Tag: The Blues Foundation

Blues Hall Of Fame Class Of 2024 Named

Post author By Alex Greene
Post date January 9, 2024

Jimmy Rushing (Credit: William P. Gottlieb/Ira and Leonore S. Gershwin Fund Collection, Music Division, Library of Congress)

Every year at this time the world is reminded that the epicenter of the blues is in Memphis, Tennessee, with both the International Blues Challenge looming ahead and the announcement of the year’s inductees to the Blues Hall of Fame. The latter happened today, in anticipation of the induction ceremony taking place at the Cannon Center for the Performing Arts on Wednesday, May 8th.

As usual, the list is a compelling cross-section of both the brilliant past and the vital contemporary heartbeat of the blues in all its permutations. This year’s inductees include Memphis’ own soul powerhouse, O.V. Wright, who died young in 1980; pioneering blues shouter and jazz singer Jimmy Rushing, also known by one of his greatest Count Basie-backed hits, “Mr. Five By Five”; Odetta, hailed as “The Mother Goddess of Folk Blues” by The New York Times; early twentieth century guitar virtuoso, Scrapper Blackwell; small-but-mighty vocalist Sugar Pie Desanto; Chicago guitarist Lurrie Bell; and one of Chicago’s leading bluesmen, fez-wearing Lil’ Ed Williams, nephew of J.B. Hutto, who’s toured relentlessly for decades with his Blues Imperials.

On the more writerly side, author, folklorist, professor, and lecturer William R. “Bill” Ferris will be honored in the Business, Production, Media, Academic category, and the book Blues Legacies and Black Feminism: Gertrude “Ma” Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Billie Holiday by Angela Davis (Pantheon, 1998), is slated for recognition as a Classic of Blues Literature.

This year’s induction will mark an important recognition of Wright, who has not yet been recognized by the Memphis Music Hall of Fame, despite being a prolific hitmaker with Willie Mitchell on Hi Records. And many will cheer the inclusion of Odetta Holmes, a unique figure in the folk world, having been classically trained. Ultimately her repertoire spanned blues, spirituals, jazz, and songs from various folk and popular traditions, not to mention many original topical songs reflecting her commitment as a civil rights activist.

And Jimmy Rushing would be a must in any music hall of fame. Though best known for his years with the Count Basie Orchestra, the Oklahoma City native began his blues journey in California in 1923, where he played piano with Jelly Roll Morton before returning to Oklahoma. He also worked with Buck Clayton, Benny Goodman, Dizzy Gillespie, Earl “Fatha” Hines, and others through his career and was still going strong by the 1970 Monterey Jazz Festival. Yet he’ll chiefly be known for his hit records with the Basie band, starting in 1935, such as “Good Morning Blues,” “Going to Chicago,” and “Sent for You Yesterday and Here You Come Today,” which showcased his commanding vocal presence and made him a leading figure in the big band era, bringing blues to a broader audience.

The inductees include classic records as well, including the album Here’s the Man!!! by Bobby “Blue” Bland (Duke, 1962), and the singles “Driving Wheel” by Junior Parker (Duke, 1961), “I Ain’t Got You” by Billy Boy Arnold (Vee-Jay, 1955), “Key to the Highway” by Jazz Gillum (Bluebird, 1940), “Okie Dokie Stomp” by Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown (Peacock, 1954), and the stone classic “Why Don’t You Do Right?” by Lil Green (Bluebird, 1941).

Tags Angela Davis, Blues Hall of Fame, International Blues Challenge, O.V. Wright, The Blues Foundation

Music Music Blog

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

Post author By Alex Greene
Post date February 2, 2023

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.

Tags Bentonia Blues Festival, Blues Music Awards, International Blues Challenge, Memphis Music Journalism, Ron Wynn, The Blues Foundation

Music Music Blog

Programs Ramp Up To Assist Musicians Losing Work Due To COVID-19

Post author By Alex Greene
Post date March 19, 2020

CREDIT: Courtesy Blues City Cafe

Courtesy Blues City Cafe

For musicians, the brave new world we all face in the shadow of COVID-19 is especially difficult. As a recent NPR story notes, “almost at once, it seemed like the entire March calendars of musicians across the country were wiped clean. Within hours Wednesday, thousands of dollars in expected income vanished.”

While many are exploring live-streamed concerts and the tips they can provide, for many players the funds from these events are too little, too late.

But there are signs of hope for these artists, often from very local institutions who realize that if Memphis is to remain a music city, something, or someone, has got to give.

Yesterday Music Export Memphis, a nonprofit that has assisted so many touring acts based here, announced that it was launching fundraising for a COVID-19 Emergency Relief Fund. While details of how financial assistance will be administered are still being worked out, the program is now taking donations, in anticipation of an ever-escalating need in the weeks and months to come.

The Blues Foundation is another local nonprofit that is stepping up its community assistance, with a COVID-19 Emergency Relief Fund for Blues Musicians. As the foundation announced that its upcoming Blues Music Awards will pivot to become a series of online events, “they are asking those who have purchased 2020 BMA tickets and/or Blues Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony tickets to convert those purchases to donations to be applied directly to this Emergency Relief Fund. Ticket purchasers will also be offered the option for a refund of their ticket purchases or to apply those purchases to next year’s events.” Noting that The Blues Hall of Fame Museum is closed for the time being, they add that they “will continue to accept phone calls and respond to emails throughout the duration of the coronavirus pandemic.”

On a national level, other efforts have sprung into action. The Recording Academy®, which oversees the Grammy Awards, and has a strong chapter based in Memphis, has operated the MusiCares® foundation for some time. It typically offers medical relief to musicians caught off guard without insurance or other niceties of salaried jobs, but has now begun a COVID-19 Relief Fund.

And Bandcamp, where so many independent artists offer their recorded wares (or files), made this announcement on Tuesday:

To raise even more awareness around the pandemic’s impact on musicians everywhere, we’re waiving our revenue share on sales this Friday, March 20 (from midnight to midnight Pacific Time), and rallying the Bandcamp community to put much needed money directly into artists’ pockets….Still, we consider this just a starting point.

So get online tomorrow and purchase those singles, EPs, albums, and downloads. Your spending will go directly into the pockets of musicians in need. And if you have the means, consider donating to some of the initiatives above. For a musician, it could make all the difference.

Tags Bandcamp, coronavirus, COVID-19, Fund Raising, Memphis Music, Music Export Memphis, The Blues Foundation, The Recording Academy

Music Music Blog

Blues Going Global: The International Blues Challenge Brings It All Home

Post author By Alex Greene
Post date February 7, 2020

CREDIT: Tom Davis

Tom Davis

Hector Anchondo, double-winner at this year’s International Blues Challenge

It’s been a heady time for Memphis and the blues lately. The city and the music are nearly synonymous, not only due to our storied past but for the ongoing love we collectively show the art form. Naturally, Memphis is home to The Blues Foundation, and aside from every spring’s Blues Music Awards (scheduled for May 7th), the nonprofit’s shining (and most music-filled) moment is the International Blues Challenge (IBC).

The importance — and global reach — of the IBC couldn’t have been underscored more with the Memphis-based Southern Avenue still riding high from their Grammy nomination. Although Gary Clark, Jr., ultimately won the title of Best Contemporary Blues Album, the nomination alone was yet another notch in the belt of a band whose story has gone hand in hand with the IBC.

Guitarist Ori Naftaly first came here from his native Israel for the IBC in 2013, and getting to the semi-finals that year was enough to convince him to stay. Two years later, he founded Southern Avenue, and by 2016 they’d made it to the IBC finals. It wasn’t long before they were signed to the newly revived Stax Records and were the toast of the town. The Grammy nomination for their second album, Keep On, only furthers that trajectory.

This past Saturday’s final competition and award cermony served as a capstone to IBC events sprinkled through the preceding week. At the Keeping the Blues Alive Awards ceremony, Peter Astrup, Rob Bowman, Janice Johnston, and Kathleen Lawton were recognized, as were the Cali Blues and Folk Festival in Colombia, the Jimiway Blues Festival in Poland, Hal & Mal’s Restaurant, the Jus’ Blues Music Foundation and the Kentuckiana Blues Society.

