Tag: Blues Music Awards

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The Blues Music Awards Have Spoken!

Ronnie Baker Brooks (Photo: Courtesy Blues Foundation)

The Blues Foundation‘s 46th Annual Blues Music Awards were held at Renasant Convention Center on Thursday, May 8th, and once again a regional wunderkind, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram of Clarksdale (who appears in the cinematic vampiric smash Sinners), snagged the title of Best Instrumentalist on the guitar. Other big winners were Ronnie Baker Brooks (Contemporary Blues Album, Contemporary Blues Male, Song of the Year for “Blues In My DNA”); Sue Foley (Acoustic Blues Album, Traditional Blues Female); John Primer (Traditional Blues Male, Traditional Blues Album for Crawlin’ Kingsnake with Bob Corritore); and Curtis Salgado (Soul Blues Male, Soul Blues Album). The venerable Keb’ Mo’ was recognized as Acoustic Blues Artist of the Year.

Complete list of the 2025 winners:

Acoustic Blues Album: One Guitar Woman, Sue Foley           
Instrumentalist – Horn: Vanessa Collier                         
Blues Rock Artist: Tommy Castro                          
Instrumentalist – Harmonica: Billy Branch                              
Soul Blues Female: Thornetta Davis                     
Instrumentalist – Piano (Pinetop Perkins): Eden Brent             
Instrumentalist – Bass: Bob Stroger                       
Instrumentalist – Drum: Kenny “Beedy Eyes” Smit               
Blues Rock Album: Life is Hard, Mike Zito             
Contemporary Blues Male: Ronnie Baker Brooks         
Traditional Blues Album: Crawlin’ Kingsnake, John Primer & Bob Corritore 
Traditional Blues Male: John Primer                           
Instrumentalist- Guitar: Christone “Kingfish” Ingram               
Contemporary Blues Album: Blues In My DNA, Ronnie Baker Brooks     
Soul Blues Album: Fine By Me, Curtis Salgado                 
Traditional Blues Female: Sue Foley                       
Contemporary Blues Female: Ruthie Foster                           
Soul Blues Male: Curtis Salgado                                       
Acoustic Blues Artist: Keb’ Mo’                                           
Band of the Year: Rick Estrin and The Nightcats                   
Best Emerging Artist: Revelation, Piper & The Hard Times       
Instrumentalist- Vocals: Ruthie Foster                             
Album of the Year: Blame It On Eve, Shemekia Copeland     
Song of the Year: “Blues In My DNA,” Written by Ronnie Baker Brooks   
B.B. King Entertainer of the Year: Mr. Sipp (Castro Coleman)

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Blues Music Awards: Kingfish is King

Christone "Kingfish" Ingram performing at the Blues Music Awards on May 9th (Photo: Christopher Caldwell)

Last week’s 45th Blues Music Awards (BMAs) featured many familiar faces in the spotlight, but none so familiar as Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, from just down the road apiece in Clarksdale, Mississippi.

He came away with a win in the “Album of the Year” category for his Live In London record, which was also named the best Contemporary Blues Album. The BMAs also recognized Ingram as this year’s best Instrumentalist – Guitar and the best Contemporary Blues Male Artist.

Ingram, featured prominently in the Memphis Flyer‘s 2022 survey of the regional blues scene, has become somewhat of a ringer at the BMAs, having first won in all four of the above categories in 2020, then garnering awards in every subsequent year since.

His talent and success are partly a testament to the power of educational programs like those he attended at Clarksdale’s Delta Blues Museum as a young man. As he told the Flyer in 2022, “My instructors were actual bluesmen, Bill ‘Howl-n-Mad’ Perry and Richard ‘Daddy Rich’ Crisman. They were my teachers and my mentors of the blues, from the time when I played bass through when I got into guitar. And when they found out I had a little voice, they even pushed me to sing. There were even times when we would do readings. It was a full-on educational class, for sure. And it still goes on today.”

Another local favorite who won big was living legend Bobby Rush, who was not only named the B.B. King Entertainer of the Year but also snagged the best Soul Blues Album award for his All My Love for You. And transplanted Memphian John Németh, fresh off a riveting performance with the Bo-Keys at this year’s RiverBeat Music Festival, also excelled in the soul blues category, winning the Soul Blues Male Artist award.

