Tahoe Onstage/Tim Parsons) – The 2017 Blues Music Awards should be sweet as Sugar Ray Norcia, and no matter what happens, Toronzo Cannon won’t quit his day job.
Sugar Ray and the Bluetones have entertained music lovers for more than 40 years, but somehow a Blues Music Award has not been included in the bandleader’s illustrious career. That just might change on May 11, when the hardware is awarded at the Cook Convention Center in Memphis. Norcia and his bandmates received 10 BMA nominations, the Blues Foundation [just recently] announced.
Cannon, who previously had just one BMA nomination, received four this year — Album, Contemporary Blues Album, Song and Contemporary Blues Male Artist Of The Year.
A bus driver for the city of Chicago, Cannon works four 10-hour shifts driving the No. 20 Madison route through several tax brackets from downtown to the west side of Chicago. He said his daily observations inspire songwriting.
Although Cannon’s debut on Alligator Records, “The Chicago Way,” could garner multiple BMAs, he has no plans to stop driving the bus.
“I need health benefits,” he told the online music magazine Tahoe Onstage last year. “I don’t want my daughter to suffer just because Daddy is trying to be a blues star. I’m not going to be a starving artist.”
Soul singer Bobby Rush, 83, also received multiple nominations: Soul Blues Male Artist, Album and Soul Blues Album for “Porcupine Meat” and Historic Album, “Chicken Heads: A 50-Year History of Bobby Rush.”
Kenny Neal, of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, was nominated for Contemporary Blues Male Artist and also is in the running for Contemporary Blues Album and Album for “Bloodline.”
R&B singer Curtis Salgado, of Portland, Oregon, is up for Soul Blues Male Artist, Soul Blues Album (“The Beautiful Lowdown”) and Song (“Walk a Mile in My Blues”).
Hill country bluesman Luther Dickinson was nominated for Acoustic Album and Acoustic Artist for “Blues and Ballads (A Folksinger’s Songbook) Vol I and II,” a collection of stripped down arrangements of his greatest and most influential songs of his career.
Sugar Ray and the Bluetones, which has backed up Ronnie Earl and legends such as Big Mama Thornton and Big Walter Horton, are poised to get their just desserts. Here’s the long list of nominations for Sugar Ray and the Bluetones: B.B. King Entertainer, Traditional Blues Male Artist, Band, Song, Album, and Traditional Album for “Seeing is Believing,” and Instrument — Harmonica (Norcia), Guitar (Monster Mike Welch), Bass (Michael “Mudcat” Grant) Pinetop Perkins Piano (Anthony Geraci).
Another veteran harp player who has yet to win a BMA for Instrument, Mark Hummel, was nominated for the honor for what he estimated for the sixth time. His 4-year-old band Golden State Lone Star Blues Revue was nominated for Band and Traditional Blues Album. Sacramento’s R.W. Grigsby, who plays with the band, was nominated for the first time for Instrumentalist-Bass.
