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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.
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!