Other top titles went to Keb’ Mo’ (Acoustic Blues Artist), Danielle Nicole (Contemporary Blues Female Artist), and the Nick Moss Band (Band of the Year). “What Kind Of Fool,” written by Ruthie Foster, Hadden Sayers & Scottie Miller, was named Song of the Year, and The Right Man by D.K. Harrell was named the Best Emerging Artist Album. Like Ingram and Rush, Foster, Mike Zito, and John Primer also garnered multiple awards.

Visit the Blues Foundation‘s dedicated web page for a complete list of this year’s winners.

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Cooper-Young Festival Taps Doug MacLeod as Headliner

Doug MacLeod (Credit: Theo Looijmans)

The Cooper-Young Festival, slated for Saturday, September 16th, has named a nationally recognized artist to headline its musical stages this year — though he’s not exactly a household name.

Doug MacLeod doesn’t do arena tours with multiple costume changes, but he’s the real deal, and has been for 40 years. That’s when he made his recording debut on Pee Wee Crayton’s Make Room For Pee Wee, and the guitarist and singer has been celebrated as both a side man and solo performer ever since. And while the award-winning blues man grew up in New York City, it’s only fitting that he now calls Memphis home.

MacLeod’s bio notes that he first studied with a one-eyed country bluesman from Toano, Virginia named Ernest Banks, who also gave him the principles of music and performance that have guided him ever since: “Never play a note you don’t believe” and “Never write or sing about what you don’t know about.”

Unlike many blues artists, MacLeod plays only his own compositions (and he’s written over 300 songs), but his music has also been recorded by many other artists, including Dave Alvin, James Armstrong, Eva Cassidy, Albert Collins, Papa John Creach, Big Lou Johnson, Albert King, Chris Thomas King, Coco Montoya, Billy Lee Riley, Son Seals, Tabby Thomas, and Joe Louis Walker.

Local and international fans of the Blues Music Awards know his name well, and just this May The Blues Foundation announced in its 44th Annual Blues Music Awards that MacLeod was the winner of the 2023 Acoustic Artist Award. Earlier this year, Downbeat also named MacLeod’s 2022 record as an album of the year.

“Doug MacLeod’s A Soul To Claim, like many of his 21 previous albums, makes it clear that he’s an archetype of the top-level blues storyteller: wry, sharp-witted, virile, inclined to poke fun at sentiment,” wrote Frank-John Hadley in Downbeat Magazine. “MacLeod bestows his music with a human intimacy that’s a function of his affable personality and the original material he works with. With natural authority and charisma, he communicates one-on-one with listeners.”

Meanwhile, there will be plenty of other music at this year’s Cooper-Young Festival, as is only fitting for the neighborhood calling itself “Memphis’ largest historically hip neighborhood dating back to 1849.” Here’s the full lineup:

Memphis Grizzlies Stage
12:30 pm             Steve Lockwood and Old Dogs
1:30 pm               Robots Attack
2:30 pm               Switchblade Kid
3:30 pm               Avon Park
4:30 pm               SKIFF

Guaranty Bank Stage
11:15 am             Brian Blake
12:15 pm             Mike Hewlett & The Racket
1:15 pm               Short in the Sleeve
2:15 pm               Raneem Imam
3:15 pm               Rowdy & the Strays
4:15 pm               Max Kaplan & The Magics
5:15 pm               Headliner – Doug MacLeod

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Music Music Blog

John Németh Wins Big at 44th Annual Blues Music Awards

John Németh at the 44th Annual Blues Music Awards (Credit: Laura Carbone)

There was an extra helping of good will and cheer as Memphian John Németh took home two Blues Music Awards at the Renasant Convention Center last night, one for his harmonica playing, another naming his May Be the Last Time the best Traditional Blues Album of 2022.

The good will began the night before, when a host of artists gathered at Rum Boogie Memphis for a revue that doubled as a BMA showcase and a fundraiser for Németh, who’s struggled with some serious health issues recently. As he noted on social media, “I am honored and grateful to have so many legends gathering in Memphis for my benefit.” In a sign that medical issues have not knocked him out of the game, Németh’s band, the Blue Dreamers, was the Rum Boogie house band that night, and Németh himself performed.

