2010 Muddy Awards: In Review

The Cascade Blues Association’s 22nd edition of the Muddy Awards took place on Thursday, November 4th at The Melody Ballroom to a huge crowd, pushing around 500 or more in attendance. Standing room was even hard to come by at times, as Bill Rhoades recounted later that he arrived and couldn’t even get inside for a while, and had people trying to give him the $5 admission fee as stood by the door. It was also nice to have a majority of all the Muddy Award recipients on hand this year to accept their engraved crystal awards.

Opening the night in excellent fashion was Seattle’s Becki Sue & Her Big Rockin’ Daddies. Always a popular act in Portland and nominated for Best Regional Act, it was sad to hear that this would be the final performance of the group’s long-time line-up, but they went out in full glory and we’ll be anticipating the new version of the band soon, as well as sax/harp player Jim King’s new outfit.

Kevin Selfe put together one of the most intriguing All-Star bands for the after ceremony jam ever assembled, including Lifetime Achievement recipients Curtis Salgado and Duffy Bishop and Hall of Fame members Suburban Slim and Jimi Bott. Others playing the jam were Dover Weinberg, Dave Kahl, Karen Lovely, Brad Ulrich, John Neish, Don Shultz, Alan Markel, Vyasa Dodson, Jim Wallace and a surprising special appearance by Dan Fincher, who had recently undergone quadruple by-pass surgery. Great to see Dan back on stage!

But of course the night belonged to the actual awards presentations. The big winners this year were Karen Lovely and Ty Curtis Band, both receiving three Muddys each (a fitting testament to the quality of act the CBA has been sending to the International Blues Challenge as both were second place winners at that event over the past two years). Other special recipients of note were Curtis Salgado taking home the R&B Muddy for the third straight year placing him into the Hall of Fame for the second time (the only such person to reach this point so far as he is also a Hall of Famer for Male Vocalist and that Muddy is named in his honor); Lisa Mann also received Hall of Fame status as Bass Player; blues crafts artist Dan Dalton was selected by the Board of Directors as this year’s Back What You Believe In recipient for a non-musician role impacting our blues community; and Duffy Bishop was honored with a Lifetime Achievement recognition. Congratulations to all the recipients and nominees. They’re all truly winners!

Special acknowledgement to the people behind the scenes as well. Thanks to The Melody Ballroom for once again providing us with such great accommodations to hold our event. Rich Lantz and his son, with the help of Hurley Award recipient Lynn Wymore for the sound and backline. Conrad Sundholm for providing guitar amps. CBA Webmaster/Membership Secretary Chris Todd for putting together and running the screen presentation. KMHD for running two straight weeks of Muddy Awards-themed shows before the event and a Muddy recipient show afterward. Thanks also to Kevin Selfe for helping host one of those pre-event broadcasts and for putting together the all star band. To all the CBA Board Members who put the whole show together as a collective group. And the biggest thanks of all to our members who voted for their selections and attended. The Muddy Awards are just as much for you as they are the artists themselves.

Here is a complete list of all the 2010 Muddy Award recipients:

• Contemporary Blues Act: Ty Curtis Band
• R&B Act: Curtis Salgado
• Traditional Blues Act: Kevin Selfe & The Tornadoes
• New Act: Billy D & The Hoodoos
• Regional Act: Karen Lovely Band
• Duffy Bishop Female Vocalist: Karen Lovely
• Curtis Salgado Male Vocalist: Ty Curtis
• Electric Guitar: Robbie Laws
• Acoustic Guitar: Terry Robb
• Bass: Lisa Mann
• Drums: Jimi Bott
• Harmonica: Jim Wallace
• Keyboards: Dover Weinberg
• Horns: Brad Ulrich
• Venue: Trail’s End Saloon
• Northwest Recording: Ty Curtis Band - Cross That Line
• National Recording: Joe Bonamassa – Black Rock
• Performance: Karen Lovely Band at the Waterfront Blues Festival
• Northwest Blues Event: Waterfront Blues Festival
• Hurley Award: Lynn Wymore
• Back What You Believe In: Dan Dalton
• Lifetime Achievement: Duffy Bishop

By Greg Johnson

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