Tommy Castro Leads BMI Wins at 2010 Blues Music Awards
Tommy Castro enjoyed a big night at the 31st Blues Music Awards ceremony, held May 6 at the Cook Convention Center in Memphis. Castro walked away with wins in every category in which he was nominated: Contemporary Blues Album for Hard Believer, Contemporary Blues Male Artist, Band of the Year with the Tommy Castro Band, and the coveted B. B. King Entertainer of the Year crown.
Other BMI greats also collected trophies. Joe Louis Walker garnered Album of the Year for his Between a Rock and the Blues release, while Debbie Davies earned the Koko Taylor Award, formerly called the Traditional Blues Female Artist of the Year award. Song of the Year went to Mike Zito’s “Pearl River,” written by Zito and Cyril Neville, while Monkey Junk’s acclaimed Tiger in Your Tank earned Best New Artist Debut honors.
Perennial favorite Ruthie Foster was tapped as Contemporary Blues Female Artist of the Year, while Derek Trucks took home two honors: Guitarist of the Year and Rock Blues Album of the Year for the Derek Trucks Band’s Already Free.
The legendary Buddy Guy was also celebrated, as the Blues Foundation presented the icon the Lifetime Achievement Award.
Presented by the Blues Foundation, the annual Blues Music Awards are co-sponsored BMI and The Gibson Foundation, as well as ArtsMemphis, band Village, Casey Family Programs, Eagle Rock Entertainment, FedEx, Legendary Rhythm & Blues Cruise, Memphis Convention and Visitors Bureau, the Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, I55 Productions, and the Tennessee Arts Commission.
For a complete list of 2010 Blues Music Awards winners, please visit blues.org.
2010 BMI Blues Music Award Winners
Album
Between a Rock and the Blues
Joe Louis Walker
B. B. King Entertainer
Tommy Castro
Band
Tommy Castro Band
Best New Artist Debut
Tiger in Your Tank
Monkey Junk
Contemporary Blues Album
Hard Believer
Tommy Castro
Contemporary Blues Female Artist
Ruthie Foster
Contemporary Blues Male Artist
Tommy Castro
DVD
It Ain’t Over! Delmark Celebrates 55 Years of Blues, Live at Buddy Guy’s
Legends
Delmark Records
Historical
Muddy Waters
Authorized Bootleg
Chess
Instrumentalists
Bass
Bob Stroger
Guitar
Derek Trucks
Harmonica
Jason Ricci
Horn
Deanna Bogart
Other
Buckwheat Zydeco (accordion)
Rock Blues Album
Already Free
Derek Trucks Band
Song
“Pearl River,” written by Cyril Neville & Mike Zito
Pearl River
Mike Zito
Soul Blues Album
Ace of Spades
Johnny Rawls
Soul Blues Female Artist
Irma Thomas
Traditional Blues Album
Chikadelic
Super Chikan
Traditional Blues Female Artist, now the Koko Taylor Award
Debbie Davies
Traditional Blues Male Artist
Duke Robillard
Community
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