That’s been the case for some time, as he soldiered on last year in his usual bluesman’s itinerary. Just last October, after a performance in Minneapolis, he wrote “I was in serious pain during this show and had to sit during the performance. The vocals and chromatic harmonica are fierce.”

Despite successfully confronting health issues, Németh had an all-around great 2022, musically speaking. In January he thanked “roots music DJs for making my new Love Light Orchestra record the number one air played Soul Blues Album in the US for 2022. If you have not heard it, then please check out Leave The Light On.” That album was nominated for both Album of the Year and Soul Blues Album, but did not win either.

Other regional favorites who nabbed BMA’s included Charlie Musselwhite, whose Mississippi Son won best Acoustic Blues Album; Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, who was named best Contemporary Blues Male Artist; and Anthony Geraci, who received the Instrumentalist Pinetop Perkins Piano Player award.

National treasure Buddy Guy was the biggest winner of the night, with his album, The Blues Don’t Lie, picking up the Album of the Year and Contemporary Blues Album awards. The title song, “The Blues Don’t Lie,” written by Tom Hambridge, also won Song of the Year.

Acoustic Blues Album: Charlie Musselwhite – Mississippi Son
Acoustic Blues Artist: Doug MacLeod
Album of the Year: Buddy Guy – The Blues Don’t Lie
B.B. King Entertainer: Tommy Castro
Band of the Year: Tedeschi Trucks Band
Best Emerging Artist Album: Dylan Triplett – Who is He?
Blues Rock Album: Albert Castiglia – I Got Love
Blues Rock Artist: Albert Castiglia
Contemporary Blues Album: Buddy Guy – The Blues Don’t Lie
Contemporary Blues Female Artist: Ruthie Foster
Contemporary Blues Male Artist: Christone “Kingfish” Ingram
Instrumentalist-Bass: Danielle Nicole
Instrumentalist-Drums: Kenny “Beedy Eyes” Smith
Instrumentalist-Guitar: Laura Chavez
Instrumentalist-Harmonica: John Németh
Instrumentalist-Horn: Deanna Bogart
Instrumentalist-Pinetop Perkins Piano Player: Anthony Geraci
Instrumentalist-Vocals: Shemekia Copeland
Song of the Year: “The Blues Don’t Lie,” written by Tom Hambridge Soul Blues Album: Sugaray Rayford – In Too Deep
Soul Blues Female Artist: Thornetta Davis
Soul Blues Male Artist: Curtis Salgado
Traditional Blues Album: John Németh – May Be the Last Time
Traditional Blues Female Artist Koko Taylor Award: Sue Foley
Traditional Blues Male Artist: John Primer

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International Blues Challenge: Ron Wynn Snags Keeping the Blues Alive Award

Frank Sultana (Credit: Marilyn Stringer)

For blues fans, this is the week when everyone can exhale. All the world of blues has just brought their best game to Memphis. The International Blues Challenge (IBC) has been completed, the winners announced. The performers are now looking to their coming year of shows. But not all who are honored during the IBC are performing artists; they may just return to their day jobs. This time around, we take a look a this last group: the winners of the Keeping the Blues Alive awards.

These awards go to individuals and organizations that have made significant contributions to the Blues world, often during a brunch as part of the IBC weekend of events.

Unlike the Blues Music Awards, the Keeping the Blues Alive (KBA) awards go to non-performers strictly on the basis of merit, as interpreted by a select panel of Blues professionals. The committee generally refrains from awarding the KBA to an individual or organization more than once. Instead, a new winner is selected each year, except in rare cases when a significant period of time has elapsed since the first award. Yet such is the global span of blues culture now that new pivotal figures in keeping the heart of the blues beating are always appearing.

Ron Wynn (Photo courtesy The Blues Foundation)

This year’s recipients include a particularly Memphis-centric winner, writer Ron Wynn, who served as chief music critic at The Commercial Appeal in the ’80s. Beyond that, Wynn has been writing about music for more than 40 years for publications as varied as Boston’s Bay State Banner, Connecticut’s Bridgeport Post-Telegram, The New Memphis Star magazine, Nashville’s City Paper, and, most recently, the Nashville Scene and Tennessee Tribune. He’s also a columnist for the Tennessee Jazz and Blues Society’s website and writes for Jazz Times. His liner notes for From Where I Stand—The Black Experience in Country Music were nominated for a Grammy, and his work was part of the Grammy-winning Night Train to Nashville, Vol. 1 compilation (covering the Nashville R&B Scene) in 2005. Later this year, a book to which he contributed, Ain’t But a Few of Us: Black Music Writers Tell Their Story, will be released.

Other recipients of the KBA award reveal the diversity of generous spirits dedicated to the blues. DJ John Guregian has hosted his Blues Deluxe show on WUML-FM in Lowell, Massachusetts for over 40 years, scoring many impressive artist interviews along the way. Photographer Marilyn Stringer specializes in the blues, and is the head photographer for some of the most prominent blues festivals in America. She has also published three volumes in her Blues In The 21st Century series, the last focused on Blues Music Awards performances and related events in Memphis. The Blue Front Café, on Highway 49 in Bentonia, MS, opened by Jimmy “Duck” Holmes’ family in 1948, has been essentially unchanged ever since, and has become a beacon for blues fans worldwide as the home of the free Bentonia Blues Festival.

The Little Village Foundation nonprofit, founded by Grammy-award-winning keyboardist Jim Pugh, focuses on seeking out, recording, and promoting artists whose music has not yet been discovered outside of their communities. Franky Bruneel has put 40 years of work into the blues as a DJ, writer, photographer, editor, and publisher of his own blues magazine, website, and record label — a veritable anchor of the European blues community. Lloyd “Teddy” Johnston, owner of Teddy’s Juke Joint, maintains one of the last remaining juke joints on the Chitlin’ Circuit in Zachary, Louisiana, where he expanded his childhood home into a bar over fifty years ago. And Swiss native Silvio Caldelari was instrumental in launching the first-ever Sierre Blues Festival, which attracted 11,000 fans last year.

Mathias Lattin (Credit: Marilyn Stringer)

Of course, the work all these awardees do comes down to the music in the end. And there was plenty of that during the IBC’s. This year’s notable winners included Mathias Lattin, representing the Houston Blues Society, who won both the Band Division and the Gibson Guitar Award for Best Band Guitarist; Frank Sultana from the Sydney Blues Society, who won the Solo/Duo Division; and Adam Karch of the Montreal Blues Society, who nabbed the Memphis Cigar Box Guitar Award. Winning the Best Self-produced CD was Lincoln, Nebraska’s Josh Hoyer and Soul Colossal for their album, Green Light.

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Music Music Blog

The Blues Music Awards Go Live Once More

Triple BMA-winner Tommy Castro (Credit: Andrea Zucker)

The Renasant Convention Center played host to scores of blues musicians and fans Thursday night, as the ceremonies of the 43rd Annual Blues Music Awards (BMAs) took place. Between handing out honors in over two dozen categories, the evening featured performances from many nominees, culminating in a joyous all-star jam by the night’s end.

It was especially welcome after the 2020 and 2021 ceremonies took place online only. Judith Black, president and CEO of the Blues Foundation, recognized the watershed moment in a statement: “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.”

Tommy Castro snagged three BMAs: the B.B. King Entertainer of the Year (which he won previously in 2010 and 2008); the Album of the Year for Tommy Castro Presents A Bluesman Came to Town; and Band of the Year for Tommy Castro & The Painkillers.

Sue Foley at the 2022 BMAs (Credit: Andrea Zucker)

Sue Foley, who we featured in this week’s music column, was one of two double-winners, with her Pinky’s Blues recognized as the year’s best Traditional Blues Album, and Foley herself garnering the Traditional Blues Female Artist – Koko Taylor Award, repeating her 2020 win in that category. 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 in 2020.

Also on the local tip, the Best Emerging Artist Album award went to Rodd Bland & The Members Only Band for Live on Beale Street: A Tribute to Bobby “Blue” Bland. Native Memphian Eric Gales won in the category of Instrumentalist – Guitar, and longtime Memphis resident John Nemeth took home the award for Instrumentalist – Vocals.

The complete list of 2022 Blues Music Award winners:
Acoustic Blues Album: Dear America, Eric Bibb
Acoustic Blues Artist: Keb’ Mo’
Album of the Year: A Bluesman Came to Town, Tommy Castro
B.B. King Entertainer: Tommy Castro
Band of the Year: Tommy Castro & The Painkillers
Best Emerging Artist Album: Live on Beale Street: A Tribute to Bobby “Blue” Bland, Rodd Bland & the Members Only Band
Blues Rock Album: Resurrection, Mike Zito
Blues Rock Artist: Albert Castiglia
Contemporary Blues Album: 662, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram
Contemporary Blues Female Artist: Vanessa Collier
Contemporary Blues Male Artist: Christone “Kingfish” Ingram
Instrumentalist-Bass: Danielle Nicole
Instrumentalist-Drums: Tom Hambridge
Instrumentalist-Guitar: Eric Gales
Instrumentalist-Harmonica: Jason Ricci
Instrumentalist-Horn: Jimmy Carpenter
Instrumentalist Pinetop Perkins Piano Player: Mike Finnigan
Instrumentalist-Vocals: John Nemeth
Song of the Year: “I’d Climb Mountains,” written & performed by Selwyn Birchwood
Soul Blues Album: Long As I Got My Guitar, Zac Harmon
Soul Blues Female Artist: Annika Chambers
Soul Blues Male Artist: Curtis Salgado
Traditional Blues Album: Pinky’s Blues, Sue Foley
Traditional Blues Female Artist Koko Taylor Award: Sue Foley
Traditional Blues Male Artist: Taj Mahal

Meanwhile, the Blues Hall of Fame held this year’s induction ceremony on May 4th. The inductees included pre-war performer and songwriter Lucille Bogan; soul, blues, and 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, and Bo Diddley’sclassic 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.

Today, May 6th, the total blues immersion continues with a special reception at the Blues Hall of Fame for award-winning music photographer Jérôme Brunet, and the first volley of a four-day run for the International Blues Challenge.

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Music Music Features

Sue Foley’s Musical Journey Leads to the Blues Music Awards

This week will witness the most blues-intensive stretch of days that Memphis has seen in a long time. For one thing, the International Blues Challenge (IBC), which usually occurs in January, has now been folded into the same week as the Blues Music Awards (BMAs). And that’s not all: The Blues Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony will kick things off on Wednesday, May 4th, followed by the Blues Music Awards on Thursday, May 5th. On Friday, May 6th, the Blues Hall of Fame will host a special reception for award-winning music photographer Jérôme Brunet, even as the IBC begins its four-day run.

Sue Foley, nominated for the BMAs’ Koko Taylor Award (Best Traditional Blues Female Artist) this year, with her Pinky’s Blues nominated for Album of the Year, exemplifies the international quality of the blues today, though she’s never participated in the IBC. Having grown up in Ottawa and Vancouver, Foley is proof positive of the blues’ power to reach across cultural boundaries. Now regarded as one of the finest blues guitarists alive (to which her Koko Taylor Award nomination attests), she became a devotee of the genre at an early age, moving to Austin, Texas, by the time she was 21. To trace her evolution as an artist, I spoke with her shortly before her other Memphis appearance — at the Beale Street Music Festival.

Memphis Flyer: Thank you for taking a moment to talk during your tour.
Sue Foley: Sure! We’re out with ZZ Top and Cheap Trick this week. It’s pretty fun. I got to sit in with Cheap Trick last night and I realized, “Oh my god, these guys were so big for me.” You forget — because I’m a blues artist, I haven’t thought about them for a long time. And then I was like, “Wait a minute, these guys are huge!”

I was really appreciating your guitar, “Pinky,” on your latest album. There’s a unique charm to a Fender Telecaster’s sound, isn’t there?
There is. It’s a really simple guitar. I’m a pretty staunch Tele player. Not that I can’t play other guitars, but there’s something about a Tele. A lot of it was Albert Collins, I think, who put the Tele on the map for me. “The Master of the Telecaster.” And when you think about the staunch Tele players, it’s such a unique set of people, from Steve Cropper to Muddy Waters.

A lot of country people like Teles. It’s not a huge blues guitar, but there are some pretty killer blues players that gravitated to Teles, too.

Are there any Memphis players who have been especially significant to you?
Yes, the most significant player for me is Memphis Minnie. She’s my favorite artist of all time. She was a guitar-playing woman and paved the way for all of us. Blues has a long history of women playing guitar, and I really attribute that to Minnie. Because who came before her, really? Nobody that had a career like she did. There was Sister Rosetta Tharpe, who was more gospel, but Minnie really, for me, paved the way. I’ve been playing her songs since I was a teenager. I love a lot of Mississippi artists. But Memphis Minnie’s still my number one.

Has it been challenging, being a woman in the blues world?
The funny thing is, I think the blues has always been receptive to strong women and women instrumentalists. So from the players themselves, I never felt any difficulty. Can you play or can you not play? This is just a hard business, period. So I’m not sure it’s any harder on women than men. It’s just different. A different set of obstacles we encounter. For instance, having children. Playing the blues really sets your life in a certain direction, as a female would-be child-bearer. But in the blues, there are a lot of female instrumentalists. More than ever. So I feel it’s more about the music. People just respect you if you’re a good player.

The 43rd Blues Music Awards will be held at the Renasant Convention Center on Thursday, May 5th. Doors 5 p.m. Visit blues.org/blues-music-awards for details.

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Blues Foundation Rescinds Kenny Wayne Shepherd’s BMA Nomination

Kenny Wayne Shepherd (courtesy Prospect PR)

With the rise of white supremacist movements worldwide, the Confederate flag can no longer pass as the nod-and-wink signifier of Southern pride that it once was. That’s what guitarist Kenny Wayne Shepherd has discovered, as his love of that iconic image, plastered on his guitars and his car, has caused him to lose his 2021 Blues Music Awards (BMA) nomination for Best Blues/Rock Artist.

The Blues Foundation, which hosts and organizes the BMAs, first posted a Statement Against Racism last Monday, which states that the organization “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.”

Three days later, the organization announced that Shepherd’s nomination had been rescinded, noting in a statement that “The decision to rescind the nomination was based upon continuing revelations of representations of the Confederate flag on Shepherd’s ‘General Lee’ car, guitars and elsewhere.  The Blues Foundation has also asked Ken Shepherd, father of Kenny Wayne Shepherd, to step down as a member of its Board of Directors.  The Blues Foundation states that it is resolute in its commitment to purposefully address racism and contribute to a more equitable blues community.”

Yesterday, the Associated Press reported that Shepherd had issued an apology, noting that “The foundation says Shepherd has used the Confederate flag on his ‘General Lee’ replica car from ‘The Dukes of Hazzard’ and on his guitars. Shepherd says in a statement he put the car in permanent storage years ago, and had painted over the Confederate flag some time ago. He does not mention the guitars. Shepherd says he has always opposed racism and oppression.”

As reported by Variety, “The moves followed statements from prominent figures in the blues community who indicated they planned to dissociate themselves from the organization because of the kudos this year for Shepherd, a previous Blues Awards winner. Muddy Waters’ daughter, Mercy Morganfield, had said she was resigning from the board because of the support for Shepherd.”

Morganfield had made a Facebook post about the matter titled “The Way My Daddy Looks At a White Man Winning a Blues Foundation Music Award While Waving A F****g Confederate Flag.” Her post has since been deleted.

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Music Record Reviews

The Piana From Savannah: Victor Wainwright Celebrates Memphis

Memphis and Beale Street loom large in the public imagination, and there’s no greater proof of that than the countless musicians who relocate here to ply their trade. Victor Wainwright is a classic example.

Reared in Savannah, Georgia, he was steeped in the music of his father, a singer,  and his  grandfather, a boogie-woogie pianist. By 2005, he’d released his solo debut, Piana’ From Savannah, and since then he has won six Blues Music Awards (including one for best pianist this year), charted #1 in the Billboard blues charts, and was nominated for a Grammy last year. He now calls Memphis home, and has assembled a crack band, the Train. And his latest album, Memphis Loud (due out May 22nd on Ruf Records), is a tribute to his adopted home and the musical history that he so clearly admires.

But Wainwright is not a roots purist by any means. “I believe that for roots music to grow, and reach out to new audiences, we have to push it forward,” he has said, and that is in keeping with the sounds of his latest record. The tip off comes immediately, as the opening notes of the first track create eerie chords you don’t often hear from a blues band. They swell and grow into a pounding blues shuffle, but by then you know that your ears should be ready for surprises.

The overall sound is not exactly a Memphis sound, but an intriguing hybrid. Traditionally, Memphis soul, blues and R&B has had a more raw edge than the typical forays into such genres, and perhaps this group could benefit from more of that bacon fat. But the incredibly tight band does navigate the twists and turns of Wainwright’s originals with vigor and verve, with the precision of a seasoned Broadway group that’s found itself slumming, just for the fun of it.

