panelist, Dr. Marie Trout , brings her own unique perspective on the topic of “Blues as Healer.” For over 20 years, she has served as manager for her husband, Walter Trout. She also holds a PhD and did a comprehensive academic study on modern blues fans examining how the blues has served as a healing force in their lives. Her research formed the basis of her new book, The Blues — Why It Still Hurts So Good, which receives its official launch on February 3, coinciding with the date of this panel. Dr. Trout will donate 100% of the book’s proceeds to the HART Fund. Administered by the Blues Foundation, the HART (Handy Artists Relief Trust) Fund assists blues musicians and their families who are in financial need due to health concerns, providing for acute, chronic, and preventive medical and dental care as well as funeral and burial expenses.

Moderating the panel will be the esteemed music journalist Don Wilcock , who’s been writing about music, and the blues in particular, for more than five decades, beginning when he was a serviceman stationed in Vietnam. A recipient of the Blues Foundation’s “Keeping the Blues Alive” Award, Wilcock is known for his years co-hosting the annual “Call and Response Blues Symposium” at the King Biscuit Blues Festival. He will bring his deep knowledge of the music, its players and history to this discussion of the important roles that this music plays in society.

The “Blues as Healer” panel will be held at Alfred’s on Beale (197 Beale Street, Memphis) on February 3, at 2:30 p.m. It is open to all International Blues Challenge attendees who hold IBC passes for the week. Entry is by pass only; there will be no drop-ins at the door.

The 33rd annual International Blues Challenge features a variety of activities that will interest musicians, fans, music historians and music-business professionals alike. Among the other IBC highlights is a screening of Sidemen: The Long Road to Glory (the Official Documentary of the International Blues Challenge) and a lecture on Argentinian blues at the Blues Hall of Fame Museum (421 S. Main St, Memphis) by Martin Sassone , who will also present his book, Bien al Sur: Historia del Blues en la Argentina .

The Blues Foundation’s International Blues Challenge is sponsored in significant part by ArtsMemphis, AutoZone, Beale Street Merchants Association, BMI, First Tennessee Foundation, Gibson Guitar, Lee Oskar Harmonicas, Legendary Rhythm & Blues Cruise, Memphis Convention & Visitors Bureau, Saint Blues Guitar Workshop, Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, Tennessee Arts Commission, and VividPix & Design. Media sponsors include Beale Street Caravan, Big City Rhythm and Blues, Blues Festival Guide, Blues Matters!, Downtowner, Elwood’s Bluesmobile, Living Blues, and Music on the Couch.

RISING BLUES STARS BATTLE IT OUT IN MEMPHIS THIS FEBRUARY AT THE BLUES FOUNDATION’S 33rd ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL BLUES CHALLENGE

Wed, 30 Nov 2016 22:22:00 GMT

The Blues Foundation will also bestow 16 individuals and organizations with its prestigious Keeping the Blues Alive Awards

Memphis’ claim as the “Home of the Blues” will be indisputably evident the first week of February when The Blues Foundation hosts its 33rd Annual International Blues Challenge . Musicians from around the globe will convene in Memphis to compete for cash, prizes, and bookings as they are judged the best in IBC categories, among them Band, Solo/Duo, Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Harmonica Player, and Self-Produced CD. The Challenge’s alumni include such acclaimed musicians as Susan Tedeschi, Tommy Castro, Delta Moon, Trampled Under Foot, Sean Costello and Grady Champion.

Historic Beale Street will be the site for each of the challenge rounds, opening with the International Showcase on Tuesday, January 31, 2017, quarter-finals on Wednesday, February 1 and Thursday, February 2, and the Youth Showcase and semi-finals on Friday, February 3. The finals round of the world’s largest and most prestigious blues music competition will be held at Memphis’ grand Orpheum Theatre on Saturday, February 4 beginning at noon. Besides the amazing live blues performances, the five-day-long IBC will also present a variety of lectures, seminars, workshops, film, networking events, silent auction, and affiliated blues society receptions that will appeal to blues professionals and fans alike.

While the International Blues Challenge looks to the future, The Blues Foundation’s Keeping the Blues Alive Awards honor those individuals and institutions that have helped to keep the blues going strong. As Blues Foundation President and CEO, Barbara Newman proclaimed, “Our 2017 Keeping the Blues Alive recipients are all wonderful examples of blues flame keepers, each working in their own sphere of influence to move the genre forward while honoring its past.”

The 2017 Keeping the Blues Alive Awards recipients are:

Baltimore Blues Society
Blues and Soul Records
Kathy Bolmer
Briggs Farm Blues Festival
Kyle Deibler
Greaseland Studios
Highway 99 Blues Club
Jay Miller
Jacques Morgantini
James Nagel
Porretta Soul Festival
Steve Salter
Eddie Stout
Suzanne Swanson
WGLT radio
Wolf Records

These honorees, who will be recognized during a luncheon on February 3, represent a broad spectrum of the music world: record labels, music festivals, recording studios, clubs, radio stations, publications, and individuals with an undying passion to preserve and sustain the blues. They include grassroots blues heroes like Steve Salter, who created the nonprofit Killer Blues Headstone Project so that blues musicians wouldn’t be buried in unmarked graves, and Eddie Stout, who is known as the “Ambassador of Texas Blues” for his work single-handedly running Dialtone Records. The KBA’s spotlight also shines on events like the Briggs Farm Blues Festival, which has been bringing the Mississippi Delta to eastern Pennsylvania for nearly 20 years, and Greaseland Studios, the San Jose recording studio where Kim Wilson, Maria Muldaur, Elvin Bishop, and Charlie Musselwhite have laid down tracks.

2017’s KBA recipients not only cover America from coast-to-coast — from the Baltimore Blues Society to Seattle’s Highway 99 Blues Club — but also reveal blues’ international popularity. Wolf Records has been promoting Magic Slim and other Chicago blues acts for over 30 years, and they aren’t doing it from Illinois, but Austria. The Chicago blues were also very important to 92 year old Jacques Morgantini, known as the Alan Lomax of Europe, who brought many American bluesmen to play in France. The Porretta Soul Festival, meanwhile, has turned a small Northern Italian town into a mecca of soul music, particularly the Memphis variety.

The International Blues Challenge is sponsored in significant part by ArtsMemphis, AutoZone, Beale Street Merchants Association, BMI, First Tennessee Foundation, Gibson, Lee Oskar Harmonicas, Legendary Rhythm & Blues Cruise, Memphis Convention & Visitors Bureau, Saint Blues Guitar Workshop, Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, Tennessee Arts Commission, and VividPix & Design.

Media sponsors include Beale Street Caravan , Big City Rhythm and Blues , Blues Festival Guide , Blues Matters!, Downtowner , Elwood’s Bluesmobile , and Living Blues .

KBA Biographies:

BALTIMORE BLUES SOCIETY, Baltimore, Maryland

Incorporated as a nonprofit in 1986, the Baltimore Blues Society has been a model of consistency, annually producing six to ten shows featuring national touring blues artists along with local and regional bands. It regularly sponsors acts appearing at local festivals and events, and collaborates with clubs and other venues to present shows. Five or six BBS productions a year are held at an American Legion hall and regularly draw over 250 people. Look at the BBS website’s “Years in Review” section for a who’s who of major blues artists that have appeared over the years. In 2016 the BBS celebrated the 20th annual Alonzo’s Memorial Picnic, held on the Sunday of Labor Day weekend. This event features three or four national acts along with two or three local/regional bands, and is a continuance of a backyard party hosted by original member Alonzo Bennett for over 20 years prior to his passing. The society’s newsletter, BluesRag , is one of the best, with well-researched feature articles along with reviews and outstanding photo spreads. Originally published monthly, it is now published quarterly, with much activity switched to the website and Facebook pages. The BBS has enjoyed a remarkable stability in its cadre of volunteers and officers, most notably its presidents. Only three individuals have served as president in the past 30 years: founder Dale Patton (ten years), Marcia Selko (four years), and current president Bob Sekinger.

BLUES & SOUL RECORDS , Tokyo, Japan

Blues & Soul Records was founded in 1994 as a quarterly extra issue of Black Music Revue and as an outlet to cover non-mainstream black music such as blues, deep soul, and gospel. Since its birth, over 130 issues have been published with artist features, live show coverage, 50 to 60 record reviews per issue, photographs, and discographies. Beginning with issue No. 8 in 1996, the magazine became a bimonthly publication. Beginning with issue No. 21 in 1998, it began including a supplemental CD relating to the topic of the issue. The 130-page magazine boasts a circulation of 30,000 copies. According to the editor, “the magazine is not only for the blues purist, but also for rock fans and guitar kids. We are trying to enlighten the younger generation and lead them to the great historical and still living music. Somehow we have achieved it.”

KATHY BOLMER, Nashville, Tennessee

Kathy Bolmer, a Blues Foundation charter member, has had a massive impact on The Blues Foundation’s outreach programs to aid musicians in need. She has been a tireless activist, directly helping musicians with medical care and as an important dynamo for the HART Fund. Kathy has produced numerous concerts to provide resources for the HART Fund and at the same time share the music she loves with these audiences. She also oversees The Blues Foundation’s Generation Blues program and raises funds to assist young musicians in attending summer blues workshops and programs, thereby providing our next generation with the opportunity to develop and share their musical gifts. Each year, during both the Blues Music Awards weekend and the International Blues Challenge, Kathy runs benefits to raise money for both of these crucial concerns. Her support of the mission of The Blues Foundation is further evidenced by the generous support she and husband Andy T provided during the recent Raise the Roof campaign, when they sponsored the Gateway to the Blues Hall of Fame Museum. In her local community, she and Andy joined with others to start the Nashville Blues Society after the Music City Blues Society folded. In that role, she has produced numerous charity concerts and helped to raise the profile of blues in Nashville.

BRIGGS FARM BLUES FESTIVAL, Nescopeck, Pennsylvania

Briggs Farm Blues Festival, located in Nescopeck, Pennsylvania, on a 250-year-old working farm that encompasses hundreds of acres, was a dream come true for Richard and Alison Briggs and the Briggs family. The festival, which began in 1998, brings upwards of 10,000 guests annually to northeastern Pennsylvania. This festival has showcased over 250 international, national, and regional artists since its first event. Its star performers have included Big Jack Johnson, David “Honeyboy” Edwards, Eddy “The Chief” Clearwater, Louisiana Red, Lurrie Bell, Alexis P. Suter, Eddie Shaw, The Kinsey Report, Shakura S’Aida, Johnny Rawls, Teeny Tucker, Cedric Burnside, Sam “Bluzman” Taylor, Mississippi Heat, Terry “Harmonica” Bean, and Lonnie Shields, among others. Beginning in 2005, the festival began bringing more and more Mississippi blues artists to this farm as a way to showcase the deep blues of the Delta and Hill Country. Camping also plays a major role in this event, which is why many of the festival goers are younger than the attendees at most blues festivals in the U.S.A. Recently the Briggs family started their own blues label, Briggs Farm Blues Records, signing Jimmy “Duck” Holmes and in 2016 releasing Live at Briggs Farm with Alexis P. Suter and the Ministers of Sound.

KYLE DEIBLER, Fort Collins, Colorado

Kyle Deibler is the epitome of unselfish volunteerism that turns into hands-on activism. He began volunteering for The Blues Foundation during the IBC in 2003 and quickly became the stage manager at one of the most popular venues on Beale Street, the Rum Boogie Café. During his 12 years as its coordinator, Kyle has served as the stage manager, production manager, and volunteer manager for the venue. His work begins each night an hour before the event starts, usually 5 p.m., and lasts until the event concludes at approximately 11 p.m. Kyle is usually the first person IBC acts see upon their arrival on Beale street, as he also helps manage act registration, where he is available to answer act questions. In addition, he has been one of the stage managers for the finals at the Orpheum since 2007. During the Blues Music Awards, Kyle is the one in the tux with the clipboard and earpiece frantically searching for the next band to perform, volunteering as one of the artist handlers since 2005. While living in Phoenix, Kyle began as a volunteer for the Phoenix Blues Society in 2004, then became a board member for three years and president for seven. And when he moved to Fort Collins in 2011, Kyle wasted little time in becoming a board member of the Colorado Blues Society. Today he serves as its treasurer.

GREASELAND STUDIOS, San Jose, California

What do the critically acclaimed records of Wee Willie Walker, John Boyd, Finis Tasby, Rick Estrin and the Nightcats, Little Charlie, Frank Bey, Anthony Paule, Aki Kumar, Rockin’ Johnny Burgin, Jackie Payne, John Németh, Terry Hanck, and Mark Hummel have in common? They were all recorded in Christoffer “Kid” Andersen’s Greaseland Studios. In 2006, Christoffer began to record blues and soul in a cramped setting. Today it’s a tangled mass of equipment, wires, and instruments. But one thing is abundantly clear: the music that emanates from this room has soul. Greaseland today boasts over 50 records recorded in its first decade. Christoffer’s philosophy is simple: “The bottom line for me, and something that separates me from most guys you will meet operating a studio, is that to me the studio is a musical instrument, and I treat it and think of it that way.” It’s no wonder so many top-notch records are coming out of that magical room.

