Living Blues is a bi-monthly magazine focused on blues music, and America’s oldest blues periodical. The magazine stresses the position of blues as a living African American tradition. The annual Living Blues Awards have been presented since 1993 in multiple categories.
The 2015 – 22nd Annual Living Blues Awards Critics Poll Winners are:
– Blues Artist of the Year (Male): B.B. King
– Blues Artist of the Year (Female): Diunna Greenleaf
– Best Live Performer: Bobby Rush
– Most Outstanding Blues Singer: Buddy Patterson
– Most Outstanding Musician (Harmonica): James Cotton
– Most Outstanding Musician (Guitar): Joe Louis Walker
– Most Outstanding Musician (Bass): Bob Stroger
– DVD of The Year: Various Artists Legendary Country Blues Guitarists (Vestapol)
– Blues Book of the Year: Steve Cushing Pioneers of The Blues Revival (University of Illinois Press)
– Most Outstanding Musician (Keyboard): Kenny “Blues Boss” Wayne
– Most Outstanding Musician (Horns): Grady Gaines
– Most Outstanding Musician (Drums): Kenny Smith
– Most Outstanding Musician (Other): Jerron Paxton – Banjo/Fiddle
– Artist Deserving More Attention: Vaneese Thomas
– Comeback Artist of the Year: Shuggie Otis
Best Blues Albums of 2014:
– Album of the Year: Billy Boy Arnold The Blues Soul of Billy Boy Arnold (Stony Plain Records)
– New Recordings/Contemporary Blues: Gary Clark Jr. Live (Warner Bros.)
– New Recordings/Southern Soul: Candi Staton Life Happens (Beracah Records)
– New Recordings/Best Debut: Selwyn Birchwood Don’t Call No Ambulance (Alligator Records)
– Historical – Pre-War: Various Artists Peabody Blues (Nehi Records)
– Historical – Post-War: Various Artists Classic African American Songsters (Smithsonian/Folkways)
– New Recording/ Trad. Acoustic: Jerron Paxton Recorded Music For Your Entertainment (Beaumont Records)
Here are the 2015 Living Blues Awards Readers Poll:
– Blues Artist of The Year (Male), Most Outstanding Musician (Guitar), Most Outstanding Blues Singer: Buddy Guy
– Blues Artist of the Year (Female): Shemekia Copeland
– Best Live Performer: Tab Benoit
– Most Outstanding Musician (Harmonica): Charlie Musselwhite
– Most Outstanding Musician (Keyboard): Marcia Ball
– Best Blues Album of 2014 (New Release): Elvin Bishop Can’t Even Do Wrong Right (Alligator Records)
– Best Blues Album of 2014 (Historical Recording): Johnny Winter True To The Blues: The Johnny Winter Story (Columbia/Legacy)
– Best Blues Book of 2014: Blues All Day Long: The Jimmy Rogers Story by Wayne Everett Goins (University of Illinois Press)
– Best Blues DVD of 2014: Various Artists A Celebration of Blues and Soul: The 1989 Presidential Inaugural Concert (Shout! Factory)
