Quickly, to the point, the winner of the band competition is: The WIRED! Band (Washington Blues Society)

The winner of the solo/duo competition is: Ray Bonneville (Ozark Blues Society of Northwest Arkansas)

The other winners are: Band-2nd place: The Bart Walker Band (Nashville Blues Society); Band-3rd Place: Paula Harris (The Golden Gate Blues Society); Solo/Duo-2nd Place: Dr. Don's Double Dose Sydney Blues Society Also, the Gibson Guitarist Award ...

The doors of the Orpheum Theatre open at 1:00pm Saturday, Feburary 4 for band finals which begin at 2:00pm. The solo/duo finals will begin at 7:30 pm. Nine acts will compete for the top band prize. They are (in performance order): Mikey Junior & the Stone Cold Blues (Jersey Shore Jazz & Blues Foundation) Noah Wotherspoon Band (Dayton Blues Society) Sherry Pruitt Blues Project (Santa Clarita Valley Blues Society) The Bart Walker Band (Nashville Blues Society) The WIRED! Band (Washington Blu...

ALFREDS 5:20 The Delta Sonics 6:00 Lawyers Guns & Money 6:40 Mikey Junior & the Stone Cold Blues 7:20 Fred Chapellier 8:00 The Willie J. Laws Band BB KINGS 5:20 Blues Dragon 6:00 Tony Vega Band 6:40 Ron Yarosz and the Vehicle 7:20 Pristine 8:00 The Candymakers 8:40 Noah Wotherspoon Band BLUES CITY CAFÉ 5:20 The Mojo Webb Band 6:00 Terry Gillespie Trio 6:40 Sherry Pruitt Blues Project 7:20 Daddy Mack Blues Band 8:00 Memphis Cradle CLUB 152 5:20 The Robbie Laws Band 6:00 Little Jake & The Soul...

BLUES HALL 5:20 Sean "Bad" Apple and Martin "Big Boy" Grant 6:00 Owen Poteat, The One Man Boogie Band 6:40 Dr. Don's Double Dose 7:20 Spoons & Abel 8:00 David "Boxcar" Gates 8:40 The Delta Boys 9:20 Liz Mandeville & Donna Herula 10:00 Two Blue KINGS PALACE 5:20 Blueshine Dou 6:00 Trimmed and Burning 6:40 Chad Altenbaumer and Chris Lancaster 7:20 Jimmy Davis 8:00 Randy McQuay 8:40 Kenny Acosta 9:20 Lucious Spiller 10:00 The Used Blues Duo PIG ON BEALE 5:20 Randy Norris & Jeff Nicely 6:00 2blu 6...

Stay tuned for which club each the semifinalist will be assigned. We will post that by noon (fingers crossed). Band (Alfred's) Mikey Junior & the Stone Cold Blues - Jersey Shore Jazz & Blues Foundation Fred Chapellier - France Blues The Delta Sonics - Colorado Blues Society Lawyers Guns & Money - Cape Fear Blues Society (B.B. King's) John F. Klaver Band - Dutch Blues Foundation Travellin Brothers - Asociacion Musical Blues Hondarribia Skinny Velvet - Blue Ridge Blues Society Jill ...

It is almost impossible to report on all that happened on the first night as there was so much going on and one can only take in a portion of the fun. 200 acts hit the stage in 19 venues on Wednesday night as the 28th International Blues Challenge got underway on Beale Street and in neighboring clubs. An early rain came and went and the rest of the night was downright balmy. A full day of activities precedes the second night of quarterfinals today. Come on down to Beale!

The complete 2012 IBC program can be accessed here. It is a large PDF so it may take a moment to download. Beginning on page 14, you can see who is playing where and when during the quarterfinals on Wednesday and Thursday.

The 28th International Blues Challenge kicked off last night with the FedEx International Showcase at the New Daisy Theater on Beale Street. Sixteen acts took the stage before a packed house. A full house saw some international acts that could go all the way.The show started with the Bleu Rascals, a youth act from the Philippines and ended with the 24th Street Wailers, another young act from Toronto. The future of blues today, indeed. Among the performers were acts representing for the first...

IBC will be held January 31- February 4 2012 in 20 venues in the Beale Street Historic District. That is 5 days consisting of over 575 performances by 226 acts. The 2012 challenge will bring 748 musicians from 40 states and a record 16 countries to downtown Memphis, Tennessee for the largest gathering of Blues artists…in the history of the World! To produce an event of this size it will take over 200 volunteers and 108 judges to pick the top acts from this colossal gathering.

Complete IBC ...

The Blues Foundation will honor 17 individuals and organizations with its 2012 Keeping the Blues Alive (KBA) Award during a recognition brunch Saturday, February 4, 2012, in Memphis, Tennessee. Each year, The Blues Foundation presents the KBA Awards to individuals and organizations that have made significant contributions to blues music. The KBA ceremony will be held in conjunction with the 28th International Blues Challenge (IBC), which begins January 31 and features the final rounds of the wo...

The competition for the 2012 Best Self-Produced CD has been tough this year! We had a record setting 74 submissions to start the competition. Our panel of professional Blues DJs whittled the group down to the top 30 discs for Round 2. Congratulations to the five discs listed below, they will advance to the final round of judging for this years Best Self-Produced CD contest. Cleveland Blues Society: Blue Lunch - Saxophone Shootout II
Frederick Blues Society: Bad Infl...

1/20/12 - This week in membership we had two new Blues Supporters! Welcome to The Blues Foundation Robert Kiser and Todd Reilly! Blues Supporter Jonathan Paret renewed his membership. We had one new Corporate membership-Miss Polly's Soul City Cafe on Beale Street. The renewing corporates were Memphis Music Foundation, Blue Bella Records, Mid-South Drug Testing, Blues Now! and Liberty Asset Recovery. Board of Director member, Alan Maites renew...

Producers announced today the first artists confirmed to play a special March 6 tribute concert at New York's historic Apollo Theater, celebrating the centennial of legendary bluesman Robert Johnson. The initial, star-studded lineup includes The Roots, Shemekia Copeland, Bettye LaVette, Taj Mahal, Keb' Mo', Sam Moore and Todd Rundgren, with more to be announced soon. Net proceeds from the concert, co-produced by Steve Berkowitz, Michael Dorf, Joe Morton and Patrici...

Not sure who to vote for? Help is just a click away. Check out the a new Discussion link here. This is a monitored discussion so all submissions will be reviewed before posting. Feel free to offer insight into why you think someone or some CD is deserving of a Blues Music Awards.

You can get a taste of the music of many nominees here. Aigars Lapsa...

The list of honorees for the 33nd Blues Music Awards includes Blues Hall of Fame members Denise LaSalle, Charlie Musselwhite and Bobby Rush. Leading with four nominations each are Sugar Ray & the Bluetones with theirs Evening CD and Louisiana artists Tab Benoit with his Medicine release and Johnny Sansone and his The Lord is Waiting and the Devil is Too. Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks, the Tedeschi-Trucks Band and thei...