Barbara Newman – Memphis Flyer

The Blues Music Awards (BMAs) are typically a centerpiece of sorts for the Blues Foundation. “This is the highlight of our year, where we share the very best in blues,” says Barbara Newman, president and CEO of the nonprofit. And it’s the highlight for many a blues performer, not to mention others in the industry. With the need for social distancing scuttling the gala event, creative measures had to be adopted. While many festivals have postponed or canceled proceedings, the BMAs will do neither, instead hosting an online event this coming Sunday, May 3rd, at 4 pm.

“We could have created a show with a payment portal, but it was more important to us that the entire community around the world be able to celebrate the music together,” says Newman. “Blues provides such a strong healing force for people, and we felt it was way more important for the Blues Foundation to make this gift to everybody, to watch for free wherever you live.”

Bobby Rush

And make no mistake, the foundation takes that last part very seriously. “Our goal this year is to create a global community from all corners of the world, coming together to celebrate the music and heal our souls,” Newman says. “We’ve timed the show so it will be late in the evening in Europe, or early in the morning in New Zealand or Australia, not at 2 or 3 a.m.”

Even with the traditional live events, the performers have usually been kept secret until the show itself, and that will hold true for the online awards this year. “We gotta have some surprise factor,” says Newman. “But I can tell you who our presenters are. Fantastic Negrito, Ruthie Foster, William Bell, Charlie Musselwhite, Beth Hart, Shemekia Copeland, Warren Haynes, and Keb’ Mo’ will be on camera to share the names of the nominees and the winners. Shemekia is hosting the show from her living room. Artists are sending us footage of themselves performing at home. And we’ve got a whole bunch of surprises that I can’t really share. But I encourage people to watch. They’re not gonna be disappointed.”

According to Newman, many blues fans are making the most of it. “People are creating watch parties, where they watch together while they Zoom, or have a cocktail party beforehand. A lot of people are going to be dressing up in their usual black-tie attire.” But even as the good times roll on, Newman has an even higher priority.

“The COVID-19 Blues Musician Emergency Relief Fund is the biggest initiative that we’re working on right now. The BMAs are important, but right now everybody is very focused on what’s happening in the music community — with festivals and clubs closing or postponing or canceling their events. So the fund has already helped close to 100 musicians. And we’re continuing to bring in more resources to keep on covering housing or utility bills for blues musicians who really don’t have any income stream right now. And with musicians not being able to perform, that trickles down to the rest of the industry, impacting the managers, the clubs, the festivals, the agents, the labels, the publicists, the studios. All of their income streams are being cut as well.

“Some people donate directly. And we’ve gotten tens of thousands of dollars just through ticket holders waiving their refund and donating that amount to our relief fund. Granted, we understand and respect that a lot of people who come to the music awards are also being impacted by COVID-19, and we honor refunds, no questions asked. A few have chosen to just hold their ticket purchases till next year.”

While the pandemic has recently taken the lives of several legendary musicians, luminaries of the blues world have mostly been spared thus far. Many have closely followed the Facebook page of Rev. John Wilkins, who had developed acute pneumonia, possibly due to coronavirus, but it was announced on Thursday that he was “off the ventilator and breathing on his own. He still has a long road to recovery, but is getting a little stronger day by day.”

Bobby Rush, who is nominated in the BMAs’ Best Soul Blues Album category, also took ill recently, but announced last week that his doctor “gave me the green light and good report. I’m well and up in spirit, physically and in mind.” Thanking his fans for their support, Rush added, “Stay in and sanitize … because it saves lives.”

The Blues Music Awards take place Sunday, May 3rd, at 4 p.m. CDT, on the Blues Foundation’s Facebook and YouTube pages. blues.org

It’s hard to imagine a massive annual music festival, one that brings thousands to Memphis every year, somehow taking place under the very noses of the unsuspecting locals. Yet that’s exactly what happens every January, when the International Blues Challenge (IBC) goes down. The 2019 version starts Tuesday this week in various clubs along Beale Street, Main Street, and Second Street, culminating with the finals at the Orpheum Theatre on Saturday, January 26th.

As Blues Foundation president Barbara Newman notes, “We did an economic impact study and learned that this event brings close to $4 million of fresh tourism money into Memphis every year. And that doesn’t even account for the peripheral stuff that happens when people stay after the event to visit Mississippi or spend extra time in Memphis. Everything takes a big bump up during IBC week. And it’s an otherwise quiet, almost dead time for Memphis. So it’s great that we’re here to energize the city every year.”

Roger Stephenson

Kevin Burt

And, Newman adds, the IBC affects every community that sends artists to compete. “One part of it is discovering that next great musician that’s ready to take a bigger stage. But another part is about offering the blues societies an opportunity to do something engaging in their local communities to keep the blues scene vibrant where they are.”

This year, blues societies worldwide, having staged their own mini-competitions, are sending local winners from as far away as South Korea. And for those who come, the experience can be life-changing.

“Susan Tedeschi was an IBC finalist,” says Newman. “Southern Avenue didn’t even make it into the top three, but they got a label deal. Then they won best emerging artist at the BMAs last year. Danielle Nichole and her brother won in 2008, and she’s up for a Grammy this year. [2018 winner] Kevin Burt went on to record his first CD, and he just got nominated for a Blues Music Award as best emerging artist.”

I tracked Burt down somewhere in his home state of Iowa to ask about the experience of winning best solo performer at the IBCs. “It’s created a lot of opportunities for me that I don’t think I would have been able to create on my own,” he said. “But, win, lose, or draw, I made some contacts, and I knew I was going to go some places that were outside of my reach, just having had the chance to network with people. There’s so much information and there’s so much opportunity, just walking around. The workshops they have, the different panel discussions that they do. It’s almost like getting a new set of keys. It’s a whole lot easier to get through certain doors if somebody gives you a key.”

Burt’s success is also an object lesson in how stylistically diverse contenders can be. One of the standout songs in his prize-winning set was a version of “Eleanor Rigby,” by the Beatles. “As I see it, I get to define my blues,” he says. “If I sing ‘Happy Birthday,’ I’m telling you I really want you to have a happy birthday. That emotional connection is to me what the blues is. There’s too many folks that get caught up in a specific sound.”

Paul Benjamin, who’s been an IBC judge many times over and now orients each year’s incoming judges, agrees. “Originality is important,” he says. “Judges don’t wanna hear ‘Mustang Sally’ or ‘I Got My Mojo Working.’ I go over the criteria with them. It’s broken down into the categories of originality, talent, vocals, and stage presence. Each is weighted, and originality’s weighted by three, whereas talent, vocals, and stage presence are weighted by two.”

For Burt, originality is tied to spontaneity. “I didn’t put together a set list for the IBC. Every experience I had while I was down there helped to shape my set list for the next show. That’s how I’ve always done this. I walk into the room, and I don’t know what I’m gonna do until I’m doing it. There’s something about that nervous energy that helps me connect. There’s a feeling that you get.”