HIGHWAY 99 BLUES CLUB, Seattle, Washington

Highway 99 Blues Club is the longest-running, most successful blues club in Washington state. Over its 12-year run, the club has presented live music five nights a week, featuring national touring artists and established regional bands. Committed to bridging the gap to the next generation of blues fans, the club has consistently showcased the best of local up-and-coming and youth talent. Opening its doors for countless fundraising events throughout the years, Highway 99 Blues Club takes pride in supporting the community when in need. Founder Steve Sarkowsky and partner Ed Maloney have provided a robust blues scene with established acts such as Rick Estrin and the Nightcats, Janiva Magness, Tommy Castro, Bobby Rush, Walter Trout, John Németh, and Duke Robillard, and fresh faces on the scene like Lisa Mann, Jason Ricci, Moreland & Arbuckle, and Karen Lovely. From the décor on the walls to the cuisine from the kitchen, the libations at the bar, and of course the music which pours from their stage, Steve and Ed have spent much time in their commitment to telling the story of the blues and Southern culture to the Pacific Northwest.

JAY MILLER, West Bridgewater, Massachusetts

Since Jay Miller began writing his Music Scene column in the Patriot Ledger daily newspaper in Quincy, Massachusetts, in 1996, he has written about more blues artists than any other journalist in the Boston area. Jay has made it his mission to preview nearly every blues show coming to the Boston area, and whenever possible to profile the touring musicians who come through the region. In total, Jay believes that he has written more than 200 blues reviews and features. His columns have become so popular that they have been picked up by affiliates in New England and around the country. Because he has been around the New England blues scene since college, he can boast of seeing immortals like Muddy Waters, Albert King, and Otis Rush. Early on, he wrote Susan Tedeschi’s first review, and heard a 14-year-old Monster Mike Welch amaze audiences at the first House of Blues in Harvard Square, and, 20 years later, he witnessed the worldwide acclaim of these two artists. Trying to play guitar, bass, and sax in his younger years convinced Jay his future lay in writing, but also left an indelible appreciation for musicians.

JACQUES MORGANTINI, Gan, France

It’s hard to summarize all that 92-year-old Jacques Morgantini has accomplished in this short biography. The first thing you understand when talking to Jacques Morgantini is that the “Bill” he’s talking about sitting with in 1951 is Big Bill Broonzy! He first introduced blues music to France and all of Europe in the late 1940s and 1950s. In 1945 he founded the Hot Club de Pau, through which he organized blues concerts throughout the region. In the ’70s he came with his late wife, Marcelle, to the U.S. with a passion for photographing, filming, and recording black blues musicians in Chicago and delivering this content to Europeans. The recordings he produced in the late ’40s and through the ’50s, ’60s, and ’70s range from Big Bill and Sister Rosetta Tharpe to T-Bone Walker, Magic Slim, Memphis Slim, Luther “Snake” Johnson, and many other iconic blues masters. He chaired the Hot Club of France for 22 years and started influential record labels like MCM and Black&Blue. He arranged the European tours for the Chicago Blues Festival. His biographical DVD, Mémoire de Blues de Jacques Morgantini , is a four-hour, two-DVD set which features archival performances and interviews with 30 featured musicians like John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters, Jimmy Rogers, Luther Allison, Koko Taylor, Homesick James, Jimmy Johnson, Hubert Sumlin, and many others, Though the dialogue is in French, the performance segments showcase the raw energy of a band of blues musicians in the energetic prime of their lives. In 2017 Jacques was presented with the first French Blues Laureate Award, a fitting honor for a man who continues to share his blues knowledge wherever he travels.

JAMES NAGEL, Texas City, Texas

Serving the blues community for nearly 30 years, James “The Blues Hound” Nagel has an extensive and varied blues background. As a radio host, James has been on the airwaves since 1996. As host of Howlin’ the Blues on KPFT in Houston, James is the on-air source for all things blues—music, events, and information. The show’s weekly music calendar is arguably the most impressive and comprehensive music listing you’ll find anywhere. But James has his hand in so much more. Over the years he has helped organize, promote, and produce the Houston Blues Society’s annual Regional Blues Challenge and countless other events and fundraisers. He has served as the festival chair for the Charles Brown Music Festival and as emcee for blues festivals and area shows. James is also a writer and photographer whose work has appeared in Living Blues, Juke Blues , and numerous other publications. He is a past president of the Houston Blues Museum, serves on the board of directors for the Houston Blues Society, and is the talent buyer for the Shakespeare Pub in Houston. In his free time he creates promotional posters and is an avid painter

PORRETTA SOUL FESTIVAL, Porretta Terme, Italy

When Vasti Jackson returned from the 2016 Porretta Soul Festival, he said: “They revere this music. They have a soul music museum. They have shops that sell old vinyl. And they pay homage to the icons who are no longer here with us.” Since it began in 1988 with headliner Rufus Thomas, it has become the most prestigious European festival entirely dedicated to rhythm-and-blues and soul music. Festival founder Graziano Uliani has been able to bring to Porretta most of the major soul bands in the world. Over the years, the festival has hosted the likes of Rufus and Carla Thomas, Mavis Staples, Sam Moore, Irma Thomas, Bettye LaVette, Dorothy Moore, Millie Jackson, LaVern Baker, Joe Simon, Mitty Collier, Jimmy McCracklin, Sugar Pie DeSanto, Clay Hammond, J. Blackfoot, Clarence Carter, Latimore, Bobby Rush, Syl Johnson, Mighty Sam McClain, Solomon Burke, Ann Peebles, Otis Clay, James Carr, Eddie Hinton, Little Jimmy King, Carl Weathersby, and others. This year’s four-day festival in late July featured Bobby Rush, the Bey Paule band, Vasti Jackson, a tribute to Allen Toussaint, Stan Mosley, Theo Huff, and a huge soul revue finale. And in this Italian town you will find Otis Redding Street and Rufus Thomas Park. As Peter Guralnick says: “Everyone in Memphis should see the way in which their native music is treated in Porretta. At the time when buildings are being torn down at home, monuments are being erected in Porretta. But, more significantly, the music is being honored in a manner that it deserves. The musicians are being recognized not just for their stardom but for their contributions.”

STEVE SALTER, Whitehall, Michigan

Almost 20 years ago, in 1997, Steve Salter became frustrated that he could not find the resting places of many of the blues musicians who were his heroes. To fill that void, he founded the Killer Blues Headstone Project as a means to fund and provide personalized headstones for blues musicians who have been lying in unmarked graves. At first it was mainly funded by sales of his calendar or personal donations, but in 2009 the project became a 501(c)(3) corporation. To date, the group has provided 76 headstones including those for Luther Tucker, Walter Davis, Mose Vinson, Gary Primich, Roosevelt Sykes, Ted Hawkins, Phillip Walker, Tommy McClennan, Sammy Lawhorn, Frankie Lee Sims, Robert Belfour, Eddie Kirkland, Lonnie Johnson, and many more. On the project’s website there is currently a section which asks for help in locating the graves of musicians Steve is still searching for, as well as a listing of musicians currently lying in unmarked graves.

