CANADIANS TO BE HONOURED AT BLUES FOUNDATION EVENT IN MEMPHIS

Media information / For immediate release

Canadians are doing their part to keep the blues alive.

The Blues Foundation, the international music organization based in Memphis, will honour a Canadian broadcaster, a major blues festival based in Edmonton, and a Canadian blues record label with "Keeping the Blues Alive" Awards at ceremonies to be held February 2, 2008.

Holger Petersen, who has hosted "Saturday Night Blues" on the CBC Radio network for 21 years, will receive the Keeping the Blues Alive Award for public radio. In addition to his weekly show, Petersen programmes the BluesTime channel for Galaxie, the CBC's continual music cable and satellite service.

Petersen, based in Edmonton, founded the Stony Plain record label 31 years ago and also continues to host "Natch'l Blues", a weekly programme on Alberta's CKUA network; he began the show 34 years ago.

NorthernBlues, a Toronto-based label and a friendly rival to Petersen's Stony Plain, will be honoured with the Keeping the Blues Alive award for record company. NorthernBlues has a strong roster of Canadian and US artists, including Mem Shannon, Janiva Magness, Watermelon Slim, the J-W Jones Blues Band and Paul Reddick. Founder Fred Litwin began the label in 2000.

The third Canadian organization to earn a Keeping the Blues Alive Award is Edmonton's Labatt Blues Festival. The long-running event routinely sells out; the festival typically never repeats the same artists from year to year. The festival's co-producers are Cam Hayden and Carrol Deen.

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For further information, contact:

Richard Flohil
(416) 351-1323
rflohil@sympatico.ca
www.richardflohil.com

Websites

www.blues.org
www.stonyplainrecords.com
www.northernblues.com
www.bluesinternationalltd.com

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