Blues Foundation Announces Internation Blues Challenge Winners

The Blues Foundation‘s 26th International Blues Challenge ended on Saturday January 23rd, 2010 with two packed shows at the Orpheum Theatre. Out of 224 bands that competed for top honors throughout the weekend only two can be called winner in the solo/duo and band competition.  The solo/duo winner was Matt Andersen, sponsored by Harvest Jazz and Blues from Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada and second place honors went to Alphonso Sanders and Bill “Howl-n-Madd” Perry from Mississippi’s Crossroads Blues Society. The top prize in the Band competition was awarded to Grady Champion of theMississippi Delta Blues Society of Indianola. Second place honors were earned by Karen Lovely Band, Cascade Blues Association, and the third spot went to Cheryl Renee with Them Bones, hailing from the Cincinnati Blues Society.

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Blues Foundation Announces 2009 Hall of Fame Inductees

Blues Foundation Announces 2009 Hall of Fame Inductees, Including Taj Mahal, Irma Thomas, Son Seals, and Rev. Gary Davis

Ceremony To Be Held On Eve of 2009 Blues Music Awards in Memphis, TN

The Blues Foundation has announced the inductees for the Blues Hall of Fame in 2009, including “Soul Queen of New Orleans” Irma Thomas and multiple GRAMMY Award winner Taj Mahal, as well as late Chicago bluesman Son Seals and the Reverend Gary Davis. Austin club owner Clifford Antone, discographer Mike Leadbitter and author Bob Porter will be the non-performers inducted this year. The book I Hear You Knockin’ by Jeff Hannusch was selected as a Classics of Blues Literature. The induction ceremony will be held at The Blues Foundation’s Charter Member Dinner on Wednesday, May 6, at the Memphis Marriott Downtown in Memphis, Tennessee, the night before the 30th Blues Music Awards. Taj Mahal and Irma Thomas will both attend the induction ceremony.

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30th Annual Blues Music Awards Confirmed for May 7 in Memphis, TN

MANNISH BOYS TOP NOMINATIONS WITH SIX; OTHERS NOMINATED INCLUDE BUDDY GUY, B.B. KING, ELVIN BISHOP, MAGIC SLIM

For a complete list of the 30th Blues Music Awards Nominees, click here: http://www.blues.org/bluesmusicawards/nominees.php4

WHAT: The Blues Music Awards
WHEN: Thursday, May 7, 2009
WHERE: Cook Convention Center, 255 N. Main, Memphis, TN
TICKETS: $125, available December 16, 2008 via http://www.blues.org or 901.527.2583 x10. (Tables of 10 are $1200.)

The Blues Foundation has confirmed the thirtieth annual Blues Music Awards, a seven-plus hour throw-down featuring dozens of incredible musicians and honoring the best of the blues world. Blues Foundation members will be able to vote starting today, through March 1, with the results determining the winners.

West coast-based group The Mannish Boys lead the pack this year with six nominations, including band, traditional album and album of the year in addition to individual nominations for band members Richard Innes (drums), Kid Ramos (guitar), and Larry Taylor (bass).  Tied with four nominations each are slide guitar legend Elvin Bishop, pianist Eden Brent, songstress Janiva Magness, soul man Curtis Salgado, and former truck driver Watermelon Slim. Buddy Guy is nominated for three awards and B.B. King for two.

The Mississippi-based Homemade Jamz Blues Band are the youngest nominees at 9, 14, and 16 years of age. Sadly, Sean Costello received two posthumous nominations while Jeff Healey received one. Chicago elder statesman and torch bearer Magic Slim earned three nods. Lurrie Bell earned two nominations for an album he made while grieving the loss of his wife and his father, harp man Carrie Bell.

The Blues Foundation has added a Rock Blues category for the first time in 2009, with nominations going to Gary Moore, Jeff Healey, Michael Burks, Smokin’ Joe Kubek & Bnois King, Sonny Landreth, and Walter Trout.

Performers have not yet been confirmed for the 2009 show but all nominees are invited to take the stage, showing a broad range of blues styles from solo resonator fingerpicking to soul-blues shouters. For the blues fan, it’s the only way to see a lineup like this and it annually threatens to rage well into the night.

The awards ceremony and concert will be broadcast live by Sirius XM Satellite Radio’s B.B. King’s Bluesville channel. The Blues Music Awards will be shot in HD for a DVD to be released by October, 2009.

The Blues Foundation has 3,000 individual dues-paying members around the world and 160 affiliated grassroots, member-based local blues societies in a dozen countries.

The Blues Music Awards are produced by The Blues Foundation, a non-profit organization established to preserve Blues history, celebrate Blues excellence, support Blues education and ensure the future of this uniquely American art form. In addition to the Blues Music Awards, the Foundation also produces the Blues Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, the International Blues Challenge and the Keeping the Blues Alive Awards. It fosters education through its Blues in the Schools programming and supports the medical needs of Blues musicians with its HART Fund.  Throughout the year, the Foundation staff serves the worldwide Blues community with answers, contact information and news.   For more information or to join The Blues Foundation, log onto www.blues.org

Major category nominees:

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