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Bobby Rush is one of the most exciting and creative artists in the blues arena. His performances include the Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, and festivals across the US, Europe and Japan and clubs everywhere. Thanks for making us laugh. Check out Bobby Rush in the BFG print magazine on page 63 and also the digital version by clicking here.

Thanks to all of our advertisers and keep checking back for more on our featured advertisers,

Your BFG Staff

Blues Foundation Announces New Program: Generation Blues

The Blues Foundation announces the expansion of its youth education initiative with Generation Blues. This scholarship program will allow qualified applicants under the age of 25 to study their instrument of choice at reputable camps, seminars and workshop programs at Port Townsend Acoustic Blues Festival, Augusta Heritage Center and Fernando Jones' Columbia College Blues Camp.

Camps, seminars and workshops attended by Generation Blues scholarship recipients may take place throughout the year, in the recipients' choice of locations. Participants are awarded the scholarships on a bi-annual basis, and participation is open to anyone under the age of 25 and interested in the blues. Applicants must write a letter of intent and provide letters of recommendation. Video submissions are also accepted. First deadline for submissions is April 2, 2010.

Blues Foundation board member and leader in the Generation Blues initiative Cassie Taylor adds that "this is a wonderful way to ensure the future of the blues by helping young people get the education they need and deserve to help them grow as a blues artist." Taylor started her career in blues music as a teenager when she toured successfully with her father, trance blues artist Otis Taylor.

Generation Blues joins a number of other successful youth initiatives launched by The Blues Foundation, including the popular Blues in the Schools which supports blues educators by providing a classroom curriculum that incorporates elements of history, math, English, music, and other disciplines as they can relate to the entire blues industry of making and promoting blues music. Youths under age 21 may also take advantage of free individual membership of The Blues Foundation.

By offering individuals up to the age of 21 free membership, the Foundation invites even more young blues lovers to get started on a lifetime of participation in the activities of their local blues society and The Blues Foundation. Generation Blues is one of the latest programs announced to further assist blues musicians and those making their careers within the blues music community. Also recently announced was the Foundation's alliance with Sound Healthcare, providing healthcare benefits and access to insurance programs to those in need within the blues community.

Contact:
All MEDIA questions, should be directed to:
Amanda Sweet 202-636-3507 or amanda [at] bucklesweetmedia.com
Details on how to apply for a Generation Blues scholarship are available here, or call 910-527-2583 ext. 12.

Blues Music Awards

The 2010 Blues Music Awards will be Thursday May 6, 2010 at the Cook Convention Center in Memphis, Tennessee.

For the latest on the 30th Blues Music Awards held May 7, 2009, visit our news page.

The presenting sponsor for the 30th Blues Music Awards was once again be The GIBSON Foundation www.gibson.com.

The 30th Blues Music Awards were also sponsored by ArtsMemphis, BMI, Casey Family Programs, Eagle Rock Entertainment, FedEx, I 55 Productions, Legendary Rhythm & Blues Cruise, Memphis Convention and Visitors Bureau, the Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, and the Tennessee Arts Commission.

The 2010 show will follow the format of the critically-acclaimed shows of recent years. More than 65 nominees attend and the night is filled with their appearances and performances in a dinner table setting in the Convention Center's ballroom.

The event brings together Blues performers, industry representatives and fans from all over the world to celebrate the best in Blues recordings and performances from the previous year. Each year, the Foundation present The Blues Music Awards to the artists selected by its members. They are universally recognized as the highest honor given to Blues artists. As always, a pre-party will immediately precede the Awards.

The Blues Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony and Charter Members' Dinner will be held the night before on Wednesday, May 5. Contact The Blues Foundation about becoming a Charter Member in order to attend this star-studded event.

For more information, contact Jay Sieleman at (901) 527-2583 xt 12.

Peter Karp and Sue Foley Collaborate on New CD and Tour

Blind Pig Records has announced the signing of U.S. singer/songwriter Peter Karp and Canadian Juno award winner Sue Foley for a joint recording project

He Said - She Said is an inspired collaboration of original songs adapted from correspondence the two shared through letters written over a two year period. These letters started as a casual exchange between two committed performers sharing their common bond of the loneliness of the road, the pain of separation from family and home and above all, the drive to make music.

But as time went on, the letters they shared became more poignant, more revealing, more intimate; An account of the personal struggles and dramatic changes that were happening in their lives, they chronicle a crucial period of time of growth and struggle for them as artists and on a personal level.

Both artists had no idea and no intention at the time that the letters woul= D become an album. Creatively, the creation of the album was an organic process, as the two songwriters eventually came to recognize that their letters provided the basic material for a series of songs. Blind Pig Records will release the He Said - She Said CD in March.

Karp and Foley have also developed a compelling He Said She Said live performance based on the album.

BFG Featured advertiser on You Tube- Bobby Rush "NOT ONLY CAN IT TALK, IT CAN SING TOO"

Bobby Rush is one of the most exciting and creative artists in the blues arena. His performances include the Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, and festivals across the US, Europe and Japan and clubs everywhere. Thanks for making us laugh. Check out Bobby Rush in the BFG print magazine on page 63 and also the digital version by clicking here. Thanks to all of our advertisers and keep checking back for more on our featured advertisers, Your BFG Staff!

Buddy Guy to Receive Lifetime Achievement Award at 2010 BMA's

On May 6th, 2010 at the 31st annual Blues Music Awards, The Blues Foundation will publicly honor blues legend Buddy Guy with a Lifetime Achievement Award. The Foundation has commissioned for this special occasion a one-of-a-kind award from Patterson & Barnes, who also created the original artwork that serves as the basis for the 2010 poster. There will also be an oral and video presentation, as well as a special musical tribute, all in the legend's honor. Buddy Guy will be at the ceremony to receive this honor.

In speaking about this great honor, The Blues Foundation's Executive Director Jay Sieleman said "Buddy Guy has been a mentor and inspiration to five generations of musicians in multiple genres while he has continued to innovate. He has greatly expanded the blues definition while maintaining the anchor characteristics that first defined the genre, and with this distinction, we are proud to present him with this honor and tribute."

Buddy Guy's strikingly unique guitar style enervated his elder Muddy Waters' Folk Singer album in the early '60s, expanded on the vision of his contemporary Junior Wells on Hoodoo Man Blues in the mid-'60s, and was a beacon to the British Invasion rockers Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck in the late '60s.

Soldiering on through the '70s and '80s, his visibility and stature refocused through the '90s and into the 21st century with a series of recordings that underlined to the commercial pop world that he not only was the inspiration for countless musical icons from Jimi Hendrix psychedelics to John Mayer pop, but was still transforming while many of his disciples were reprising decades-old hits.

He obliterated the perceived chasm between blues and rock, leaving the term "crossover" to awkwardly define the efforts of lesser artists in both camps trying to bridge the racial, generational and stylistic borders of each. And he did it with a sense of dynamics and bravado that are rare in artists of any age, but which have been consistent for him throughout his career. You knew you were experiencing a Buddy Guy lick in the first few lines of any number he did in 1960, and the same can be said today. Buddy has been nominated for 41 Blues Music Awards and has received 28 such Awards.

Past recipients of this prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award include Bobby "Blue" Bland, Ruth Brown, Ray Charles, Ahmet Ertegun, John Lee Hooker, Etta James, B.B. King, Sam Phillips, Koko Taylor and Jerry Wexler.