Friday, May 6, 2011

Blues Music Award Winners Announced in Memphis

#JazzBluesFlorida #jazz #blues #Florida #Concerts #Festivals #Clubs #JazzClubs #BluesClubs

BLUES MUSIC AWARDS CELEBRATE THE BEST OF BLUES MUSIC
WITH 2-DAY MEMPHIS EXTRAVAGANZA


BIG HONOREES INCLUDE 2010 LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD HONOREE BUDDY GUY AND POSTHUMOUS HONORS FOR SOLOMON BURKE, PINETOP PERKINS AND ROBIN ROGERS.

Marathon Party Featured Steve Miller, Buddy Guy and Special Guest Presenter Jason Lee From TNT's Hit Television Show Memphis Beat 

Memphis, Tenn. - May 6, 2011.  The Blues Foundation has done it again. The party of the year for Blues music has once again left its mark on Memphis with a two-day marathon event, kicking off on Wednesday with this year's induction ceremony for the Blues Hall of Fame, and culminating last night with a seven plus hour celebration of the Blues Music Awards. The Blues Music Awards are universally recognized as the highest honor given to Blues artists, and are voted on by fellow performers, industry representatives, and fans from around the globe who are members of The Blues Foundation.

This year, the awards ceremony honored winners in 26 categories, presented by some of the most influential members of the Blues community. The show opened with an incredible blues set by The Steve Miller Band and ended with Best New Artist Matt Hill.

This year's big winner was Buddy Guy who won the B.B. King Entertainer of the Year Award. Guy's took four additional awards with Album, Contemporary Blues Album, Contemporary Blues Artist and Song of the Year, which he shared with Tom Hambridge.

At last night's ceremony, Todd Park Mohr, leader of Big Head Todd's Blues Club, presented two Blues Music Awards to Candy Burke, daughter of the late Solomon Burke. Jason Lee presented the Traditional Blues Album of the Year award to Willie 'Big Eyes' Smith for his joint CD with the late Pinetop Perkins for their 2010 Blind Pig release Joined at the Hip New Orleans piano institution Dr. John won Pinetop's namesake award for Piano Player of the Year. 
  
Another moving moment saw Tony Rogers accept a posthumous BMA for his late wife, Robin Rogers, as Contemporary Blues Female Artist of the Year.

Of this year's event, The Blues Foundation Executive Director Jay Sieleman said, "There is great reverence and celebration within this event but the real value is incomparable music by performer after performer."

Kicking off the two-day event on Wednesday night, a committee of scholars, record producers, radio programmers, and historians inducted the following performers into the Blues Hall of Fame: singer/guitarist Robert Cray, Soul-Blues legend Denise LaSalle, acoustic troubadour John Hammond, 1950s R&B queen Big Maybelle, Alberta Hunter for her eight-decades of blues/jazz influence and singer/songwriter J.B. Lenoir whose iconic song "Mama Talk To Your Daughter" is still relevant today.

The Blues Music Awards brings together Blues performers, industry representatives and fans from all over the world to celebrate the best in Blues recordings and performances from the previous year.

2011 Blues Music Award winners:
Acoustic Album of the Year
Last Train to Bluesville
The Nighthawks
 
Acoustic Artist of the Year
John Hammond
 
Album of the Year
Living Proof
Buddy Guy

B.B. King Entertainer of the Year
Buddy Guy
 
Band of the Year
The Derek Trucks Band
 
Best New Artist Debut
On the Floor
Matt Hill
 
Contemporary Blues Album of the Year
 Living Proof
 Buddy Guy
 
Contemporary Blues Female Artist of the Year
Robin Rogers
 
Contemporary Blues Male Artist of the Year
 Buddy Guy
 
DVD
Ruf Records
Songs from the Road
(Luther Allison)

Historical Album of the Year
Delta Groove
Harmonica Blues
(Bob Corritore & Friends)
 
Instrumentalist-Bass
Bob Stroger

Instrumentalist-Drums
 Cedric Burnside
 
Instrumentalist-Guitar
 Derek Trucks
 
Instrumentalist-Harmonica
Charlie Musselwhite

Instrumentalist-Horn
Eddie Shaw
 
Instrumentalist-Other
Sonny Rhodes (Lap Steel Guitar)

Koko Taylor Award
Ruthie Foster
 
Pinetop Perkins Piano Player
Dr. John
 
Rock Blues Album of the Year
Live! In Chicago
Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band featuring Hubert Sumlin, Willie "Big Eyes" Smith, Bryan Lee and Buddy Flett
 
Song of the Year
 "Living Proof"
Tom Hambridge/Buddy Guy

Soul Blues Album of the Year
Nothing's Impossible
Solomon Burke
 
Soul Blues Female Artist of the Year
Irma Thomas
 
Soul Blues Male Artist of the Year
Solomon Burke

Traditional Blues Album of the Year
 Joined At the Hip
 Pinetop Perkins & Willie 'Big Eyes' Smith
 
Traditional Blues Male Artist of the Year
Charlie Musselwhite

The Presenting Sponsor for the 32nd Blues Music Awards is The Gibson Foundation. The Sustaining Sponsor is I 55 Productions. Major funding is provided by ArtsMemphis and the Tennessee Arts Commission. 

The 32nd Blues Music Awards are also sponsored by Blue Mountain Artists, BMI, Catfood Records, Eagle Rock Entertainment, FedEx, First Tennessee Foundation, Global Electronic Technology, Legendary Rhythm & Blues Cruise, Memphis Convention and Visitors Bureau, the Sierra Nevada Brewing Company and Sony/Legacy Records. 

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.  The Foundation consists of a worldwide network of 190 affiliated Blues societies and has individual memberships spanning the globe.  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 Generation Blues scholarships, supports the medical needs of Blues musicians with its HART Fund, and offers health insurance access through its Sound Healthcare program. 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 http://www.blues.org/.

For those who were unable to attend this epic event in Memphis, The Blues Foundation will make The Blues Music Awards ceremony available on DVD later this year. As with the DVD releases of the 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010 ceremonies, the 2011 edition will include all the evening's winners and performances on one memorable disc. For more information, visit http://www.blues.org/.

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