EDDIE STOUT, Austin, Texas For over 43 years, Eddie Stout has been working as a musician, record label founder, producer, and promoter. He began playing bass in 1972 and has worked with Anson Funderburgh, Katie Webster, Lou Ann Barton, Hubert Sumlin, Sam Myers, and others. In 1987 he served as the international representative for Antone’s Records, also working with Justice Records, New West, and Malaco. Since 1984 Eddie has also managed his own record labels. Pee Wee records (1984-1991) released 14 albums. Then in 1999 he founded Dialtone Records, which released 27 recordings focusing on the music of black American roots, blues, and jazz. That label showcased the music of Cornell Dupree, Barbara Lynn, and Lazy Lester, and the 2013 Blues Music Award nominee for Traditional Blues Album of the Year by Milton Hopkins and Jewel Brown. From 2012 to 2013 he was the producer and director of 40 television shows for the Songwriters Across Texas series. In 2014 Eddie founded Dynaflow Records, which recorded Jewel Brown and Sherwood Fleming. In total Eddie has produced and funded over 65 blues recordings. Recently, Eddie founded the Eastside Kings Foundation, which has showcased blues, jazz, and gospel artists at the Eastside Kings Festival in Austin each year since 2012.
SUZANNE SWANSON, Surrey, British Columbia, Canada

Suzanne Swanson has been behind the blues camera for almost five decades. Beginning as an accredited staff photographer for MCA Records in Dallas, Suzanne was first assigned to cover the Texas International Pop Festival in 1969, two weeks after Woodstock. There she witnessed the music of Janis Joplin, James Cotton, Canned Heat, Santana, Ten Years After, and many others. Even with a move to Canada in 1975, her love of blues never wavered. Throughout the years Suzanne’s photos and articles have appeared regularly in notable publications such as Blues Matters! , the Washington Blues Society Bluesletter , Elmore Magazine , American Blues Scene , and Blues-E-News . Throughout her career, Suzanne has been much more than just a photographer; she is also a journalist, writer, and historian. Her pictures and interviews of various musicians through the years have led to lifelong friendships. All the compilations she has worked on are part and parcel of her work titled The Blues and Nothing but the Blues ©.

WGLT, Illinois State University, Normal, Illinois

WGLT in Normal, Illinois, a noncommercial NPR affiliate, began playing the blues in 1984. Since 2005, WGLT’s weekend programming has included 32 hours of locally produced blues over the airwaves. Since 2006, GLT Blues Radio at wglt.org has been one of the few 24/7 blues stations in the world, with the listener-inspired tag line “Best Blues Station on Planet Earth.” For 29 years, much of the station’s success can be credited to Frank Black, aka Delta Frank, the Blues Doctor. Frank’s distinctive voice and irrepressible personality attracted a legion of passionate fans to WGLT, and to the central Illinois blues scene in general. Since music director Jon Norton’s arrival in 2003, WGLT has amassed hundreds of interviews with some of the biggest names in the blues, as well as up-and-coming talents and record-label news. He also introduced Mojo Madness, a month-long March Madness-style bracket promotion featuring legendary and rising blues artists in a month-long audience call-in tournament. Another regular feature is New Blues on Monday , in which the station features an hour of recently released blues music at 6 a.m. and 6 p.m.

WOLF RECORDS, Vienna, Austria

Wolf records began its mission in 1974 when 20 Austrian blues fans founded the Vienna Blues Fan Club and began bringing blues artists to tour their country. In 1982 four members transformed the club, renamed for Howlin’ Wolf, into Wolf Records with two purposes: to re-release the original country blues recordings of the 1920s and ’30s and to emphasize the blues styles of Chicago. It was the release of Magic Slim’s 1987 W.C. Handy Award winner that cemented Wolf’s place as a recording company of note. Since then, the label has released 57 recordings in its Chicago Blues Session series, including artists like Magic Slim, Willie Kent, Vance Kelly, Eddie Shaw, Carey Bell, Little Mack Simmons, John Primer, Eddie Taylor Sr., Eddie Taylor Jr., L.V. Banks, Vaan Shaw, Alabama Jr. Pettis, Johnny B. Moore, and many more. Wolf’s artists continue to play major festivals, such as the Chicago Blues Festival, and to tour, while its releases and artists continue to be nominated for Blues Music Awards along with an array of other notable honors as it continues to showcase country and Chicago blues.

RISING BLUES STARS BATTLE IT OUT IN MEMPHIS THIS FEBRUARY AT THE BLUES FOUNDATION’S 33rd ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL BLUES CHALLENGE

2016 BLUES HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES

Wed, 14 Sep 2016 17:36:00 GMT

BLUES FOUNDATION ANNOUNCES
2016 BLUES HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES

On May 4, 2016 five legendary blues performers, two individuals who were instrumental in the creation of blues music, five single blues recordings, one blues album and an important piece of blues literature will be inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame.

Elvin Bishop, Eddy Clearwater, Jimmy Johnson, John Mayall, and The Memphis Jug Band will each take their places beside performers who have been deemed by a group of blues scholars and industry veterans to be the Best in the Blues. Each of these musicians has carved his place in blues history. Bishop’s beginnings with the Paul Butterfield Blues Band to his more recent recognition for the 2015 Blues Music Awards “Song of the Year” have elevated him to the highest stature in blues music. Clearwater, Johnson, and Mayall each boast careers that have spanned more than a half century, and their talent has not waned as they each continue to produce music and to perform for devoted audiences, yet each are distinguishable by their stage presence and musical talent. The Memphis Jug Band’s music crossed the racial divides of the first half of the twentieth century and inspired many musicians to follow in their footsteps.

Non-performer individuals to be recognized by The Blues Foundation for their behind-the-scenes contributions are Malaco Records partners Tommy Couch, Sr. and Wolf Stephenson, whose label’s first big hit was Dorothy Moore’s “Misty Blue” in 1976, and who then went on to produce such blues greats as Bobby Bland, Little Milton, Z.Z. Hill, Denise LaSalle, Latimore, Johnnie Taylor, and Tyrone Davis. The business foundation they built has allowed Malaco to remain an active player in the music world today.

The book Early Downhome Blues: A Musical and Cultural Analysis, by Jeff Todd Titon is the literature entry into the Blues Hall of Fame this year, and is one of the most important analytical studies of the blues to have been published.