Other events included a screening of the classic documentary, Deep Blues: A Musical Pilgrimage to the Crossroads, a keynote panel on “Blues Women: Creators, Conductors, and Catalysts,” and the workshop, “Leading Your Own Career with Bobby Rush.” Additionally, the Blues Hall of Fame opened its new Women of the Blues exhibit along with hosting a Janiva Magness book signing and a panel discussion addressing “Music Across Borders.”
Tom Davis

HOROJO Trio

The cumulative event, of course, was the International Blues Challenge finals, which took place at the Orpheum Theatre. The HOROJO Trio, representing the Ottawa Blues Society, left Memphis with a first-place finish in the Band Division. JW Jones (the “Jo” in HOROJO) took home the Gibson Guitar Award for Best Band Guitarist. Hector Anchondo, from the Blues Society of Omaha, triumphed in the Solo/Duo Division as well as earning the Memphis Cigar Box Award as the Best Solo/Duo Guitarist.

Felix Slim picked up the Lee Oskar Harmonica Award for the Best Harmonica Player, while finishing second to Anchondo in the Solo/Duo category. Anchondo and Slim are both former finalists who now have won an IBC award. Rick Nation

Felix Slim

This year’s winners also underscore the international aspect of the IBC. Slim, after becoming one of Spain’s leading blues men, spent several years living in Greece being influenced by its music before moving to New York City. And placing second to the Canada-based HOROJO Trio was the Jose Ramirez Band, which is led by Ramirez who was a major blues star in his native Costa Rica before relocating to America.

Meanwhile, Anchondo’s Latino background makes for a cross-cultural blues sound. While Latino contributions to the blues reach back to what Jelly Roll Morton called the “Spanish tinge” in pre-war New Orleans jazz, or old records like 1949’s “Muy Sabroso Blues” by Lalo Guerrero, Anchondo’s double-win was a strong affirmation of a cultural side of the blues that many sleep on. And, of course, it was a strong showing from Nebraska’s thriving blues scene.

Tags Blues Music Awards, Canadian Blues, Greek Blues, International Blues Challenge, Latino Blues, Nebraska Blues, Southern Avenue, Spanish Blues, The Blues Foundation

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

Inside the Blues Hall of fame

Post author By Chris Shaw
Post date May 7, 2015

Little Walter’s harmonica, Johnny Winter’s Firebird guitar, and Koko Taylor’s $2,000 gold boots all have a new home at the Blues Hall of Fame, along with many other artifacts that tell the story of influential blues musicians nationwide.

“Once we got rolling, the artifacts being donated just kept on coming,” said Nora Tucker, manager and curator.

“Almost all of our donations come from the families of musicians, which is a testament to how long the Blues Foundation has been around and our relationship to the blues community.”

Opened in 2001, the Blues Foundation’s headquarters sits across the street from the Lorraine Motel on S. Main, with a recently constructed life-size statue of Little Milton greeting people as they walk by. Inside, to the right of the Blues Foundation entrance, is a nine-panel art gallery that will feature the work of legendary blues photographer Dick Waterman for the next six months.

Past the free art gallery is a large set of stairs descending to the Blues Hall of Fame. Complete with interactive screens that act as a database for hundreds of blues artists, the Blues Hall of Fame features guitars, stage clothing, Grammy Awards, and even platinum records from artists like Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson, and Stevie Ray Vaughan. Other highlights of the exhibit include Albert “Master of the Telecaster” Collins’ amazing leather jacket, original hand-written lyric sheets from W.C. Handy and Memphis Slim, an original Otis Spann electric piano, and many more one-of-a-kind artifacts. Tucker said that when curating the Blues Hall of Fame, the Blues Foundation wanted to focus on the blues as a genre instead of the bigger musical landscape of Memphis and Mississippi.

One of ten tour jackets left from the Muddy Waters 1982 World Tour.

