Six Alligator Artists Win LIVING BLUES Awards

SIX ALLIGATOR ARTISTS WIN LIVING BLUES AWARDS

Living Blues magazine has announced the recipients of the 2015 Living Blues Awards. Six Alligator Records artists received a total of six awards. In the Critics' Poll, James Cotton won Most Outstanding Musician (Harmonica), Joe Louis Walker won Most Outstanding Musician (Guitar) and Selwyn Birchwood won for Best Blues Album of 2014 (New Recording/Best Debut) for Don't Call No Ambulance. In the Readers' Poll, Shemekia Copeland (whose new CD Outskirts Of Love will be released on September 11) received the award for Blues Artist Of The Year (Female). Marcia Ball won for Most Outstanding Musician (Keyboard) and Elvin Bishop won Best Blues Album Of 2014 (New Release) for his Grammy-nominated Can't Even Do Wrong Right.

CRITICS' POLL WINNERS:

SELWYN BIRCHWOOD:

Best Blues Album Of 2014 (New Recording/Best Debut):

Don't Call No Ambulance











JAMES COTTON:

Most Outstanding Musician (Harmonica)












JOE LOUIS WALKER:

Most Outstanding Musician (Guitar)

READERS' POLL WINNERS:

SHEMEKIA COPELAND:

Blues Artist Of The Year (Female)










ELVIN BISHOP:

Best Blues Album Of 2014 (New Release):

Can't Even Do Wrong Right

 MARCIA BALL:

Most Outstanding Musician (Keyboard)

The Incredible, Irrepressible Trudy Lynn

The Incredible, Irrepressible Trudy Lynn The Incredible, Irrepressible, One of a Kind Trudy Lynn   Currently nominated for a 2015 Living Blues Award If you have ever attended a Trudy Lynn performance then you know from experience that the blues lives within this woman's soul.  As you watched and listened you may have recognized that what you were experiencing was not some kind of contrived, elaborate put on stage show.  Oh no there was something much, much deeper going on in front of you.  At a Trudy Lynn performance you sense that you are receiving something directly from the woman's heart and that’s what creates pause as it permeates within us. Plus there’s another upside to a Trudy Lynn performance. There are no airs about her.  Even with all the professional heights she's climbed Trudy remains true to being who she is, both the internationally recognized American blues singer and also, with full humility, the blues singer from humble beginnings in Houston, Texas. Trudy delivers what is deeply rooted within and because that’s what comes out the audience senses that they are receiving something very real and they relate.  Trudy delivers her message without any constraint and so it reaches the audience as being exactly what it is, 100% real. It's enjoyable, passionate, it's the traditional blues being performed the way it should be - from the heart.  That's the Trudy Lynn magic.  So it may come as no surprise to you that Trudy Lynn would be nominated for one of the 2015 Living Blues Awards because so many blues fans have felt this personal connection. She is the incredible, irrepressible one of a kind Ms Trudy Lynn.  If you vote just click on the link below and it will transport you to the list of nominees. You will see the vote button on the right hand side of the page.   Click to view the 2015 Living Blues Award nominees and vote here American Blues Singer Ms. Trudy Lynn  Topping Billboard's Blues Album Chart at #1 in 2014   Watch for Trudy's upcoming release on Connor Ray Music Cast your vote in the 2015 Living Blues Awards   Performance dates near you www.trudylynnblues.com

Living Blues cover, new video for Billy Branch!

BILLY BRANCH ON COVER OF LATEST LIVING BLUES MAGAZINE  New "Blues Shock" Video Released Veteran Chicago bluesman Billy Branch is featured on the cover of the current Living Blues magazine, with the subheading, "Back In The Groove."  Inside, writer David Whiteis says that Blues Shock, the new release from Billy and the Sons of Blues, is "a proclamation that a unit featuring one of the blues' most creative and hard-working harmonica aces is back in the groove."   The eight page feature article also mentions Branch's musical debt to his mentors and role models, his "longstanding dedication to honoring roots and heritage,"  his lifelong commitment to Blues in The Schools, and his prolific recording career as the A-list studio harmonica player for Chicago blues. Living Blues feature Branch, who started his career working with blues icon Willie Dixon and was mentored by men such as Big Walter Horton, Junior Wells, and James Cotton,  was once touted as one of the 'new generation' of blues musicians, and is now verging on elder statesman status in the blues community.  In the eight page feature article Whiteis traces the evolution of Blues Shock and how the new recording reflects Branch's "approach toward honoring yet not being beholden to, the legacy of the blues tradition," saying the album "provides ample proof that Branch's unique blend of rootsy integrity and exploratory zeal remains potent." Miss Gerri and the Palm Tavern Whiteis also gives the backstory on perhaps the centerpiece track of the album, one Billy considers "the best song I've written" - "Going To See Miss Gerri One More Time."  The song is a tribute to Gerri Oliver and a lost piece of Chicago's black cultural history, the Palm Tavern, a famed nightspot in the city's Bronzeville neighborhood (the "Harlem of the Midwest") that was frequented by the likes of Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Billie Holiday, Josephine Baker, and Langston Hughes. "Blues Shock" video Blind Pig has just released a video of the title track from Blues Shock, which is the first studio release from Billy and the Sons of Blues in fifteen years.  To watch the video, please click HERE. Album release parties this weekend Billy and the Sons of Blues will be celebrating the release of Blues Shock with two appearances this weekend in Chicago: tonight (Valentine's Day) they will be performing at Buddy Guy's Legends (www.buddyguy.com) at 10:30 pm, and Saturday night they will appear at Rosa's Lounge (www.rosaslounge.com) at 10:00 pm.  If you're not in the Chicago area, you can watch the performances online by clicking on the gigity.tv link on the venues' websites. For more info, or to hear samples from the CD, please click HERE.