Grammys for Booker T. and Loudon Wainwright III, Performances by Jim Lauderdale and Trombone Shorty plus Booker T. for Neil Young Musicares Tribute

Congrats to GRAMMY Winners, Booker T. (for Potato Hole - Best Pop Instrumental Album) and Loudon Wainwright III (for High Wide & Handsome: The Charlie Poole Project - Best Traditional Folk Album). And to Mavis Staples for her duet with Patty Griffin on Oh Happy Day (Winner - Best Traditional Gospel Album) and Trombone Shorty for his appearance on Buckwheat Zydeco's GRAMMY winner (Lay Your Burden Down - Best Zydeco Or Cajun Music Album).

Jim Lauderdale performed during the pre-telecast awards in an all star bluegrass band while Trombone Shorty played to the full GRAMMY audience as part of a New Orleans tribute just before the broadcast.

Friday night before the awards, to celebrate Neil Young as MusiCares Person of the Year and with proceeds going to musicians in need, Booker T. joined Keith Urban and John Fogerty for a rousing rendition of "Rockin' in the Free World". (read more at rollingstone.com)

Congratulations to all the winners! Check out these artists live on stage, please see Tour Dates >>

Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars For Haiti Relief: Donating 100% of Proceeds From Early Release of "Global Threat"

Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars and their record label Cumbancha are donating 100% of the proceeds from the early release of a new song, "Global Threat," to
the International Rescue Committee's earthquake relief efforts in Haiti. "Global Threat" is from the forthcoming album Rise & Shine, out March 23rd, 2010.  The song can be downloaded for a minimum donation of $1.00 - although everyone is encouraged to contribute as much as they can. People who give $100 or more will receive both a CD and a download of the entire album weeks before its official release. You can donate and download the song at:
DONATE FOR HAITI - "Global Threat"
http://sierraleonesrefugeeallstars.bandcamp.com/track/donate-for-haiti-global-threat
http://blog.theirc.org/2010/01/25/refugee-all-stars-shine-for-haiti

It's a great tune and a great way to support the work of IRC teams rescuing lives in Haiti.

Allen Toussaint, BeauSoleil & Trombone Shorty Score Wins At New Orleans' Best of the Beat Awards

Allen Toussaint was the big winner with Beausoleil and Trombone Shorty also scoring wins at this year's Best of The Beat Awards, presented Friday January 22, 2010 by offBeat magazine.  Allen was honored with Awards for Artist of the Year, Album of the Year and Best Traditional Jazz Album for his GRAMMY nominated The Bright Mississippi as well as a win for Best Piano/Keyboardist. BeauSoleil avec Michael Doucet won Best Cajun Performer, an amazing 14th win for them in this category! They also won Best Cajun Album for their GRAMMY nominated Alligator Purse.  Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews won Best Trumpeter for the second straight year in a row.  The Best of The Beat Awards recognize the best of New Orleans music.  Nominees are selected by the editors and writers of offBeat and the public has the opportunity to vote for the winners.  This year, offBeat received the largest number of votes ever.

Congratulations to the winners!  Check them out live on stage, please see Tour Dates >>

2009 BEST OF THE BEAT FULL RESULTS
2009 Best of the Beat Awards: More Winners
2009 Best of the Beat Music Business Awards

Rosebud Artists Recognized In Village Voice 2009 Pazz & Jop Poll

Six albums and three singles released by Rosebud artists last year are recognized in the Village Voice 2009 Pazz & Jop Poll, which calculated 697 music critics' votes for the most important music of the year.

Listed among the year's top singles are:
Booker T., "Hey Ya" & "Space City"
Meshell Ndegeocello, "Mass Transit"

In addition, two Rosebud artists were featured band members on two albums and one single of recognition: Jon Cleary (John Scofield's Piety Street) and Jim Lauderdale (Elvis Costello's Secret, Profane & Sugarcane and the song "Sulphur to Sugarcane"). Also of note are recognition for releases by Rosebud artist Charlie Watts' other band (The Rolling Stones, Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out reissue) and Eric Clapton & Steve Winwood, Live at Madison Square Garden, which features three songs penned by JJ Cale.

