Toronto Blues Society | » Canada’s Best in Blues set to ignite Maple Blues Awards Gala; Dynamite Dawn Tyler Watson to host

Canada’s Best in Blues set to ignite Maple Blues Awards Gala; Dynamite Dawn Tyler Watson to host

Published January 18, 2008 in Press Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE / PLEASE UPDATE LISTINGS

WHO: Dawn Tyler Watson, Downchild, Colin James, Jack de Keyzer, Lance Anderson, Michael Fonfara, Bill King, Shakura S’Aida, Little Miss Higgins, Garrett Mason and more!
WHAT: The 2008 Maple Blues Awards
WHERE: The Mod Club Theatre, 722 College St., Toronto
WHEN: Monday, January 21, 2008. Doors 7:00 pm, show 8:30 pm
TICKETS: Advance tickets are $20 for Toronto Blues Society members, $28 for non-members by calling the TBS office at 416-538-3885 or email [email protected]. Tickets are also on sale at Soundscapes, 572 College St. or online at www.ticketpro.ca .
WEBSITE: www.torontobluessociety.com

TORONTO – Thursday, January 10th, 2008 –This year’s Maple Blues Awards will honour Canada’s best in blues at the gala ceremony on Monday, January 21st at the Mod Club, 722 College St. in Toronto. Dawn Tyler Watson hosts the awards gala presentation, featuring live performances by some of our finest blues talents who will team up with stellar house musicians, the Maple Blues Band. Doors open at 7:00 pm and the show starts at 8:30 pm.

Montreal’s Queen of the Blues, Dawn Tyler Watson will be showcasing her soulful and versatile vocal stylings throughout this star-studded event. She displays “a fiery stage presence…Watson smokes” says Eric Thom in Blues Revue Magazine. Much like last year’s host Jim Byrnes, she is no slouch as an actor either, having played the lead role opposite heartthrob Roy Dupuis in the feature film Jack Paradise – Les Nuits de Montréal. Now, after teaming up with Paul Deslauriers on their new hit CD en Duo, her success is reaching new heights and they will be performing together at the gala.

Also gracing the stage will be newcomer and hot ticket/must-see Little Miss Higgins from Saskatchewan; “funkabilly-blues-soulman” Garrett Mason (son of the late Canadian blues legend Dutch Mason); electrifying guitar wizard Jack de Keyzer; and many more.

Featured award presenters include Colin James, Danny Marks, and Shakura S’Aida alongside CBC Radio’s Garvia Bailey (Big City Small World) and Holger Petersen (Saturday Night Blues). Other blues luminaries presenting at the ceremony will be U.S. producer Johnny Sandlin and festival Producer Jeff Davis, Brant Zwicker (CIFM Kamloops), Gord MacAulay (Saskatoon Blues Society), Brent Staeben (Harvest Jazz & Blues, Fredericton), Paul Quarrington (Pork Belly Futures), Derek Andrews (Toronto Blues Society) John Valenteyn (CIUT Let the Good Times Roll) and longtime blues buff Richard Flohil.

A rare Toronto performance by Downchild, Canada’s hardest-working blues band, is sure to be a highlight, and group founder Donnie Walsh will also be presenting the award for Best Guitarist of the Year. With 38 years of touring, performing and recording under their belt – not to mention the many accolades they have received – now Downchild can add eight well-deserved Maple Blues award nominations to the list.

In honour of three of Canada’s most excellent and well-loved musicians who passed away this year – Doug Riley, Richard Bell, and Rod Philips – a very special tribute will be performed by Lance Anderson, Michael Fonfara and Bill King. Included in the tribute will be an eight-minute video created by filmmaker Mako Funasaka, last year’s winner of the Lifetime Achievement Award.

Brad Wheeler, the Globe and Mail’s longtime blues/ pop critic and reviewer, will receive this year’s Blues Booster Award (selected by the Toronto Blues Society Board of Directors) for his outstanding contributions to the Canadian Blues industry.

A rocking after-party will be held at Revival with The Douglas Watson R&B Revue Band, who won the Toronto Blues Society New Talent Award for 2007.

Revival is located at 783 College St. West (at Shaw) and your admission ticket to the MBAs ceremony gets you into the club for the after-party as well.

The Maple Blues Awards are supported by FACTOR and the Government of Canada through the Canadian Music Fund, GALAXIE – CBC’s Continuous Music Network, Distribution Fusion 3 / Justin Time Records, the SOCAN Foundation, SOCAN, the Ontario Arts Council, the City of Toronto through the Toronto Arts Council, KMP Designs Inc., Cordova Bay, Stony Plain Records, Long & McQuade Musical Instruments, Steve’s Music / Pearl Drums, True North Records / Linus Entertainment, Southside Shuffle, Make It Real, Twisted Pines and CBC Saturday Night Blues.


Media Contact:
Toronto Blues Society
416-538-3885
[email protected]

Click here for Press Release archive

Donate Join TBS Volunteer

©2024 Toronto Blues Society. Design by Janine Stoll Media.
TBS logo and WBR artwork by Barbara Klunder


The Toronto Blues Society acknowledges the annual support of the Ontario Arts Council, the City of Toronto through the Toronto Arts Council and the Department of Canadian Heritage, and project support from FACTOR< and the Government of Canada through the Department of Canadian Heritage (Canada Music Fund) and of Canada’s Private Broadcasters, The Canada Council for the Arts, the SOCAN Foundation, SOCAN, the Ontario Media Development Corporation, and the Ontario Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport.