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The 1st Indie Blues Awards winners were announced on Wednesday, June 15 at Darwin's in Marietta, Georgia.

First Independent Blues Awards 2016 Winners Announced

The 1st Indie Blues Awards winners were announced on Wednesday, June 15 at Darwin’s in Marietta, Georgia. It was an appropriate place for the announcement, since Darwin’s is dedicated to providing a venue for new artists to perform as well as more established traveling musicians.

Courtesy RCA
Courtesy RCA

The purpose of the Indie Blues Awards, as stated by creator Richard L’Hommedieu, “are to celebrate the diversity and power of the music created by those artists that acknowledge their inspiration and roots are in the blues. These artist[s] are touring and creating new original music that take[s] their inspiration from the blues, but in the true tradition of the genre, they are redefining it’s [sic] future.”

To this purpose, nominees were chosen by judges involved professionally in music from the U.S. and England. The voting was then opened to the public. The website featured links to all the musicians’ music so that voters could make informed choices after compiling all the votes. These were the winners:

CD OF THE YEAR

Buddy Guy – Born to Play Guitar

ACOUSTIC CD

Doug MacLeod – Exactly Like This

INDEPENDENT CONTEMPORARY CD

Samantha Fish – Wild Heart

TRADITIONAL CD

Buddy Guy – Born to Play Guitar

R&B / SOUL CD

Beth Hart – Better Than Home

BLUES ROCK CD

Mike Zito and The Wheel – Keep Coming Back

MODERN ROOTS CD

Monkey Junk – Moon Turns Red

BEST LIVE CD

Reverend Raven & The Chain Smokin’ Alter Boys – Live at Big Bull Falls

BEST NEW ARTIST CD

The John Pagano Band – Live at Darwin’s

ARTIST OF THE YEAR

Samantha Fish

MALE ARTIST OF THE YEAR

Buddy Guy

FEMALE ARTIST

Samantha FIsh

TRADITIONAL BAND

John Mayall

BLUES ROCK BAND

Mike Zito

MODERN ROOTS BAND

Mike Zito

CONTEMPORARY BLUES BAND

Tommy Castro

BEST NEW ARTIST

The John Pagano Band

GATEWAY ARTIST

Joe Bonamassa

BEST STAGE PERFORMANCE

Joe Bonamassa

ROAD WARRIOR

Samantha Fish

TRADITIONAL SONG

Doug MacLeod – “Rock Til The Cows Come Home”

R&B / SOUL SONG

Elle King – “Ex’s and Oh’s”

CONTEMPORARY BLUES SONG

Ghost Town Blues Band – “Hard Road to Hoe”

BLUES ROCK SONG

Jeremiah Johnson – “Black Lingerie”

MODERN ROOTS SONG

Samantha Fish – “Go Home”

SONG FOR THE COMMON GOOD

Buddy Guy – “Crazy World”

BEST MUSIC VIDEO

John Pagano Band – “Keep on Walkin”

Congratulations to all the winners!

About Rhetta Akamatsu

I am an author of non-fiction books and an online journalist. My books include Haunted Marietta, The Irish Slaves, T'ain't Nobody's Business If I Do: Blues Women Past and Present, Southern Crossroads: Georgia Bluesand Sex Sells: Women in Photography and Film.

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