We haven’t talked about the Jus’ Blues Music Foundation much here over the years, but their 25th anniversary seems as good a time as any to tell you about the organization’s good works, especially when that anniversary is accompanied by a compilation of some of the music the foundation is helping to preserve.
Jus` Blues describes themselves as “a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization whose mission is to preserve Blues heritage through cultural arts by nurturing the soul of the Blues with historical Blues education programming. We honor them by giving recognition to some of America’s finest African-American Blues & Soul music talents who are often left out of the more popular mainstream media and awards shows.”
Indeed, Jus’ Blues first caught our eye and ear a decade or two back through their annual music awards and conference honoring legendary Black blues artists and industry professionals for their outstanding accomplishments in the genre of blues and soul music. Even if you haven’t seen the organization’s name frequently here on these pages, you’ll likely recognize the names of many of the foundation’s past honorees from our musings, including Bobby “Blue” Bland, John Primer, Bob Stroger, Diunna Greenleaf, Jimmy Burns, John Lee Hooker Jr., Eric Gales, Grady Champion, Arthur Adams, and Anthony “Big A” Sherrod, along with such rising stars as D.K. Harrell, Stephen Hull, and Marquise Knox, just to name a few.
2025 Jus’ Blues award honorees to be recognized during a July 31st ceremony include, among others, Jimmy “Duck” Holmes, Gerald McClendon, Willie Buck, Johnny Rawls, Keith Johnson, and Sean “Mack” McDonald.
With 2025 marking the 25th anniversary of the awards, the organization has released a compilation album showcasing some of the artists Jus’ Blues has recognized over the past decades, with past honorees such as Bobby Rush, Lucky Peterson, Diunna Greenleaf, Jimmy Burns, and Trudy Lynn all generously donating music for the album. Four of the tracks here are previously unreleased, including a catchy, Mavis Staples-like “Turning the Same Ole Corners” from Trudy Lynn (backed, among others, by Lucky Peterson on guitar and B-3 organ) and the funky, closing “See My Way God” from Peterson himself, with Bobby Rush and Latimore each turning in new versions of classic songs recorded just for this project in the solo acoustic “Garbage Man” and swaying, scratchy-voiced “Let’s Straighten It Out”, respectively.
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