News

"QUEEN OF THE BLUES" KOKO TAYLOR AND SINGING SENSATION SHEMEKIA COPELAND WIN W.C. HANDY BLUES AWARDS!
5/25/2001
Koko Taylor -- "Traditional Blues Female Artist of the Year" /////// Shemekia Copeland -- "Contemporary Blues - Female Artist of the Year," "Blues Album of the Year, WICKED" and "Blues Song of the Year, IT'S 2 A.M. (Rick Vito) from WICKED."

"QUEEN OF THE BLUES" KOKO TAYLOR AND SINGING SENSATION SHEMEKIA COPELAND WIN W.C. HANDY BLUES AWARDS!

Alligator Records, currently celebrating its 30th anniversary, is pleased
to announce "Queen of the Blues" Koko Taylor won one W.C. Handy Blues Award and
young blues-belter Shemekia Copeland won three W.C. Handy Blues Awards presented
by The Blues Foundation. The awards ceremony was held at the Orpheum Theatre in
Memphis on May 24, and hosted by New Orleans legend Dr. John.

With her win in the Traditional Blues Female Artist Of The Year category, Taylor now holds a total of 21 W.C. Handy Blues Awards, more than any other artist, male or female. Her latest CD, Royal Blue, received a Grammy nomination

A previous W.C. Handy Blues Award nominee, Copeland's statues for Blues Album Of The Year (for Wicked) and Contemporary Blues Female Artist Of The Year -- and a statue going to Rick Vito, author of Song Of The Year for "It's 2 A.M.," (Wicked's lead cut) --mark the first two Handy wins in her career, and make her -- along with blues great B.B. King -- the most celebrated artist at this year's presentation.

Like Taylor, Copeland's latest CD, Wicked, also received a Grammy nomination.

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ALLIGATOR RECORDS WINS 2001 INDIE AWARD!
5/14/2001
The Association For Independent Music (AFIM) has announced Alligator Records the winner of the 2001 Indie Award for Recording of the Year, Electric Blues, for Shemekia Copeland’s potent release, WICKED (AL 4875). The Indies were created in 1978 to recognize artistic excellence among independent labels.

ALLIGATOR RECORDS WINS 2001 INDIE AWARD!

Copeland — along with fellow Alligator artists Koko Taylor, Cephas & Wiggins, Carey Bell, Ann Rabson (of Saffire—The Uppity Blues Women) and Marcia Ball — are also nominated for a total of 15 W.C. Handy Blues Awards, which will be presented by The Blues Foundation on May 24 in Memphis.

Indie Award winners were announced on May 5, 2001 at the Regal Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles during the AFIM Indie Awards Show. For more information on the Indie Awards, visit www.afim.org. For more information on Alligator Records, visit www.alligator.com.

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ELVIN BISHOP WINS CALIFORNIA MUSIC AWARD!
5/14/2001
Guitarist/vocalist Elvin Bishop won a coveted 2001 California Music Award for his Alligator CD, Elvin Bishop & Little Smokey Smothers, THAT’S MY PARTNER! (AL 4874) in the Outstanding R&B Album category. Bishop, long considered one of the most innovative blues guitarists, began his career with the famed Paul Butterfield Blues Band. Bishop joined forces with Alligator Records in 1988 and has released five albums. Guitarist/vocalist Smothers is Bishop’s longtime friend and mentor, and has released two solo albums in Europe. THAT’S MY PARTNER! marks Smothers’ first domestic release. Entertainment Weekly called Bishop’s music, “Sheer, unpretentious joy.”

ELVIN BISHOP WINS CALIFORNIA MUSIC AWARD!