Congratulations to all! Catch these artists live, please see Tour Dates >>

Johnny A.'s One November Night DVD/CD To Be Released March 9, 2010

Johnny A. will release One November Night on March 9, 2010, a DVD/CD set recorded live at Scullers in his hometown of Boston, MA. Johnny says of the Recording, "the music and the audience and the night were beautiful. Everyone and everything in the room came together to make it an extremely special experience. For me, One November Night is a special way to end the chapter of my career that [the albums] Sometime Tuesday Morning and Get Inside represent." Those albums helped me establish my identity as an instrumental artist after decades leading rock and pop bands, and as a sideman for Peter Wolf, Bobby Whitlock, and others," Johnny explains. They also earned Johnny invitations to share the stage with B.B. King, Les Paul, George Thorogood, Jeff Beck and JJ Cale, among others. He's performed at such prestigious festivals as Eric Clapton's Crossroads, the Montreal Jazz Festival, and Tokyo's Fuji Rock Festival. Johnny will be playing dates in the Northeast in the coming months with additional national dates to come, please see Tour Dates >>

Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars New Album: Rise & Shine, Out March 23rd

Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars will release their 2nd album, Rise & Shine, on March 23, 2010 through Cumbancha. Hear the first single here. The disc is produced Steve Berlin of Los Lobos who has produced Michelle Shocked, Faith No More, Angelique Kidjo, Rickie Lee Jones and Susan Tedeschi among others, at Piety Street studio in New Orleans. Local NOLA musicians, from Rosebud artist Trombone Shorty to Washboard Chaz and Bonerama guest on the album. The band's journey was documented in the multi-award winning documentary Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars. The resulting album, Living Like A Refugee, garnered the band international acclaim and high profile fans such as Paul McCartney, Keith Richards and Aerosmith, who the All Stars have collaborated with in concert. The band has already appeared at some of the most prestigious music festivals including Bonnaroo, Montreal Jazz, Fuji Rock in Japan, East Coast Blues & Roots Festival in Australia, Central Park SummerStage, and Celebrate Brooklyn. They will tour the U.S. in Spring 2010, stay tuned for upcoming Tour Dates >>

Coco Montoya To Release I Want It All Back March 9th

Coco Montoya will release his 7th solo album, I Want It All Back, on March 9th, 2010.  The disc is produced by Keb' Mo' and Jeff Paris, who also play on the entire album, Keb' on rhythm guitar and Jeff on keyboards.  Mentored by legendary bluesman Albert Collins (a Rosebud artist until his passing in 1993), Coco went on to become the guitarist for John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers for ten years before leading his own band. Upon releasing his debut album, he won Best New Blues Artist at the 1996 Blues Music Awards. Coco will be touring Europe extensively throughout the winter: mid-January through mid-February he will be heading the Blues Caravan 2010 featuring Coco Montoya, Meena, Shakura S'Aida, playing in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, followed by solo dates through mid-March in Switzerland, England, The Netherlands and Belgium.

Loudon Wainwright III To Play Late Night with Jimmy Fallon 1/14/10

Loudon Wainwright III will be the featured musical guest on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon Thursday, January 14, 2010.  He will be backed by David Mansfield and Tim Luntzel, performing "Didn't He Ramble" from his GRAMMY nominated and critically acclaimed High Wide & Handsome: The Charlie Poole Project. Ken Tucker, NPRs Fresh Air rock critic & editor-at-large at Entertainment Weekly recently named the album the #1 Best Recording of 2009.  Loudon will be playing shows on both the East and West Coasts in the coming months, please see Tour Dates >>

Pieta Brown will be supporting all of Mark Knopfler's North American dates on the Get Lucky tour taking place this Spring. The tour begins in April 8 in Seattle and will end in May 9 in Albany, NY - check out all the dates here.  Pieta's new CD , One and All, will be released on Red House Records April 6, 2010, directly preceding the tour.  The CD features a full band with guests including Joey Burns of Calexico.  To check out all Pieta's upcoming live shows, both with Mark Knopfler and solo, please see Tour Dates >>

Rosebud artists have been honored with top spots on a wide variety of Best of the Decade and Best of 2009 lists. Ken Tucker, NPRs Fresh Air rock critic & editor-at-large at Entertainment Weekly named Loudon Wainwright III's GRAMMY nominated High, Wide & Handsome: The Charlie Poole Project the #1 Best Recording of 2009 while NPR's World Café recognized Allen Toussaint's GRAMMY nominated, The Bright Mississippi among the top 10 Albums Of 2009. JJ Cale's Roll On was also Top 10 in radio airplay on Americana stations per the Americana Music Association while Bill Frisell's East/West was honored as the #2 Best Jazz Album of the Decade by the London Times and there is much more.