This allows them to do justice to the stylistic curve balls that Wainwright throws us, from the aforementioned shuffle, to the solemn soul of “Reconcile,” to the Ellington-esque, moody horns of “Sing.” Like a renovated vintage car, this music wears a blues chassis, but surprises you with the heft and polish of the state-of-the-art engine that revs inside. Take it for a spin.

Victor Wainwright & The Train

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Music Music Blog

Big BMA 2020 Winners Resonate With Memphis History

CREDIT: Myriam Santos

Myriam Santos

Mavis Staples

Time seemed to stand still as the 2020 Blues Music Awards unfolded on our screens yesterday: Nominees’ home-recorded performances captured on cell phones, and comments from prominent members of the music world, mixed with unique flashbacks from prior years’ awards shows, featuring luminaries such as Dr. John, Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown, Koko Taylor, Honeyboy Edwards, Luther Allison, Rufus Thomas, Ruth Brown, and B. B. King.

It was an all-online gala, with Shemekia Copeland hosting from her home. The live-streamed event was archived and can still be seen on Facebook and YouTube.

Yet the connection with history went beyond archival footage. Some of this year’s winners were seasoned veterans, embodying the living tradition of the blues more surely than any film footage. None other than Mavis Staples, so associated with the gospel and soul she cut at Stax Records and elsewhere, cemented her place in the blues with a win for Best Vocalist. And Bobby Rush took home the award for Best Soul Blues Album, a useful bookend to his 2017 Grammy for Porcupine Meat.

Christone ‘Kingfish’ Ingram

But, as if to prove that the blues are constantly being reborn, the biggest wins were scored by relative newcomer Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, of Clarksdale, Mississippi, who won  five statues, three for his debut album, Kingfish, as Best Emerging Artist Album, Best Contemporary Blues Album, and Album of the Year, along with two performer awards as Best Contemporary Blues Male Artist and for Instrumentalist-Guitar. Nick Moss and his band featuring Dennis Gruenling were also big winners with three awards: Band of the Year; Traditional Blues Album, for Lucky Guy!; and Moss personally in the Song of the Year category for his composition “Lucky Guy.” Last year’s Soul Blues Male Artist award winner, Sugaray Rayford, claimed that prize again this year along with the B.B. King Entertainer of the Year award.

Shemekia Copeland hosted, and won for Best Contemporary Female Vocalist

Below is a more complete list of the winners, who continue to prove the resilience and necessity of the blues in these trying times. Bravo to one and all for adapting to the demands of physical distancing to make this a unique online event.

B.B. King Entertainer of the Year
Sugaray Rayford

Album of the Year
Kingfish, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram

Band of the Year
The Nick Moss Band feat. Dennis Gruenling

Song of the Year
“Lucky Guy,” written by Nick Moss

Best Emerging Artist Album
Kingfish, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram

Acoustic Blues Album
This Guitar and Tonight, Bob Margolin

Acoustic Blues Artist
Doug MacLeod

Blues Rock Album
Masterpiece, Albert Castiglia

Blues Rock Artist
Eric Gales

Contemporary Blues Album
Kingfish, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram

Contemporary Blues Female Artist
Shemekia Copeland

Contemporary Blues Male Artist
Christone “Kingfish” Ingram

Historical Blues Album
Cadillac Baby’s Bea & Baby Records – Definitive Collection, Earwig Music

Soul Blues Album
Sitting on Top of the Blues, Bobby Rush

Soul Blues Female Artist
Bettye LaVette

Soul Blues Male Artist
Sugaray Rayford

Traditional Blues Album
Lucky Guy!, The Nick Moss Band Featuring Dennis Gruenling

Traditional Blues Female Artist
Sue Foley

Traditional Blues Male Artist
Jimmie Vaughan

Instrumentalist Bass
Michael “Mudcat” Ward

Instrumentalist Drums
Cedric Burnside

Instrumentalist Guitar
Christone “Kingfish” Ingram

Instrumentalist Harmonica
Rick Estrin

Instrumentalist Horn
Vanessa Collier

Instrumentalist Piano
Victor Wainwright

Instrumentalist Vocals
Mavis Staples