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.
Shake the Love Around, the latest album from Wainfleet's Suzie Vinnick, finds our heroine with a more electrified but still rootsy sound. While the quieter, beautiful numbers are here, Suzie and her cohorts prove they can unleash some unabashed, bluesy rock if the need arises.
You'll find some gospel, funk, folk, soul and more gracing this amazing album. The lady's voice and incredible storytelling permeate the recording with power and emotion. Her guitar and bass work also stand out.
Shortly after being nominated for a pair of Blues Music Awards, Hamilton Blues veteran Harrison Kennedy has brought a Maple Blues Award for Songwriter of the Year to Steeltown! It all happened on January 15, 2018 at Koerner Hall.
Colin James' latest album Blue Highways(ft Hamilton's Steve PelletierandJesse O'Brien) won forRecording/Producer of the Year. Colin is also the only multiple winner, having earned the top spot in the Guitarist of the Year category.
Young Fort Erie Blues sensation, Spencer MacKenzieproved himself to be one of Canada's best at the 2017 Maple Blues Awards. He took home the New Artist of the Year award at the ceremony on Monday, January 23, 2017 in Toronto. GREAT JOB SPENCER!
2016 was a mixed year. There were many losses in the musical community (local and international) but there was also some amazing music. Trebleclef, our music-lovin' mascot got his own Facebook page and we started our own Instagram page too.
When the 12th Annual Canadian Folk Music Awards come to Toronto in December 2016, there'll be some local artists up for some trophies.
There are quite a few Hamiltonians (both old and new) nominated this year. Ben Caplan(New/Emerging Artist),Whitehorse(Pushing the Boundaires, Ensemble), Matthew Barber and Jill Barber(Producers),Corin Raymond(Contemporary Album) and David Gillis(Producer - for his work with Corin). Waterloo's Danny Michelis up for the English Songwriter and Contemporary Singer categories as well.
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