The classic album Blues in the Mississippi Night (Nixa, 1957: United Artists, 1959) is being honored as are the singles, “Crazy Blues” by Mamie Smith (OKeh, 1920), “That’s All Right” by Jimmy Rogers (Chess, 1950), Billy Boy Arnold’s “I Wish You Would” (Vee-Jay, 1955), Johnny Moore’s Three Blazers’ (Charles Brown, vocal and piano) “Merry Christmas Baby” (Exclusive, 1947), the first Yuletide song inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame, and “Blues Before Sunrise” by Leroy Carr and Scrapper Blackwell (Vocalion, 1934).

The induction ceremony will be held Wednesday, May 4, at the Halloran Centre Theatre (Click HERE for tickets) in Memphis, Tennessee, the night before the 37th Blues Music Awards. With living musicians like Buddy Guy and Eric Clapton, and legends like Muddy Waters and Koko Taylor, the Blues Hall of Fame consists of blues music’s best and brightest stars. The Blues Hall of Fame induction ceremony will coincide with the one year anniversary of the opening of the Blues Hall of Fame Museum, also located in Memphis, TN at the home of the Blues Foundation. This state of the art facility celebrates the lives and the music of each Hall of Fame individual as well as the history of the music and the literature produced through the blues timeline. These newest inductees will be added to the museum’s permanent exhibits and interactive displays in conjunction with their induction this May.

PERFORMERS
ELVIN BISHOP
Elvin Bishop first came to prominence alongside fellow Blues Hall of Fame guitarist Michael Bloomfield as a member of the influential Paul Butterfield Blues Band in the 1960s and has since carved his own niche both as a hit making roadhouse rocker and as a multiple Blues Music Awards recipient. The blues bug bit Bishop when he heard Jimmy Reed and others on the radio as a teenager in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He was born in Glendale, California, on October 21, 1942, but grew up on an Iowa farm and in Tulsa, and his persona and music reflect his rural roots, wit and humor, and an appreciation of a wide range of sounds, including blues, rock, soul, gospel, and country.

Bishop attended the University of Chicago on a scholarship in 1960, ostensibly to study physics, but the city’s thriving blues scene became his laboratory, with guitarist Little Smokey Smothers his prime instructor. His productive partnership with Paul Butterfield yielded several historic albums, his guitar work coming more to the fore as the years passed. In 1968, Bishop struck out on his own, drawn to another fertile musical landscape in the San Francisco Bay Area. While he never lost his blues chops, his music took a new direction when he recorded his first albums for Epic, and then for Capricorn. Five of his Capricorn albums, led by Struttin’ My Stuff, made the pop charts from 1974 to 1978, as did five singles, including his biggest hit, “Fooled Around and Fell in Love.” Several competing Best of Elvin Bishop compilations from his ’70s work later hit the market.

A return to more blues-based showcases for his guitar, vocals, and songwriting began in 1988 with a series of albums for Alligator, Blind Pig, and Delta Groove, including a collaboration with Little Smokey Smothers and albums with guests such as James Cotton and B.B. King. Bishop was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band in 2015, the same year he took home Blues Music Awards for Album and Song of the Year (“I Can’t Even Do Wrong Right”).

EDDY CLEARWATER
Eddy Clearwater earned a reputation early in his career as a colorful and versatile entertainer, one whose onstage flamboyance belied his soft-spoken nature. A Chuck Berry act was once his specialty, and he learned how to play music, from Top 40 to country to R&B, to please any audience in the clubs of Chicago and the suburbs. But his blues roots ran deep, back to the Macon, Mississippi area where he was born Edward Harrington on January 10, 1935, to a prodigious musical family tree that includes Carey and Lurrie Bell, and to the West Side blues of Otis Rush and Magic Sam that inspired him. By the time he made his first record for his uncle Houston Harrington’s Atomic-H label in 1958, he had acquired the stage name Clear Waters (later just Clearwater)– a play on another of his influences, Muddy Waters. A few more singles followed, some in the Chuck Berry vein, but when it came time to do his first albums his blues talents had begun to be recognized in Europe and in the blues clubs of Chicago.

He earned another nickname, “The Chief,” from the title of his first American LP on Rooster Blues when he posed for the cover on horseback in an Indian headdress (a gift from a fan). Already playing one of the busiest nightclub schedules of any Chicago bluesman, Clearwater ramped up his road work and rocked the blues harder than ever. More albums for Rooster Blues, Blind Pig, Bullseye Blues, and his own Cleartone imprint followed, along with assorted European releases, leading to widely acclaimed releases for Bullseye Blues (Rock ‘n’ Roll City, with Los Straitjackets) and Alligator (West Side Strut). Still strutting his stuff in his war bonnet, Eddy Clearwater adds to a proud legacy every time he steps onstage or into a recording studio.

JIMMY JOHNSON
Jimmy Johnson followed a circuitous route back to the blues he grew up with in Mississippi to reemerge on the Chicago blues scene in the 1970s heralded as a fresh and exciting “new” voice in the music. Johnson was born Jimmy Thompson in Marshall County, Mississippi, on November 25, 1928. His father and younger brothers Mac and Syl were all musicians, and as a teenager he counted Matt “Guitar” Murphy as a best friend. (Syl Thompson later became a soul star under the name Syl Johnson, and Jimmy and Mac eventually followed suit to become Johnsons.)

Jimmy sang gospel in Memphis and Chicago, finally trying his hand at playing blues guitar in the late ’50s. But soul music was hot in the ’60s, and Johnson began to find better-paying work playing shows and touring with his brother Syl, Otis Clay, Denise LaSalle, Bobby Rush, Tyrone Davis, and many others. As jobs on the soul circuit began to wane in the ‘70s, Johnson answered the call of the blues again when he joined the Jimmy Dawkins band in 1974. He soon began to develop his blues career with his own band, gigging in Chicago as well as making European tours and recording for the French MCM label, Alligator, and Delmark. The piercing, soulful quality of his vocals and guitar playing earned him a staunch following among blues fans, bringing him several W.C. Handy Blues Awards (now called Blues Music Awards) along the way.

Johnson cut back on traveling after a tragic accident in 1988. He and his band were returning from a job in Indiana when their van ran off the road, and two band members perished. But when he has chosen to perform and record again, he has proven that his talent remains undiminished, as evidenced by his live shows (even in his eighties sounding uncannily like he did 40 years earlier) and his albums for Verve in 1994 (voted Comeback Album of the Year), Ruf in 1999, and a pairing with brother Syl in 2002 on Evangeline, Two Johnsons are Better Than One.

