Blues In The Digital Age

2011 Blues Music Award Nominees Announced January 20, 2011

The Blues Foundation is pleased to announce the nominations for their annual Blues Music Awards, which the organization will present at the Cook Convention Center in Memphis, TN on May 5, 2011. Performers, industry representatives and fans from around the globe will have the chance to celebrate the best in Blues recording and performance from 2010.

Among those heading the list of honorees for the 32nd Blues Music Awards is last year’s Lifetime Achievement Award honoree Buddy Guy, with five nominations in such categories as B.B. King Entertainer of the Year, Album of the Year for Living Proof, and Song of the Year for its title track, a co-nomination (with Tom Hambridge). Charlie Musselwhite, a Blues Hall of Fame inductee last year, also garnered five nominations, in the categories of Album of the Year (for The Well) and Song of the Year (for “Sad and Beautiful World,” from The Well), among others.

B.B. King Entertainer of the Year (2009) Janiva Magness garnered four nominations this year, and three nominations each went to Derek Trucks, Eden Brent, Joe Louis Walker, James Cotton, Nick Moss, Paul Oscher and The Mannish Boys. This year’s nominations also celebrate Steve Miller’s return to the blues – and his first-ever nomination – with the album Bingo, nominated for Best Rock Blues Album of the Year.

“The ballot is balanced between familiar names nominated because of stellar releases and more than a dozen first-ever nominees,” Jay Sieleman, The Blues Foundation’s Executive Director said. “The nominations prove not only the sustaining power of Blues music, but also its ability to constantly evolve and remain relevant to today’s fans.”

Among the nominations are also two – for Soul Blues Album and Soul Blues Male Artist – given posthumously to the late Solomon Burke, who passed away in October at age 70.

December 16 is an early Christmas for Blues fans. Tickets for the May 5 Award show go on sale. The DVD memorializing the 2010 Blues Music Awards will be available for purchase. Online voting begins then too. Blues Foundation members are the only fans who vote to decide which nominees will actually take home the Blues Music Award. Members also receive seating preference at the Awards show.

Every year, the Blues Music Awards ceremony itself proves to be one of the best shows of the year. After all, almost every nominee not only attends, but also performs – creating a lineup comprised of the best of the best in blues all in one evening. A complete nominee list, as well as membership, DVD sales, voting, ticket and host hotel information can be found at The Blues Foundation’s website—www.blues.org. Hall of Fame honorees will be announced in mid-February.

For the fifth consecutive year, The Blues Music Awards will be broadcast live in their entirety on Sirius XM’s B.B. King’s Bluesville – the next best thing to being there. They will be subsequently broadcast on public television in the fall.

The Blues Music Awards are universally recognized as the highest honor given to Blues artists. The Presenting Sponsor for the 32nd Blues Music Awards in 2011 is once again The Gibson Foundation. BMI and I55 Productions are the Blues Music Awards Sustaining Sponsor. Major funding is provided by ArtsMemphis and the Tennessee Arts Commission. The 32nd Blues Music Awards are also sponsored by Casey Family Programs/National Foster Care Month, Eagle Rock Entertainment, FedEx, Global Electronic Technology, Legendary Rhythm & Blues Cruise, Memphis Convention and Visitors Bureau, and the Sierra Nevada Brewing Company.

2011 Blues Music Awards
Presenting Sponsor: The Gibson Foundation

NOMINEES

Acoustic Album
Eric Bibb Booker’s Guitar
Lucky Peterson You Can Always Turn Around
Paul Oscher Bet on the Blues
South Memphis String Band Home Sweet Home
The Nighthawks Last Train to Bluesville

Acoustic Artist
Doug MacLeod
Eric Bibb
Guy Davis
John Hammond
Paul Oscher

Album
Buddy Guy Living Proof
Charlie Musselwhite The Well
Eden Brent Ain’t Got No Troubles
Janiva Magness The Devil is an Angel Too
The Mannish Boys Shake for Me

B.B. King Entertainer
Buddy Guy
Janiva Magness
Joe Louis Walker
Kenny Neal
Super Chikan

Band
Derek Trucks Band
Magic Slim & the Teardrops
Nick Moss Band
Rick Estrin & the Nightcats
The Holmes Brothers
The Kilborn Alley Blues Band
The Mannish Boys

Best New Artist Debut
Chris O’Leary Band Mr. Used to Be
Claudette King We’re Onto Something
Matt Hill On the Floor
Peter Parcek 3 The Mathematics of Love
The Vincent Hayes Project Reclamation

Contemporary Blues Album
Buddy Guy Living Proof
Janiva Magness The Devil is an Angel Too
John Nemeth Name the Day!
Karen Lovely Still the Rain
Smokin’ Joe Kubek & Bnois King Have Blues Will Travel

