25th Annual Cascade Blues Association Muddy Awards, November 7th at The Melody Ballroom
For the past quarter-century, the Cascade Blues Association has honored many of the most beloved artists, venues, events and recordings of the region with the annual Muddy Awards. Named in honor of the most important postwar Chicago bluesman, Muddy Waters, for his contributions to the modern blues scene. Nominees and recipients for the awards are completely selected by the members of the Cascade Blues Association through a process of two ballots, with nearly 1100 ballots sent out each time. And a grand celebration is then held to announce and recognize the decisions made by our membership.
This year’s 25th Annual Muddy Awards will be held on Thursday, November 7th, starting at 6:30 pm at The Melody Ballroom, 615 SE Alder St. We have the upstairs grand ballroom reserved as this event is one of the largest blues happenings every year in Portland, with crowds regularly over 500 in attendance. The Muddy Awards are free for Cascade Blues Association members and a huge bargain at only $5.00 for everyone else. A true steal for the entertainment you’ll be seeing alone. Doors will open at 5:30 pm.
The awards will be presented to the recipients by the Cascade Blues Association’s Board of Directors, musicians, blues DJs and other local blues celebraties.
Of course, it would not be a true blues event without live music. Starting off the night will be the Cascade Blues Association’s Journey To Memphis band winners, The Ben Rice Band, who will be representing the organization in Memphis at the 2014 International Blues Challenge. This year we will be trying something new, too. After Ben Rice’s performance, we will start the awards ceremonies, but midway we will take a short musical interlude with an acoustic set by our Journey To Memphis solo winner Tevis Hodge Jr, who will also be traveling to the IBC in January. Then we will announce the remainder of the recipients for this year and then end the night with a long-time tradition of an All Star Muddy Awards Jam featuring nominees and recipients both in a once in a lifetime gathering of talent.
Steve Kerin was asked to be the band leader for this year’s All Stars and what a group he has put together. It is a virtual who’s who of some of the region’s favorite blues artists. Joining Steve will be: Curtis Salgado, Kevin Selfe, Lloyd Jones, Duffy Bishop, Karen Lovely. Mary Flower, Randy Oxford, Jim Wallace, Lisa Mann, Norman Sylvester, Mitch Kashmar, Rae Gordon, Peter Dammann, Michael Quinby, Sonny Hess, Brian Foxworth, Vicki Stevens, Brian Harris, Dave Melyan, Alan Markell, Dave Fleschner, Joe McCarthy, Brad Ulrich, Peter Moss and who knows who else will join in. All are 2014 Muddy Award nominees. Way to go Steve for this wonderful collection of talent.
Do not miss this spectacular event. Help us celebrate this year’s Muddy Award recipients and 25 years of recognizing our regional talent.