STONY PLAIN NOMINATIONS AT BLUES FOUNDATION'S BLUES AWARDS

Media information / For immediate release
December 9, 2009 - Toronto, ON


STONY PLAIN ARTISTS SCORE MAJOR NOMINATIONS FOR 2010 BLUES MUSIC AWARDS. JOE LOUIS WALKER, DUKE ROBILLARD AND RONNIE EARL ALL EARN MULTIPLE NODS


Artists associated with Stony Plain, the Edmonton, Alberta-based roots music record company have been honored with no less than 12 nominations for the 2010 Blues Music Awards, to be held in Memphis May 6.

Guitarist, vocalist, songwriter and bandleader Joe Louis Walker is nominated for five awards — Album of the Year and Contemporary Blues Album (for Between a Rock and the Blues), Contemporary Blues Male Artist, Guitar Instrumentalist, and Song of the Year for “I’m Tide,” one of the tracks on his Stony Plain CD.

Guitarist, producer, songwriter and touring bandleader Duke Robillard — who recently earned his second Grammy for his 16th Stony Plain album, Stomp! The Blues Tonight — earned four Blues Award nominations, again reflecting the success of his new Stony Plain album. The CD is up for Album of the Year, while Duke Robillard’s Jumpin’ Blues Revue is nominated as Band of the Year; the artist also earned nods as Guitar Instrumentalist and Traditional Blues Male Artist.

Ronnie Earl, the Boston-area guitarist earned two nominations — as for Contemporary Blues Album for his Stony Plain CD Living in the Light, and for Guitar Instrumentalist.

A fourth Stony Plain artist, singer Maria Muldaur, was nominated for Acoustic Album of the Year, for Good Time Music for Hard Times, a spirited album recreating the jug band era of the Great Depression.

Stony Plain Records, now in its 33rd year, had released some 350 albums over the years, and most of its releases are distributed around the world. And while blues music has been the mainstay of the company, its also issues releases by a variety of artists in other roots music genres, including the Canadian western music icon Ian Tyson.

Stony Plain’s president, Holger Petersen, is also known in Canada for his work as a host of Saturday Night Blues on CBC, the national radio network; the show is in its 23rd season. Petersen also hosts a show called The Natch’l Blues on CKUA, the provincial radio network in Alberta; the weekly show has been running there for 40 years.

Petersen is a regular attendee at the Blues Awards, sponsored by the Blues Foundation and held each year in Memphis in May.

Voting for the 2010 Awards will begin December 10. Online voting is via the Blues Foundation’s website. www.blues.org


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For further information, contact
Richard Flohil, Richard Flohil & Associates
rflohil@sympatico.ca
416 351-1323


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