Winners have been revealed at the 2026 Blues Music Awards held on Thursday, May 7, in Memphis, Tennessee. The awards were voted on by the members of the Blues Foundation.<\/p>\n
View the full list of winners below, which are bolded.<\/p>\n
Acoustic Blues Album<\/p>\n
Catfish Keith, \u201cSugar for Sugar \u2013 Vol. 1 2025 Summer Sessions\u201d
Doug MacLeod, \u201cBetween Somewhere and Goodbye\u201d
Erin Harpe, \u201cLet The Mermaids Flirt With Me: A Tribute to Mississippi John Hurt\u201d
Hudspeth & Taylor, \u201cKimuziki Live in Des Moines\u201d
Johnny Iguana, \u201cAt Delmark\u201d<\/p>\n
Acoustic Blues Artist<\/p>\n
Catfish Keith
Doug MacLeod
Eric Bibb
Kevin Burt
Rhiannon Giddens<\/p>\n
Album of the Year<\/p>\n
Blood Brothers Mike Zito & Albert Castiglia, \u201cHelp Yourself\u201d
Bobby Rush & Kenny Wayne Shepherd, \u201cYoung Fashioned Ways\u201d
D.K. Harrell, \u201cTalkin\u2019 Heavy\u201d
Larry McCray, \u201cHeartbreak City\u201d
Tommy Castro & The Painkillers, \u201cCloser To The Bone\u201d<\/p>\n
B.B. King Entertainer of the Year<\/p>\n
Castro Coleman (Mr. Sipp)
Rick Estrin
Ronnie Baker Brooks
Ruthie Foster
Vanessa Collier<\/p>\n
Band of the Year<\/p>\n
Anthony Paule Soul Orchestra
John Nemeth and the Blue Dreamers
Southern Avenue
Tedeschi Trucks Band
Vanessa Collier Band<\/p>\n
Best Emerging Artist Album<\/p>\n
Brody Buster, \u201cRedemption\u201d
Allison August, \u201cAugust Moon\u201d
Sean McDonald, \u201cHave Mercy!\u201d
Robbin Kapsalis, \u201cTHE BLUES IS IN THE HOUSE\u201d
Kyle Rowland, \u201cNOT HOLDING BACK!\u201d<\/p>\n
Blues Rock Album<\/p>\n
Blood Brothers Mike Zito & Albert Castiglia, \u201cHelp Yourself\u201d
Devon Allman, \u201cBLUES SUMMIT\u201d
Kent Burnside, \u201cHill Country Blood\u201d
Tom Hambridge, \u201cDown The Hatch\u201d
Walter Trout, \u201cSign Of The Times\u201d<\/p>\n
Blues Rock Artist<\/p>\n
Ana Popovic
Kenny Wayne Shepherd
Kirk Fletcher
Tommy Castro
Walter Trout<\/p>\n
Contemporary Blues Album<\/p>\n
Brandon Santini, \u201cWhich Way Do We Go?\u201d
Carolyn Wonderland, \u201cTruth Is\u201d
D.K. Harrell, \u201cTalkin\u2019 Heavy\u201d
Monster Mike Welch, \u201cKeep Living Til I Die\u201d
Southern Avenue, \u201cFamily\u201d<\/p>\n
Contemporary Blues Female Artist<\/p>\n
Carolyn Wonderland
Danielle Nicole
Ruthie Foster
Samantha Fish
Vanessa Collier<\/p>\n
Contemporary Blues Male Artist<\/p>\n
Brandon Santini
Castro Coleman (Mr. Sipp)
Chris Cain
Christone \u201dKingfish\u201d Ingram
D.K. Harrell<\/p>\n
Instrumentalist \u2013 Bass<\/p>\n
Benny Turner
Larry Fulcher
Michael \u201dMudcat\u201d Ward
Rodrigo Mantovani
Scot Sutherland<\/p>\n
Instrumentalist \u2013 Drums<\/p>\n
Chris Layton
Chris Peet
Derrick D\u2019Mar Martin
Tom Hambridge
Tony Braunagel<\/p>\n
Instrumentalist \u2013 Guitar<\/p>\n
Chris Cain
Christoffer \u201dKid\u201d Andersen
Derek Trucks
Joanna Connor
Ronnie Baker Brooks<\/p>\n
Instrumentalist \u2013 Harmonica<\/p>\n
Billy Branch
Bob Corritore
Brandon Santini
John Nemeth
Kim Wilson<\/p>\n