JOHN MAYALL
The “Godfather of British Blues” and a longtime crusader for American blues originators, John Mayall joins many of his idols, as well as a famous former band member, with his induction into the Blues Hall of Fame. Eric Clapton, guitarist with John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers in the 1960s, was inducted in 2014, while the bluesmen who inspired Mayall, including Sonny Boy Williamson, J.B. Lenoir, Otis Rush and Freddie King, were among the first inductees.

Born November 29, 1933, in Macclesfield, Cheshire, England, Mayall inherited an early interest in blues, boogie woogie, and jazz from his father, Murray Mayall, a trombonist, guitarist, and record collector. Mayall took up piano, guitar, and harmonica, formed his first band in 1962, and founded the legendary Bluesbreakers in London in 1963. The band featured a succession of guitarists who went on to greater blues/rock fame, including Eric Clapton, Peter Green, and Mick Taylor, as well as future Fleetwood Mac founders Mick Fleetwood and John McVie. The Bluesbreakers’ 1966 LP with Clapton was a Top 10 album in England. In the liner notes to his 1967 album Crusade, Mayall wrote, his goal was “to campaign for some of my blues heroes,” and he later devoted a whole album to songs by one of them, Freddie King.

Mayall moved to California to continue his blues journey stateside and has recorded prolifically and toured steadily with only a rare hiatus, still recruiting hot young sidemen such as Coco Montoya and Walter Trout, and making his mark as a songwriter as well as a devoted interpreter. His studio albums number more than 60, augmented by a growing catalog of live recordings. Buddy Guy, Otis Rush, Albert Collins, and other Blues Hall of Famers have taken guest spots on some, and along the way Mayall also produced an album by another, Albert King. Numerous Mayall albums have appeared on the Billboard pop charts over the years, including The Turning Point, Bare Wires, Empty Rooms, U.S.A. Union, and Back to the Roots, and his later releases have scored high on the magazine’s blues charts. As Mayall’s odyssey continues, the words he wrote for Crusade in 1967 still resonate decades later: ” I have dedicated my life to the blues … I hope you’ll join forces with me.”

MEMPHIS JUG BAND
The Memphis Jug Band was one of the most popular and prolific blues groups of the 1920s and ’30s, employing jugs, harmonicas, kazoos, guitars, mandolins, fiddles, and other instruments to entertain a wide variety of audiences with brisk renditions of downhome blues, waltzes, hokum, minstrel songs, and pop tunes. The band revolved around founder Will Shade, who played guitar, harmonica, and “bullfiddle,” a homemade one-string bass. Shade recruited a fluid cast of singers and musicians that included Charlie Burse, Ben Ramey, Milton Roby, Will Weldon, Jab Jones, and Charlie Polk on their 1927-1934 sessions when they recorded “Stealin’, Stealin,” “K.C. Moan,” “Cocaine Habit Blues,” “Fishin’ in the Dark,” and a cache of other enduring favorites.

Their records were marketed mainly to African American blues audiences, but white patrons often employed the band for social affairs, political events, conventions, country club dances, and railroad and riverboat excursions. They also played in parks, restaurants, and the back of trucks, and did some traveling to Chicago, New Orleans, and other destinations for both black and white events. Such was their renown, even at the start, that on February 24, 1927, the Memphis Jug Band had the honor of making the first phonograph records not just in the city of Memphis, but also within the five-state area of Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas, Alabama, and Kentucky. The session for Victor Records, on the fourth floor of the McCall Building (where the Waterfront Plaza now stands in downtown Memphis), began with “Sun Brimmers Blues” — a title based on Will Shade’s nickname “Son Brimmer.”

Shade, born in Memphis on February 5, 1898, put various incarnations of the band together for several decades, and recorded again for Sam Charters in 1956 and for other folklorists and researchers in the 1960s. Inspired by the success of the Memphis Jug Band, several other jug bands sprang up in Memphis, but none ever matched the primacy of Shade’s group. Shade died on September 18, 1966.

INDIVIDUALS (Business, Production, Media or Academic):
TOMMY COUCH and WOLF STEPHENSON
Tommy Couch (born in Tuscumbia, Alabama, on November 12, 1942) and Gerald “Wolf” Stephenson (born in Columbia, Mississippi, on August 24, 1943) built Malaco Records, the premier label for Southern soul, soul-blues and gospel music, out of a booking partnership they started to bring rhythm & blues acts to their fraternity while they were pharmacy students at Ole Miss in the 1960s. Their bookings extended to other colleges and then to R&B and pop concerts in Jackson. Couch co-founded Malaco, Inc. in 1968 with his brother-in-law Mitch Malouf and was soon joined by Stephenson and later by business manager Stewart Madison. The operation expanded to include a recording studio where Stephenson engineered along with production and publishing companies and several record labels.

The first big hit on the Malaco label was Dorothy Moore’s “Misty Blue,” in 1976, but it was the unexpected success of Z.Z. Hill’s LP Down Home in 1982-83 that launched Malaco on a trajectory to become the dominant label in its field. That album stayed on Billboard’s Black LPs charts for an incredible 93 weeks, thanks in large part to the work of Malaco’s promotional director, Dave Clark. (Clark and the album are both already in the Blues Hall of Fame.) Malaco became the label of choice for a select crop of leading stars on the soul and blues circuit, including Bobby Bland, Little Milton, Denise LaSalle, Latimore, Johnnie Taylor, Tyrone Davis, and others whose records, co-produced by Couch and Stephenson, continued to sell to a large African American audience. Malaco’s gospel division likewise rose to the top of its genre, too, especially after the acquisition of the historic Savoy Records catalog, and business at Malaco boomed under the helm of Couch, Stephenson, and Stewart as directors and majority shareholders in the corporation. Tommy Couch, Jr., followed his father’s lead as a booking agent and label owner/producer, founding the Waldoxy label and eventually taking over as president of Malaco in 2013, overseeing the company’s myriad of business interests from its longtime headquarters in Jackson.

CLASSICS OF BLUES LITERATURE
Early Downhome Blues: A Musical and Cultural Analysis, by Jeff Todd Titon
Jeff Todd Titon’s Early Downhome Blues: A Musical and Cultural Analysis ranks as one of the most important analytical studies of the blues, examining the music in an incisive and interconnected web of contexts, including social, lyrical, musicological, and commercial. Titon’s grasp of the blues is extensive, not only as an academic and professor with a Ph.D. in American studies but also as a record collector, writer, and musician who played with or interviewed blues and gospel performers. “Downhome blues,” in his definition, “refers not a place but to a spirit, a sense of place, evoked in singer and listener by a style of music” played in cities as well as in the country. First published by the University of Illinois Press in 1977, Early Downhome Blues was updated in a second edition from the University of North Carolina Press in 1994 with Titon’s reflections on changes in the blues landscape and in perceptions of the blues.

CLASSICS OF BLUES RECORDING — ALBUM
Blues in the Mississippi Night (Nixa, 1957; United Artists, 1959)
When folklorist Alan Lomax recorded Big Bill Broonzy, Memphis Slim, and John Lee “Sonny Boy” Williamson in 1947 in New York City, the results were so controversial that he waited a decade to release the album Blues in the Mississippi Night and even then disguised the identity of the artists and the location of the session. The three bluesmen — dubbed Natchez, Leroy, and Sib in the original album notes –did more than play the blues on the album; they defined it in candid conversation, relaying such wrenching tales of hardships and racial injustice that, according to Lomax, they feared that a release of the recording might bring reprisals against them. Lomax had worries, too, when his activities came under question, and during the McCarthy era he moved to England. The first incarnation of Blues in the Mississippi Night was as a Lomax BBC radio program in 1951. The initial LP release, which included an acapella track by Vera Hall and some prison work songs, was also in England on the Nixa label in 1957. It was finally released in the U.S. by United Artists in 1959, after Lomax had returned home, but not until the blues artists had all passed away were their real names revealed on expanded CD versions by Rykodisc (1990) and Rounder (2003). Despite the album’s title and subtitle (The Real Story of the Blues Sung and Told by Three Mississippi Delta Blues Men), the prisoners from the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman were the only performers on the album who were actually from Mississippi.

CLASSICS OF BLUES RECORDING –SINGLES
Mamie Smith: “Crazy Blues” (OKeh, 1920)
“Crazy Blues” by Mamie Smith was the record that launched a new era for blues in the music business. Smith was not the first person to sing the blues on record, but up until “Crazy Blues,” almost all the others had been white, catering to a white clientele. Only when “Crazy Blues” created a sensation among African American buyers did the record companies realize the potential for black music. By various news accounts, “Crazy Blues” sold anywhere from 10,000 to 2,000,000 copies, enough at any rate for OKeh and other labels to look for more black women to sing the blues and launch “race record” series for the newly discovered blues market. Smith had been singing an early variant by composer Perry Bradford, “Harlem Blues,” in a theatrical production in New York, and it was Bradford who pushed for OKeh to record her doing “Crazy Blues” with a black band, the Jazz Hounds, on August 10, 1920. The song brought wealth and fame to both Smith and Bradford during the 1920s and paved the way for Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey and many more to follow.

Jimmy Rogers: “That’s All Right” (Chess, 1950)
“That’s All Right” by Jimmy Rogers was not a chart hit when first released as a Chess 78 rpm single in 1950 but has since become a standard in the blues repertoire, recorded by dozens of artists over the years. A poignant reflection sung in Rogers’ characteristically warm and empathetic style, with Little Walter’s sensitive support on harmonica, the song was recorded when Rogers and Walter were members of the Muddy Waters band. A 1947 version entitled “Ora-Nelle Blues,” also with Little Walter on harmonica, was recorded in Chicago by Othum Brown, and Rogers recorded the song in 1949 for Apollo, but that version was only released decades later. Rogers also credited Robert Lockwood Jr. and Willie Love for their contributions to his conceptualization of “That’s All Right.”

Billy Boy Arnold: “I Wish You Would” (Vee-Jay, 1955)
“I Wish You Would,” a 1955 single for Vee-Jay Records, exemplified the creative flair of the then 19-year-old blues phenom who recorded and composed the song, Billy Boy Arnold. Its catchy riffs and propulsive rhythmic pattern represented a fresh departure from most Chicago blues of the era, and if it evoked comparisons to Bo Diddley, that was no coincidence: Arnold was playing with Bo when he came up with an early version of the song, and another Bo Diddley band mate, Jody Williams, played guitar on the session. “I Wish You Would” reached wider audiences when recorded by the Yardbirds, David Bowie, Tom Jones, Canned Heat, and other rock and blues acts.

Johnny Moore’s Three Blazers (Charles Brown, vocal and piano): “Merry Christmas Baby” (Exclusive, 1947)
“Merry Christmas Baby,” the first Yuletide song in the Blues Hall of Fame, remains a perennial favorite years after its first release by Johnny Moore’s Three Blazers, featuring Charles Brown on piano and vocals, in 1947. The record, on the Exclusive label from Los Angeles, made Billboard’s race/rhythm & blues charts for three Decembers in a row, from ’47 to ’49, and has since been reissued many times on various labels. Brown also recorded later versions and today it is so identified with Brown that Moore’s roles as the original bandleader, guitarist, and co-composer (with Lou Baxter) are often forgotten. It has been so often heard on mainstream radio that many listeners may not even think of it as a blues record, but it is solidly within the famed soft blues ballad style that Brown developed under the influence of Nat King Cole.

Leroy Carr and Scrapper Blackwell: “Blues Before Sunrise” (Vocalion, 1934)
“Blues at Sunrise” was one of several signature pieces contributed to the blues canon by pianist Leroy Carr, one of the most influential bluesmen of the pre-World War II era. Carr’s litany of woes is a distillation of the blues {“such a miserable feeling, a feeling I do despise”) and its influence on Robert Johnson and other blues legends is obvious. The initial release, a 78 rpm single on the Vocalion label, was credited to Leroy Carr and Scrapper Blackwell in recognition of Blackwell’s vital role on guitar in their classic partnership. In 1962 it became the title track for a historic Carr LP on Columbia that is already in the Blues Hall of Fame. “Blues Before Sunrise” was recorded in St. Louis on February 21, 1934, only a year before Carr died at the age of thirty.

2016 BLUES HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES

Congratulations to our 2016 Blues Music Awards Winners!

Wed, 14 Sep 2016 17:35:00 GMT

1. Acoustic Album: The Acoustic Blues & Roots of Duke Robillard – Duke Robillard
2. Acoustic Artist: Doug MacLeod
3. Album: Born to Play Guitar – Buddy Guy
4. B.B. King Entertainer: Victor Wainwright
5. Band: Victor Wainwright & the Wild Roots
6. Best New Artist Album: The Mississippi Blues Child – Mr. Sipp
7. Contemporary Blues Album: Born to Play Guitar – Buddy Guy
8. Contemporary Blues Female Artist: Shemekia Copeland
9. Contemporary Blues Male Artist: Joe Louis Walker
10. Historical: Soul & Swagger: Buzzin’ the Blues by Slim Harpo (Bear Family Records)
11. Instrumentalist-Bass : Lisa Mann
12. Instrumentalist-Drums: Cedric Burnside
13. Instrumentalist-Guitar: Sonny Landreth
14. Instrumentalist-Harmonica: Kim Wilson
15. Instrumentalist-Horn: Terry Hanck
16. Koko Taylor Award: Ruthie Foster
17. Pinetop Perkins Piano Player: Allen Toussaint
18. Rock Blues Album: Battle Scars – Walter Trout
19. Song: “Gonna Live Again” written and performed by Walter Trout
20. Soul Blues Album: This Time for Real – Billy Price & Otis Clay
21. Soul Blues Female Artist: Bettye LaVette
22. Soul Blues Male Artist: Otis Clay
23. Traditional Blues Album: Descendants of Hill Country – Cedric Burnside Project
24. Traditional Blues Male Artist: John Primer

Congratulations to our 2016 Blues Music Awards Winners!

