30th Anniversary Blues Music Awards
The 30th Anniversary Blues Music Awards ceremony was held in Memphis Tennessee, Thursday May 7th, 2009. Over forty performers provided an amazing event that lasted over seven hours. That's a lot of great music, by some very talented people, and we would have had to be there to fully appreciate it all. For those of us who weren't lucky enough to be in that audience, we have to content ourselves with scouring the web for clips, first-hand stories, and mp3s, at least until the DVD is released sometime next autumn.
I'll share some of my favorite winners, though, which include Lil' Ed and the Blues Imperials. These guys were named band of the year, and they earned it with consistently terrific music. Lil' Ed and the Blues Imperials have been around a long time, playing great blues and grooving crowds at blues and music festivals everywhere. One of the terrific things about them is that not only are they damned good, they're into the music, they're having a great time, and that's infectious.
The Hall of Fame inductees include some of the most amazing blues artists of the century, and each and every one of them more than deserves the honor. I was really glad to see "Soul Queen of New Orleans" Irma Thomas inducted into the Hall of Fame, along with other deserving Hall of Fame inductees this year, Taj Mahal, Son Seals, and the Reverend Gary Davis.
The Reverend Gary Davis was a preacher and a legendary blues and ragtime guitar player from South Carolina. A deeply religious man, his songs tended to confirm his faith, and reveal the gospel roots so deeply entwined with blues music. He played blues all over the world, until his death in 1972.
Son Seals, arguably the king of Chicago Blues, lived the life of a true bluesman. He was born in 1942, and started performing at thirteen years old. Over the course of his life, he outlived all but one of his fourteen brothers and sisters, survived being shot in the face by his ex-wife—twice—and lost a leg to the diabetes that finally killed him in 2004.
If you've never heard Son, you haven't really heard Chicago blues. The horn-work on this clip completely kicks ass, the band is tight, they've got the quintessential Son Seals Chicago Blues sound. Mercy, this man had talent and the blues craft to back it up.
Taj Mahal was born Henry St. Claire Fredericks in Harlem on May 17, 1942. He grew up in Massachusetts, the child of musical parents. He learned to play multiple instruments, but developed a passion for guitar when a neighbor introduced him to the blues styles of Muddy Waters, Lightnin' Hopkins, John Lee Hooker, and Delta and Chicago blues. He went to the west coast in the '60s, where he put together a band that included Ry Cooder. On his website, Taj says "This record is just the beginning of another chapter, one that's going to be open to more music and more ideas. Even at the end of forty years, in many ways my music is just getting started." Taj Mahal has been bringing us amazing music for nearly a half-century. The man is a giant.
Irma Thomas, The Soul Queen of New Orleans, is a beautiful woman with a rough-silk voice under exquisite control, even while brimming with emotion. Born Irma Lee, she married young—fourteen—and had children before, legend has it, she was discovered by bandleader Tommy Ridgley while she was waiting tables at a New Orleans club in 1959. She slugged her way through years of musical ups and downs, gigging, recording for first one label then another, and she's never stopped singing.
A record producer, bandleader, and songwriter as well as a singer, this is a woman who has worked hard, raised her children, known her share of heartache, and very much deserves this honor.
