[mplpost] The "Best" Canadian Blues artists: Maple Blues Award winners

[Richard Flohil]

SUE FOLEY SCORES MAJOR WINS AT
MAPLE BLUES AWARDS FOR SECOND YEAR
IN A ROW; TORONTO'S PAUL REDDICK + THE
SIDEMEN ALSO HONOURED WITH THREE AWARDS

Canada's blues community honoured its own at the fifth annual Maple 
Blues Awards, held in Toronto last night (Tuesday January 29). 
	One of the two major winners was Ottawa-based singer, 
guitarist and songwriter Sue Foley - who repeated her triumph of last 
year by winning, for the second year in a row, honours as Entertainer 
of the Year, Female Vocalist of the Year, and Guitarist of the Year.
	If the evening was a triumph for Foley, it was no less so for 
Paul Reddick and his Toronto-based band The Sidemen. Nominated for no 
less than nine awards, Reddick's 2001 album on the NorthernBlues 
label, "Rattlebag", was named Recording of the Year, and he was also 
chosen SOCAN Songwriter of the Year for the original material on the 
release. Finally, the group was chosen Electric Act of the Year.  The 
producer of "Rattlebag", Colin Linden, also won the nod as Producer 
of the Year - he won the title the previous year for his work on Sue 
Foley's album from the year 2000, titled "Love Comin' Down".
	It was another happy evening for Sue Foley, who honed her 
craft during an extended stay in Austin, Texas, where she worked with 
a wide variety of musicians before she headed back to Canada three 
years ago.
	And for Paul Reddick, who has a day job as a dog walker, the 
event was a vindication of ten years' work leading The Sidemen.  The 
band has recorded three previous CDs, but "Rattlebag" (named after a 
collection of poetry edited by Ted Hughes) has been a breakthrough 
that has also led to a nomination for Best New Artist Debut of the 
Year at the W.C. Handy Awards held in Memphis in May.

The gala event, held at the Phoenix Concert Theatre (Toronto), is 
organized by the Toronto Blues Society; winners are chosen by votes 
from its 600-odd members, in conjunction with members of the 
Montreal, Ottawa, and Thunder Bay Blues Societies, the Coastal Jazz 
and Blues Society in B.C., the CBC Radio show Saturday Night Blues, 
and the Harvest Jazz and Blues Festival in New Brunswick.
	Other major winners included Montreal's Michael Jerome 
Browne, picked as Acoustic Act of the Year, and John Mays, veteran 
singer with Toronto's hard-working band Fathead, was chosen Male 
Vocalist of the Year.
	Instrumental winners included Pat Carey, tenor sax player 
with the Downchild Blues Band, bassist Stephen Barry (who leads the 
Montreal-based Stephen Barry Band), harmonica player Tortoise Blue 
from the Big Daddy G Band, hardworking session drummer Tom Bona, and 
pianist Richard Bell, a former member of The Band and one-time 
accompanist for Janis Joplin.
	New artist of the year honours went to a strong new Montreal 
band, Big Mark & The Blues Express, who won the Toronto Blues Society 
New Talent Showcase award last year.  Leader Mark Legault  also wins 
a $1,000 bursary, presented by Galaxie, the CBC's Continuous Music 
Network.
	International Artist of the Year was Duke Robillard, founder 
of the American band Roomful of Blues, and now signed worldwide to 
the Canadian label Stony Plain, for which he has also produced and 
played on recordings by a wide variety of American and Canadian 
artists.

SPECIAL HONOURS
Two additional special awards - one voted for by Toronto Blues 
Society members, the other by its directors - were also presented. 
The TBS members gave its prestigious Blues With a Feeling Award to 
the internationally respected guitarist Jeff Healey, who currently 
runs his own club in Toronto, and now leads a jazz group specializing 
in the music from the '20s,'30s and early '40s.
	The Blues Booster of the Year award went to Fred Litwin, a 
former computer industry executive who retired to start his own 
Canadian label, NorthernBlues. In a little over a year, the label has 
become established not only in this country, but in the U.S., Europe, 
and Australia as well as other foreign territories.

				-30-


Maple Blues Award winners are as follows, in the order of presentation:
Electric Act of the Year: Paul Reddick + The Sidemen
Acoustic Act of the Year: Michael Jerome Browne
Male Vocalist of the Year: John Mays
Female Vocalist of the Year: Sue Foley
New Artist of the Year: Big Mark and the Blues Express
International Artist of the Year: Duke Robillard
Guitarist of the Year: Sue Foley
Harmonica Player of the Year: Tortoise Blue
Piano/Keyboard Player of the Year: Richard Bell
Horn Player of the Year: Pat Carey
Drummer of the Year: Tom Bona
Bassist of the Year: Stephen Barry
SOCAN Songwriter of the Year: Paul Reddick
Recording of the Year: "Rattlebag" (Paul Reddick + The Sidemen)
Producer of the Year: Colin Linden
Entertainer of the Year: Sue Foley
Blues Booster of the Year: Fred Litwin
Blues With a Feeling Award: Jeff Healey




-- 
-
To unsubscribe: mail majordomo@icomm.ca with
"unsubscribe maplepost" in the body (not the subject line)
Need help? mail owner-maplepost@icomm.ca