Tag: Blues Music Awards

The 39th Annual Blues Music Awards: Winners Both Global & Local

Post author By Alex Greene
Post date May 13, 2018

CREDIT: Jeff Fasano

Jeff Fasano

Janiva Magness, Dom Flemons, Bobby Rush, David Porter, Candi Staton, Steve Van Zandt at the BMAs

Everyone was dressed to the nines last night as the 39th Annual Blues Music Awards paid honors to the world’s greatest blues artists. It’s a tradition that would doubtless make W.C. Handy smile, just steps away from where he brought global recognition to the music. Now just over a century after he published “Memphis Blues,” the genre is thriving and always evolving.

Conqueroo

Steven Van Zandt at the BMAs

Master of Ceremonies Steven Van Zandt acknowledged that the power of the blues goes beyond aesthetics. “At a time when our country is more segregated than at any time in the past hundred years, music holds us together and touches all our souls,” he reflected from the podium. Award presenters included Van Zandt, Tony Joe White, Joe Louis Walker, Janiva Magness, Ruthie Foster, Candi Staton, and David Porter. The latter two, presenting together, offered some amusing banter, seemingly making plans to collaborate while onstage.

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Tony Joe White at the BMAs

Among the award winners’ acceptance speeches, the most moving appearance was by Rev. Charles Hodges and Archie Turner, accepting the award for Best Soul Blues Album, Robert Cray & Hi Rhythm (as David Porter quipped, “Robert must be off somewhere making money”), and reminding us of all that Willie Mitchell and crew have accomplished over the decades. While Memphis native Vaneese Thomas (daughter of Rufus, sister of Carla) lost out to Mavis Staples as Best Soul Blues Female Artist, newcomers and local heroes Southern Avenue snagged Best Emerging Artist Album. Grammy winners Taj Mahal & Keb’ Mo’ won Best Contemporary Blues Album with their TajMo. Joseph A. Rosen

Keb’ Mo’

Performances were inspired all around. The North Mississippi Allstars lit up the room with their dynamic set, and one could feel the emotions of the room rise as they sang their funky “Prayer for Peace.” At one point, Cody Dickinson played drums and keyboard riffs simultaneously; later, he moved to a synth- or pedal-treated washboard for a psychedelic down-home front-porch finale.

Another galvanizing performance was turned in by Harrison Kennedy, whose a cappella opening number brought the room to a hush, as he kept time on a shaker and moaned out his soul, moving many to give him a standing ovation.

Blues Foundation President and CEO Barbara Newman noted, “We are watching the trends closely, and the blues, as a genre, is definitely on an uptick, with younger musicians being drawn to create and play this style of music and a continually growing following of the music on our social media outlets and beyond.”

Blues Music Award winners
1. Acoustic Album: Break the Chain – Doug MacLeod
2. Acoustic Artist: Taj Mahal
3. Album: TajMo – Taj Mahal & Keb’ Mo’
4. B.B. King Entertainer: Taj Mahal
5. Band: Rick Estrin & the Nightcats
6. Best Emerging Artist Album: Southern Avenue – Southern Avenue
7. Contemporary Blues Album: TajMo – Taj Mahal & Keb’ Mo’
8. Contemporary Blues Female Artist: Samantha Fish
9. Contemporary Blues Male Artist: Keb’ Mo’
10. Historical: A Legend Never Dies, Essential Recordings 1976-1997 – Luther Allison (Ruf Recordings)
11. Instrumentalist-Vocalist: Beth Hart
12. Instrumentalist-Bass: Michael “Mudcat” Ward
13. Instrumentalist-Drums: Tony Braunagel
14. Instrumentalist-Guitar: Ronnie Earl
15. Instrumentalist-Harmonica: Jason Ricci
16. Instrumentalist-Horn: Trombone Shorty
17. Pinetop Perkins Piano Player (Instrumentalist – Piano): Victor Wainwright
18. Koko Taylor Award (Traditional Blues Female): Ruthie Foster
19. Rock Blues Album: We’re All In This Together – Walter Trout
20. Rock Blues Artist: Mike Zito
21. Song: “The Blues Ain’t Going Nowhere” written by Rick Estrin and performed by Rick Estrin
22. Soul Blues Album: Robert Cray & Hi Rhythm – Robert Cray & Hi Rhythm
23. Soul Blues Female Artist: Mavis Staples
24. Soul Blues Male Artist: Curtis Salgado
25. Traditional Blues Album: Right Place, Right Time – Mike Welch and Mike Ledbetter
26. Traditional Blues Male Artist: Rick Estrin