Instrumentalist \u2013 Horn<\/p>\n
Greg Piccolo
Jimmy Carpenter
Mark Kaz Kazanoff
Regi Oliver
Trombone Shorty<\/p>\n
Instrumentalist \u2013 Piano (Pinetop Perkins Piano Player)<\/p>\n
Anthony Geraci
Bruce Katz
Dave Keyes
Jon Cleary
Marcia Ball<\/p>\n
Instrumentalist \u2013 Vocals<\/p>\n
Candice Ivory
Danielle Nicole
John Nemeth
Shemekia Copeland
Susan Tedeschi<\/p>\n
Song of the Year<\/p>\n
\u201cMile After Mile\u201d
written by Brandon Santini & Jeff Jensen<\/p>\n
\u201cBye Bye Blues\u201d
written by Larry McCray & Charlie Walmsley<\/p>\n
\u201cCan\u2019t Catch a Break\u201d
written by Tommy Castro & Christoffer Andersen<\/p>\n
\u201cUpside\u201d
written by Tierinii Jackson, Tikyra Jackson, Ori Naftaly, Dylan Altman & Marshall Altman<\/p>\n
\u201cWho Was That?\u201d
written by Emmett Ellis Jr. & Kenny Wayne Shepherd<\/p>\n
Soul Blues Album<\/p>\n
Dave Keller, \u201cLa Brea\u201d
Jimmy Burns & Soul Message Band, \u201cFull Circle\u201d
Johnny Rawls, \u201cMake Them Dance\u201d
Tad Robinson Band, \u201cSoul In Blue\u201d
The Soul of John Black, \u201cSoul Salvation\u201d<\/p>\n
Soul Blues Female Artist<\/p>\n
Annika Chambers
Candice Ivory
Kat Riggins
Thornetta Davis
Vaneese Thomas<\/p>\n
Soul Blues Male Artist<\/p>\n
Alabama Mike
Curtis Salgado
John Nemeth
Johnny Rawls
Tad Robinson<\/p>\n
Traditional Blues Album<\/p>\n
Bobby Rush & Kenny Wayne Shepherd, \u201cYoung Fashioned Ways\u201d
Buddy Guy, \u201cAin\u2019t Done With The Blues\u201d
Charlie Musselwhite, \u201cLook Out Highway\u201d
Maria Muldaur, \u201cOne Hour Mama: The Blues of Victoria Spivey\u201d
Roomful Of Blues, \u201cSteppin\u2019 Out\u201d<\/p>\n
Traditional Blues Female Artist (Koko Taylor Award)<\/p>\n
Diunna Greenleaf
Eden Brent
Maria Muldaur
Rhiannon Giddens
Teeny Tucker<\/p>\n
Traditional Blues Male Artist<\/p>\n
Billy Branch
Jimmie Vaughan
John Primer
Jontavious Willis
Rick Estrin<\/p>\n
International Blues Album<\/p>\n
Brandon Isaak, \u201cWalkin With The Blues\u201d
Honeybear, the Band, \u201cI Was Wrong\u201d
Hubert Dorigatti & Blues harp masters, \u201cPoor Boy\u201d
J.T.Lauritsen & The Buckshot Hunters, \u201cStill be friends\u201d
The Angelique Francis Band, \u201cNot Defeated\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Winners have been revealed at the 2026 Blues Music Awards held on Thursday, May 7, in Memphis, Tennessee.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":431922,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[146,85,46,409],"class_list":["post-431921","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431921","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=431921"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431921\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/431922"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=431921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=431921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=431921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}