“We are the Blues Hall of Fame, so we specifically recognize all this great work that has been done within the blues genre,” Tucker said. “We don’t really need to tell the story of what created the blues because it’s already being told at places like the Blues Exhibit in Tunica and the Rock and Soul Museum. You can go to other museums and see a chronological story about Memphis music and its evolution, but we wanted to create something that concentrates specifically on blues musicians and their bodies of work.”

Even with an amazing start to their collection underway, Tucker said the exhibit will grow and evolve as more musicians get inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame.

After a 10-month construction process, the Blues Hall of Fame will officially open at 10 a.m. on Friday, May 8th during the weekend-long Blues Foundation celebration, which includes the 36th Annual Blues Awards.

Thursday, May 7th

10 a.m. — Will Call and BMA Merchandise Sales – Ticket Desk Cook Convention Center (immediately across the street from Sheraton entrance)

Noon–3 p.m. — Health screening for blood pressure, diabetes, cholesterol, custom ear plugs provided by Musicares, and more. — Sheraton Memphis Downtown (St. Louis foyer at top of escalator)

1-3 p.m. — Yellow Dog Records Showcase with Fo’ Reel and Eden Brent — B.B. King’s, 143 Beale, free

1:30–3:30 p.m. — The Recording Academy Chicago & Memphis Chapters Reception Celebrating the Blues Music Awards — Heritage Ballroom Sheraton Memphis Downtown

5:30 p.m. — The Party Begins Reception, featuring performances by 2015 Blues Music Award nominees — Grand Lobby, Cook Convention Center

5:30-9:45 p.m. — Auction & Blues Music Award Merchandise Sales — Outside the Ballroom, Cook Convention Center

6:30 p.m.-1 a.m. — Dinner, Awards, & Nominee performances — Ballroom, Cook Convention Center

Friday, May 8th

10 a.m.-5 p.m. — Grand Opening of the Blues Hall of Fame — 421 S. Main

11 a.m.-11 p.m. — Tennessee Brewery Revival with Billy Gibson — 495 Tennessee St. (2 blocks from Blues Hall of Fame)

1-5 p.m. — Brandon Santini’s 4th Beale Street Mess Around — Proceeds benefit the HART Fund, with performances by: Janiva Magness, John Primer & Bob Corritore, Victor Wainwright, Jarekus Singleton, Andy T- Nick Nixon Band, EG Kight & Greg Nagy, Monster Mike Welch & Anthony Geraci, Igor Prado, Lisa Mann, Annika Chambers, Mick Kolassa, Jeff Jensen Band, Wendy DeWitt & Kirk Harwood, and more — Rum Boogie Café

4:30-8:30 p.m. — Play-it-Forward Fundraiser, benefiting Generation Blues. Featuring Andy T-Nick Nixon Band, Janiva Magness, Brandon Santini, John Primer with Bob Corritore, EG Kight, Lisa Mann plus many other special guests — Hard Rock Café

4:30 p.m. — Barbara Blue Beale Street Note Dedication — Silky O’Sullivan’s

6-10 p.m. — 30th Anniversary with Tas Cru & Band of Tortured Souls — Rum Boogie Café

8 p.m. — BMA Blues Jam proudly presented by 2 Left Feet, featuring the Electrix (Eli Cook, Scott Holt, Eddie Turner), Roger Earl & Bryan Bassett of Foghat, Billy Blough & Jeff Simon of the George Thorogood Band, and more — Earnestine & Hazel’s

9 p.m. — Bernie Pearl & Barbara Morrison — Blues Hall

10 p.m. — Vizztone Label Group Presents: Bob Margolin, Amanda Fish, Dave Gross, Long Tall Deb, Rob Stone, and more — Rum Boogie Café

10 p.m. — Barbara Blue’s official CD release party — Hard Rock Café

Saturday, May 9th

10 a.m.-5 p.m. — Blues Hall of Fame Open — 421 S. Main

5:30 p.m. — Women in Blues Showcase — Rum Boogie Café

9 p.m.– Gracie Curran & the High Falutin’ Band — Rum Boogie Café