The Maple Blues Awards is Canada’s national blues awards program. Its goal is to promote blues music across Canada, and to recognize outstanding achievement in the field. Winners in all categories (excluding the instrumental categories*) are decided by blues fans across Canada. Voting occurs online each November.

Toronto Blues Society’s annual national awards show Maple Blues Awards is going virtual on its next edition from 4 different cities! A bundle of awards will be announced next to some exciting performances from Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, and Vancouver each Monday of February! The 24th Annual Maple Blues Awards will be streamed at 8pm (EST) via Facebook. Read the full announcement below

VIRTUAL MAPLE BLUES AWARDS LAUNCH FROM FOUR CITIES

The 24th annual Maple Blues Awards will stream from Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Vancouver across February Mondays

The Toronto Blues Society’s annual Maple Blues Award will be a little different this year in that, like many arts awards and programs, it will be held virtually and streamed from four cities across Canada on each Monday of the month of February. 

Multiple Maple Blues Awards have been selected to host and perform for the awards events beginning with Alana Bridgewater and Johnny Max hosting from Toronto on Monday, February 1st with a performance from Dione Taylor, who has been nominated for Female Vocalist of the Year, new Artist / Group of the Year, and Songwriter of the Year. Also performing is Jack de Keyzer, who has been nominated along with his bandmates for Entertainer of the Year, Electric Act of the Year, Male Vocalist of the Year, Recording / Producer of the Year, Guitarist of the Year, Horn Player of the Year (for Richard Thornton), and Bassist of the Year (for Alan Duffy). 

On Monday, February 8th Angelique Francis and Matt Sobb will be hosting the stream from Ottawa and the evening will feature a performance from JW-Jones, who has been nominated along with his bandmates for Entertainer of the Year, Electric Act of the Year, New Artist / Group of the Year (for Jones’ other project HOROJO Trio), and Recording / Producer of the Year. Also streaming a performance from Ottawa is Nashville-based Indigenous artist Crystal Shawanda, who has been nominated for Female Vocalist of the Year, Songwriter of the Year, and Recording / Producer of the Year.

Monday, February 15th the Maple Blues Awards will be streamed from Montreal and hosted by Dawn Tyler Watson and Ben Racine and will feature a performance from Durham County Poets, who are nominated for Songwriter of the Year and Recording / Producer of the Year. Matt Andersen, who has been nominated for Acoustic Act of the Year and Male Vocalist of the Year will also be performing.

The final night of the Maple Blues Awards stream will be coming from Vancouver Island on Monday, February 22 and will be hosted by Dalannah Gail Bowen and Jim Byrnes and will have performances from 13-year old New Artist / Group of the Year nominee Liam Docherty and Drummer of the Year nominee Lindsay Beaver, streaming from Halifax for a true coast-to-coast MBA experience.

The 24th Annual Maple Blues Awards will be streamed at 8:00 PM Eastern via Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/TorontoBluesSociety RSVP on Facebook event page.

Leading the way in nominations is Toronto’s Jack de Keyzer, who along with his bandmates garnered seven nominations for Entertainer of the Year, Electric Act of the Year, Male Vocalist of the Year, Recording/Producer of the Year, Guitarist of the Year, Horn Player of the Year (for Richard Thornton) and Bassist of the Year (for Alan Duffy).

Ottawa’s JW-Jones and his band(s) are nominated in five categories including Entertainer of the Year, Electric Act of the Year, New Artist of the Year (for Jones’ second project HOROJO Trio), Recording/Producer of the Year and Guitarist of the Year. Toronto’s Samantha Martin and Delta Sugar have been nominated for four Maple Blues Awards in the categories of Entertainer of the Year, Electric Act of the Year, Female Vocalist of the Year and Drummer of the Year (for Dani Nash). The esteemed Blues Booster of the Year Award winner will be announced at a later date.

“The Pandemic has given us a new reason to feel the blues, but fortunately we will honour the latest body of work and artists with trophies and digital celebrations”, says Derek Andrews, President of Toronto Blues Society. “Congratulations to all the nominees.”

Registration and voting for the 24th Annual Maple Blues Awards stsrted Nov. 2nd, 2020 and closed on December 1st at 11:59PM Eastern Time. Fans can register and vote at www.mapleblues.ca.

The 24th Annual Maple Blues Awards Nominees

Entertainer of the Year
Dawn Tyler Watson
Downchild
Jack de Keyzer
JW-Jones
Samantha Martin & Delta Sugar

Electric Act of the Year
Dawn Tyler Watson & Ben Racine Band
Jack de Keyzer
JW-Jones
Samantha Martin & Delta Sugar
Sue Foley

Acoustic Act of the Year
Adam Karch
Harrison Kennedy
Matt Andersen
Michael Jerome Browne
Rick Fines

Male Vocalist of the Year
Chuck Jackson
Harrison Kennedy
Jack de Keyzer
Jim Byrnes
Matt Andersen

Female Vocalist of the Year
Angel Forrest
Crystal Shawanda
Dawn Tyler Watson
Dione Taylor
Samantha Martin

New Artist of the Year
Dione Taylor
HOROJO Trio (Holmes, Rogers, Jones)
Liam Docherty
Matt Weidenger
Smoke Wagon Blues Band

Recording/Producer of the Year
Crystal Shawanda – Church House Blues / True North (Dewayne Strobel)
Durham County Poets – Hand Me Down Blues / Self (Bill Garrett)
Jack de Keyzer – Tribute / Blue Star (Jack de Keyzer)
JW-Jones – Sonic Departures / Solid Blue (Eric Eggleston)
Smoke Wagon Blues Band – Ballad of Albert Johnson / Self (Steve Sherman)

B.B. King International Artist of the Year
Christone “Kingfish” Ingram
Ghost Town Blues Band
Larkin Poe
Rick Estrin & The Nightcats
Victor Wainwright

Songwriter of the Year
Colin Linden
Crystal Shawanda/Dewayne Strobel
Dione Taylor
Kevin Harvey (Durham County Poets)
Paul Reddick

Blues with a Feeling Award (Lifetime Achievement Award)
Alec Fraser
Brent Parkin
Danny Brooks
Joe Murphy
Ken Whiteley
Michael Fonfara
Tom Lavin

Guitarist of the Year
Garrett Mason
Jack de Keyzer
JW-Jones
Sue Foley
Tony D (MonkeyJunk)

Harmonica Player of the Year
Guy Bélanger
Harpdog Brown
Paul Reddick
Roly Platt
Steve Marriner

Piano/Keyboard of the Year
David Vest
Duane Blackburn
Jesse O’Brien
Kenny “Blues Boss” Wayne
Michael Kaeshammer

Horn Player of the Year
Jerry Cook (Harpdog Brown)
Mark LeClerc (Fuel Junkie)
Gordon Aeichele (Smoke Wagon Blues Band)
Richard Thornton (Jack de Keyzer Band)
Mat “Moose” Mousseau (Ben Racine Band)

Drummer of the Year
Cory Blackburn
Dani Nash (Samantha Martin & Delta Sugar)
Gary Craig (Colin Linden, Steve Dawson)
Lindsay Beaver
Matt Sobb (MonkeyJunk)

Bassist of the Year
Alan Duffy (Jack de Keyzer)
Alec Fraser
Gary Kendall
John Dymond (Steve Dawson, Big Dave McLean)
Keith Picot

Best of luck to all nominees this year.