Los Angeles/New York – The American rhythm and blues legend Etta James, 72, who has battled addiction to heroin and other substances, is in hospital with a serious infection, her son told the Los Angeles television station KTLA. She most recently made waves by lashing out after her trademark song, “At Last,” was chosen by [...]
There are burglar bars on the windows of Second Mount Olive Baptist Church. It takes a good shove to open its rusty metal door, identical to all the other offices in this rundown strip mall just off the highway in south Atlanta.
A fan whips up pages of a mildewed Old Testament lying open on one [...]
The ninth Annual Ferndale Blues Festival will bring music, food and revelry to downtown Ferndale with at least 66 concerts and events in 23 venues over a 10-day period today through Feb. 6. An array of local blues and R&B acts — including the Sun Messengers, Jocelyn B, Brett Lucas, Electric Gypsy, Bobby Murray, Alberta [...]
The Cincy Blues Society’s Winter Blues Fest is beginning to rival the organization’s long-running, successful summer Blues Fest in terms of talent and lineup size. The fourth annual event takes place Friday and Saturday, and if you ever wanted to explore the Blues talent in Greater Cincinnati, you won’t find a better event.
Utilizing the Southgate [...]
Legendary blues record label Blue Horizon, which launched Fleetwood Mac’s career, is to be resurrected.
It is being revived by music industry veterans Seymour Stein and Richard Gottehrer, who founded the Sire label and signed Madonna and The Ramones.
They will now look for new artists to sign to Blue Horizon, which will start as a digital-only [...]
New Brunswick bluesman Matt Andersen has won the International Blues Challenge, a Memphis, Tenn., music contest that drew musicians from 12 countries.
Andersen, known for his soulful voice, won the top prize in the solo/duo category Saturday at the Orpheum Theatre in Memphis.
The contest sponsored by the U.S.-based Blues Foundation draws musicians nominated by blues societies [...]
The Kansas City Blues Society’s nominees to the International Blues Challenge, the electrifying group Levee Town, advanced to the semifinals after a great performance on Thursday night; however, the awesome, whiskey vocals and fuzz guitar of the Avey Brothers blues band out of Iowa were enough to advance them to the finals for tonight, Saturday, [...]
The Recording Academy announced its Special Merit Awards today, and this year’s recipients include: Leonard Cohen, Bobby Darin, David “Honeyboy” Edwards, Michael Jackson, Loretta Lynn, Andre Previn, and Clark Terry as Lifetime Achievement Award honorees. The special invitation-only ceremony will be held during GRAMMY Week on Saturday, Jan. 30, 2010, and a formal acknowledgment will [...]
The following four CDs have advanced to the final round of judging for the Best Self Produced CD. The winner will be announced at Solo/Duo Finals on the Orpheum Theater stage January 23, 2010 as part of the International Blues Challenge in Memphis, TN.
1. Blues Society of Tulsa – Little Joe McLerran, “Believe I’ll [...]
26th International Blues Challenge Finalists
The Blues Foundation announces the finalists of the 26th International Blues Challenge after Friday’s second round of semifinals. The finals will be Saturday at the Orpheum Theatre with solo/duo beginning at 2:00pm and the band finals beginning at 7:30pm.
The solo/duo finalists are:
Matt Anderson (Harvest Jazz & Blues)
Alphonso Sanders & Bill “Howl-n-Madd” [...]