THE BLUES FOUNDATION 2016 BLUES HALL OF FAME INDUCTION AND 37TH BLUES MUSIC AWARDS SET FOR MAY 4 AND 5

by | Apr 15, 2016 | Uncategorized | 0 comments

THE BLUES FOUNDATION 2016 BLUES HALL OF FAME INDUCTION
AND 37TH BLUES MUSIC AWARDS
SET FOR MAY 4 AND 5 
Best in blues recording,
songwriting, and performance to be celebrated at the Memphis’ Cook
Convention Center. 
All six living Hall of Fame
inductees will be in attendance
MEMPHIS,
Tenn. — On Thursday,
May 5, 2016,
the Blues Foundation will present its annual Blues
Music Awards at the Cook
Convention Center in downtown Memphis, Tennessee. The Awards are universally
regarded as the highest accolade afforded to blues performers, and the
awards ceremony is widely recognized as the premier event for
professionals, musicians and fans from around the world. The mission of
the celebration is to honor the rich cultural tradition of the blues by
recognizing the past year’s outstanding achievements in performance,
songwriting and recording. 
On
May 4, at the Halloran
Centre for Performing Arts, the Blues
Foundation will induct five legendary artists into the Blues Hall of Fame: Elvin Bishop, Eddy Clearwater, Jimmy Johnson, John
Mayall, Memphis Jug Band, and
Malaco Records’ Tommy Couch Sr. and Wolf
Stephenson.
Elected by a select group of respected blues scholars and industry
veterans, Hall of Fame inductees are recognized for their musical
achievements and their contributions to blues history. 
Leading
this year’s award nomination count are James Harman with five, and Anthony Geraci and Sugaray
Rayford,
who each have four. Harman and Geraci will go head to head in three
categories: Best
Song, Best Album, and Best
Traditional Blues Album. Harman’s gift for musical storytelling, combined
with the soulful sound of his newest release, Bonetime, propelled him to a nomination as Best Traditional Male Blues Artist, and his strong musicianship
set the stage for his nomination as Best Instrumentalist — Harmonica. Geraci’s piano finesse led
to a nomination for the prestigious Pinetop Perkins Piano Player award.
Vocalist-songwriter Rayford is nominated for Contemporary Blues Album and Contemporary Blues Male Artist, as well as Best Song and the B.B.
King Entertainer Award. 
Cedric
Burnside
and Shemekia Copeland, 2016 Grammy nominees,
each have three nominations here, as do Doug MacLeod, the Cash
Box Kings,
Victor Wainwright and Wee Willie Walker (see below for a complete list
of nominees). 
The
five new Blues
Hall of Fame inductees have all had long and influential careers
that have elevated each to seminal status in the blues world. Elvin Bishop was honored with the 2015 Blues Music Awards for Song of the Year. Bishop and his fellow 2016
inductees Clearwater, Johnson and Mayall all have bodies of work spanning
more than half a century, and each continues to create new music and
perform for new audiences. The legendary Memphis Jug Band’s music crossed
racial divides during the first half of the 20th century, and inspired
countless musicians to follow in their footsteps. 
For
their behind-the-scenes contributions, Malaco Records partners Tommy Couch Sr. and Wolf
Stephenson,
who founded a Southern R&B empire that continues to be an influential
force, are also Blues Foundation honorees this year. 
This
year’s literature entry into the Blues Hall of Fame is Jeff Todd Titon’s book Early Downhome Blues: A Musical and Cultural Analysis, which has been widely
recognized as one of the most important analytical studies of the blues
ever written. 
The
Blues Hall of Fame is also honoring several historic blues recordings:
The classic Big
Bill Broonzy/Memphis Slim/Sonny Boy Williamson album Blues in the Mississippi Night (Nixa, 1957: United Artists,
1959), and the vintage singles “Crazy Blues” by Mamie Smith (OKeh, 1920), “That’s All Right” by Jimmy Rogers (Chess, 1950), Billy Boy Arnold‘s “I Wish You Would”
(Vee-Jay, 1955), “Blues Before Sunrise” by Leroy Carr and
Scrapper Blackwell (Vocalion, 1934) and “Merry Christmas Baby” by Johnny Moore’s Three Blazers (Exclusive, 1947). The last
disc, with Charles
Brown
on vocal and piano, is the first Yuletide song inducted into the Blues
Hall of Fame. 
The
Memphis-based
Blues Foundation is internationally renowned for its tireless efforts
in preserving blues heritage, celebrating blues recording and
performance, expanding worldwide awareness of the blues, and ensuring the
future of this uniquely American art form. Founded in 1980, the Blues Foundation has approximately 4,000
individual members and 200 affiliated local blues societies, representing
another 50,000 fans and professionals around the world.   
The
Blues Foundation’s signature honors and events — the Blues Music Awards, Blues Hall of Fame, International
Blues Challenge and Keeping
the Blues Alive Awards — make it the international capital of blues music.
The recent opening of the Blues
Hall of Fame Museum in Memphis, Tenn., now adds the opportunity for music
lovers of all ages to interact with the music and its
history.  
Major
funding is provided by
ArtsMemphis and the Tennessee
Arts Commission. The 37th Blues Music Awards is also sponsored by AutoZone, BMI, First Tennessee Foundation, Legendary
Rhythm & Blues Cruise, Memphis Convention and Visitors Bureau, the
Sierra Nevada Brewing Company and Sony
Legacy Recordings. 
HOF
tickets are $100 each, reception at 5:30pm with ceremony beginning at
6:30 p.m. BMA tickets are $150 each, tables of 10 for $1500; a special
pre-party will begin at 5:30 p.m.; the BMA begin at 6:30 p.m..
For more
information, log onto http://www.blues.org;
tickets and membership details are available at http://blues.org/blues-music-awards/2016-blues-music-awards/
# # #
37th Blues Music Award
Nominees 
Acoustic Album 
Doug MacLeod – Exactly Like This
Duke Robillard – The Acoustic Blues & Roots of Duke Robillard
Eric Bibb – Blues People
Guy Davis – Kokomo Kidd
The Ragpicker String Band – The Ragpicker String Band 
Acoustic
Artist 
Doug MacLeod Eric Bibb
Gaye Adegbalola 
Guy Davis 
Ian Siegal 
Album 
Anthony Geraci & the Boston Blues All-Stars – Fifty Shades of Blue
Buddy Guy – Born to Play Guitar
James Harman – Bonetime
The Cash Box Kings – Holding Court
Wee Willie Walker – If Nothing Ever Changes 
Band 
Andy T – Nick Nixon Band 
Rick Estrin & the Nightcats 
Sugar Ray & the Bluetones 
The Cash Box Kings 
Victor Wainwright & the Wild Roots 
B.B. King
Entertainer 
John Németh
Rick Estrin 
Shemekia Copeland 
Sugaray Rayford 
Victor Wainwright 
Best New Artist
Album 
Eddie Cotton – One at a Time
Igor Prado Band – Way Down South
Mighty Mike Schermer – Blues in Good Hands
Mr. Sipp – The Blues Child
Slam Allen – Feel These Blues
Contemporary Blues Album 
Buddy Guy – Born to Play Guitar
Eugene Hideaway Bridges – Hold on a Little Bit Longer
Shemekia Copeland – Outskirts of Love
Sonny Landreth – Bound by the Blues
Sugaray Rayford – Southside 
Contemporary
Blues Female Artist 
Beth Hart Karen Lovely
Nikki Hill 
Samantha Fish 
Shemekia Copeland 
Contemporary
Blues Male Artist 
Brandon Santini
Eugene Hideaway Bridges 
Jarekus Singleton
Joe Louis Walker
Sugaray Rayford 
Historical
Album 
The Henry
Gray/Bob Corritore Sessions, Vol. 1, Blues Won’t Let Me Take My Rest on Delta Groove
Records 
Hawk Squat by J. B. Hutto
& His Hawks on Delmark Records 
Southside Blues Jam by Junior
Wells on Delmark Records 
Buzzin’ the
Blues by Slim Harpo on Bear Family Records
Dynamite! The
Unsung King of the Blues by Tampa Red on Ace Records 
Instrumentalist-Bass 
Charlie Wooten
Lisa Mann
Michael “Mudcat” 
Ward Patrick Rynn 
Willie J. Campbell 
Instrumentalist-Drums 
Cedric Burnside 
Jimi Bott
June Core
Tom Hambridge 
Tony Braunagel 
Instrumentalist-Guitar 
Anson Funderburgh 
Kid Andersen 
Monster Mike Welch 
Ronnie Earl 
Sonny Landreth 
Instrumentalist-Harmonica 
Billy Branch 
Brandon Santini 
James Harman 
Jason Ricci 
Kim Wilson 
Instrumentalist-Horn 
Al Basile 
Doug James
Kaz Kazanoff 
Sax Gordon 
Terry Hanck
Koko Taylor
Award (Traditional Blues Female) 
Diunna Greenleaf 
Fiona Boyes 
Ruthie Foster 
Trudy Lynn 
Zora Young 
Pinetop Perkins Piano Player 
Allen Toussaint 
Anthony Geraci 
Barrelhouse Chuck 
John Ginty 
Victor Wainwright 
Rock Blues Album
of the Year 
Joe Bonamassa – Muddy Wolf at Red Rocks
Joe Louis Walker – Everybody Wants a Piece
Royal Southern Brotherhood – Don’t Look Back 
Tinsley Ellis – Tough Love
Walter Trout – Battle Scars
Song 
“Bad Feet/Bad Hair” written and performed by James
Harman 
“Fifty Shades of Blue” written by Anthony Geraci and
performed by Anthony Geraci & the Boston Blues All-Stars 
“Gonna Live Again” written and performed by Walter Trout 
“Southside of Town” written by Sugaray Rayford and &
Ralph Carter and performed by Sugaray Rayford 
“You Got It Good (and That Ain’t Bad)” written and
performed by Doug MacLeod 
Soul Blues
Album 
Bey Paule Band – Not Goin’ Away
Billy Price & Otis Clay – This Time for Real 
Jackie Payne – I Saw the Blues
Tad Robinson – Day into Night
Wee Willie Walker – If Nothing Ever Changes 
Soul Blues
Female Artist 
Bettye LaVette 
Dorothy Moore
Missy Anderson
Toni Lynn Washington 
Vaneese Thomas 
Soul Blues Male
Artist 
Frank Bey
Jackie Payne 
Johnny Rawls
Otis Clay
Wee Willie Walker 
Traditional
Blues Album 
Andy T – Nick Nixon Band – Numbers Man
Anthony Geraci & the Boston Blues All-Stars – Fifty Shades of Blue
Cedric Burnside Project – Descendants of Hill Country
James Harman – Bonetime
The Cash Box Kings – Holding Court
Traditional
Blues Male Artist 
Cedric Burnside
Dave Alvin & Phil Alvin 
James Harman
Jimmy Burns
John Prime

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