25th Annual Maple Blues Awards

NOMINEES AND WINNERS

Congratulations to everyone who won at this year’s Maple Blues Awards! Winner names are highlighted as * WINNER in the nominee list below along with the sponsor.

MALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR

Chuck Jackson
*Colin James
Harrison Kennedy
Matt Anderson
Steve Marriner

FEMALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR – Limestone City Blues Festival

Crystal Shawanda
Dawn Tyler Watson
Dione Taylor
* Miss Emily
Samantha Martin

DRUMMER OF THE YEAR

Tom Bona
Gary Craig
Jim Casson
*Lindsay Beaver
Matt Sobb

PIANO/KEYBOARD PLAYER OF THE YEAR

* David Vest
Duane Blackburn
Jesse O’Brien
Kenny “Blues Boss” Wayne
Lance Anderson

NEW ARTIST OR GROUP OF THE YEAR

Tim Hortons Southside Shuffle Blues and Jazz Festival

Beauwater
Broke Fuse
Endrick & The Sandwiches
*Lowdown Dirty Mojos
Shakey Trill

ACOUSTIC ACT OF THE YEAR – Folk Music Ontario

Brandon Isaak
*David Gogo & Steve Marriner
Harrison Kennedy
Rick Fines
Rob Lutes

ELECTRIC ACT OF THE YEAR – Music By The Bay Live

*Colin James
Jack de Keyzer
MonkeyJunk
Samantha Martin & Delta Sugar
Sue Foley

HARMONICA PLAYER OF THE YEAR Lee Oskar Harmonicas

David Rotundo
Guy Bélanger
Harpdog Brown
Roly Platt
*Steve Marriner

HORN PLAYER OF THE YEAR

Montreal Blues Society/Société Blues Montréal

*Alison Young
Chris Whiteley
Mat “Moose” Mousseau
Mike Clark
Richard Thornton

GUITARIST OF THE YEAR – Long & McQuade Musical Instruments

David Gogo
Garrett Mason
Jack de Keyser
*Sue Foley
Tony D

BASSIST OF THE YEAR

Alan Duffy
Alec Fraser
Alec McElcheran
Gary Kendall
*Keith Picot

B.B. KING INTERNATIONAL ARTIST OF THE YEAR

*Bonnie Raitt
Christone “Kingfish” Ingram
Elvin Bishop
Larkin Poe
Tedeschi Trucks Band

RECORDING/PRODUCER OF THE YEAR Gypsy Soul Records

bLOW (Highway 20/Thirty Tigers)
ARTIST: Colin Linden PRODUCER: Colin Linden
Tribute (Blue Star Records)
ARTIST: Jack de Keyzer PRODUCER: Jack de Keyzer
The Reckless One (Gypsy Soul)
ARTIST: Samantha Martin & Delta Sugar PRODUCER: Darcy Yates, Renan Yildizdogan
* Hope Dies Last (Stony Plain)
ARTIST: Steve Marriner PRODUCER: Steve Marriner
Pinky’s Blues (Stony Plain)
ARTIST: Sue Foley PRODUCER: Mike Flanigin

BLUES WITH A FEELING AWARD – Stony Plain Records

Alec Fraser
Bobby Dean Blackburn
Brent Parkin
Dalannah Gail Bowen
Danny Brooks
Harrison Kennedy
Murray Porter
*Shakura S’Aida
Tom Lavin

SONGWRITER OF THE YEAR – SOCAN

Colin Linden
Kat Danser
Rick Fines
*Steve Marinner
Sue Foley

ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR TD Kitchener Blues Festival

David Gogo
Dawn Tyler Watson
Samantha Martin & Delta Sugar
Steve Marriner
* Sue Foley

Check Out Our Digital Program!

