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| 2008 Blues Music Awards Winners Members of the Blues Foundation have voted and the winners have been chosen: the 2008 Blues Music Award ceremony was held on Thursday night, May 8, 2008 at the Grand Casino Event Center in Tunica, Mississippi. Formerly known as the W.C. Handy Awards, the annual selection recognizes excellence in blues performances and recordings. The night before the Blues Awards event, the Blues Foundation held its induction ceremony for the Blues Hall of Fame, honoring the individual achievements of guitarists Hubert Sumlin and Johnny "Guitar" Watson, pianist Jimmy McCracklin, singer Jimmy Weatherspoon, pre-WWII string band the Mississippi Sheiks, and country blues performer Peetie Wheatstraw. Here are the winners, by category, of the 2008 Blues Music Awards: Individual Award Winners Acoustic Blues - Artist of the Year Bobby Rush Blues Band of the Year Watermelon Slim & the Workers Contemporary Blues - Female Artist of the Year Bettye LaVette Contemporary Blues - Male Artist of the Year Tab Benoit Soul Blues - Male Artist of the Year Bobby Rush Soul Blues - Female Artist of the Year Irma Thomas Traditional Blues - Female Artist of the Year Koko Taylor Traditional Blues - Male Artist of the Year Hubert Sumlin Blues Instrumentalists Best Instrumentalist - Bass Bob Stroger Best Instrumentalist - Drums Sam Lay Best Instrumentalist - Guitar Bob Margolin Best Instrumentalist - Harmonica Kim Wilson Best Instrumentalist - Horn Deanna Bogart Best Instrumentalist - Pedal Steel Robert Randolph Award-Winning Recordings Acoustic Blues Album of the Year Bobby Rush - Raw (Deep Rush Records) Best New Artist Debut of the Year Diunna Greenleaf & Blue Mercy - Cotton Field to Coffee House Blues Song of the Year Koko Taylor - "Gonna Buy Me A Mule" Blues Album of the Year Watermelon Slim & the Workers - The Wheel Man (Northern Blues) Blues DVD of the Year Kenny Wayne Shepherd - 10 Days Out: Blues from the Backroads (Reprise Records) Contemporary Blues Album of the Year Tommy Castro - Painkiller (Blind Pig Records) Historical Album of the Year Muddy Waters, Johnny Winter, & James Cotton - Breakin' It UP, Breakin' it DOWN (Epic/Legacy Recordings) Soul Blues Album of the Year The Holmes Brothers - State of Grace (Alligator Records) Traditional Blues Album of the Year Koko Taylor - Old School (Alligator Records) Special Awards Pinetop Perkins Piano Player of the Year Award Honey Piazza B.B. King Entertainer of the Year Award Tommy Castro The Blues Foundation The Blues Foundation was formed in Memphis in 1980 as a non-profit organization to preserve the rich heritage of the blues and promote excellence in blues music. Consisting of over 160 affiliated organizations worldwide, The Blues Foundations sponsors the annual Blues Music Awards, The International Blues Challenge, and the organization's "Blues In The Schools" educational program. write your comments about the article :: © 2008 Jazz News :: home page |