On Wednesday, December 09, 2009, the Blues Foundation announced the nominees for the 2010 Blues Music Awards. Eight Alligator recording artists received a total of 14 nominations. Soul and R&B guitarist and vocalist Tommy Castro and harmonica master/songwriter/vocalist Rick Estrin (of Rick Estrin And The Nightcats) each received four nominations, tying for the most nominations given to any artist this year (two other artists also received four nods apiece).

Soul and blues singer Janiva Magness, electric blues guitar master Michael "Iron Man" Burks, Saffire--The Uppity Blues Women, Ann Rabson (of Saffire--The Uppity Blues Women), Buckwheat Zydeco, and Tinsley Ellis each received one nomination. In addition, the DVD, Hot Flash-The Documentary (a film about Saffire--The Uppity Blues Women) also received a nod.

The Blues Music Awards are recognized as the highest honor given to blues artists. The Blues Music Awards ceremony and concert will be held May 6, 2010 at the Cook Convention Center in Memphis. 

Alligator artists and nominations are as follows:

RICK ESTRIN AND THE NIGHTCATS
B.B. King Entertainer Of The Year
Band Of The Year
Contemporary Blues Album Of The Year - Twisted
Instrumentalist Of The Year - Harmonica







TOMMY CASTRO
B.B. King Entertainer Of The Year
Band of the Year
Contemporary Blues Album Of The Year - Hard Believer
Contemporary Blues Male Artist Of The Year







JANIVA MAGNESS
Contemporary Blues Female Artist Of The Year










MICHAEL "IRON MAN" BURKS
Contemporary Blues Male Artist Of The Year







SAFFIRE--THE UPPITY BLUES WOMEN
Acoustic Album Of The Year - Havin' The Last Word

ANN RABSON (of SAFFIRE--THE UPPITY BLUES WOMEN)
Traditional Blues Female Artist Of The Year







BUCKWHEAT ZYDECO
Instrumentalist Of The Year - Other (Accordion)










TINSLEY ELLIS
Rock Blues Album Of The Year - Speak No Evil

American musical icon and bandleader Stanley "Buckwheat" Dural, Jr. and his band Buckwheat Zydeco (who are celebrating their 30th anniversary together) received a Grammy Award nomination for their Alligator Records debut CD, LAY YOUR BURDEN DOWN. The CD was produced by Los Lobos' Steve Berlin and features guests Warren Haynes, Sonny Landreth, JJ Grey, Trombone Shorty, and Berlin. Awards will be announced on January 31, 2010 in Los Angeles.

Since its release on May 5, LAY YOUR BURDEN DOWN has received some of the best reviews of the year for a roots/blues album. USA Today says the CD is "a zydeco trailblazer with a soulful bayou-steeped set of originals and covers." Living Blues adds, "Buckwheat Zydeco returns with a new release on famed Chicago blues label Alligator Records, and the results are stunning." Blues RevueSonicboomers.com, which named LAY YOUR BURDEN DOWN an "Album Of The Week," called it "a vastly entertaining and appealingly diverse package."

Scott Simon, on National Public Radio's Weekend Edition Saturday - in a nearly 10 minute feature airing shortly after the album's release - brought Buckwheat Zydeco's music to millions of listeners across the country. Simon called leader Stanley "Buckwheat" Dural, Jr. "the go-to guy for zydeco music...a master of accordion and organ," and praised the new CD's scope from "feel good, get-up-and-dance music to slow R&B grooves and brooding blues." Simon's far ranging discussion with Dural was heard by more than five million listeners worldwide, helping to kick-start the 30th anniversary celebration.

The album remained on the Billboard Blues Chart for six weeks, and landed in rotation on top tastemaker radio stations nationwide including WXPN in Philadelphia (where Buckwheat Zydeco taped a World Café performance), WYEP in Pittsburgh, WYMS in Milwaukee, WWOZ in New Orleans, KRSH in Santa Rosa, CA, and KUT in Austin, TX, with new music airplay from WXRT in Chicago and WFUV in New York City, among many others.

