Alligator Records News Briefs Nov 4, 2013

HARMONICA GIANT JAMES COTTON RECEIVES LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD FROM STATE OF MISSISSIPPI Conjure up a list of all-time great blues harmonica players, and high up on it you'll see the name James Cotton. --NPR The Mississippi Arts Commission will present blues music icon (and Tunica, Mississippi native) James Cotton with the coveted Governor's Award For Excellence In The Arts in a ceremony set for February 20, 2014 at Belhaven University in Clarion, Mississippi. The Governor's Arts Awards are presented annually to outstanding writers, artists, performers, craftsmen and educators who have made significant and lasting contributions through their work as well as to corporations or organizations on the basis of their dedication to arts advancement. Previous winners include B.B. King, Little Milton Campbell, and Bo Diddley. Cotton is currently celebrating his 69th year as a professional entertainer. His 2013 CD, Cotton Mouth Man, is an upbeat, warm blues album boasting fine musicianship and Cotton's undeniable spirit. Living Blues says, "James Cotton is one of the great harmonica innovators of his generation. Cotton Mouth Man is a star-studded affair that makes James Cotton's best recording for Alligator. It is an autobiographical narrative of Cotton's eventful life and soul-deep relationship with the blues. He plays with an authority and energy that belies his age." Cotton Mouth Man was recorded in Nashville and produced by Grammy-winning producer/songwriter/ drummer Tom Hambridge (Buddy Guy, Joe Louis Walker, Susan Tedeschi). The album is a trip through sounds and scenes from Cotton's long and storied career. Helping Cotton tell his stories and showcase his music are guests Gregg Allman, Joe Bonamassa, Ruthie Foster, Warren Haynes, Delbert McClinton and Keb Mo. Other vocals are handled by Darrell Nulisch, who has been singing in Cotton's road band for many years. CURTIS SALGADO WINS BLUES BLAST AWARD FOR SOUL BLUES ALBUM OF THE YEAR FOR SOUL SHOT "Curtis Salgado's range and power as a vocalist are a tour-de-force...hard-nosed blues, beautifully nuanced R&B, phat and funky." --Billboard Soul singer Curtis Salgado received the 2013 Blues Blast Award for Soul Blues Album Of The Year for his 2012 Alligator Records debut CD, Soul Shot. The awards ceremony, presented by Blues Blast Magazine, was held in Chicago at Buddy Guy's Legends on Thursday, October 31. Salgado recently won The Blues Foundation's Blues Music Awards for B.B. King Entertainer Of The Year, Soul Blues Male Artist Of The Year, and Soul Blues Album Of The Year for Soul Shot. He also won a Muddy Award for Best National Blues Album from Oregon's Cascade Blues Association. Soul Shot speaks loud and clear to contemporary audiences, carrying on the timeless spirit of 1960s and ‘70s R&B. The album features four Salgado originals and seven carefully chosen covers. Songs by Johnny "Guitar" Watson, George Clinton, Otis Redding and Bobby Womack flow into and out of Salgado's own compositions. Each track -- the slow-burning ballads and the driving rockers -- is delivered with the vocal power and passion of a musical master. According to Salgado, "Soul Shot is the solid best thing I've ever done. That's a fact." Alligator Records president Bruce Iglauer accepted the honor in Curtis' behalf. Iglauer also presented a Lifetime Achievement Award to Delmark Records founder and president (and Iglauer's former boss and mentor), Bob Koester. MARCIA BALL TO APPEAR IN ANGELS SING, IN THEATRES AND ON DEMAND NOVEMBER 1, 2013 "More fun than a barrel of funky monkeys. Ball's awesome mélange of keyboard styles sets the tone: call it the Zydeco boogie-woogie blues. Horns chug faster and faster, guitars drop by for a rock ‘n' roll interlude." --NPR Singer, pianist, songwriter Marcia Ball makes her major motion picture debut in the film Angels Sing, premiering in theatres and On Demand on Friday, November 1. The film stars Henry Connick, Jr. and features Grammy-winning musicians including Willie Nelson, Lyle Lovett and Kris Kristofferson. In the film, Marcia plays Great Aunt Jocelyn. Ball's latest release is the Grammy-nominated Roadside Attractions.   ANDERS OSBORNE AND JESSE DEE SONGS APPEAR IN NETWORK TELEVISION PROGRAMS "Anders Osborne plays fiery anthems and tumultuous, confessional songs punctuated with glorious, raw guitar." --USA Today "Jesse Dee delivers authenticity with every note. The young neo-soul and R&B singer from Boston has put out an album of self-penned songs that are so well-written, so amazingly arranged and performed, you'll wonder why this guy doesn't just own the music business." --San Francisco Chronicle CBS-TV's CSI: Crime Scene Investigation featured Anders Osborne's Black Tar in an episode which aired on October 30. The song originally appeared on Osborne's 2011 Black Eye Galaxy CD. Osborne's new album, Peace, was released last month. ABC-TV's Criminal Minds will feature Jesse Dee's original song Fussin' And Fightin' in an episode set to air on November 13. The song originally appeared on Dee's 2013 Alligator Records debut CD, On My Mind / In My Heart.