Tags Blues Foundation, Blues Music Awards, Harrison Kennedy, Keb' Mo', North Mississippi Allstars, Steve Van Zandt, Taj Mahal

Music Music Blog

Little Steven Rings in National Teacher Day and Blues Music Week

Post author By Alex Greene
Post date May 8, 2018

Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul

It seems there’s an unspoken rule in American rock: keep to safe subjects, like love and loss, and don’t get too political. That’s changing nowadays, with even a simple love song to the wrong person considered transgressive by some factions, and extreme politicians inspiring cries of “Basta!” But for the most part, as over the past half century, rock stars avoid anything topical.

One artist to break that rule, back in the days of Apartheid, was Steven Van Zandt, whose 1985 single “Sun City” was both a song and watershed moment for politically engaged musicians. As a fund-raiser for Van Zandt’s (and record producer Arthur Baker’s) Artists United Against Apartheid, it was effective, and as a collaboration between nearly 50 performers of considerable stature, it was game-changing. Although one could detect a sensitivity to working class life in Van Zandt’s earlier work, the explicitness of the politics in “Sun City” was something altogether new.

Van Zandt started as an early associate of Bruce Springsteen’s, at first informally as a guest artist and arranger, then as a full-fledged member of the E Street Band, ultimately claiming co-producer credits on The River and Born in the U.S.A. Around that time, he also ventured out as a solo artist, and the Disciples of Soul were born.

Whether or not his subsequent career featured other politically-engaged songs, his deep commitment to issues of social justice was plain. As he went on to pursue acting (The Sopranos), DJ’ing, and other interests, he and the Disciples of Soul took a long hiatus. Then in 2016, they reunited for a few select live shows, which in turn led to the recording of 2017’s Soulfire. It carries on with the same huge rock and soul sound of his 1980s work, full of guitar bombast, blazing horns, and angelic background singers, with some classic ’70s funk a la Curtis Mayfield thrown in for good measure. And if none of the songs are quite the topical broadside that “Sun City” was, they all feed into his latest activist ambitions: all proceeds benefit Van Zandt’s latest nonprofit, the Rock n Roll Forever Foundation.

At the heart of the organization is the TeachRock initiative. It creates materials for, and supports the teaching of, music history and performances at the middle school and high school levels. As TeachRock’s website states, the initiative “brings rich, multimedia educational materials to teachers and students everywhere–at no cost. The lesson plan collections and resources at teachrock.org help teachers engage students by connecting the history of popular music to classroom work across the disciplines,” including “social studies and language arts, geography, media studies, science, general music, and more.”

Steven Van Zandt at the 2018 International Blues Challenge

Accordingly, it’s highly appropriate that current appearances of Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul are part of their Teacher Appreciation Tour. In some happy serendipity, their show tonight at Minglewood Hall falls on Teacher Appreciation Day, also called National Teachers Day. Given the many years of de-funded schools and the struggles of teachers to receive living wages, even as they must buy classroom supplies themselves, this worthy cause is on par with Van Zandt’s earlier activist commitments. For those who love both soaring rock-and-roll and the teachers who hold our children’s fate in their hands, what better way to show your appreciation than to take yourself, and perhaps your favorite teacher, to tonight’s show?

Before the concert’s sound-check, the Rock and Roll Forever Foundation will also host free TeachRock Professional Development Workshops, and educators who attend will receive a complimentary ticket to that evening’s show. Educators in the Memphis area can contact Christine@RockAndRollForever.org for more information.

As it happens, the show also kicks off Blues Music Week, as The Halloran Centre for Performing Arts opens its doors Wednesday for the Blues Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony. Then, on Thursday, May 10, he’ll emcee the Blues Music Awards at the Cook Convention Center, where he will be joined on stage by such presenters as Steve Miller, Joe Louis Walker, Janiva Magness, Tito Jackson, Candi Staton, and Tony Joe White.

Tags Blues Music Awards, Little Steven, National Teachers Day

Music Music Blog

Blues Music Awards Contenders Announced

Post author By Alex Greene
Post date January 9, 2018

The nominees for the 39th Annual Blues Music Awards were announced this morning, and naturally many local greats made the final cut. Members of the Blues Foundation will be deliberating over their choices in the weeks to come, and the winners will be announced during the gala event, Thursday, May 10th at The Memphis Cook Convention Center.

R.L. Boyce

Two new categories have been added, for a total of 26 awards. There now is a Blues Rock Artist of the Year award, with Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Mike Zito, Walter Trout, Jason Ricci and Eric Gales being this year’s candidates. And for the new Instrumentalist-Vocals category, Beth Hart, Don Bryant, John Németh, Michael Ledbetter, Sugaray Rayford and Wee Willie Walker are in the running.

Local artists, locally-produced artists, and artists with local backup bands include Robert Cray, Don Bryant, Bobby Rush, John Németh, the North Mississippi All Stars, R.L. Boyce (one-time member of Otha Turner’s Rising Star Fife and Drum Band), Memphis native (and daughter of Rufus) Vaneese Thomas, William Bell, new Stax artist Southern Avenue, and Scott Bomar (for co-writing the title song of Don Bryant’s newest album). Add a comment if I’ve missed any!

The complete list of 39th Blues Music Award nominees can be found below and on the Blues Foundation’s website, www.blues.org. Membership to The Blues Foundation will remain open through the entire voting period from January 23rd to March 1st and ballots will be sent to new members as they join the organization.

Founded in 1980, the Memphis-based Blues Foundation has approximately 4,000 individual members and 200 affiliated local blues societies representing another 50,000 fans and professionals around the world. Funding for the Blues Music Awards is provided by ArtsMemphis and the Tennessee Arts Commission, and this year’s ceremony is also sponsored by AutoZone, BMI, Ditty TV, First Tennessee Foundation, the Gibson Foundation, and the Memphis Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Here’s the full list of all 39th Blues Music Award Nominees:

Acoustic Album of the Year
Catfish Keith – Mississippi River Blues
Doug MacLeod – Break the Chain
Guy Davis & Fabrizio Poggi – Sonny & Brownie’s Last Train
Harrison Kennedy – Who U Tellin’?
Mitch Woods – Friends Along The Way
Rory Block – Keepin’ Outta Trouble

Acoustic Artist
Doug McLeod
Guy Davis
Harrison Kennedy
Rory Block
Taj Mahal

Album of the Year
Don Bryant – Don’t Give Up on Love
Monster Mike Welch and Mike Ledbetter – Right Place, Right Time
Rick Estrin & The Nightcats – Groovin’ In Greaseland
TajMo – TajMo
Wee Willie Walker & The Anthony Paule Soul Orchestra – After a While

Band of the Year
The Cash Box Kings
Monster Mike Welch and Mike Ledbetter
Nick Moss Band
North Mississippi All-Stars
Rick Estrin & the Nightcats

B.B. King Entertainer of the Year
Bobby Rush
Michael Ledbetter
Rick Estrin
Sugaray Rayford
Taj Mahal

Best Emerging Artist Album
Altered Five Blues Band – Charmed & Dangerous
Larkin Poe – Peach
Miss Freddye – Lady of the Blues
R.L. Boyce – Roll and Tumble
Southern Avenue – Southern Avenue
Tas Cru – Simmered & Stewed

Contemporary Blues Album of the Year
Beth Hart – Fire on the Floor
Corey Dennison Band – Night After Night
Ronnie Baker Brooks – Times Have Changed
Selwyn Birchwood – Pick Your Poison
TajMo – TajMo

Contemporary Blues Female Artist
Beth Hart
Karen Lovely
Samantha Fish
Shemekia Copeland
Vanessa Collier

Contemporary Blues Male Artist
Keb’ Mo’
Michael Ledbetter
Ronnie Baker Brooks
Selwyn Birchwood
Toronzo Cannon

Historical Album of the Year
Jimmy Reed, Mr. Luck: The Complete Vee-Jay Singles – Craft Recordings
John Lee Hooker, King of the Boogie – Craft Recordings
Luther Allison, A Legend Never Dies – Ruf Records
The Paul deLay Band, Live at Notodden ’97 – Little Village Foundation
Various, American Epic: The Collection – Sony Legacy

Instrumental-Bass
Benny Turner
Bob Stroger
Larry Fulcher
Michael “Mudcat” Ward
Patrick Rynn

Instrumentalist-Drums
Jimi Bott
June Core
Kenny Smith
Tom Hambridge
Tony Braunagel

Instrumentalist-Guitar
Anson Funderburgh
Chris Cain
Christoffer “Kid” Andersen
Monster Mike Welch
Ronnie Earl

Instrumentalist-Harmonica
Billy Branch
Dennis Gruenling
Jason Ricci
Kim Wilson
Rick Estrin

Instrumentalist-Horn
Al Basile
Jimmy Carpenter
Nancy Wright
Trombone Shorty
Vanessa Collier

Instrumentalist- Pinetop Perkins Piano Player
Anthony Geraci
Henry Gray
Jim Pugh
Mitch Woods
Victor Wainwright

Instrumentalist – Vocals
Beth Hart
Don Bryant
John Németh
Michael Ledbetter
Sugaray Rayford
Wee Willie Walker

Koko Taylor Award (Traditional Blues Female)
Annika Chambers
Diunna Greenleaf
Janiva Magness
Miss Freddye
Ruthie Foster

Rock Blues Album of the Year
Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band – Lay It On Down
Mike Zito – Make Blues Not War
North Mississippi Allstars – Prayer for Peace
Savoy Brown – Witchy Feelin’
Walter Trout – We’re All In This Together

Rock Blues Artist
Eric Gales
Jason Ricci
Kenny Wayne Shepherd
Mike Zito
Walter Trout

Song of the Year
“The Blues Ain’t Going Nowhere” – written by Rick Estrin
“Don’t Give Up On Love” – written by Scott Bomar and Don Bryant
“Don’t Leave Me Here” – written by Kevin R. Moore, Taj Mahal, and Gary Nicholson
“Hate Take a Holiday” – written by Willie Walker, Anthony Paule, and Ernie Williams
“Prayer for Peace” – written by Luther Dickinson, Cody Dickinson, and Oteil Burbridge

Soul Blues Album of the Year
Don Bryant – Don’t Give Up on Love
Johnny Rawls – Waiting for the Train
Robert Cray & Hi Rhythm – Robert Cray & Hi Rhythm
Sugaray Rayford – The World That We Live In
Wee Willie Walker & The Anthony Paule Soul Orchestra – After a While

Soul Blues Female Artist
Bettye LaVette
Denise LaSalle
Mavis Staples
Trudy Lynn
Vaneese Thomas

Soul Blues Male Artist
Curtis Salgado
Don Bryant
Johnny Rawls
Sugaray Rayford
William Bell
Wee Willie Walker

Traditional Blues Album of the Year
The Cash Box Kings – Royal Mint
Elvin Bishop’s Big Fun Trio – Elvin Bishop’s Big Fun Trio
Kim Wilson – Blues and Boogie Vol. 1
Monster Mike Welch and Mike Ledbetter – Right Place, Right Time
Rick Estrin & The Nightcats – Groovin’ In Greaseland
Various Artists – Howlin’ At Greaseland

Traditional Blues Female Artist
Annika Chambers
Diunna Greenleaf
Janiva Magness
Miss Freddye
Ruthie Foster

Traditional Blues Male Artist
John Primer
Kim Wilson
Lurrie Bell
R.L. Boyce
Rick Estrin

Tags Blues Music Awards, Memphis Blues, The Blues Foundation

Music Music Features

Crossover Blues

Post author By Chris Herrington
Post date May 8, 2008

The blues may be a foundational element for most of American music, but these days the genre is pretty self-contained — widely restricted to a network of specialty clubs and festivals catering to a loyal base of fans. The Blues Music Awards — the annual “blues Grammys” sponsored by the Memphis-based Blues Foundation since 1980 — is of and for this base of committed fans. The event moves to the Mississippi Delta for the first time this year, landing at the Grand Casino Event Center in Tunica on Thursday, May 8th.

But this year the awards showcase a trio of artists — chitlin-circuit kingpin Bobby Rush, deep-soul reclamation project Bettye Lavette, and eclectic roots-music bandleader Watermelon Slim — who represent a broader vision of blues culture. Perhaps it’s a sign of health that the three highest-profile nominees this year are all artists with cachet both within and outside the parameters of the contemporary blues scene.

Together, Slim, Lavette, and Rush have garnered 13 nominations across 10 of the 25 award categories. All three are among the five nominees for the night’s biggest award, the B.B. King Entertainer of the Year, while Slim and Lavette are both up for the other big prize, Album of the Year, for their 2007 discs The Wheel Man and The Scene of the Crime. Rush, meanwhile, is the first person in the ceremony’s history to be nominated for Artist of the Year in both the Acoustic and Soul Blues categories.

Watermelon Slim & the Workers lead the nominations for the second year in a row, with six. In addition to the aforementioned album and entertainer awards, Slim and his band are up for Band of the Year, Contemporary Blues Album of the Year, Contemporary Blues Male Artist of the Year, and Song of the Year (for “The Wheel Man”).

Only three years after being a Best New Artist nominee at the BMAs, Slim is racking up the kind of notice previously reserved for the likes of Robert Cray and B.B. King, and the fascinating, satisfying The Wheel Man testifies that the attention might be deserved.

Like Jimmie Rodgers, another working-class hero, Slim is a blues-loving white guy who blends country into his sound. The generally stomping electric blues on The Wheel Man is almost totally devoid of blues-bar-band clichés, with echoes of field hollers and jump blues thrown into the mix. And Slim proves to be a sharp songwriter too: “Drinking & Driving” (“You better pull over baby instead of drinking and driving me away”) is one of those songs you can’t believe hasn’t already been written.

Content-wise, the album mirrors the diversity of experience of the man himself. “Newspaper Reporter,” about one of Slim’s past career paths, acknowledges his white-collar credentials, while the title track and “Sawmill Holler” speak to the blue-collar experience that has seemingly shaped him more.

In addition to the two big awards, Lavette is also nominated for Contemporary Blues Female Artist of the Year. Never exactly a straight-blues artist, Lavette is among the many survivors of the ’60s soul scene that never quite hit. Detroit-raised, she recorded for regional indie labels and for Atlantic, cutting sides in soul hotspots Memphis and Muscle Shoals, but never had that big breakthrough. By the ’80s and ’90s, she was a live performer who rarely recorded.

Then earlier this decade, Lavette embarked on the comeback that most of her era and predicament can only dream of, inspiring an overseas reissue boom at the outset of the decade and then re-emerging fully with 2003’s A Woman Like Me, a reintroduction produced and guided by former Robert Cray collaborator Dennis Walker.

From there, she moved on to Anti-, an indie label that’s lately specialized in rootsy prestige artists, first with 2005’s I’ve Got My Own Hell To Raise and then with last year’s The Scene of the Crime, an album recorded at her old Muscle Shoals stomping grounds with the Drive-By Truckers on back-up.

Lavette shows off her chops as an interpretive singer by claiming Willie Nelson’s “Somebody Pick Up My Pieces” and Elton John’s “Talking Old Soldiers” as her own. But the real showcase is the album’s only original song, written with trucker Patterson Hood, “Before the Money Came (The Battle of Bettye Lavette)” — an autobiographical statement of purpose that acknowledges a whole new audience (“I was singing R&B back in ’62/Before you were born and your momma too”).

Rush, by contrast, is not a comeback story. He’s an institution. Unlike Lavette or Slim, he doesn’t so much straddle the blues scene and more general music fans. Instead, he represents a constituency that you might think would be absolutely central to the “blues” audience but really isn’t: working-class African-American adults.

In addition to Entertainer of the Year, Acoustic Artist of the Year, and Soul Blues Male Artist of the Year, Rush is nominated for Acoustic Album of the Year for his 2006 country blues disc Raw.

Raw comes across as somewhat of a bid for respect, the kind that — in the words of colleague Chris Davis — being a “big-panty provocateur” doesn’t always provide. It’s mostly a solo, acoustic affair, stripping away the ostensibly cheesy soul flourishes that are too fun and, in its own world, too contemporary to be deemed authentic and respectable by roots puritans. Not that Rush — a sublime entertainer in his more typical element — gets too staid here. The opening “Boney Maroney” has some of the lascivious, mischievous qualities we expect, while the closing “I Got 3 Problems” refers to the complicated trinity of “my girlfriend, my woman, and my wife.”

If Rush, Lavette, and Slim represent the possibilities of the blues today — as traditional music alive in the modern world — then the blues is doing alright. All three are slated to attend the ceremony.

Tags Bettye Lavette, Blues Foundation, Blues Music Awards, Bobby Rush, Watermelon Slim

News

Nominees for Blues Music Awards Announced

Post author By John Branston
Post date December 24, 2007

The nominees for the 29th annual Blues Music Awards, presented by the Memphis-based Blues Foundation, are out, with Bobby Rush, Watermelon Slim, and Bettye LaVette leading the way. All three are nominated for the B.B. King Entertainer of the Year award, as well as album of the year for LaVette’s The Scene of the Crime and Watermelon Slim & the Workers’ The Wheel Man and acoustic album of the year for Rush’s Raw. Additionally, Rush is up for acoustic artist of the year and soul-blues male artist of the year; LaVette is up for contemporary-blues female artist of the year; and Slim is up for band of the year, contemporary blues album of the year, contemporary-blues male artist of the year, and song of the year for “The Wheel Man.”

More Flyer music coverage.

Tags Blues Foundation, Blues Music Awards, nominees

Music Music Features

Blues Nominees Announced

Post author By Chris Herrington
Post date December 19, 2007

The nominees for the 29th annual Blues Music Awards, presented by the Memphis-based Blues Foundation, are out, with Bobby Rush, Watermelon Slim, and Bettye LaVette leading the way. All three are nominated for the B.B. King Entertainer of the Year award, as well as album of the year for LaVette’s The Scene of the Crime and Watermelon Slim & the Workers’ The Wheel Man and acoustic album of the year for Rush’s Raw. Additionally, Rush is up for acoustic artist of the year and soul-blues male artist of the year; LaVette is up for contemporary-blues female artist of the year; and Slim is up for band of the year, contemporary blues album of the year, contemporary-blues male artist of the year, and song of the year for “The Wheel Man.”

For a genre constantly warding off contemporary irrelevance and niche-genre stasis, Rush, LaVette, and Slim are strong standard-bearers — blues artists who make traditional but still broadly relevant new music.

There’s not as much Memphis-specific action in the nominations as in past years, though the Memphis-based Yellow Dog Records had three artists nominated: The Soul of John Black for best new artist debut, Mary Flower for acoustic artist, and Fiona Boyes for contemporary blues female artist.

The Blue Music Awards move to Mississippi for the first time in 2008, with the ceremony to be held at the Grand Casino Event Center in Tunica on May 8th.

A Vending Machine Xmas

Vending Machine, the musical brainchild of indie-rocker Robby Grant, is responsible for one of 2007’s very best local albums with King Cobras Do. Now, Grant is giving fans a Christmas gift in the form of a four-song holiday EP available for streaming and downloading on his Web site, VendingMachineBand.com. The highlight is “Wot Is Nog,” a musical paean/instructional duet with ex-Memphian Shelby Bryant. Vending Machine also plays a holiday show Saturday, December 22nd, at Young Avenue Deli with Jump Back Jake. Doors open at 9 p.m.; admission is $5.

In related news, Bryant has a new, Memphis-record album, Luscious, out now on Smells Like Records.

Plan Ahead

January is shaping up to be a strong month for live music in Memphis. Locally connected indie-rock up-and-comers The Whigs will be at the Hi-Tone Café January 12th. One of the best bands of the past — yep! — 20 years, New Jersey’s Yo La Tengo, play the Gibson Lounge for the first time on January 18th. Current indie darlings Band of Horses join Cass McCombs at the Hi-Tone January 30th. And FedExForum will feature a couple of big shows, with hard rockers The Foo Fighters on January 25th and country crossover star Brad Paisley on January 31st.

Or, to plan even further ahead, roots-music fanatics might want to start making plans for the 2008 edition of Ponderosa Stomp, the New Orleans roots festival that recently announced its lineup.

There are copious Memphis-connected acts on the bill for the Stomp, including The Bo-Keys, Syl Johnson, The Hi-Rhythm Section, William Bell, and Sonny Burgess. The Ponderosa Stomp takes place April 29th and 30th at House of Blues and The Parish in New Orleans.

Riffs: The Hard Rock Café hosts a benefit concert — dubbed “Applause for the Cause” — this week for Global Angels, an international children’s charity organization. Local hard-rockers Egypt Central headline the 12-band bill on Friday, December 21st. Admission is $5.

Live From Memphis is hosting a podcast from local label Makeshift Music. The 17-track podcast features songs from bands such as Snowglobe, The Coach and Four, and The Subteens. You can hear it at LiveFromMemphis.com/listen/radio/Makeshiftfamily.

Memphis International Records will release a solo album from California-based ex-pat Memphian Bob Frank. The album, Red Neck, Blue Collar, takes its title from the Frank song Jim Dickinson used to lead off his Jungle Jim and the Voodoo Tiger album and will be released by Memphis International on February 19th.

Tags Blues Foundation, Blues Music Awards, nominees