Toronto Blues Society | » Youth Leads the Way at 2005 MBAs! Nova Scotia’s Garrett Mason leads the nominations announced for 9th Annual Maple Blues Awards

Youth Leads the Way at 2005 MBAs! Nova Scotia’s Garrett Mason leads the nominations announced for 9th Annual Maple Blues Awards

Published November 18, 2005 in Press Releases

What: Canada’s national blues award programme
Where:
Phoenix Concert Theatre, 410 Sherbourne Street, Toronto
When:
Voting – November 14th until December 14th, 2005
Gala – Monday January 16, 2006
Website:
www.torontobluessociety.com

The Maple Blues Awards, Canada’s national award programme that promotes and recognizes outstanding achievement in blues music, has announced their nominees for 2005. The nominees are selected by a distinguished panel of blues experts from across Canada, and winners are selected by the votes of Canadian blues fans. Voting is online from November 14th until December 14th 2005 at www.mapleblues.ca.

The winners will be announced at a spectacular gala presentation at the Phoenix Concert Theatre (410 Sherbourne Street, Toronto) on Monday, January 16, 2006. Tickets are available through Ticketpro (www.ticketpro.ca, 1-866-908-9090)

This year’s nominations are dominated by a new generation of musicians, proving beyond a doubt that Canadian blues has a bright future. Second-generation bluesman Garrett Mason, son of Canadian blues legend Dutch Mason, has made an impression worthy of his lineage, and leads all nominees this year with nods in six categories. Close on Garrett’s heels are Toronto’s Paul Reddick and debut recording artist Julian Fauth with five nominations each. Ottawa is represented by three nominated young artists: Roxanne Potvin, Southside Steve Marriner, and 13 year-old Elyssa Mahoney.

Veterans of the Canadian blues scene who laid the foundation for these younger artists aren’t outdone, however. Chris Whiteley received four nominations while Downchild Blues Band, who are celebrating their 35th year, have even more reasons to party after being recognized in three major categories. Four Downchild musicians also received individual nominations. Jack de Keyzer received three nominations to further sweeten his 25th year in the business.

The nominations reflect a blues scene that is alive across the country. In many categories, musicians from Ontario are nominated alongside artists from Quebec, the Prairies, the Maritimes, or the West Coast. In the hotly contested Electric Act of the Year category, Toronto acts Downchild and Jack de Keyzer received recognition opposite Halifax-native Garrett Mason, Winnipeg band The Perpetrators, and Vancouver blues-rocker David Gogo. Up for Entertainer of the Year, Kitchener’s Mel Brown is in good company with Vancouver’s Kenny ‘Blues Boss’ Wayne. Acoustic Act of the Year nominees include New Brunswick’s Hot Toddy, BC’s Harry Manx, and Hamilton’s Harrison Kennedy. Nowhere is the regional diversity more apparent than in the Female Vocalist of the Year category in which New Brunswick’s Theresa Malenfant, Dawn Tyler Watson from Quebec, Ottawa’s Roxanne Potvin, Toronto’s Shakura S’Aida, and the ever-popular Saskatoon-born Suzie Vinnick all received nods.

The Maple Blues Awards are supported by FACTOR and the Government of Canada through the Canadian Music Fund, GALAXIE – CBC’s Continuous Music Network, the SOCAN Foundation, SOCAN, the Ontario Arts Council, the City of Toronto through the Toronto Arts Council, and KMP Designs Inc.

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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.