Critics’ Poll Blues Artist of the Year (Male) Christone “Kingfish” Ingram Blues Artist of the Year (Female) Shemekia Copeland Most Outstanding Blues Singer Shemekia Copeland Most Outstanding Musician (Guitar) Christone “Kingfish” Ingram Most Outstanding Musician (Harmonica) Charlie Musselwhite Most Outstanding Musician (Keyboard) Kenny “Blues Boss” Wayne Most Outstanding Musician (Bass) Jerry Jemmott Most Outstanding Musician (Drums) Kenny “Beedy Eyes” Smith Most Outstanding Musician (Horns) The Texas Horns Most Outstanding Musician (Other) Anne Harris (violin) Best Live Performer Bobby Rush C ..read more

TORONZO CANNON Shut Up & Play! Alligator – ALCD 5020 The overall sound on Shut Up & Play! is what we’ve come to expect from Cannon: full-bodied studio accompaniment; supple, sure-fingered leads characterized by both melodic and harmonic inventiveness (especially when he tones things down, such as on the medium-funk ballad Him where his fretwork attains a riveting meld of tenderness and aggression); vocals that convey a range of emotional states from wounded vulnerability through preening confidence to explosive anger (all the more impressive if we recall that it took Cannon awhile to ..read more

Rick Estrin and the Nightcats, The Hits Keep Coming, Alligator Johnny Burgin, Ramblin’ from Coast to Coast, Straight Shooter Sue Foley, One Guitar Woman, Stony Plain Sugaray Rayford, Human Decency, Forty Below Eric Bibb, Live at the Scala Theatre, Stony Plain John Primer & Bob Corritore, Crawlin’ Kingsnake, SWAMF / VizzTone Anthony Geraci, Tears in My Eyes, Blue Heart Curtis Salgado, Fine By Me, Little Village Foundation Deb Ryder, Live and Havin’ Fun, VizzTone Kid Andersen / Lisa “Little Baby” Andersen, Spirits / Soul, Little Village Foundation Eddie Cotton, The Mirror, Malaco Cedric Bu ..read more

JOHN PRIMER & BOB CORRITORE Crawlin’ Kingsnake SWMAF / VizzTone – SWMAF 27 Over the last decade, bluesmen John Primer and Bob Corritore have built up one of the finest duo discographies in contemporary blues. Their latest tandem release, Crawlin’ Kingsnake, adds another notch to the win column. Twelve tracks of crackling, meaty musical might, this is the kind of album that reminds listeners why they fell in love with the blues in the first place. Primer is in magnificent voice here, one moment belting like an old-school blues shouter on the tons-of-fun Hiding Place, the next packing the w ..read more

Sue Foley, One Guitar Woman, Stony Plain John Primer & Bob Corritore, Crawlin’ Kingsnake, SWAMF / VizzTone Eric Bibb, Live at the Scala Theatre, Stony Plain JP Soars, Brick by Brick, Little Village Foundation Rick Estrin and the Nightcats, The Hits Keep Coming, Alligator Canned Heat, Finyl Vinyl, Ruf Rick Vito, Cadillac Man, Blue Heart Chris O’Leary, The Hard Line, Alligator Tinsley Ellis, Naked Truth, Alligator Altered Five Blues Band, Testifyin’ [EP], Blind Pig Eddie Cotton, The Mirror, Malaco Deb Ryder, Live and Havin’ Fun (Live), VizzTone Mike Zito, Life is Hard, Gulf Coast Anthony G ..read more

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  Tinsley Ellis, Naked Truth, Alligator Chris O’Leary, The Hard Line, Alligator Mike Zito, Life is Hard, Gulf Coast Danielle Nicole, The Love You Bleed, Forty Below Altered Five Blues Band, Testifyin’, Blind Pig John Primer & Bob Corritore, Crawlin’ Kingsnake, SWAMF / VizzTone JJ Grey & Mofro, Olustee, Alligator Rick Vito, Cadillac Man, Blue Heart Kevin Burt & Big Medicine, Thank You Brother Bill: A Tribute to Bill Withers, Gulf Coast Albert Cummings, Strong, Ivy Music Company James Harman, Didn’t We Have Some Fun Sometime, Electro-Fi Seth James, Lessons, Qualified JP Soars ..read more

WALTER WOLFMAN WASHINGTON Feel So at Home Tipitina’s Record Club – TRC-0305 Sure, today’s streaming model of music delivery gives us wonderous access to pretty much the entire universe of music in our phones; yet, it seldom provides the opportunity to savor and revel in the music. Over the course of his more than 50-year career, New Orleans’ favorite son Walter Wolfman Washington has placed serving the music at the top of his to-do list. He began honing his chops in the 1950s backing up artists like his cousin, R&B belter Ernie K-Doe (who hit it big with the 1961 hit Mother-in-Law) and Irm ..read more

Chris O’Leary, The Hard Line, Alligator Tinsley Ellis, Naked Truth, Alligator Danielle Nicole, The Love You Bleed, Forty Below Kevin Burt & Big Medicine, Thank You Brother Bill: A Tribute to Bill Withers, Gulf Coast Mike Zito, Life is Hard, Gulf Coast Altered Five Blues Band, Testifyin’ [EP], Blind Pig Bob Corritore & Friends, Phoenix Blues Rumble, SWAMF / VizzTone JJ Grey & Mofro, Olustee, Alligator Albert Cummings, Strong, Ivy Music Company Sue Foley, Live in Austin Vol. 1, Guitar Woman The Dig 3, Damn the Rent, Self Patti Parks, Come Sing with Me, VizzTone Bernard Allison, Lut ..read more

Chris O’Leary, The Hard Line, Alligator Sue Foley, Live in Austin Vol. 1, Guitar Woman Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, Live in London, Alligator Kevin Burt & Big Medicine, Thank You Brother Bill: A Tribute to Bill Withers, Gulf Coast Bob Corritore & Friends, Phoenix Blues Rumble, SWAMF / VizzTone 11 Guys Quartet, 11 x 11, VizzTone Tom Hambridge, Blu Ja Vu, Quarto Valley The Dig 3, Damn the Rent, Self Marcel Smith, From My Soul, Little Village Foundation Patti Parks, Come Sing With Me, VizzTone Cedar County Cobras, Homesick Blues, Self Robert Finley, Black Bayou, Easy Eye Sound Candice I ..read more