HERE

This Years Program and Award Visuals were Designed by

Courtney Revie

Check Out The Photo Gallery HERE

Watch The Show HERE

25th Annual Maple Blues Awards

Monday June 20th, 2022 7pm Koerner Hall

Koerner Hall Hosts 25th Annual Edition with Featured Performers Sue Foley, Crystal Shawanda, Kat Danser, Colin Linden, and Bobby Dean Blackburn

Hosted by Ottawa’s Angelique Francis, Canada’s biggest night in blues music will feature performances from five Maple Blues Award nominees including Bobby Dean Blackburn, who is nominated for the Blues With A Feeling (Lifetime Achievement) award, multiple nominee Sue Foley, who is up for Entertainer of the Year, Electric Act of the Year, Songwriter of the Year, Recording/Producer of the Year, and Guitarist of the Year. Also set to grace the stage are Female Vocalist of the Year nominee Crystal Shawanda, Songwriter of the Year nominee Kat Danser, and Colin Linden, who is nominated for Recording/Producer of the Year and Songwriter of the Year.

These incredible blues artists will be supported by the award gala’s house band, The Maple Blues Band, who have been a cornerstone of the annual Maple Blues Awards Ceremony since 1999. The Maple Blues Band features a who’s who of musicians including the ceremony’s musical director and bandleader Gary Kendall on bass, Teddy Leonard on lead guitar, Al Lerman on harmonica & acoustic guitar, Howard Moore on trumpet, Jim Casson on drums, Lance Andersonon piano & organ, Alison Young on tenor saxophone, Mei Kelly on trombone. At the 25th annual Maple Blues Awards, The Maple Blues Band will debut a mentorship program by adding a third-year Humber College music student to the group. Roshane Wright, from Kingston, Jamaica will join the rhythm section as a percussionist. Following the gala, the popular after-party and nominee jam will be hosted by Miss Emily and will reunite blues fans and friends after the long months apart.

Toronto Blues Society Announces an Unprecedented Tie for BluesBooster of the Year Award

The coveted award will be presented to

Claude Cloutier and Terry Parsons

Toronto Blues Society has announced two winners of the Blues Booster of the Year Award, to be presented at the Maple Blues Awards in June 2022. The Blues Booster of the Year Award is a very special Maple Blues Award honouring outstanding contribution to the Canadian blues music industry. TBS President Derek Andrews said, “Two tireless blues music advocates producing a great festival and great radio sharing the Blues Booster award is a wonderful compromise.”

Based in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario, Claude Cloutier had been organizing the annual fundraiser Blues on the East Side in Cambridge from 1999 to 2006. Cloutier is also a founding member of the Grand River Blues Society since 2003. He then joined the Kitchener Blues Festival in 2007, where is performs the duties of Vice President and Artistic Director. He presently works with community living Cambridge.

On receiving news of the award, Cloutier said “I am quite honoured and humbled by this award. I have had a lot of support from fellow volunteers and performers over the years that have assisted me in pursuing my passion for the music that we all love and goes without saying that this award is shared with them.”

Conception Bay Newfoundland’s Terry Parsons began his radio career in 1977 at CHMR as an on-air news reader. It was the start of a 45-year love affair with music in all forms, and in particular, the Blues. His signature radio program The Blind Lemon Blues, started completely by Accident in 2002 after a trip to Ottawa Blues Festival to interview artists for another show called The Songwriters. Beyond Blind Lemon Blues Parsons spent 11 years promoting live event in Newfoundland. In addition to radio, he works with the Maple Blues Steering Committee and writes reviews for Maple Blues Magazine and support artists and their music as best he can through radio shows, Blind Lemon Blues and The Sunday Morning Hangover Cure. Parsons’ reaction was one of humour and humility. “I am honored beyond words. It is so humbling to win this prestigious award. When I found out I was speechless. Which in my wife’s eyes is a good thing, they finally found a way to shut me up.”

MAPLES BLUES AWARDS NOMINATING PANEL

The Nominating Panel consists of industry professionals from across Canada who volunteer their time to participate.

FIRST NAME	LAST NAME	ORGANIZATION	CITY	PROV
Cam	Hayden	CKUA	Edmonton	AB
Chris	Martin	CBC Saturday Night Blues	Edmonton	AB
Cindy	McLeod	Calgary Blues Music Association	Calgary	AB
Holger	Petersen	CBC Saturday Night Blues, CKUA	Edmonton	AB
Al	Forrie	Hornby Island Blues Society	Hornby Island	BC
Brant	Zwicker	At the Crossroads, syndicated	Kamloops	BC
Brent	Morrison	Rockin’ Blues, CJSF	Vancouver	BC
Grant	Payne	CHLY	Nanaimo	BC
Paul	Norton	One O’Clock Jump, CFRO \| Code Blue, CiTR	Vancouver	BC
Rod	Dranfield	White Rock Blues Society	Surrey	BC
Ron	Simmonds	CFRO	Vancouver	BC
Vince	Almond	CFBX	Kamloops	BC
Yanick	Theriault	Plus 90.7 FM (cfbo rebrand )	New Brunswick	NB
Gene	Bellows	Voice of Bonne Bay	Norris Point	NFLD
Terry	Parsons	Blind Lemon Radio, CHMR	St. John’s	NFLD
Bruce	Morel	Music Marketing International Inc.	Dartmouth	NS
Cathy	Prothro	East Coast Blues Society	Dartmouth	NS
Sandy	MacDonald	Freelance Music Writer	Halifax	NS
Andrew	Galloway	Electro-Fi Records	Toronto	ON
Bruce	Hall	Grand River Blues Society	Kitchener	ON
Paul	Panchezak	Breakfast of Champions, CFMU McMaster Radio	Hamilton, ON	ON
Claude	Cloutier	Kitchener Blues Festival	Kitchener	ON
Deborah	Cartmer	CFBU	St. Catharines	ON
Eric	Thom	Freelance Music Writer	Toronto	ON
Jan	MacDonald	Downtown Kingston Limestone City Blues Festival	Kingston,	ON
John	Emms	Freelance Music Writer	Timmins	ON
Julie	Hill	Calling All Blues, CIUT FM	Toronto	ON
Ken	Wallis	Blues Source Canada, The Hawk	Hamilton	ON
Lee	Evans	Blueswater Blues Show, 91.3 FM	Hanover	ON
Liz	Sykes	Ottawa Blues Society	Ottawa	ON
Lori	Murray	Music By The Bay Live	Uxbridge	ON
Nick	Harding	Photographer	Wasaga Beach	ON
Rick	Clarke	Bruce County Blues Society/Lighthouse Blues Festival	Kincardine	ON
Stevie	Connor	The Sound Cafe Magazine \| Blues & Roots Radio	Mississauga	ON
Alexandre	Petit	Viree Blues	Hull	QC
Daisy	Hanna	Montreal Blues Society	Montreal	QC
Dave	Brennan	Ottawa Blues Society	Gatineau	QC
David	McCabe	Montreal Blues Society	St-Urbain Premier	QC
David	Bush	Royal Blues with Dr. Dave, K103.7	Kahnawake	QC
Debra	Thornington	Ottawa Blues Society \| DAWG’ON BLUES, DAWG	Gatineau	QC
Greg	Torrington	The Blues, Stingray Music	Montreal	QC
John	Detcheverry	Cha Cha Cha In Blue, CKUT	Montreal	QC
Louis	Brunet	CKMN-FM 96,5	Rimouski	QC
Yannick	Lambert	Donnacona Blues Festival	Donnacona	QC
Al	Wood	Saskatoon Blues Society	Saskatoon	SK
Gord	MacAulay	Canadian Blues Alliance	Saskatoon	SK

*The panel is led by a steering committee consisting of Cindy McLeod, Brant Zwicker, Yanick Theriault and Terry Parsons.