Here is the complete list of nominees:
Acoustic Album
Doug MacLeod – Live in Europe
Eric Bibb – The Happiest Man in the World
Fiona Boyes – Professin’ the Blues
Jimmy “Duck” Holmes – Live at Briggs Farm
John Long – Stand Your Ground
Luther Dickinson – Blues and Ballads (A Folksinger’s Songbook) Vol I and II
Acoustic Artist
Doug MacLeod, Eric Bibb, Fiona Boyes, Jimmy “Duck” Holmes, Luther Dickinson
Album
Bobby Rush – Porcupine Meat
Kenny Neal – Bloodline
Nick Moss Band – From the Root to the Fruit
Sugar Ray & the Bluetones – Seeing is Believing
Toronzo Cannon – The Chicago Way
William Bell – This Is Where I Live
Band
Golden State Lone Star Blues Revue, Lil’ Ed & The Blues Imperials, Nick Moss Band, Sugar Ray and the Bluetones, Tedeschi Trucks Band
B.B. King Entertainer
Joe Bonamassa, John Nemeth, Lil’ Ed Williams, Sugar Ray Norcia, Sugaray Rayford
Best Emerging Artist Album
Corey Dennison Band – Corey Dennison
Guy King – Truth
Jonn Del Toro Richardson – Tengo Blues
Terrie Odabi – My Blue Soul
Thornetta Davis – Honest Woman
Contemporary Blues Album
Al Basile – Mid Century Modern
Kenny Neal – Bloodline
Nick Moss Band – From the Root to the Fruit
The Record Company – Give It Back To You
Toronzo Cannon – The Chicago Way
Contemporary Blues Female Artist
Alexis P Suter, Ana Popovic, Janiva Magness, Shemekia Copeland, Susan Tedeschi
Contemporary Blues Male Artist
Albert Castiglia, Kenny Neal, Mike Zito, Sugaray Rayford, Toronzo Cannon
Historical Album
Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup, A Music Man Like Nobody Ever Saw, Bear Family Records
B.B. King, More B.B. King: Here’s One You Haven’t Heard, Ace Records
Bobby Rush, Chicken Heads: A 50-Year History of Bobby Rush, Omnivore Recordings
Michael Burks, I’m A Bluesman, Iron Man Records
Pinetop Perkins & Jimmy Rogers, Genuine Blues Legends, Elrob Records
Instrumentalist-Bass
Biscuit Miller, Bob Stroger, Michael “Mudcat” Ward, Patrick Rynn, R W Grigsby
Instrumentalist-Drums
Cedric Burnside, Jimi Bott, June Core, Tom Hambridge, Tony Braunagel
Instrumentalist-Guitar
Bob Margolin, Joe Bonamassa, Kid Andersen, Monster Mike Welch, Ronnie Earl
Instrumentalist-Harmonica
Dennis Gruenling, Jason Ricci, Kim Wilson, Mark Hummel, Sugar Ray Norcia
Instrumentalist-Horn
Al Basile, Nancy Wright, Sax Gordon Beadle, Terry Hanck, Vanessa Collier
Koko Taylor Award (Traditional Blues Female Artist)
Annika Chambers, Diunna Greenleaf, Inetta Visor, Shaun Murphy, Trudy Lynn
Pinetop Perkins Piano Player
Anthony Geraci, Barrelhouse Chuck, Henry Gray, Jim Pugh, Victor Wainwright
Rock Blues Album
Albert Castiglia – Big Dog
Mike Zito – Keep Coming Back
Moreland & Arbuckle – Promised Land or Bust
Tedeschi Trucks Band – Let Me Get By
Walter Trout – Alive in Amsterdam
Song
“Blues Immigrant” (Matthew Skoller, Vincent Bucher) performed by Matthew Skoller on Blues Immigrant
“I Gotta Sang The Blues” (Thornetta Davis) performed by Thornetta Davis on Honest Woman
“Seeing Is Believing” (Ray Norcia) performed by Sugar Ray & The Bluetones on Seeing Is Believing
“Walk A Mile In My Blues” (David Duncan, Curtis Salgado, Mike Finnigan) performed by Curtis Salgado on The Beautiful Lowdown
“Walk it Off” (Toronzo Cannon) performed by Toronzo Cannon on The Chicago Way
Soul Blues Album
Bobby Rush – Porcupine Meat
Curtis Salgado – The Beautiful Lowdown
Johnny Rawls – Tiger in a Cage
Wee Willie Walker – Live! Notodden Blues Festival
William Bell – This Is Where I Live
Soul Blues Female Artist
Bettye Lavette, Lara Price, Mavis Staples, Terrie Odabi, Vaneese Thomas
Soul Blues Male Artist
Bobby Rush, Curtis Salgado, Johnny Rawls, Wee Willie Walker, William Bell
Traditional Blues Album
Big Jon Atkinson & Bob Corritore – House Party at Big Jon’s
Bob Margolin – My Road
Golden State Lone Star Blues Revue – Golden State Lone Star Blues Revue
Lurrie Bell – Can’t Shake This Feeling
Sugar Ray & the Bluetones – Seeing is Believing
Traditional Blues Male Artist
Bob Margolin, John Primer, Lil’ Ed Williams, Lurrie Bell, Sugar Ray Norcia
