Considered the highest honours on the Canadian blues scene, the nominees for the 27th annual Maple Blues Awards have been announced.
Returning to its roots, the 27th annual Maple Blues Awards will take place at The Phoenix Concert Theatre (410 Sherbourne Street, Toronto), where the awards were held from 2000 to 2006. The not-to-be-missed blues music event of the year will take place on Monday, February 12th. Tickets start at $37.40 and are on sale now at ticketweb.ca
Below is a complete list of nominees. Local artists are in bold.
In spite of another year of uncertainty in the face of a global pandemic, Canadian blues artists continued to write, record, and yes, even tour throughout Canada and beyond. Musicians of all genres faced much adversity in 2022, but the current slate of nominees for the upcoming Maple Blues Awards show that hard times can channel intense creativity. That’s the blues, in a nutshell.
Public voting opens November 2nd, 2022 at 10:01 am Eastern Time and closes December 1st, 2022 at 11:59 pm Eastern Time. Fans can vote in eligible categories at www.mapleblues.ca
Winners of the Maple Blues Awards will be announced at the gala/performance on Monday January 30th, 2023 at Koerner Hall in Toronto. Tickets are on sale now and start at $35. Tickets for the not-to-be-missed event can be purchased here.
There’s no stopping the blues – not even a second year of a global pandemic. In a year like no other, 2021 has proven that Canadian blues artists are tenacious, forward-thinking, and incredibly creative in the face of adversity. Despite ongoing challenges and changes, Toronto Blues Society continues to support and promote Canadian Blues artists by announcing the nominees for the upcoming 25th annual Maple Blues Awards. The winners will be announced on January 31, 2022 at the LIVE Maple Blues Award Show to be held at Koerner Hall in Toronto,
Blues fans can cast their votes online at www.mapleblues.ca. Public Voting opens November 3, 2021 at 12:01 am Eastern Time and closes December 1, 2021, 11:59 pm Eastern .
Here's a complete list of nominees: Local artists are bolded.
Local artists are once again well-represented among the nominees for the 2021 Maple Blues Awards. The virtual ceremony will be held on February 1, 2021 and hopefully, our talented musicians will win a few.
The Legendary Downchild Blues Band (with members from the Niagara region and Brantford) is in the running for Entertainer of the Year. Band member Chuck Jackson and Gary Kendall are also up for one apiece.
AMAZING! Two local artists brought home Maple Blues Awardsthis year. On February 3, 2020 at Koerner Hall in Toronto, the legendary Downchild Blues Band(whose lineup includes members from Brantford and Niagara) won Entertainer of the Year.
Toronto, ON -- A dedicated and excited crowd of blues music fans filled Koerner Hall in Toronto to celebrate the nominees and winners of the 23rd annual Maple Blues Awards. The gala evening celebrated artists from coast-to-coast and featured rousing performances from nominees. Three artists took home two awards – Kingston’s Miss Emily won awards for Female Vocalist of the Year and New Artist of the Year, New Brunswick’s Matt Andersen took home trophies for Male Vocalist of the Year and Acoustic Act of the Year while Montreal’s Dawn Tyler Watson was awarded Recording/Producer of the Year and Songwriter of the Year.
For only the second time in Maple Blues Awards history, there were tied winners in two categories - Harpdog Brown and Steve Marriner both won Harmonica Player of the Year and Chris Whiteley
and Mat “Moose” Mousseau each won the award for Horn Player of the Year.
The Blues with a Feeling Award (Lifetime Achievement Award) was awarded to Montreal-based Michael Jerome Browne, whose long and illustrious career has seen him tour around the world, recording seven albums and guesting on countless others, and recently was nominated for Blues Album of the Year at the upcoming JUNO Awards. Also honoured for a long career dedicated to the preservation and promotion of blues music was Toronto Blues Society’s own Brian Blain, who received the Blues Booster of the Year Award.
A new addition to the Maple Blues Awards program is the inaugural Sapphire Video Award. Sapphire has one single category and both live performance and staged production/interpretive videos were accepted. The winner of the Sapphire Video Award was Miss Emily for her video for “Hold Back The River” with the runners up announced as Terra Hazelton for her video for “Anybody’s Baby” and Lucas Haneman Express for their video for the song “Ms. McGrim”. The winning artist received a cash prize of $1,500 while the two runners up each received $250.
A collaboration between The Toronto Blues Society and Paul Reddick, the sixth annual COBALT Prize for Contemporary Blues Composition Award is to promote blues music through exploration of its form. The winning composition was judged on its ability to creatively utilize blues traditions within the broad contemporary musical landscape. The winner of the Cobalt Prize for Contemporary Blues Composition was Rich Junco for his song "Cope", while the first runner up was Bad Luck Woman and Her Misfortunes for their song "Cruel Thing" and a tied win for the second runner up was Joe Nolan for "Paranoia Day 36 Blues” and Loryn Taggart for "In My Company". A cash prize of $1000 was presented to the winner and the runners up each received $250.
The 23rd annual Maple Blues Awards not only featured heart-warming moments and great speeches from the winners, but the audience was treated to exciting performances from Big Dave McLean, Matchedash Parish, Miss Emily, Dawn Tyler Watson, Michael Jerome Browne, and the evening’s hostess Raha Javanfar (Bad Luck Woman) with special guests, students from The Regent Park School of Music, all backed by the awards house band The Maple Blues Band.
The 2020 Maple Blues Awards nominee list is jam packed with local artists. Hopefully, a number of them will bring home the hardware at the ceremony on February 3, 2020 at Koerner Hall in Toronto.
You can help them out by voting online - open from November 1st, 2019 at 12:01am through December 1st, 2019 at 11:59pm. Click here to vote.
Other area nominees include Downchild Blues Band(including remembers from Brantford and Niagara) for Entertainer of the Year as well as group memberGary Kendallfor Bassist of the Year. Matchedash Parish (featuring Kitchener's Matt Weidingerand local bassmanMark McIntyre) are up for New Artist of the Year. Tom Bona(from Waterloo band Soulstack) is in the running for drummer of the Year.
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