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.
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.
Hamilton is well-represented with Jack de Keyzer up for 2 awards (Guitarist of the Year, Producer of the Year. Jack's bandmate Richard Thornton is nominated for Horn Player of the Year. Other Hammertown nominees include Harrison Kennedy (Male Vocalist of the Year), Jesse O'Brien (Keyboardist of the Year) and Cootes Paradise (New Artists of the Year).
Also of note is Colin James' latest album, Miles to Go. It features Hamiltonians Jesse O'Brien (keys, writing), Steve Pelletier(bass)and Tom Wilson aka Lee Harvey Osmond (writing). Also, it's released by Waterdown's True North Records). That disc is up for Recording of the Year. Colin is also tied with Sue Foley for most nominations (6).
Two members of Waterloo's Soulstack, singer Jon Knight and drummer Tom Bona, were nominated as well. Another Waterloo group Elliott and the Audio Kings is in the running in the New Artistof the Year category.
Hopefully, a number of them will bring home the awards at the ceremony on February 4, 2019 at Koerner Hall in Toronto. You can help by VOTING ONLINE! Deadline is December 1, 2018 at 11:59pm.
The the 21st annual Maple Blues Awards will be held at Koerner Hall in Toronto on January 15, 2018. Once again, there are a number of local nominees.
Hamilton Blues legend Harrison Kennedy is up for 4 awards (Acoustic Act of the Year, Male Vocalist of the Year, Recording/Producer of the Year and Songwriter).
Kitchener's Soulstackhas two nominated members: singer Jon Knight is up for Male Vocalist of the Year and Tom Bonais in the running for Drummer of the Year.
The artist with the most nominations is the Paul DesLauriers Bandwith the group and individual members receiving a combined total of 5 nods.
Online voting is available for various categories. the deadline is December 1st, 2017 at 11:59 pm Pacific Standard Time. Register at www.mapleblues.ca.
The the 20th annual Maple Blues Awards will be held at Koerner Hall in Toronto on January 23, 2016. Once again, there are a number of local nominees.
Hamilton Blues legend Harrison Kennedyis up for two awards (male Vocalist, Acoustic Act and Hammertown's Jesse O'Brienrecieved a nod for Keyboard Player of the Year. Another Hamilton boy, Andre Bisson also got his first nomination (New Artist of the Year). Quebec's Mark Crissinger, a frequent visitor to the city (plus he records in Hamilton too) is also in the New Artist category. Colin Crippswas nominated for his songwriting work with Paul Reddick.
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