the Blues Music Association just handed out their annual awards

[The Polack MSgt]

Some they got right.

Like this - congratulations Shemekia Copeland for an impressive double dip.

Contemporary Blues Record and Album of the year for America's Child:

?list=PLvxWibFr0wiKlerpvgEFGNA88g-WhCmOT.

Other highlights IMHO are Samantha Fish's "Free" as Best Emerging Artist's Album, Danielle Nicole 2 wins, as Bassist of the year and Contemporary Blues Female Vocalist and of course the astounding Ruthie Foster winning the Koko Taylor Female vocalist of the year.

But, unfortunately for all the artists who released ground breaking vibrant Blues records this past year - well suck it up because...

Billy Gibbons (of ZZ Top fame) and Buddy Guy (Living legend) released records in 2018. So you'll get nothing and like it.

Look, I get it. Buddy releases an album - it wins.

And I guess that sheer name recognition put Billy over the top for Blues Rock Album of the year...

But the truth is neither deserved the awards they took home.

For super duper blues nerds like me, Acoustic Album and Acoustic Artist of the year were where the big drama happened.

Album of the year was the startling "Journeys To The Heart Of The Blues", a collaboration between Joe Louis Walker, Bruce Katz and Giles Robson.

My personal choice was Don Flemons' Black Cowboys - I freely admit I prefer this record only because of the phenomenal finger picking he does on his 1920s era National Steel Guitar, and my long standing fanboy status going back to his Chocolate Drops era...

.

Acoustic Artist of the year was Rory Block, who I am just learning about. I had heard her play before, but she dropped off my radar much to my discredit - because she is a monster.

?list=OLAK5uy_kLr9NZRNKpn46odSl-4Yj3mz04J9xN3s4

Here is the site - https://blues.org/blues-music-awards/

[beachbum bob]

1. Always disappointed that Joe Bonamassa doesn't get the respect

he has earned, but then he is way more than a bluesman...

[The Polack MSgt]

3. I don't know why either

BMA hasn't seemed to give him his due. For example, I thought he should have won for Neon Highway, or the award Acoustic Album with live at Carnegie Hall a couple years back.

It's only conjecture on my part, but his direct downloads don't seem to get attention from the BMA compared to the artists on Alligator, Rounder, RUF or Possum records.

There may be some bias involved...

[beachbum bob]

4. Most definitely because he bucks the system, that doesn't diminish his

talent, awards like BMA pretty much a joke.

[lark]

2. Thank you so much for sharing these gems.

I love Ms. Copeland - think I saw her at NOLA Jazz Fest a few years ago? Either way, she is totally awesome and I'm adding all of these to my Blues playlist. I missed going to the Jazz Fest this year so closed my eyes and listened to these, imagining I was sitting in the Blues Tent under a mister with my eyes closed for a minute and hands out swaying with the tunes.