Contemporary Blues Female Artist
Candye Kane
Janiva Magness
Karen Lovely
Robin Rogers
Shemekia Copeland

Contemporary Blues Male Artist
Buddy Guy
Joe Louis Walker
John Nemeth
Kenny Neal
Nick Moss

DVD
Black Hen The Mississippi Sheiks Tribute Concert (Various Artists)
Delmark Live at Rooster’s Place (Tail Dragger)
NorthernBlues Music Live at Ground Zero Blues Club
(Watermelon Slim & the Workers)
Ruf Songs from the Road (Luther Allison)
Woodward Studio Nothing to Prove (Mac Arnold)

Historical
Black Derby Chicago Blues Buddies
(Little Smokey Smothers & Elvin Bishop)
Delmark Jimmy Dawkins Presents the Leric Story
(Various Artists)
Delmark Live in Boston 1966
(Junior Wells & the Aces)
Delta Groove Harmonica Blues (Bob Corritore & Friends)
Ruf Songs from the Road (Luther Allison)

Instrumentalist-Bass
Bill Stuve
Bob Stroger
Larry Taylor
Patrick Rynn
Steve Gomes

Instrumentalist-Drums
Cedric Burnside
Jimi Bott
Kenny Smith
Robb Stupka
Tony Braunagel

Instrumentalist-Guitar
Derek Trucks
Duke Robillard
Joe Louis Walker
Kirk Fletcher
Ronnie Earl

Instrumentalist-Harmonica
Bob Corritore
Charlie Musselwhite
James Cotton
Kim Wilson
Paul Oscher

Instrumentalist-Horn
Big James Montgomery
Doug James
Eddie Shaw
Keith Crossan
Terry Hanck

Instrumentalist-Other
Gerry Hundt (mandolin)
Johnny Sansone (accordion)
Otis Taylor (banjo)
Rich Del Grosso (mandolin)
Sonny Rhodes (lap steel guitar)

Pinetop Perkins Piano Player
David Maxwell
Dr. John
Eden Brent
Henry Butler
Mitch Woods

Rock Blues Album
Derek Trucks Roadsongs
Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band featuring Hubert Sumlin, Willie “Big Eyes” Smith, Bryan Lee and Buddy Flett Live In Chicago
Nick Moss Privileged
Steve Miller Band Bingo
Walter Trout Common Ground

Song
Tom Hambridge/Buddy Guy “Living Proof” (Buddy Guy – Living Proof)
Charlie Musselwhite “Sad and Beautiful World”
(Charlie Musselwhite – The Well)
Bruce Iglauer/Wyzard/David Kearney “Please Mr. President”
(Guitar Shorty – Bare Knuckle)
Dennis Walker/Alan Mirikitani “Still the Rain”
(Karen Lovely – Still the Rain)
Steve Gomes “Rained All Night”
(Tad Robinson – Back in Style)

Soul Blues Album
Arthur Adams Stomp the Floor
Denise LaSalle 24 Hour Woman
Eugene “Hideaway” Bridges Live In San Antonio
Solomon Burke Nothing’s Impossible
Tad Robinson Back in Style
The Holmes Brothers Feed My Soul

Soul Blues Female Artist
Barbara Carr
Claudette King
Denise LaSalle
Irma Thomas
Sista Monica Parker

Soul Blues Male Artist
Bobby Rush
Curtis Salgado
Eugene “Hideaway” Bridges
Solomon Burke
Tad Robinson

Traditional Blues Album
Charlie Musselwhite The Well
Duke Robillard Passport to the Blues
James Cotton Giant
Pinetop Perkins & Willie “Big Eyes” Smith Joined at the Hip
The Mannish Boys Shake for Me

Koko Taylor Award-Traditional Blues Female
Eden Brent
Reba Russell
Ruthie Foster
Sue Foley
Teeny Tucker
Zora Young

Traditional Blues Male Artist
Alabama Mike
Charlie Musselwhite
James Cotton
Magic Slim
Super Chikan

New Grateful Dead Box Set to Span 60 CDs January 20, 2011

Attention all Deadheads; start saving your money now. Next fall, The Grateful Dead are planning to release a box set that will include the entirety of 22 concerts from the jam band’s 1972 European tour. Fans will get to truck their way through 60 CDs at a cost of more than $400.

Grab this box set when released and relive the 1970s.

‘Joan Armatrading Live At Royal Albert Hall’ Set For Release On CD/DVD January 20, 2011

Santa Monica, CA–429 Records is set to release a spectacular live concert by celebrated songstress Joan Armatrading. JOAN ARMATRADING LIVE AT ROYAL ALBERT HALL was filmed and recorded live during the artist’s triumphant appearance at the UK’s most prestigious venue last spring. The incredible evening was a highlight of Armatrading’s world tour promoting the release of her new album “THIS CHARMING LIFE.”

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