As Living Blues says, "The entire work is a vibrant testament to Buckwheat Zydeco's spirit, reminding us that Louisiana's musical heritage has taken all the hurricanes could give. This is an album that can introduce a new generation of music fans to the world of zydeco music and serve as a wonderful reminder about what a great zydeco band can do."


THE PRESS SPEAKS ABOUT BUCKWHEAT ZYDECO:

Stanley "Buckwheat" Dural celebrates his 30th year as a zydeco trailblazer with a soulful, bayou-steeped set of originals and covers by artists as diverse as Jimmy Cliff, Bruce Springsteen and Captain Beefheart.
-- USA Today

On this sucker he nails it firm and deep. The opener, When The Levee Breaks, the Memphis Minnie/Kansas Joe McCoy classic known to rock fans from Led Zep's version, signals that something magical is happening here with its Louisiana-style Southern rock fury. With the able assistance of Steve Berlin as producer, the singer and accordionist creates a potent brand of Greater Gulf Music. By the time this delicious disc cools down on the closing grace note instrumental waltz of Finding My Way Back Home, you know you're in the presence of bayou music greatness.
-- Blurt.com

Ace accordionist Buckwheat Zydeco (Stanley Dural) celebrates his 30th anniversary in the business with the hands-down best album he's ever waxed, moving away from straight zydeco and into a vital, ultra-soulful zone of his own. Is this the R&B-based zydeco with which Dural made his bones? No. It's something deeper and better.
--The Boston Herald

Buckwheat Zydeco, has been carrying the torch for his eponymous music for more than three decades. He functions brilliantly outside the confines of zydeco. The CD is a vastly entertaining and appealingly diverse package. Bandleader Dural remains an ever-engaging vocalist and a whiz on any keyboard he touches. So, for Buckwheat Zydeco fans, LAY YOUR BURDEN DOWN finds the maestro and his group near the top of their form. For listeners with less interest in the ol' accordion get-down, the collection supplies enough interesting wrinkles to get the good times rolling.
-- Sonicboomers.com

Dural has put together a collection of thoughtful, wide-ranging songs that may not have been originally intended for the accordion, but still come up pulsating with the Buckwheat spirit. They create a work of intense emotion, passion and hearty good times. It's a fine album, mixing Dural's multi-talented approach, thoughtful songwriting, and elegant production.
--Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Buckwheat Zydeco (Stanley Dural, Jr.), is in terrific form on LAY YOUR BURDEN DOWN. Buckwheat shines on accordion and vocals, and his tight band is superbly captured by producer Steve Berlin of Los Lobos.
--Detroit Free Press

Stanley "Buckwheat" Dural, Jr. and his namesake band are not just about zydeco, although that infectiously propulsive dance music of the singer-accordionist's native southern Louisiana is at the heart of just about everything the group does. Its new album, LAY YOUR BURDEN DOWN, is a richly substantive collection that faces up to hard times while conveying a joyous sense of resilience.
--Philadelphia Inquirer

LAY YOUR BURDEN DOWN ends up being Dural's most accomplished and mature album yet, moving from start to finish like everything belongs together. Nothing misses its mark, and several tracks do so much more than that. He has given us something else again, an album that works both at the dance party and still rings clear the next day when maybe it's time to dig deeper and do a little thinking. It's the best kind of musical synthesis.
--Allmusic.com

You can't attack a levee with a guitar, but Buckwheat Zydeco and Sonny Landreth seem to try on When the Levee Breaks. It's a startling and potent opening to an album that goes on to subvert all expectations. There's almost too much life on this near-bursting release, proving that 30 years into the music game, Buckwheat Zydeco is still brimming with ideas.
--Rhapsody.com

The entire work is a vibrant testament to Buckwheat Zydeco's spirit, reminding us that Louisiana's musical heritage has taken all the hurricanes could give. This is an album that can introduce a new generation of music fans to the world of zydeco music and serve as a wonderful reminder about what a great zydeco band can do. The results are stunning.
--Living Blues

Producer Steve Berlin captures Dural's natural bayou bounce but lets him wander into other territory while keeping one foot firmly in zydeco. But Dural's sound is as steeped in blues as in the joyous Louisiana soul at the heart of this outstanding, wonderfully diverse set.
--Blues Revue

continues, saying the album "is as steeped in blues as in the joyous Louisiana soul at the heart of this outstanding, wonderfully diverse set." Chris Morris, writing in

The Good Soldier, a new documentary film produced and directed by Lexy Lovell and Michael Uys, follows the journeys of five combat veterans from different generations of American wars. The film tracks the soldiers from the time they sign up, go into battle, deal with the reality of war and shows how it changes them, and eventually reshapes their definition about what it means to be a good solider. The film intermingles intense and revealing interview footage with documentary film of World War II, Vietnam, the Gulf War and the war in Iraq.