More praise for Allen's, The Bright Mississippi came from DownBeat magazine, where it ranked among their Best of the 2000's. The breakthrough CD was also listed among the year's best by The London Times, Village Voice, Chicago Tribune and Associated Press. The CD was also named by the French Jazz Academy as The Best Record of the Year. Allen's collaboration with Elvis Costello, The River In Reverse, was also recognized among The Greatest Music Of The Double O's by FolkWax.

Loudon Wainwright III's High, Wide & Handsome: The Charlie Poole Project also took Year End Best Of List honors in No Depression, FolkWax and Froots.

The Americana Music Association's Top 100 Albums of the Year, in addition to kudos for JJ Cale, recognized GRAMMY nominees, The Truth According to Ruthie Foster (also Top 10 on NPRs All Blues) and Jim Lauderdale's Could We Get Any Closer? as well as Carrie Rodriguez's She Ain't Me (also ranked as one of the year's best albums by Folkwax).

Tommy Castro's Hard Believer was named #3 Blues Album of 2009 by MOJO Magazine, #2 in the House of Blues Radio Hour Listener Poll, Top 10 on NPR's All Blues, and also scored high on Best Of lists in the Philadelphia Inquirer and BluesWax. This on top of being nominated for a 2010 Blues Music Award for Contemporary Blues Album of the Year.

Duke Robillard's GRAMMY and Blues Music Award nominated Stomp! The Blues Tonight is also among the BluesWax Top 10 CDs of 2009, joined by GRAMMY nominees Rough & Tough by John Hammond and the aforementioned The Truth According to Ruthie Foster.

Bill Frisell had no less than four CDs recognized by DownBeat magazine as among the Best of the 2000's while his collaboration with Jim Hall, Hemispheres, and his Disfarmer CD ranked #9 and #11, respectively in the Village Voice 2009 Jazz Critics' Poll. Disfarmer also came in at #6 in the Echoes Listener Poll.

Have A Little Faith by Mavis Staples was honored among DownBeat's Best of the 2000's and Booker T.'s GRAMMY nominated Potato Hole was recognized by No Depression in the Top Albums of 2009.

Congratulations to all the artists we have the pleasure of representing on a stellar year of new releases!

Marcia Ball To Be Inducted Into Gulf Coast Music Hall Of Fame

Four-time GRAMMY nominee and eight-time Blues Music Award Winner Marcia Ball will be inducted into the Gulf Coast Music Hall Of Fame in Port Arthur, Texas January 23, 2010.  She will be joining legends in the Hall of Fame including Janis Joplin, ZZ Top and Edgar and Johnny Winter.  Later that night Marcia will headline the Hall of Fame Show at the Port Arthur Civic Center. Marcia was recently named Blues Artist of The Year - Female and Most Outstanding Musician (Keyboards) for the 3rd consecutive year in the Living Blues Readers Poll Awards. Marcia will be on tour throughout the Winter, including dates with Sisters In Soul featuring Marcia Ball, Bettye LaVette & Maria Muldaur and in the early Spring at the International Jazz Festival in Bern, Switzerland.  Please see Tour Dates >>

The Blind Boys of Alabama On Letterman With Lou Reed January 21

The Blind Boys of Alabama will make their third appearance on Late Show with David Letterman on Thursday, January 21. They will be joined by Lou Reed, performing the Velvet Underground classic "Jesus", currently a featured highlight on the Blind Boys' new Duets album. The album is a critically-acclaimed collection of collaborations that features the Blind Boys performing with Reed, fellow Rosebud artists John Hammond and Charlie Musselwhite, Bonnie Raitt, Ben Harper and many more. Although Lou Reed has recorded with the Blind Boys twice and they performed together once before (at a private concert on the floor of the UN General Assembly in 2004 for the Landmine Survivors Network), this broadcast will mark their first joint television appearance. The five-time GRAMMY winning Blind Boys have just returned from performing in China and will be on tour throughout the Winter, including Down by the Riverside dates featuring The Blind Boys of Alabama and The Preservation Hall Jazz Band. Please see Tour Dates >>