2002 Maple Blues Awards Nominations

The 6th Annual Maple Blues Awards Nominations (2002)

Media information/For immediate release

Canada's national blues awards to be held in conjunction with first-ever Blues Summit event

When the sixth annual Maple Blues Awards are presented in Toronto next January 27, with Vancouver-based Juno-winning guitarist Colin James as host, they will be preceded by the first-ever Blues Summit, a gathering of Canada's blues community, including musicians, presenters, festival organizers, record companies, blues club bookers, and blues fans.

Both the Blues Summit, and the Maple Blues Awards, are part of the year-long programme of events organized by the 600-member Toronto Blues Society.

Nominees for the Maple Blues Awards were announced at a downtown Toronto gathering on Wed. Oct. 30, attended by a wide range of the blues community and featuring performances from two of the nominees, harmonica ace Michael Pickett and singer Rita Chiarelli.

Announcing the Blues Summit, set for January 25-27, 2003, Toronto Blues Society president Derek Andrews said: "There has long been a need for the national blues community to have a focus. It made practical sense to invite musicians and business people involved with blues scene across Canada to come together.

"It will be a perfect opportunity for musicians to meet with bookers and presenters and record company people - and to hold this gathering in conjunction with the Maple Blues Awards underlines the national importance of the awards."

The keynote speaker for the Summit will be Bruce Iglauer, founder of the best-known international blues label, Alligator Records, which he founded in 1971, and has built a catalogue of hundreds of releases. Other speakers will include Mark Monaghan and Barry Dolans, the artistic directors of the Ottawa and Chicago Blues Festivals respectively, as well as Holger Petersen, who heads Stony Plain Records and who has hosted CBC Radio's Saturday Night Blues for 16 years. Other speakers, and the complete two days of showcases, seminars and social events will be announced in the coming weeks.

"Early Bird" tickets for both the Blues Summit and the Maple Blues Awards are set at $59.00 if purchased prior to December 1 (and $69.00 after that). Tickets for the Awards show only, to be held at the Phoenix Concert Hall January 27 will be $28.00, with a $20 price for Toronto Blues Society members.

Maple Blues Awards

The nominees for Maple Blues Awards include artists from across Canada, and TBS president Derek Andrews pointed out that there were nominees from both the West and East coasts, the Prairies, and Quebec as well as a number of cities in Ontario.

The two artists with the most nominations are veteran Toronto bandleader and guitarist Jack de Keyzer, and Montreal acoustic solo artist Michael Jerome Browne; each has seven nominations, while another Toronto band, Fathead, has six. Singer/

guitarist Sue Foley, based in Ottawa and - recently - Nashville, has five, as does Mel Brown, the Kitchener-based guitarist and bandleader.

De Keyzer, Browne, Foley and Mel Brown are also nominees for Entertainer of the Year, along with Montreal singer Dawn Tyler Watson.

Nominees in 16 categories were chosen by an independent panel of blues radio personalities and music journalists across Canada; the winners are chosen from votes solicited from blues fans across the country - many of them members of a growing network of blues societies.

An additional honour is the annual Blues With a Feeling Award; nominations are made by the Board of the Toronto Blues

Society, and voting in the category is limited to TBS members. The achievements of the record number of nominees - producer/musicians Alec Fraser and Colin Linden, players Terry Wilkins, Mel Brown, Tom Lavin, Ken Whiteley and Big Dave McLean, singers Jackie and Chuck Jackson, and promoter Elaine Bomberry - testify to the strength of the music, said Andrews.

The Maple Blues Awards are presented by the TBS in association with CBC Radio's Saturday Night Blues, The Coastal Jazz and Blues Society, Fredericton's Harvest Jazz and Blues Festival, and blues societies in Montreal, Ottawa and Thunder Bay.

The Blues Summit is being funded in part by the Ontario Media Development Corporation, the Department of Canadian Heritage, FACTOR, the Toronto Arts Council and the Ontario Ministry of Culture.

The Maple Blues Awards are funded by FACTOR, The SOCAN Foundation, the Toronto Arts Council, the Ontario Ministry of

Culture, and Galaxie, the CBC's Continuous Music Network.