Blues Foundation

2026 Blues Music Awards Winners

IBC 2026 Blues Music Awards Winners

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE INTERNATIONAL BLUES CHALLENGE’S TOP SELECTIONS FOR 2026!

BAND DIVISION

SOLO/DUO DIVISION

MEMPHIS CIGAR BOX GUITAR AWARD (BEST SOLO/DUO GUITARIST)

LEE OSKAR HARMONICA AWARD (BEST HARMONICA PLAYER)

BEST SELF-PRODUCED CD

Private: The Blues Foundation’s Statement Against Racism

Private: The Blues Foundation’s Statement Against Racism

2025 Blues Music Awards Winners

2025 Blues Music Awards Winners

2025 Blues Music Awards Winners

2025 Blues Music Awards Winners

2025 Blues Music Awards Winners

2025 Blues Music Awards Winners

2025 Blues Music Awards Week Events Schedule

2025 Blues Music Awards Week Events Schedule

BMA Week Events

Wednesday, May 7, 2025

Thursday, May 8, 2025

11:30am – 1pm

9:00am – 11:30am

Noon – 4pm

5:30pm – 8pm

8pm – Late

10am – Late

11:30am – 1:30pm

6pm – Midnight

Friday, May 9, 2025

9am – 10:30 am

11am – 1pm

2023 Blues Music Awards Week Events Schedule

2023 Blues Music Awards Week Events Schedule

IBC 2026 Winners Announced

IBC 2026 Winners Announced

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE INTERNATIONAL BLUES CHALLENGE’S TOP SELECTIONS FOR 2026!

BAND DIVISION

SOLO/DUO DIVISION

BEST GUITAR AWARD

MEMPHIS CIGAR BOX GUITAR AWARD (BEST SOLO/DUO GUITARIST)

LEE OSKAR HARMONICA AWARD (BEST HARMONICA PLAYER)

BEST SELF-PRODUCED CD

IBC 2022 Winners Announced

IBC 2023 Winners Announced

French Band The Wacky Jugs Win the IBCs Band Division

Phoenix Artist Eric Ramsey Triumphs in the Solo/Duo Division

2022 Blues Music Awards Winners

2022 Blues Music Awards Winners

BLUES MUSIC AWARDS 2022 WINNERS ANNOUNCED AT FIRST IN-PERSON BMA EVENT SINCE 2019

2022 Blues Music Awards Winners

2022 Blues Hall of Fame Inductees

2022 Blues Hall of Fame Inductees

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 17, 2022

LUCILLE BOGAN, LITTLE WILLIE JOHN, JOHNNIE TAYLOR, OTIS BLACKWELL, AND MARY KATHERINE ALDIN WILL BE CELEBRATED AS NEW BLUES HALL OF FAMERS ON MAY 4, 2022

Landmark recordings by: Bobby “Blue” Bland, Roy Brown, Bo Diddley, B.B. King, Baby Face Leroy Trio, and Sonny Boy Williamson II

﻿

To receive Hall of Fame recognition at The Blues Foundation’s ceremony in Memphis

The Blues Foundation’s 2022 Blues Hall of Fame Inductees

Performers

Individuals – Business, Production, Media, & Academic

Classic of Blues Literature

Classic of Blues Recording – Album

Classics of Blues Recording – Singles

The Blues Foundation Announces the 43rd BMA Nominees

The Blues Foundation Announces the 43rd BMA Nominees

Important Update: Blues Hall of Fame Museum

Important Update: Blues Hall of Fame Museum

IBC 2022: NEW DATES

IBC 2022: NEW DATES

The Blues Foundation is excited to announce the new dates for the International Blues Challenge: May 6 – 9, 2022

2022 KBA Award Recipients

2022 KBA Award Recipients

Get to know the 2022 KBA Award Recipients

2022 International Blues Challenge – ON SALE NOW!

2022 International Blues Challenge – ON SALE NOW!

NEWS: The Blues Foundation names Blues Hall of Fame 2020 inductees: Bettye LaVette, Syl Johnson, Victoria Spivey, Eddie Boyd, George Smith, Billy Branch, Ralph Peer, and more!

NEWS: The Blues Foundation names Blues Hall of Fame 2020 inductees: Bettye LaVette, Syl Johnson, Victoria Spivey, Eddie Boyd, George Smith, Billy Branch, Ralph Peer, and more!

This post was originally published on December 19, 2020. The 2020 Class of Inductees will be formally inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in conjunction with the 2022 honorees at the upcoming ceremony on May 4, 2022. More info here .

BLUES MUSIC AWARDS 2022 WINNERS
ANNOUNCED AT FIRST IN-PERSON BMA EVENT SINCE 2019

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 17, 2022

Landmark recordings by:
Bobby “Blue” Bland, Roy Brown, Bo Diddley, B.B. King,
Baby Face Leroy Trio, and Sonny Boy Williamson II

The Blues Foundation is excited to announce the new dates for the
International Blues Challenge: May 6 – 9, 2022

The BMA Awards Ceremony and Blues Hall of Fame Induction Gala highlight the Blues Foundation’s festivities, which also include
a new exhibit, book events, panel discussions and music, music, music!

THE BLUES FOUNDATION CROWNS MS. HY-C & FRESH START AS BEST BAND
AND JON SHAIN AS BEST SOLO/DUO ACT AT THE 35th ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL BLUES CHALLENGE

A Benefit Concert for
The Americana Music Association & The Blues Foundation
at The Ace Theatre in Los Angeles
on Friday, October 19

Stellar lineup to feature Americana, roots rock and blues stars including
John Prine, Bob Weir, Lucinda Williams, Lee Ann Womack, Shemekia Copeland, Doyle Bramhall II, Larkin Poe, Joe Louis Walker, Tash Neal and Surprise Guests

TAJ MAHAL, KENNY WAYNE SHEPHERD, ROBERT CRAY, NORTH MISSISSIPPI ALL-STARS, MAVIS STAPLES AND KEB’ MO’ NUMBER AMONG THE NOMINEES FOR THIS YEAR’S
BLUES MUSIC AWARDS