About Maple Blues Awards

 

25th Annual Maple Blues Awards

Monday June 20th, 2022   7pm

Koerner Hall
273 Bloor St W, Toronto
Tickets start at $35

BUY TICKETS HERE 

 

Koerner Hall Hosts 25th Annual Edition with Sue Foley, Crystal Shawanda, Kat Danser, Colin Linden, and Bobby Dean Blackburn Toronto Blues Society is announcing a stellar line-up of blues artists from across Canada as the 25th Maple Blues Awards return to Koerner Hall in Toronto  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 Anderson on 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.

 

FEATURE PERFORMERS

 

 

 

ANGELIQUE FRANCIS – Host & Performer

Born and raised in Ottawa Canada, Angelique is a naturally gifted musician, who first garnered attention as a young prodigy. She first took to the stage at age 7 and at 13 years old she made her American national television debut on the Oprah Network, for writing and composing an original theme song for the Gayle King show. By age 13 she was proficient in playing other instruments such as the acoustic guitar, upright Bass, electric guitar and electric bass. By age 14 she was playing at music festivals across North America opening for a variety of acts such as Beth Hart, Trooper and Shameka Copeland.  Angelique is a versatile and exceptionally gifted musician. This multi-talented, multi-instrumentalist, multi-genre singer song writer and composer has wowed audiences across the globe with her electrifying performances, instrumental abilities and powerful textured vocals.

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BOBBY DEAN BLACKBURN

His musical legacy, which runs from the birth of rock ’n’ roll and rhythm & blues in Toronto through to his sons’ Juno-nominated blues band, is as long as Yonge Street itself.

Bobby Dean’s ancestral story goes even deeper: his great-grandfather was a U.S. slave who found freedom in Canada on the Underground Railroad. For over half a century, he has paid tribute to that heritage with annual performances at Owen Sound’s Emancipation Festival.

 

 

 

 

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COLIN LINDEN

Colin has been delivering his own blues-oriented rock since the early ’70s. He plays into heavy gospel and folk as well, making Linden’s work most recognizable across Canada. He has released a slew of records throughout the ’80s and ’90s, most notably winning a Juno Award for South at Eight-North at Nine  in 1994. He made quite an impression on the American home front with his 1997 release Through the Storm, Through the Night, but Linden continued making music into the new millennium and issued Raised By the Wolves in February 2000 and his latest release bLow. He is a member of Blackie and the Rodeo Kings with Stephen Fearing and Tom Wilson. He has worked with Bruce Cockburn, Lucinda Williams, T-Bone Burnett, Kevin Gordon, Colin James, Emmylou Harris, Leon Redbone, Rita Chiarelli, Chris Thomas King, The Band, Keb’ Mo’, Charles Esten and Bob Dylan

 

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CRYSTAL SHAWANDA

There’s a tendency these days to try to pigeonhole any artist that attempts to breach the boundaries. Chalk it up to the restrictions of radio playlists or the media’s attempt to strictly define musicians by the music it believes artists ought to be making, creative instincts be damned.

Nevertheless Crystal Shawanda opted to defy those demands and chart her own path forward. Initially signed to RCA in 2007, she hit her stride as a country singer and songwriter when she scored a top 20 hit with her song “You Can Let Go” and subsequently tallied sales of over 50,000 copies of her debut album Dawn of a New Day and subsequently debuted in the Billboard Top 20. Nevertheless, she began to realize that the blues had captured her muse, and with that, she left the label, shifted her stance and began recording albums that reflected her love of blues and her natural affinity for that sound.

As she once told an interviewer, “The whole time I was singing Patsy Cline on stage, I was singing Etta James at home.”

 

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KAT DANSER

SUE FOLEY

Sue Foley began playing guitar at 13, learning from family members and later from blues musician Tony D (Diteodoro). Through her interest in the music of The Rolling Stones, she became aware of traditional blues. At 16 Foley began playing acoustic blues in bars. After graduation in 1986 from Ottawa’s Fisher Park High School, she relocated to Vancouver, where she played in an all-female band (The Dots) and then formed The Sue Foley Band, with which she toured Canada. She then toured with harmonica player Mark Hummel, and in 1990 signed with Clifford Antone. Relocating to Austin, Texas, for the next six years, she performed in Antone’s club but also on the road across North America as well as in Europe and Japan. During this time she absorbed Texas and other blues styles and developed her playing and singing, performing with or opening for such figures as John Lee Hooker, Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown, Joe Cocker, Tom Petty, the Neville Brothers, Jennifer Warnes and Johnny Winter.

Known as a fiery guitar player and seasoned blueswoman, Sue Foley plays blues-rock on a pink paisley Fender Telecaster guitar. Her playing and songwriting are influenced by Billie Holiday, the guitarist Memphis Minnie and T-Bone Walker.

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COVID protocols are strictly in place, with proof of vaccination and valid ID required, with mandatory masks everywhere in the building, including during concerts.

Detailed information will be provided to ticket purchasers prior to the concert dates. Please visit rcmusic.com/performance/covid-19-update for the most up to date information.

Voting for the MAPLE BLUES AWARDS is Now Closed

To see the full list of nominees Click here

www.mapleblues.ca

 

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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. Winners in all categories (excluding the instrumental categories*) are decided by blues fans across Canada. Voting occurs online each November.

Nominating Panel & Steering Committee.  The nominees are selected by a distinguished panel of some 53 blues experts who form the MBA Nominating Panel. Co-chaired by the steering committee consisting of Cindy McLeod, Terry Parsons, Yanick Theriault, 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.

The Maple Blues Award winners will be announced on January 31, 2022 at the LIVE Maple Blues Award Show to be held at Koerner Hall in Toronto. Tickets are on sale now at https://www.rcmusic.com/events-and-performances .

*Instrumental Categories.  Winners in the guitar, harmonica, piano/keyboards, horn, drum, and bass categories are not open for public vote. Instrumental or “craft” categories are determined by a panel of experts drawn from the nominating panel.

The Maple Blues Awards program is proudly organized by the Toronto Blues Society. 

MAPLE BLUES AWARDS CHANGES

Toronto Blues Society has received valuable input from the members of the Canadian blues community regarding the Maple Blues Awards procedures and voting process – and have developed policies and protocol to ensure the Maple Blues Award system is responsive and evolving. Please note the following rules:

• Songwriter Of The Year Category: Changes to this category have been made to ensure that the nominated artist(s) has contributed 50% or more towards the song writing on the recent album to be eligible in this category.
• Social Media Advertising Banned: While getting nominated for a Maple Blues Award is a wonderful achievement and excitement, not all of the nominees are regular users of social media or some may not have the budgets to execute a successful advertising campaign to solicit votes. In the pursuit of fairness for all of the nominees and transparency,

• PAID social media advertising by the MBA nominees is BANNED during the public voting period.  Anyone who breaches this rule will be disqualified!

• Regular “thank-you” posts by the nominees as well as reminders to fans for the voting deadline on social media are all still good and will also help us promote the Maple Blues Awards more! Our aim is to prevent manipulation on public voting through sponsored posts (specifically asking for votes) which may cause an inequity as we realize not all the artists may have the same budget.

 

MAPLE BLUES AWARDS APPLICATION PROCESS

There is no application process for the Maple Blues Awards. Nominations are drawn from the expertise of the MBA Nominating Panel. Members of the nominating panel are required to be familiar with Canadian blues artist activity and CD releases. Artists are encouraged to service new releases to all blues radio DJs, journalists and industry professionals across Canada to increase their national profile. The list of the Panel members can be found on our website (bottom of this page) with a link to their organizations.

Recording/Producer Of The Year. Nominated recordings in this category must be released during the eligibility period: September 1, 2020 to September 30, 2021.

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 over the previous year. 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.

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MAPLES BLUES AWARDS NOMINATING PANEL

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

Click here to download the communication sheet for the Panel.

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.