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NOVEMBER 2011: Johnny A. and Duke Robillard Nominated for Boston Music Awards' 2011 Blues Artist of The Year

Rosebud artists Johnny A. and Duke Robillard were both nominated for 2011 Blues Artist of the Year by the Boston Music Awards. Johnny A. won this category in last year's awards. Now in its 24th year, the Boston Music Awards brings together the music community of New England to honor its best and brightest performers while raising funds to benefit the Music Drives Us Foundation.

Known as sideman to artists such as Bobby Whitlock and J. Geils frontman Peter Wolf, Johnny has shared stages with B.B. King, Les Paul, Jeff Beck, JJ Cale, Etta James, Dr. John, and Eric Johnson among others and has performed at such prestigious festivals as Eric Clapton's Crossroads and the Montreal Jazz Festival. Johnny A.'s rendition of "Walk Away Renee" (originally by The Left Banke) was selected by Gibson Guitars as the #4 Greatest Valentine's Day Instrumental. The song concludes Johnny's latest live double disc DVD/CD set, One November Night.

Duke Robillard's latest CD, Low Down and Tore Up, just spent several weeks in the #1 spot on Roots Music Report's TOP 50 Blues Chart. Duke's most recent album, Passport to the Blues, was nominated for the 2011 Blues Music Award for Traditional Blues Album of the Year. Duke is also a four-time Best Blues Guitarist Winner at the Blues Music Awards (and a nominee in this category again in 2011) and a two-time GRAMMY Award Nominee. His past collaborations include Bob Dylan, Tom Waits, Maria Muldaur, Dr. John, and John Hammond among others.

Cast your votes at bostonmusicawards2011.com and Congratulations and best of luck to Johnny and Duke. Catch each of these artists performing live on stage, please see Tour Dates >>

OCTOBER 2011: Duke Robillard and Bettye LaVette Nominated for B.B. King International Artist of the Year Award

The Toronto Blues Society has nominated both Duke Robillard and Bettye LaVette for their B.B. King International Artist of the Year Award for their 15th Annual Maple Blues Awards program. Honored with the award three years in a row (2001-2003), this also marks Duke's seventh nomination. This is Bettye's third nomination for the award (previously 2006 & 2007). The Maple Blues Awards is Canada's national blues awards program whose goal is to promote blues music across Canada, and to recognize outstanding achievement in the field. Nominees were selected by a distinguished panel of some 50+ blues experts including radio hosts, journalists, festival organizers, and industry professionals regionally distributed across Canada.

Voting is open online at mapleblues.ca, until Saturday, December 10 at midnight (PST), to anyone who resides in Canada. The winners will be announced at the Annual Maple Blues Awards Gala in Toronto on January 16, 2012.

Duke is a two-time GRAMMY Award Nominee's latest album, Low Down and Tore Up, currently holds down the #1 spot on Roots Music Report's Top 50 Blues Chart. Duke's last album, Passport to the Blues, was nominated for the 2011 Blues Music Award for Traditional Blues Album of the Year and Duke was also nominated again this year as Best Guitarist - a category he has already won an impressive 4 times in the past.

LaVette, also a two-time GRAMMY Award Nominee, was most recently nominated in the Best Contemporary Blues Album category for her 2010 release, Interpretations: The British Rock Songbook. Bettye was the Living Blues Awards Nominee for Blues Artist of the Year - Female in 2011, an award she won in 2004 and 2007. She was also a nominee for a 2010 Blues Music Award (Contemporary Blues Female Artist of the Year), a category she won in 2008.

Check out Duke and Bettye performing live on stage, please see Tour Dates >>

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As of this writing, Duke Robillard's latest CD, Low Down and Tore Up moved into the #1 spot on Roots Music Report's Blues Chart from last week's #3 position. Pieta Brown's Mercury, in the meantime, continues its reign at #1 on the Roots Music Folk Radio Chart. And Trombone Shorty's new For True CD is entering its fourth week at #1 on Billboard's Contemporary Jazz Album Sales Chart. Trombone Shorty's major label debut, the GRAMMY-nominated Backatown, also remains in the top 10, a full 78 weeks after its release, with 10 of those weeks at #1.

A two-time GRAMMY Award Nominee, Duke's past collaborations include playing with and/or producing Bob Dylan, Tom Waits, Maria Muldaur, Dr. John and John Hammond as well as sorely-missed legends such as Jay McShann, Ruth Brown, Jimmy Witherspoon, Rosco Gordon and Long John Baldry. Duke's last album, Passport to the Blues, was nominated for the 2011 Blues Music Award for Traditional Blues Album of the Year. He was also nominated again this year as Best Guitarist - a category he has already won 4 times in the past.

Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue have toured relentlessly since the release of Backatown in April 2010. They've performed on five continents as well as making numerous TV, radio, festival and major concert appearances. The new For True album includes guests Jeff Beck, Kid Rock, Ledisi, Warren Haynes, Lenny Kravitz, Ivan and Cyril Neville, The Rebirth Brass Band, 5th Ward Weebie and more.

Recorded in the country west of Nashville, Tennessee, Mercury features Pieta's long-time collaborator Bo Ramsey (Lucinda Williams, Greg Brown), and is joined by great session players including Grammy-winning producer/ multi-instrumentalist Richard Bennett (Mark Knopfler, Steve Earle, Emmylou Harris), bassist Glenn Worf (Mark Knopfler, Aaron Neville, Tammy Wynette), drummer Chad Cromwell (Neil Young, Mark Knopfler) and multi-instrumentalist David Mansfield (Bob Dylan, T-Bone Burnett, Johnny Cash).

Catch Duke Robillard, Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue and Pieta Brown individually live on stage, please see Tour Dates >>

Duke Robillard's new album, Low Down And Tore Up, will be released September 20, 2011. The disc is a return to and affirmation of Duke's grittier blues roots and early influences. According to Duke, "The reason for this CD is basically, I just wanted to go in the studio and record live and capture the real feeling of the lowdown blues in an off the cuff sort of way, the way singles used to be made in the blues world for small labels. Just a whatever happens vibe with lots of ensemble playing. I made a list of tunes I loved from the old days and we just went through it in two days. This is what I think of as a real blues record, not a lot of fuss, no worry about perfection and mostly 'let's have a good time!'"

The program draws two songs each from Guitar Slim, Tampa Red, Sugarboy Crawford, Pee Wee Crayton and Elmore James, and one each from Eddie Taylor, John Lee Hooker (also with an Eddie Taylor stamp), Jimmy McCracklin and Bobby "Blues" Merrill. Duke adds, "I picked these tunes based on two points. First, they were all songs that were part of my experience in learning or playing the blues... Second, I usually picked blues covers by how good they were to me, not because they were popular blues tunes." Joining Duke on the album are Bruce Bears, Brad Hallen, Mark Teixeira, Matt McCabe and Sax Gordon.

Duke's last album, Passport to the Blues, was nominated for the 2011 Blues Music Award for Traditional Blues Album of the Year. Duke is also a four-time Best Blues Guitarist Winner at the Blues Music Awards and a two-time GRAMMY Award Nominee. His past collaborations include playing with and/or producing: Bob Dylan, Tom Waits, Maria Muldaur, Dr. John, John Hammond; sorely-missed legends such as Jay McShann, Ruth Brown, Jimmy Witherspoon, Rosco Gordon and Long John Baldry, as well as producing Joe Louis Walker's "Between a Rock and The Blues" which won Album of the Year at the 2010 Blues Music Awards.

Catch Duke performing live on stage, including a series of Canadian Festival dates and a tour of the Western U.S. in August, please see Tour Dates >>

DECEMBER 2010: Charlie Musselwhite Leads Blues Music Awards With 5 Nominations, Two Noms For Duke Robillard, Plus Dr. John, Irma Thomas, John Hammond and Ruthie Foster Nominations

We are proud to announce that Rosebud Artists have been honored with 11-plus nominations for the 2011 Blues Music Awards. Blues Hall of Famer and 23-time BMA Winner Charlie Musselwhite ties for most nominations of any artist with 5 nominations including Album of the Year and Traditional Blues Album of the Year for The Well; Best Instrumentalist - Harmonica; Traditional Blues Male Artist of the Year and Song of the Year for "Sad and Beautiful World." Duke Robillard scored 2 nominations: Traditional Blues Album of the Year for Passport to the Blues and Best Instrumentalist - Guitar, a category he has won previously 4 times. John Hammond, a 7-time BMA Winner, is nominated for Acoustic Artist of the Year and is featured in The Mississippi Sheiks Tribute Concert, nominated for DVD of the Year. Ruthie Foster, who won for Contemporary Blues Female Artist last year, is this year nominated for the Koko Taylor Award for Traditional Blues Female Artist of the Year. Blues Hall of Famer Dr. John, who recently joined Rosebud for International representation (outside the U.S. and Canada), is nominated for Pinetop Perkins Piano Player of the Year. Blues Hall of Fame Inductee Irma Thomas is nominated for Soul Blues Female Artist of the Year, a category she won last year for her 8th BMA overall.

Other Rosebud related nominations include: for Best Instrumentalist - Horn, longtime Tommy Castro Band saxophonist Keith Crossan; the late Luther Allison, a Rosebud artist until his passing, was recorded live in Montreal, July 4, 1997, shortly before his death. The performance has been released as Songs From The Road and is nominated for both DVD of the Year and Best Historical release.

