The Blues Foundation has announced its nominees for the 2026 Blues Music Awards. The awards are voted on by the members of the Blues Foundation. The 47th annual Blues Music Awards will take place on May 7, 2026, in Memphis, Tennessee.<\/p>\n
View the full list of nominees below.<\/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":"The Blues Foundation has announced its nominees for the 2026 Blues Music Awards. The awards are voted on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":291514,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[156,157,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-291513","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-music","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=291513"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291513\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/291514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=291513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=291513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=291513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}