Congratulations to Josephine Matyas & Craig Jones: Their book Chasing the Blues: A Traveler’s Guide to America’s Music won Bronze in the 2022 Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Competition from the Society of American Travel Writers! Named for acclaimed travel journalist, Lowell Thomas, the prestigious award “honours works in more than two dozen categories, including print, digital, audio, video and photography.”

Grand River Anniversary Show: The Grand River Blues Society is holding their Annual General Meeting & 19th Anniversary Show at Stonewalls Restaurant in Hamilton on Sunday, October 16th. The AGM is at 1 pm and will be followed by The Anniversary Show featuring Spencer MacKenzie (3-5pm) which is open to the public. Tickets are $10 in advance and can be purchased at Picks and Sticks Hamilton or on-line at Eventbrite

Musicians Take Note: Submissions for the 2023 JUNO Awards are NOW OPEN and will close on Friday, October 28, 2022, at 11:59pm ET*. For more information visit junosubmissions.ca

Good for Gibson: Gibson Gives–the purpose-driven charitable arm of the iconic American instrument brand Gibson—launched TEMPO-Training and Empowering Musicians to Prevent Overdose. The TEMPO program works with non-profits to provide both life-saving training for using the drug Naloxone (Kloxxado® Narcan), which is used to prevent opioid overdoses, and offer a support network for recovery from opioid addiction. Through TEMPO, Gibson Gives is training musicians, crew members, music industry professionals, and non-profits on how to properly administer Kloxxado® giving them the ability to reverse opioid overdoses and save lives.

 “We are beyond grateful to Hikma for their recent donation of Kloxxado® to TEMPO,” says Erica Krusen, Senior Director of Cultural Influence at Gibson Brands. “Opiate overdoses persist as a major public health problem, contributing to over 100,000 U.S. deaths just last year. These deaths are preventable through the timely administration of Naloxone–a safe, effective, and easy to administer medication that reverses opioid overdoses and helps save lives.”

Blues Blast Award Winners

 Contemporary Blues Album

Christone “Kingfish” Ingram – 662

Traditional Blues Album

Sue Foley – Pinky’s Blues

Soul Blues Album

Sugaray Rayford – In Too Deep

Rock Blues Album

Eric Gales – Crown

Acoustic Blues Album

Catfish Keith – Land of the Sky

Live Blues Album

The James Harman Band – Sparks Flying Live In 1992

Historical Or Vintage Recording

Bob Corritore & Friends – Down Home Blues Revue

New Artist Debut Album

Memphissippi Sounds – Welcome To The Land

Blues Band

Tommy Castro & The Painkillers

Male Blues Artist

Christone “Kingfish” Ingram

Female Blues Artist

Beth Hart

Sean Costello Rising Star Award

Memphissippi Sounds

Producer

Mike Zito

Electric Guitar

Christone “Kingfish” Ingram

Acoustic Guitar

Catfish Keith

Slide Guitar

Derek Trucks

Bass Guitar

Danielle Nicole

Keyboards

Victor Wainwright

Drums

Cedric Burnside

Harmonica

Jason Ricci

Horn

Vanessa Collier

Vocals

Beth Hart