Photography Competition
The British Blues Awards
The Winner of our second Blues Gig Photography Competition has now been annouced. Once again it was a very closely fought contest and we would like to thank everyone that took part and everyone that voted. We won't spoil the suprise by revealing the winning photograph here, you will have to click the link below and go to the competition page.
Keep checking back for another photography competition in the near future.
Son Henry & The East Side Kings
Take an Alaskan Blues Guitarist and a driving Scottish rhythm section and we think you've got one of the more explosive blues bands to hit British Blues in years. Son Henry is most certainly one of the best lap steel guitarists in modern blues - if you imagine a cross between Kelly Joe Phelps and Jeff Healey you've got the right idea
The grand finale of the 2010 British Blues Awards is almost upon us.
The winners will be revealed and trophies presented at The Newark Blues Festival on Saturday 11th September.
In addition to the 13 categories that have been nominated and voted for by Blues fans right across the UK (and many other countries) theres is a special Lifetime Achievement Award sponsored by Nugene Records and chosen by The Nottingham Blues Society.
We are delighted to announce that the recipient of this award is Colin Staples
You can find out about this award and why we consider Colin to be such a worthy winner on The British Blues Awards website.
The presentation of Colin's Lifetime Achievement Award will take place at The Greyhound, Beeston, Nottingham on Thursday 30th September.
Kevin Thorpe's Tipping Point will be the house band on the night and given Colin's popularity we are expecting lots of special guests.
Boundless energy and enthusiasm, an explosive front man, a great songwriter and an endless repertoire of blues standards. Son Henry has been called a virtuoso on the Guitar and Blues Harp and an electrifying performer for years. But it is his lap steel playing, however, that earned him the title of "legendary guitarist" by Music Journalist Mark Dudick. He takes an instrument normally used to play Hawaiian music or old western swing and turns it into something else; a powerfully expressive blues instrument that screams, cries and brings audience after audience to their feet.
There will be a jam session and the evening starts at 8:30pm with a door charge of £4.00
The British Blues Awards have surpassed all of our expectations with excellent feedback from Blues fans, radio stations and artists alike - please checkout our website for some of the feedback we have received and a Q&A explaining why we felt passionately enough to make these awards happen.
We think Radio Enigma in Canada said it best:
"The Son Henry Band is the best blues band in the world right now; Son himself is a master trailblazer in some of the dirtiest, skankiest, holiest hot rod of a lap-steel guitar anyone has a right to hear."
The British Blues Awards on Twitter
You can follow The British Blues Awards on Twitter by following BBAwards
We will be send out "Tweets" from the award presentations at Newark Blues Festival as the winners are announced. You can also see them on the Twitter feed on the "Winners" page of the British Blues Awards website.
Be sure to reserve a date in your diary for Friday October 22nd 2010
Son Henry and the East Side Kings will be appearing at The Greyhound, Beeston.
Don't miss this gig, it will be dynamite.
You can check out Son's website at:- http://www.sonhenry.com and find plenty of clips of this fabulous band on Youtube.
Ian Siegal + Ben Prestage Double Bill At The Rescue Rooms
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A unique double bill is bound for the Rescue Rooms on Thursday 18th November, MOJO Blues Album of the Year artist, Ian Siegal, and the American one-man-band Ben Prestage.
You can now follow The Nottingham Blues Society on Twitter. We will send out "Tweets" when we add anything new on the website and to inform you of any great gigs that are coming up.
You can add us at:-
Matt Schofield Coming To The Rescue Rooms - Nottingham
Siegal is widely regarded as the UK’s finest contemporary bluesman (“the cleverest writer and most magnetic performer of blues in the UK.” MOJO). He is one of only two living British artists to achieve the highest ranking in the Penguin Book of Blues Recordings. Siegal takes command of the stage in a way very few artists alive today can match. Sweat, passion, humour and a soul-infused voice big enough to fell trees!
Supporting Siegal is an American making his first tour of the UK. Born the grandson of a Mississippi sharecropper, Ben Prestage has been soaked in Blues tradition. Growing up in the swamps of south central Florida, Prestage began to mix Mississippi Country Blues with his own brand of Florida Swamp Blues. He tours nationally in the USA, and in 2008 was second place in the Blues Foundation's International Blues Challenge.
If you think this is going to be an evening of subdued acoustic blues, think again! Ben Prestage is a revelation, playing bass, guitar and drums simultaneously. And as anyone who has seen one of Ian Siegal's solo shows will testify, there is nothing subdued about it. He is fiery, raw and passionate.
This one really does not need an introduction !
The Nottingham Blues Society in conjunction with Barry's Blues and Nugene Records are bringing the Matt Schofield Band to Nottingham.
They will be playing The Rescue Rooms on Wednesday November 10th 2010. Tickets are £12.00 in advance and £14.00 on the door, we are offering a £1.00 discount for Nottingham Blues Society Members.
Matt Schofield is a British guitarist playing Rhythm & Blues, and doing it so well that commentators on both sides of the Atlantic are ranking him among the best in the world.
In Schofield, the UK has produced the best blues guitarist from any country in decades. LA DAILY NEWS, USA
The best of his generation's European players. His feel for the music is incredible. VINTAGE GUITAR, USA
Top ten British Blues guitarists of all time. Guitar and Bass
The UK’s most exciting blues guitar player. GUITARIST
In his relatively short career Schofield’s prowess as a blues guitarist has taken his band to twelve countries; seen him playing with iconic guitarists like Robben Ford; and brought him high praise in the Penguin Book of Blues Recordings as one of only two living British artists in recording history to gain a maximum four-star rating.
Schofield's seamless playing has always embodied the great stylistic moments of American blues guitar, but the two cover versions on this latest album - interpretations of Freddie King's Woman Across The River and Elmore James' Stranger Blues - make any comparisons irrelevant. Underpinned by Jonny Henderson's constantly empathetic keyboards, Schofield stamps his own style on proceedings, slamming into solos that burn with an intensity rarely heard these days and even more rarely in combination with such a technically fluid and melodic approach.
Check out Matt's website at:- http://www.mattschofield.net
Tipping Point to Support Matt Schofield
As an extra bonus for Nottingham Blues Fans, Kevin Thorpe and his Band Tipping Point will be supporting
The Matt Schofield Band when the play The Rescue Rooms.
They will be playing on Wednesday November 10th 2010.
Tickets are £12.00 in advance and £14.00 on the door, we are offering a £1.00 discount for Nottingham Blues Society Members.