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MARCIA BALL'S PRESUMED INNOCENT REVIEWED IN THE AUSTIN CHRONICLE
5/4/2001
Read the review of Marcia Ball's Presumed Innocent in her hometown paper, The Austin Chronicle.
MARCIA BALL FEATURE IN BATON ROUGE ADVOCATE
4/23/2001
Check out this wonderfully colorful Marcia Ball feature story from the April 20 edition of the Baton Rouge Advocate, by music writer John Wirt.
SPECIAL MARCIA BALL PROMOTION NOW RUNNING ON ALLIGATOR.COM
4/20/2001
Alligator Records is proud to announce its first multimedia online promotion. Alligator has created a Flash animation presentation on Marcia Ball's new disc PRESUMED INNOCENT. Hear a portion of the single "Count The Days" as well as see photos from the cd booklet, links to Marcia'S concert listings, the Alligator contest and Alligator Radio. Click on the link below and enjoy!!
THE HOLMES BROTHERS TAKE AUSTIN'S SOUTH BY SOUTHWEST BY STORM
4/3/2001
"The undisputed masters of blues-based American roots music....Speaking In Tongues is a joyous, foot-stomping carnival that blurs the boundaries between the secular and the sacred...it's the first great album of 2001." -Chicago Tribune

THE HOLMES BROTHERS TAKE AUSTIN'S SOUTH BY SOUTHWEST BY STORM

Sherman & Wendell Holmes along with fellow "brother" Popsy Dixon, helped kick off Austin's annual South by Southwest Music Conference. The band performed in front of an awestruck crowd on March 14 at Antone's, and then, the following morning, The Holmes Brothers stunned a virtual music industry "who's who" with a 45-minute set of chilling gospel harmonies mixed with funky, juke-joint stomp. The Chicago Sun-Times' pop music critic Jim Derogatis raved, "Only at South by Southwest could you see a crowd of jaded, pierced, tattooed and hung over music-biz pros transported by a transcendent version of Amazing Grace." Major media outlets, including The New York Times, The Associated Press Newswire, The Austin Chronicle, The Austin American Statesman,Wall Of Sound, and Allstar included extremely favorable mentions of The Holmes Brothers performance in their coverage if South By Southwest.        

The Holmes Brothers are currently touring to support their debut album on Alligator Records, the Joan Osborne-produced SPEAKING IN TONGUES. On March 9, Wendell Holmes and Osborne appeared together on CNNfn's The Biz to talk about the album. National Public Radio's Weekend Edition aired a 9-minute feature on March 17, and The Holmes Brothers have appearances booked on World Café, Mountain Stage, Woodsongs and Garrison Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion.

SPEAKING IN TONGUES has been featured or reviewed in Billboard, The Chicago Tribune, The Houston Chronicle, The Dallas Morning News, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The New Yorker, The Washington Post and many other regional and national publications. And the March 18 edition of The London Times chose SPEAKING IN TONGUES as its "Record of the Week," saying "their rhythms take over your body while their voices go straight for your heart."

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MICHAEL BURKS' LISTENING PARTY ON YAHOO.COM
3/19/2001
Check out six cuts from Michael Burks' new disc MAKE IT RAIN, including "Hit The Ground Running" and the title track "Make It Rain". Hear why the blues world is so impressed with this artist and this new disc.
LONG JOHN HUNTER INTERVIEW AND VIDEO GUITAR LESSON ON GUITAR.COM
3/19/2001
Check out an in-depth interview and video guitar lesson with legendary Texas guitarist/vocalist Long John Hunter at Guitar.com.
LISTEN TO THE HOLMES BROTHERS INTERVIEW FEATURE FROM NPR'S WEEKEND EDITION
3/19/2001
Listen to the full interview feature broadcast on March 17, 2001 on National Public Radio's Weekend Edition program. Hear clips of songs from their Joan Osborne-produced cd, Speaking In Tongues, as well as funny and inciteful interviews with Wendell Holmes, Sherman Holmes and Popsy Dixon.
HOLMES BROTHERS FEATURE IN THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE
3/9/2001
The Holmes Brothers and their new cd, Speaking In Tongues, are the subject of a major feature story in the Friday section of the March 9, 2001 Chicago Tribune.
HOLMES BROTHERS Featured on Sonicnet.com
2/26/2001
The Holmes Brothers preview is up and running at Sonicnet.com. Go to the link below to download two tracks, listen to four full length streams, get a bio on the band or go to relevant Holmes Brothers' links.