TORONTO (CelebrityAccess) The Maple Blues Awards, Canada’s national Blues awards program, have announced that the winners of the 22nd edition of the event will be announced at the Annual Maple Blues Awards Gala in Toronto Feb. 4 at TELUS Centre for the Performing Arts Koemer Hall at the Royal Conservatory of Music.
Many of the evening’s nominees will be performing backed by the all-star Maple Blues Band and hosted by bluesman and actor Raoul Bhaneja from Raoul & The Big Time. The event will feature performances by Steve Mariner, Harry Manx, Sue Foley, and Jenie Thai, among others. The after party will feature Guy Belanger.
Nominees for the Maple Blues Awards are selected by a panel of approximately 45 blues experts, according to the announcement.
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.
Winners in instrumental categories — guitar, harmonica, piano/keyboards, horn, drum, and bass — will be determined by the Nominating Panel. Winners in all other categories will be selected by blues fans across the country.
Nominees:
ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR
- Miles to Go (True North)
- ARTIST: Colin James
- PRODUCERS: Colin James & Dave Meszaros
- Checkmate (Blue Star)
- ARTIST: Jack de Keyzer
- PRODUCER: Jack de Keyzer
- Run to Me (Gypsy Soul)
- ARTIST: Samantha Martin & Delta Sugar
- PRODUCER: Darcy Yates
- The Ice Queen (Stoney Plain)
- ARTIST: Sue Foley
- PRODUCER: Mike Flanigan
- It’s A Blues World (Self)
- ARTIST: Sugar Brown
- PRODUCERS: Sugar Brown
(Lifetime Achievement Award)
More information is available here.
