DIGITAL BLUES AWARDS 2008

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 your vote, it means a great deal to them. Once again we have we have  seen some very well organised tactical voting which has led to a number of votes being disallowed. However, this year again shows how, if a band gets its fan base motivated, it can achieve success!

Blues Personality of 2008 saw Tim Aves, formerly of the Rockin’ Armadillos, frontman of Automatic Slim, presenter of The Blues Is Back on SaintFM and compere at many of the Boogaloo Blues weekends and a huge supporter of the Blues in Essex, once again winning the category for the third time in four years. Many congratulations must go to Tim, this award is richly deserved and a great reflection of Tim’s huge presence and influence in and on the Blues scene both in essex and through the UK.

Second in this category was the charismatic Jerimiah Marques whilst Connie Lush and Helen Turner (Bare Bones Boogie Band) were joint third. Three people tied for fourth place with Fergie Fulton (Groove Doctors & Hokie Joint), Ian Siegal and yours truly sharing the same number of votes.

In the Female Artist category, Kyla Brox, fourth in this category last year, just pipped last year’s winner, Helen Turner (Bare Bones Boogie Band) to head the favourite female category with the perennial Connie Lush again third. Lorna Reilly of funkydory was fourth and Deborah Bonham fifth.

There was quite a bit of competition for the Male Artist category with 2006’s winner, Ian Siegal, reversing the tables on last year’s winner, Tim Aves and coming out on top. Third equal were Tim Ainslie (3^rd in 2007) and Jerimiah Marques whilst Papa George and Roy Mette shared fourth.

The Favourite Band category saw the largest number of contenders with last year’s runners up, the Groove Doctors, sharing the category win with the Heaters, well deserved recognition for their tireless work at the New Crawdaddy Blues Club. The relatively new to the scene Bare Bones Boogie Band came second whilst Jerimiah Marques & the Blue Aces and Storm Warning shared third place. In joint fourth place were Hokie Joint and the Ian Siegal Band. 

The Guitarist category also saw a large number of contenders with some  close competition. Last year’s second placed picker, Iain Black, now with the Bare Bones Boogie Band, emerged in top place with the superb Matt Schofield in second and category winner last year, Tim Ainslie of the Groove Doctors, in third. No less than four axemen shared fourth place - Martin McNeill, Owen Barry, Paul Milligan and Timmy Moore.

The Keyboards category saw Paul Dean of the Heaters a winner by a mile, polling three times as many votes as second placed player, the prodigious and ubiquitous Paul Jobson (Station House, Dr JJ and many more!). Pete Nash of the Blue Aces was third with Jonny Henderson (Matt Schofield Trio) fourth whilst Ray Bartrip & Jules Grudgings sharing fifth place.

The Harp player category was one of the most closely contested with the excellent West Weston winning by just one vote. A close second was the superb Eddie Armer with Storm Warning’s Son Maxwell in third, the 2006 winner Luke Arnold taking fourth and Giles King in fifth place.

Fergie Fulton (Groove Doctors & Hokie Joint) is back on top in the Bass category beating last year’s winner, Trev Turley (Bare Bones Boogie Band) into second place. The excellent Pete Stroud (Bad Influence, Papa George Band, Monday Band, Chuck Farley and more) was third with another of my favourite bass players, Roger Innes, taking fourth whilst no less than three bassmen tied for fifth. They were Chris Patching (the Heaters), Grant ‘Cheeky’ Tunbridge, (Dr JJ, Nigel Bagge Band) and Graham Ross (Martin Harley Band)

It was all change in the favourite drummer category too as the Heater’s Paul Reynolds came out on top by a clear margin with the Bare Bones Boogie Band’s Andy Jones, the multi-award winning Sam Kelly and the superb Ed Collins all sharing second place. Evan Jenkins (Matt Schofield Band) was third and Stephen ‘Cupsey’ Cutmore of Hokie Joint took fourth place.

The Brass player category saw last year’s second placed Zoltana Karen – the crumpet with the trumpet as several voters described her! – win the category, streets ahead of second placed Tony Marshall of the Kyla Brox Band. It was lovely to see the veteran trombonist Rico Rodriguez from Jools Holland’s Rhythm & Blues Orchestra picked by many voters which put him in third place, just ahead of Graeme Turner in fourth and Frank Mead in fifth place.

There was a great dead heat at the top of the Solo Artist category with Ian Siegal & Roy Mette level pegging. Second was the excellent Kris Dollimore with Tim Ainslie third, Kent Duchaine fourth and John Crampton fifth.

In past years, the Duos’ category has been one which many voters found problems with, but not so this year with the result that Essex favourites Jeff Chapman & Al E Bye, the Jives, were streets ahead of their rivals, polling three times as many votes as second placed Bagge & Armer who were just ahead of the Two Timers in third and the Hokie Joint Duo who were fourth.

There were two clear favourites in the CD category with Storm Warning’s excellent ‘’Something Real’ just pipping the category winner for the last two years, Essex Delta Blues – Vol ll – A-Z, which came a close second. Ian Siegal’s acclaimed ‘The Dust’ was third with three CDs claiming fourth – the Cadillac Kings long awaited ‘Trouble in Store’, Guy Tortora’s widely lauded ‘Living On Credit’ and Hokie Joint’s excellent debut CD ‘The Way It Goes ……. Sometimes’.

Finally, we come to the Favourite Venue category which saw 2007’s winner retain its place as you voted the New Crawdaddy Blues Club your favourite venue for 2008. Second place went to Billericay’s other great blues venue, Blues at the Farm whilst last year’s second placed Riga slipped to third in 2008’s poll, sharing that position with the famous Running Horse in Nottingham.

Fourth was the relatively new Ipswich R&B Club and congratulations go to them and to everyone involved in running these venues, itself a very time consuming and often thankless task. These votes are also a thank you for the many hours spent organising and running the venues and keeping them going in the face of waning audiences. Too rarely do we say thank you and too often do we see venues folding because of lack of support!

So thanks to everyone who voted in this year’s awards and congratulations to all the category winners and runners up.  Roll on 2009’s awards!

Here at a glance are the winners in each category: