Digital Blues Awards 2006

First of all a big thank you to everyone who voted in this year’s awards. I know that those for whom you have voted are very pleased to receive them. We have received votes from all over the World which has meant that there are some unusual names appearing and this year we have seen some very close results in some categories.

Blues Personality of 2006 saw the closest of competitions with Connie Lush pipping our own Tim Aves by just one vote to win the crown. However in the Female Artist category, Jane English of the Rockin’ Armadillos secured twice as many votes as Connie. Good to see 3am’s superb Helen Turner in third place too.

Possibly the most hotly contested category was that of Male Artist for whilst Ian Siegal won by a country mile with Tim Aves a solid second, there was quite a scrap for third and fourth places with no less than seven challengers.

The Guitarist category also saw some hot competition with the Rockin’ Armadillos’ Alex hall very much seeing off his fellow axeman Owen Barry by a fair margin. Matt Schofield was a strong third whilst local guitarists Ian Black of 3am & Kevin Webb of the Nightflies tied for fourth.

The Harp player category again saw a clear winner in Luke Arnold but there was but one vote between  West Weston in second and Tim Aves in third and he was just one vote ahead of Gary Potts in fourth with no less that three (Eddie Armer, Mark Sibley & Tom Mccree) dead heating in fifth place!

The Keyboards category saw a wide variety of nominees with category winner Paul Dean of the Heaters some way ahead of Pete Nash in second but it was a close run thing with third place man Jonny Henderson only one vote ahead of last year’s winner, Ray Bartrip, joint fourth this year with the ubiquitous Paul Jobson. Just one vote behind in fifth were Clare Hamlin & Gary Howard.

The Brass category had you all flummoxed with many voting papers not recording a vote for anyone in this category. However, winner Frank Mead was a clear favourite amongst those who did vote and it is excellent to see Zoltaness Karen in second place. Again, only one vote split third placed Lee Badeau & Graham Rurner from fourth placed Colin Hartshorn, plenty of you love your sax!!!

Your favourite bass player for the last two years has lost his crown as a surge of votes for the Groove Doctors prowling ace of bass, Fergie Fulton swept ahead of the Armadillos’ Rob Barry who was well clear of third placed men, the brilliant Roger Innes and Pete Stroud with 3am’s Trev Turley in fourth. Just behind were Norman Watt-Roy (Wilko Johnson) & Andy Bostock (the Nightflies).

In the Drums category, winner Paul Lester of the Rockin’ Armadillos was the runaway favourite and clinched the title for the third year running with the Nightflies popular sticks man Wayne Bronze second just ahead of joint third Sam Kelly & Evan Jenkins. Andy Renton of 3am just squeezed in ahead of Mike Hellier (BluesMove) & Tim Bale, (Swamp Cats).

Ian Siegal polled three times as many votes as second placed Roy Mette & Jon Amor in the solo category with third placed Martin Harley just behind and Papa George, Martin McNeill and Little Toby Walker.

Duos is another category which many voters found problems with and so it is good to see the excellent Two Timers in first place with local favourites, Jeff Chapmen & Al E Bye, the Jives, in second. Rag Mama Rag who are very rarely seen in Essex (don’t know why) were a close third. Canadians Rick Fines & Suzie Vinnick just scraped fourth place on the strength of the Canadian voters in the Awards.

It is really pleasing that Essex CDs top the Favourite CD category, particularly when the winning CD has only just been released! Essex Delta Blues – Vol ll – A-Z is the follow up to the 2004 release and I am particularly honoured to have been involved with it. It is a tribute to the bands involved that it was a clear winner. I am equally thrilled that the superb debut CD from the Nightflies, ‘The Spider & …….’ is a clear and very well deserved second with Matt Schofield & Jon Amor in third & fourth respectively. More than 30 CDs received nominations and the top four were some way clear of the rest of the field.

Finally, we come to your favourite venue and it is particularly pleasing to see the Riga Music Bar well clear at the top of the table. Confratulations go to Steve, Dave 7 the time for their dogged determination to hang on in there and to continue presenting top class acts despite sometimes disappointing attendances. It was a close run thing between the New Crawdaddy Blues Club and Blues at the Farm – how lucky are we to have two excellent venues here in Billericay? – whilst the folk at High Barn, the beautiful 800 year old high tech venue in the North of the county, should be thrilled that you put it into fourth place. Congratulations go to everyone involved with these venues. These votes are also a thank you for the many hours spent organising and running the venues and keeping them going. Too rarely do we say thank you!

Here at a glance are the winners in each category: