The annual Blues Music Awards took place in Memphis last night, and although the ceremony wasn’t broadcast live on SiriusXM as in years past and the results haven’t yet been posted to the Blues Foundation’s website, here are the winners based on reports from those who attended the event.
The Tedeschi Trucks Band and Charlie Musselwhite both took home three honors on the night, the Tedeschi Trucks Band for band of the year, rock blues album (Made Up Mind), and contemporary female artist, and Musselwhite for harmonica player, traditional album, and album of the year, both for his role in the Remembering Little Walter compilation that also included Billy Boy Arnold, Mark Hummel, Sugar Ray Norcia & James Harman.
Trampled Under Foot earned two awards, for contemporary album (Badlands) and instrumentalist-bass (Danielle Schnebelen), as did Doug MacLeod, who cleaned up in the acoustic categories with nods for both acoustic artist and acoustic album (There’s a Time).
Buddy Guy walked away with the B.B. King Entertainer of the Year award, while Shawn Holt & the Teardrops‘ Daddy Told Me earned best new artist debut honors. Gary Clark Jr. was recognized as contemporary male artist, while James Cotton was voted traditional male artist, John Nemeth as soul blues male artist, Irma Thomas as soul blues female artist, and Diunna Greenleaf as the Koko Taylor Award recipient for traditional female artist.
On the recording front, the Royal Southern Brotherhood won best DVD for their Songs from the Road set, while Bobby Rush‘s Down in Louisiana was honored as soul blues album and Lurrie Bell‘s “Blues in My Soul” was voted song of the year. Others recognized included Ronnie Earl (guitar), Eddie Shaw (horn), Victor Wainwright (piano), and Cedric Burnside (drums).
Congratulations to all the winners and nominees!