The 22nd Annual W.C. Handy Blues Awards have come and gone, after much fanfare, and local artists have to be popping a few shirt-buttons with pride over the returns: this was one of the best years New Orleans blues and soul artists have ever had at the awards.
The awards, presented by the Blues Foundation every May and regarded as the blues industry’s top honor, have traditionally gone to the same places the blues have traditionally flowed: Austin, Chicago, the Delta. But one amazing renaissance, coupled with a few continuing monopolies, has produced a bumper crop of awards for South Louisiana’s finest.
This column pats itself on the back ever so slightly for having correctly picked a number of the winners, but there were surprises, most of them pleasant. For example: While Soul Queen in excelsis Irma Thomas was shut out for the Soul-Blues Artist-Female Category by Etta James, she more than made up for it with her win for Soul-Blues Album. The outstanding My Heart’s In Memphis: The Songs Of Dan Penn scored Irma her first-ever award in this category, even if it did mean that Mighty Sam McClain’s amazing Blues From The Soul went completely uncelebrated. Not at all surprising but certainly welcome was Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown’s TENTH award for Instrumentalist-Other (time to rename it the Gates Award, or at least give Brown some sort of lifetime achievement award, people!) and Keb’ Mo’s THIRD straight year as the Acoustic Artist Of The Year.
However, all was not as it should be. Keb’ lost his bid for a similar hat trick in the Contemporary Album category—albeit to one of the year’s greatest achievements, Eddy Clearwater’s soon-to-be-classic Reservation Blues CD. But what really hurt most was the Foundation’s complete shut-out of Corey Harris and Henry Butler’s genre-defining Vu-Du-Menz album, although losing Acoustic Blues Album to Robert Jr. Lockwood’s wonderful Delta Crossroads and losing Blues Album Of The Year to Shemekia Copeland’s Wicked is nothing to be ashamed of. But they lost individually as well: Harris’ Acoustic Blues Artist Award went to Keb’ Mo’, of course, while Pinetop Perkins snatched up Butler’s Instrumental-Keyboards nomination and ran it in. Again, no shame to lose to these giants, who are still doing some of their best work. But it would have been nice to see Vu-Du-Menz garner some Handy gold.
Likewise, R.L. Burnside got no accolades for his genre-EXPANDING near-masterpiece, Wish I Was In Heaven Sitting Down. James Cotton picked up the Traditional Blues Artist Award, instead, and B. B. King scored the Contemporary Blues Album award (and, it should be noted, Entertainer Of The Year). The King awards were the one sop the Handys made towards the mainstream; B.B. is an ambassador of the blues, and his guitar playing is without peer, but this year’s duet with Eric Clapton, Riding With The King, is far from his best work.
Last year, I thought Shemekia Copeland was, frankly, robbed of a Handy—in some category, somewhere, for her truly incendiary debut Turn The Heat Up. Just one year later, she got her due: her follow-up, Wicked, brought home Contemporary Blues Artist-Female and Song Of the Year Awards. Although the Song Of The Year award goes to the songwriter, both awards finally announce Johnny Copeland’s daughter as an unstoppable young force in the blues world. Likewise the North Mississippi Allstars, who grabbed a trophy for Best New Artist, although I still maintain that fellow nominee Sean Costello is the one to watch. But then, I’m the fool that thought Vu-Du-Menz would clean up. No one said playing the blues (or writing about it ) would be easy.
Next year’s Handys may very well feature Mem Shannon’s Memphis In The Morning CD, an all-new and mostly-original CD that finds Mem in the City Of Soul, and doing just fine, thank you. With the able assistance of the Memphis Horns, Shannon finds a perfect blend of his cab-driver blues and Memphis’ bubbling rivers of soul healing. He’s touring behind the CD, too; stay tuned to Mem’s website at www.memshannon.com for the latest. Yet another interesting collaboration to keep an eye out for is Hats Off, a tribute to English folk-blues legend Roy Harper. Billed as “a mix of Roy Harper’s solo work and all-star collaborations,” it features the cream of the ’70s rock ‘n’ roll elite, including Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones, the Faces’ Ronnie Lane, and Ten Years After’s Alvin Lee.
This month’s big concert news is, of course, Essence Fest—the celebration of African-American culture that’s already turned into THE soul/R&B event of the year. Essence gears itself towards the upscale and the Urban Contemporary, as the programmers say, and so some of you hardcore blues freaks may not find much to grab onto here. There are little surprises around every corner, such as Marva Wright’s gig at the Dome on the 5th, and, that same day, legendary soulman Solomon Burke, Galactic frontman Theryl “The Houseman” De Clouet showing off his new blues set, and the fabulous Tower Of Power horns. (No, not all together. Your heart can only stand so much.) The 6th also brings Clarence Carter to Essence, as well as the Dells and Irma Thomas’ triumphant post-Handy return. (Irma puts on a great show when she’s sick; imagine how she’ll raise that curved roof with a Handy award in her purse.) There are a couple of pre- and post-Essence goodies, as well: Percy Sledge ripping your heart out at the Boomtown Casino on the 4th, and Mem Shannon bookending the whole shebang at the Maple Leaf come the 27th. This is a rare chance to see Mem in a really intimate setting—take it, because I have a feeling he won’t be able to play these type of venues much longer. Make sure and tell everyone you knew him back when.
Ever feel like your love for the blues is a passion no one else around you shares? Then log on, junior, and head straight to http://www.bluessociety.net, this column’s pick for Blues Web Site Of The Month. Claiming itself to be “an online Blues society,” it gathers blues lovers together from all corners of the world. Not just by providing thousands of blues links (to high-quality sites, at that), but also a Yahoo! Club, domain hosting, a webring with banners, a live365.com streaming radio station, and webmaster tips so that you can create your own blues site! Don’t know what all this means? Don’t worry; it’s very user-friendly. Hell, just plain friendly in general.