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Maple Blues Awards Nominees for 2003

Entertainer of the Year
Mel Brown & The Homewreckers
Michael Jerome Browne
Jack de Keyzer
Sue Foley
Dawn Tyler Watson

Electric Act of the Year
Mel Brown & The Homewreckers
Jack de Keyzer
Sue Foley
Paul Reddick + The Sidemen
Dawn Tyler Blues Project

Acoustic Act of the Year
Michael Jerome Browne
Morgan Davis
Hot Toddy
Harry Manx
Michael Pickett

Male Vocalist of the Year
Curley Bridges
Michael Jerome Browne
Danny Brooks
Jack de Keyzer
John Mays (Fathead)

Female Vocalist of the Year
Rita Chiarelli
Sue Foley
Georgette Fry
Ellen McIlwaine
Dawn Tyler Watson

New Artist of the Year
Charlie A'Court
JW-Jones Blues Band
Beau Kavanaugh & The Broken Hearted
Little Bobby & The Jumpstarts
David Rotundo & The Blue Canadians

International Artist of the Year
Solomon Burke
Corey Harris
Magic Slim & the Teardrops
Duke Robillard
Otis Taylor

Guitarist of the Year
Mel Brown
Michael Jerome Browne
John Campbelljohn
Jack de Keyzer
David Gogo

Harmonica Player of the Year
Al Lerman (Fathead)
Southside Steve Marriner (JW-Jones Blues Band)
Michael Pickett
Paul Reddick
David Rotundo
Tortoise Blue (Big Daddy G)

Piano/Keyboard Player of the Year
Lance Anderson
Curley Bridges
Julian Fauth (Blue Canadians)
Rod Phillips (Sparkjiver; Midnite Walk)
Kenny "Blues Boss" Wayne

Horn Player of the Year
Pat Carey (Downchild)
Zeke Gross (Tony D Band)
Gene Hardy (Sparkjiver)
Chris Murphy
Chris Whiteley

Drummer of the Year
Tom Bona (Sue Foley; Raoul & The Big Time)
Jim Casson (Sparkjiver; Bluesafire)
Chuck Keeping (Fathead)
Vince Maccarone
Bob Vespaziani

Bass Player of the Year
Stephen Barry
Alec Fraser (Jack de Keyzer)
Russell Jackson
Gary Kendall (Downchild)
Omar Tunnoch (Fathead)

Songwriter of the Year
Michael Jerome Browne
Jack de Keyzer
Sue Foley
Harry Manx
Michael Pickett
Paul Reddick

Recording of the Year
Mel Brown: Homewreckin' Done Live (Electro-Fi)
Michael Jerome Browne: Drive On (Borealis)
Fathead: First Class Riff Raff (Electro-Fi)
Jack de Keyzer: 6-String Lover (Blue Star)
Sue Foley: Where The Action Is (Koch)

Producer of the Year
Michael Jerome Browne for Drive On
Alec Fraser & Fathead for Fathead: First Class Riff-Raff
Jack de Keyzer & Alec Fraser for 6 String Lover
Colin Linden for Sue Foley: Where The Action Is
Kenny "Blues Boss" Wayne for 88th & Jump Street

Blues With a Feeling Award
(Toronto Blues Society Lifetime Achievement Award)
Elaine Bomberry
Mel Brown
Alec Fraser
Chuck Jackson
Tom Lavin
Colin Linden
Big Dave McLean
Jackie
Ken Whiteley
Terry Wilkins

Nominees were chosen by an independent nominating panel of blues radio personalities and music journalists across Canada, except for the nominees for the Blues With a Feeling Award which were chosen by the directors of the Toronto Blues Society.

The Awards are organized by the TBS, whose members vote for winners in 17 different categories, along with blues fans across Canada who are able to participate in the voting by emailing name and street address to info@torontobluessociety.com or calling 1-866-871-9457 (up until December 11) to receive a ballot.

Winners will be announced at the awards ceremony at the Phoenix Concert Club in Toronto on January 27, 2003. The Maple Blues Awards are presented by the Toronto Blues Society in association with CBC Radio's Saturday Night Blues, The Coastal Jazz and Blues Society, The Harvest Jazz and Blues Festival, the Montreal Blues Society, the Ottawa Blues Society and the Thunder Bay Blues Society.
Congratulations to our Nominees

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FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ON THE MAPLE BLUES AWARDS AND THE BLUES SUMMIT, PLEASE CONTACT:

Richard Flohil (416) 351-1323 FAX: (416) 351-1095
E-Mail: rflohil@sympatico.ca

Dan Kershaw, Toronto Blues Society (416) 538-3885 FAX (416) 538-6559
E-mail: info@torontobluessociety.com

Past Awards at a Glance:

[01 Nominees] [01 Winners]
[00 Nominees] [00 Winners]
[99 Nominees] [99 Winners]
[98 Nominees] [98 Winners]
[97 Nominees] [97 Winners]