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17th Maple Blues Awards – Koerner Hall – Jan 20, 2014

The Winners of the 17th Annual Maple Blues Awards:

Entertainer of the Year
Sponsored by Rose Theatre Brampton
MonkeyJunk

Electric Act of the Year
Sponsored By Cordova Bay Entertainment
MonkeyJunk

Acoustic Act of the Year
Sponsored By Folk Music Ontario
Dawn Tyler Watson – Paul Deslauriers

Male Vocalist of the Year
Sponsored By Music by the Bay Live
Jim Byrnes

Female Vocalist of the Year
Sponsored By DAWG.FM
Angel Forrest

New Artist or Group of the Year
Sponsored By RBC Royal Bank Bluesfest
The Mackenzie Blues Band

B.B. King International Artist of the Year
Tedeschi Trucks Band

Recording of the Year
Sponsored By Stony Plain Records
All Frequencies – MonkeyJunk – Producers Steve Marriner / Ken Friesen

Blues With A Feeling Lifetime Achievement Award
Sponsored By Dan Aykroyd Wines
Bob Walsh

Songwriter of the Year
Sponsored By SOCAN
MonkeyJunk – Steve Marriner, Matt Sobb and Tony Diteodoro

Guitarist of the Year
Sponsored By Long & McQuade Musical Instruments
Paul Deslauriers

Harmonica Player of the Year
Sponsored By Lee Oskar Harmonicas
Steve Marriner

Piano/Keyboard Player of the Year
Sponsored By Yamaha Canada
Lance Anderson

Horn Player of the Year
Sponsored By Yamaha Canada
Chris Whiteley

Drummer of the Year
Tom Bona

Bassist of the Year
Gary Kendall

Blues Booster Award
Tim Hortons Southside Shuffle

Congratulations to all the winners and nominees, and many thanks to the performers, presenters, volunteers and staff who made the evening such a success. A very special thank you to all those who attended! We hope to see you next year at the 18th Annual Maple Blues Awards!

The Maple Blues Awards is Canada’s national blues awards program. Its goal is to promote blues music across Canada, and to recognize outstanding achievement in the field.

The awards program is proudly organized by the Toronto Blues Society. Check out videos from last year’s awards show here.

The nominees are selected by a distinguished panel of some 50 blues experts. Co-Chaired by the steering committee consisting of Deborah Cartmer, Yves Trottier, Paul Norton, and Brant Zwicker, the panel includes radio hosts, journalists, and festival organizers regionally distributed across Canada. Members of the Nominating Panel are not eligible for any of the awards.

Winners in all categories, except the instrumental categories, will be selected by blues fans across Canada. Winners in the  guitar, harmonica, piano/keyboards, horn, drum, and bass categories will be determined by the Nominating Panel.

Application Process.  There is no *application* for the Maple Blues Awards. Nominations are drawn from the expertise of the nominating panel suggestions. Members of the nominating panel are required to be familiar with Canadian blues artist activity and CD releases.  Artists are encouraged to service CDs to all blues radio djs, journalists and industry professional to increase their national profile.

Entertainer Of The Year: Group or artist who showed the most overall success in the previous year. This could include a combination of live performances, touring, airplay, media coverage, and public acceptance.

New Artist Or Group Of The Year: Group or individual, new to the national blues scene, who has made considerable advances artistically and/or commercially during the eligibility period. The nominee should be performing under its/his/her name on a regular basis and must not have been nominated in any Maple Blues Awards category previously. The award recognizes the group or individual.

The Nomination Panel consists of industry professionals from across Canada: