Buddy Guy wins Album Of The Year at Blues Awards

Buddy Guy has won Album Of The Year and Contemporary Blues Album Of The Year at the 2016 Blues Awards.

The 37th annual ceremony at Memphis’s Cook Convention Center in Tennessee saw Guy top the two categories for his record Born To Play Guitar, while The Cedric Burnside Project’s Descendants of Hill Country was chosen for Traditional Blues Album of the Year and, for the fifth time, Burnside was named top drummer.

Walter Trout, who overcame life-threatening liver failure, scooped the Rock Blues Album prize for his studio effort Battle Scars, while his track Gonna Live Again was named the Song of the Year.

Victor Wainwright & the Wild Roots were selected for the Band of the Year, with Wainwright also receiving the B.B. King Entertainer of the Year title.

Other notable winners included Duke Robillard’s The Acoustic Blues & Roots of Duke Robillard for Acoustic Album of the Year, Mr. Sipp’s The Mississippi Blues Child for Best New Artist Album. Ruthie Foster collected her fourth Koko Taylor Award for Best Traditional Blues Female Artist, while the Bear Family Records’ 5-CD Slim Harpo box set Buzzin’ the Blues picked up the Historical Album of the Year.

The night before the awards ceremony, Elvin Bishop, John Mayall, Eddy Clearwater, Jimmy Johnson and the Memphis Jug Band were inducted into the Blues Hall Of Fame.

Blues Music Awards Winners 2016

Blues Music Awards Winners Acoustic Album: The Acoustic Blues & Roots of Duke Robillard - Duke Robillard
Acoustic Artist: Doug MacLeod
Album: Born to Play Guitar – Buddy Guy
B.B. King Entertainer: Victor Wainwright
Band: Victor Wainwright & the Wild Roots
Best New Artist Album: The Mississippi Blues Child - Mr. Sipp
Contemporary Blues Album: Born to Play Guitar – Buddy Guy
Contemporary Blues Female Artist: Shemekia Copeland
Contemporary Blues Male Artist: Joe Louis Walker
Historical: Buzzin’ the Blues by Slim Harpo (Bear Family Records) Instrumentalist - Bass: Lisa Mann
Instrumentalist - Drums: Cedric Burnside
Instrumentalist - Guitar: Sonny Landreth
Instrumentalist - Harmonica: Kim Wilson
Instrumentalist - Horn: Terry Hanck
Koko Taylor Award: Ruthie Foster
Pinetop Perkins Piano Player: Allen Toussaint
Rock Blues Album: Battle Scars – Walter Trout
Song: Gonna Live Again written and performed by Walter Trout
Soul Blues Album: This Time for Real - Billy Price & Otis Clay
Soul Blues Female Artist: Bettye LaVette
Soul Blues Male Artist: Otis Clay
Traditional Blues Album: Descendants of Hill Country – Cedric Burnside Project
Traditional Blues Male Artist: John Primer

Artists

Former TeamRock news desk member Christina joined our team in late 2015, and although her time working on online rock news was fairly brief, she made a huge impact by contributing close to 1500 stories. Christina also interviewed artists including Deftones frontman Chino Moreno and worked at the Download festival. In late 2016, Christina left rock journalism to pursue a career in current affairs. In 2021, she was named Local Weekly Feature Writer of the Year at the Scottish Press Awards.