Helping to tell the story of The Good Soldier are songs by Alligator recording artists JJ Grey & Mofro, as well as newly written original music by Grey. Though the soldiers live all over the U.S. now, each of them grew up in the South.  Last year, when the filmmakers were looking for music that fit with their storytelling, they found Grey's Alligator Records debut album, Country Ghetto. His Southern-rooted sound and intensity were exactly the notes they had been looking for. This is the first time Grey has scored music for a film.

Renowned historian Howard Zinn called The Good Soldier "a wonderful film with great emotional power. It was a brilliant idea to hear veterans of the various wars because the net effect is to deal, not just with one odious war, but with the phenomenon of war as a universal evil."

On November 6th, an edited version of the film (to fit into the one-hour time slot) will be featured on the PBS television program, Bill Moyers' Journal. In addition, The Good Soldier is opening in a number of cities on Veterans Day, November 11^th. Dates of various openings are below.

Born and raised outside Jacksonville, Florida, JJ Grey comes from a long tradition of Southern musical storytellers and, like the best of the great Southern writers, he fills his songs with details that are at once vivid and personal, political and universal. 

His multi-textured music overflows with dynamic rhythms and thought-provoking lyrics. From raw funk to deep soul, blues and rock, JJ and his band Mofro deliver devastating live and recorded performances. Debuting in 2001 with Blackwater, following up in 2004 with Lochloosa (both albums reissued by Alligator in 2007), Grey steadily built an intensely loyal following. In 2007 and 2008 Grey released, Country Ghetto and Orange Blossoms respectively, further growing his already large audience. He will release his first-ever vinyl LP, The Choice Cuts, on November 3, 2009.

The film will show in the following cities. For more specific information regarding showtimes, go to www.thegoodsoldier.com.

NOVEMBER 6TH

CHICAGO, IL
Gene Siskel Film Center
www.siskelfilmcenter.org

NOVEMBER 10TH

BOISE, ID
The Flicks
www.theflicksboise.com

VETERANS DAY, NOVEMBER 11TH

NEW YORK PREMIERE
City Cinemas Village East
www.villageeastcinema.com

ANN ARBOR, MI
Michigan Theater
www.michtheater.org

CAMBRIDGE, MA
The Brattle
www.brattlefilm.org

CLAREMONT, CA
Laemmle's Claremont
www.laemmle.com

ENCINO, CA
Laemmle's Town Center
www.laemmle.com

GLOUCESTER, MA
Cape Ann Community Center
www.massbayfilmproject.org

HAMILTON, NY
Hamilton Theater
www.hamiltontheater.net

KANSAS CITY, MO
Tivoli Theatre
www.tivolikc.com

MADISON, WI
Sundance Cinemas Madison
www.sundancecinemas.com

NEWPORT, RI
Jane Pickens Theatre
www.janepickens.com

PASADENA, CA
Laemmle's Playhouse
www.laemmle.com

SAN FRANCISCO, CA
The Roxie Theater
www.roxie.com

SAN RAFAEL, CA
Smith Rafael Film Center
www.cafilm.org

SANTA MONICA, CA
Laemmle's Monica
www.laemmle.com

SCHENECTADY, NY
Proctor's Theatre
www.proctors.org

THREE RIVERS, MI
The Riviera Theatre
www.trriviera.com


NOVEMBER 15TH
WILMINGTON, DE
Theatre N at Nemours
www.theatren.org

LAKE WORTH, FL
Lake Worth Playhouse
www.lakeworthplayhouse.org


 

Alligator Records has set a November 3rd street date for the vinyl-only release of The Choice Cuts, the first-ever LP from JJ Grey & Mofro. The album features two songs from each of the group’s four CDs (hand-picked by Grey) and a newly recorded version of Van Morrison’s Tupelo Honey, with Grey playing all of the instruments. The 180-gram LP is the first vinyl release on Alligator Records since 1991, when the label released Otis Rush’s Lost In The Blues.

Born and raised just outside of Jacksonville, Florida, JJ Grey comes from a long tradition of Southern musical storytellers. His multi-textured music overflows with dynamic rhythms and thought-provoking lyrics. From raw funk to deep soul, blues and rock, JJ and his band Mofro deliver devastating live and recorded performances. Billboard described their music as “a world-beating blend of Southern rock, blues and Florida swamp soul….killer tunes that hook the listener.”

Debuting in 2001 with Blackwater, following up in 2004 with Lochloosa (both albums reissued by Alligator in 2007), Grey has steadily built an intensely loyal following. In 2007, with his first Alligator release, Country Ghetto, Grey reached an even larger audience, doubling both his album sales and his concert attendance. In 2008 with Orange Blossoms, JJ Grey took another giant step forward expanding his legion of fans. The group is currently on tour with Shooter Jennings and Earl Greyhound.

Zydeco superstar Stanley “Buckwheat” Dural and his band, Buckwheat Zydeco, have been riding a wave of national popularity since the release of the group’s debut Alligator CD, Lay Your Burden Down. They performed on public radio’s World Café (who called the group “America’s Party Band”) on October 7, 2009. To hear the entire performance plus one bonus song, go to: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=113569607

Buckwheat Zydeco performs on WHYY-TV’s On Canvas program, set to air in the Philadelphia area on October 14. The show will then be archived here: http://www.whyy.org/artsandculture/oncanvas.html.

Rick Estrin & The Nightcats, currently celebrating the release of their debut CD, Twisted, will appear as featured guests on the nationally syndicated House Of Blues Radio Hour. The show will air the weekend of October 23 – 24. For a full list of broadcast times and stations, go to http://www.thebluesmobile.com/briefcase/affiliate.shtml.

Since the CD's June 2 release, Twisted has received glowing reviews from Billboard, The Chicago Sun-Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Blues Revue, Living Blues and many more national and regional publications. For more than 30 years and nine albums, Rick fronted the jumping, swinging Little Charlie & The Nightcats, featuring guitarist Little Charlie Baty. With Baty’s recent retirement from touring, Estrin — along with the Nightcats’ longtime rhythm section of J. Hansen and Lorenzo Farrell and a new member, fiery guitarist Kid Andersen — takes the lead on his own.

 
Alligator Records is digitally distributing its catalog free to radio stations globally through AirPlay Direct. This will allow Alligator to service radio stations worldwide instantly upon release of a new album. Radio programmers can download these broadcast quality songs 24 hours a day, seven days a week at their convenience and play them for their listeners immediately.
 
AirPlay Direct is an easy to use digital file transfer system that was developed to streamline radio / artist promotion activities for today's music industry. AirPlay Direct's free services replace the unnecessary time and expense of putting together and sending out costly traditional artist packages and press kits via snail mail. Utilizing the AirPlay Direct system also allows an artist to positively impact the environment by eliminating needless packaging.
 
For more information on AirPlay Direct please visit www.AirPlayDirect.com

Living Blues magazine honored four Alligator artists with coveted Living Blues Awards. Late Queen Of The Blues Koko Taylor, Texas boogie-woogie pianist vocalist Marcia Ball, slide guitar wizard Lil’ Ed Williams and his band The Blues Imperials, and American musical icon and accordion master Stanley “Buckwheat” Dural (of Buckwheat Zydeco) each received the recognition. The awards and categories are as follows:

Critics Awards:
Koko Taylor – Blues Artist Of The Year (Female)
Lil’ Ed And The Blues Imperials – Best Live Performer
Buckwheat Zydeco – Most Outstanding Musician (Other – accordion)

Readers Awards:
Marcia Ball – Blues Artist Of The Year (Female)
Marcia Ball – Most Outstanding Musician (Keyboards)