30th annual Blues Music Awards

30TH ANNUAL BLUES MUSIC AWARDS CONFIRMED FOR MAY 7 IN MEMPHIS, TN

MANNISH BOYS TOP NOMINATIONS WITH SIX; OTHERS NOMINATED INCLUDE BUDDY GUY, B.B. KING, ELVIN BISHOP, MAGIC SLIM

For a complete list of the 30th Blues Music Awards Nominees, click here: http://www.blues.org/bluesmusicawards/nominees.php4

WHAT: The Blues Music Awards
WHEN: Thursday, May 7, 2009
WHERE: Cook Convention Center, 255 N. Main, Memphis, TN
TICKETS: $125, available December 16, 2008 via http://www.blues.org or 901.527.2583 x10. (Tables of 10 are $1200.)

The Blues Foundation has confirmed the thirtieth annual Blues Music Awards, a seven-plus hour throw-down featuring dozens of incredible musicians and honoring the best of the blues world. Blues Foundation members will be able to vote starting today, through March 1, with the results determining the winners.

West coast-based group The Mannish Boys lead the pack this year with six nominations, including band, traditional album and album of the year in addition to individual nominations for band members Richard Innes (drums), Kid Ramos (guitar), and Larry Taylor (bass). Tied with four nominations each are slide guitar legend Elvin Bishop, pianist Eden Brent, songstress Janiva Magness, soul man Curtis Salgado, and former truck driver Watermelon Slim. Buddy Guy is nominated for three awards and B.B. King for two.
The Mississippi-based Homemade Jamz Blues Band are the youngest nominees at 9, 14, and 16 years of age. Sadly, Sean Costello received two posthumous nominations while Jeff Healey received one. Chicago elder statesman and torch bearer Magic Slim earned three nods. Lurrie Bell earned two nominations for an album he made while grieving the loss of his wife and his father, harp man Carrie Bell.

The Blues Foundation has added a Rock Blues category for the first time in
2009, with nominations going to Gary Moore, Jeff Healey, Michael Burks,
Smokin' Joe Kubek & Bnois King, Sonny Landreth, and Walter Trout.

Performers have not yet been confirmed for the 2009 show but all nominees are invited to take the stage, showing a broad range of blues styles from solo resonator fingerpicking to soul-blues shouters. For the blues fan, it's the only way to see a lineup like this and it annually threatens to rage well into the night.

The awards ceremony and concert will be broadcast live by Sirius XM Satellite Radio's B.B. King's Bluesville channel. The Blues Music Awards will be shot in HD for a DVD to be released in by October, 2009.

The Blues Foundation has 3,000 individual dues-paying members around the world and 160 affiliated grassroots, member-based local blues societies in a dozen countries.

The Blues Music Awards are produced by The Blues Foundation, a non-profit organization established to preserve Blues history, celebrate Blues excellence, support Blues education and ensure the future of this uniquely American art form. In addition to the Blues Music Awards, the Foundation also produces the Blues Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, the International Blues Challenge and the Keeping the Blues Alive Awards. It fosters education through its Blues in the Schools programming and supports the medical needs of Blues musicians with its HART Fund. Throughout the year, the Foundation staff serves the worldwide Blues community with answers, contact information and news. For more information or to join The Blues Foundation, log onto www.blues.org