The 2011 Blues Music Awards will be held Thursday May 5, 2011 at the Cook Convention Center in Memphis, Tennessee and will be broadcast live in their entirety on Sirius XM's B.B. King's Bluesville (Sirius / XM). Congratulations to all! Check out the nominees live on stage, please see Tour Dates >>

NOVEMBER 2010: Rosebud Artists Once Again Score Honors In Downbeat Readers Poll

Rosebud Artists once again were honored by fans in this year's Downbeat magazine Readers Poll (December issue), with Allen Toussaint, Bill Frisell, Tommy Castro, Duke Robillard and Bettye LaVette all placing high in a number of categories.

Allen Toussaint scored honors in four categories, including #2 Best Blues Album for The Bright Mississippi, #4 Best Arranger and #5 Best Beyond Album. The Bright Mississippi also came in at #9 for Best Jazz Album of the year. Bill Frisell came in at #3 for Best Guitarist (a category he has won 3 times in the past). Bill was also voted among the top ten Best Composers and his album, Disfarmer, placed #12 for Best Jazz Album. Tommy Castro's Hard Believer was voted #5 Best Blues Album, while Duke Robillard's Stomp! The Blues Tonight earned the #7 Best Blues Album spot and Bettye LaVette was voted one of the Best Blues Artists. Congratulations to all!

Catch all of these artists individually live on stage, please see Tour Dates >>

NOVEMBER 2010: Duke Robillard and Mavis Staples Both Nominated for Maple Blues Award

Duke Robillard and Mavis Staples have both been nominated as B.B. King International Artist of the Year in the 14th Annual Maple Blues Awards, presented by The Toronto Blues Society. Duke was previously honored with this award three years in a row (2001-2003) - this in addition to six previous nominations. Mavis has been nominated twice before. Both Duke and Mavis were last nominated together in 2005. The Maple Blues Awards is Canada's national blues awards event with a goal of promoting blues music across Canada. Voting is open online at mapleblues.ca, until Saturday, December 11 at midnight (PST), to anyone in Canada with a valid email address. The winners will be announced at the Annual Maple Blues Awards Gala in Toronto on January 17, 2011.

Catch both Duke and Mavis live on stage, please see Tour Dates >>

AUGUST 2010: Duke Robillard's Passport To The Blues Chosen As CD of the Month for September on House of Blues Radio

Duke Robillard's forthcoming album, Passport To The Blues (out August 17, 2010), has been selected as the Blues CD of the Month for September on House of Blues Radio and on their TheBluesmobile.com website. The House of Blues Radio Hour is hosted by Elwood Blues, otherwise known as Dan Aykroyd, and airs on 200+ stations across the U.S. and Canada.

Duke says of his new CD: "this all-blues album was a chance for me to reach back deep into the soul of what I do and let out a lot of steam and emotion - especially on the guitar tracks." Duke is a 2010 Blues Music Award Winner for Traditional Blues Male Artist of the Year and a four-time winner of the Blues Music Award for Best Instrumentalist - Guitar. His recent CD, Stomp! The Blues Tonight, was nominated for both a GRAMMY Award and a Blues Music Award. Catch Duke live tour, please see Tour Dates >>

2010 Blues Music Award Winner Duke Robillard will release his new CD, Passport to the Blues, on August 17, 2010.  Duke says of the disc: "this all-blues album was a chance for me to reach back deep into the soul of what I do and let out a lot of steam and emotion - especially on the guitar tracks.  I played a lot of my solos live with the band in the studio, just like we would on the road.  The energy was fantastic. Making the album felt magical." Duke's recent CD, Stomp! The Blues Tonight, was nominated for both a GRAMMY Award and a Blues Music Award.  He is a four-time winner of the Blues Music Award for Best Instrumentalist - Guitar before his win this year for Traditional Blues Male Artist of the Year.  Catch Duke live tour, please see Tour Dates >>

photo by Laurene Robillard MAY 2010: Blues Music Awards Winners: Tommy Castro, Ruthie Foster and Duke Robillard PLUS Charlie Musselwhite Blues Hall of Fame Inductee and more

Tommy Castro was the big winner at this year's Blues Music Awards in Memphis, TN on May 6, 2010.  Tommy won four Awards, in every category he was nominated in: B.B. King Entertainer of the Year, Band of the Year, Contemporary Blues Album of the Year for Hard Believer and Contemporary Blues Male Artist of the Year.  Ruthie Foster was honored with the Award for Contemporary Blues Female Artist of the Year and Duke Robillard was honored with Traditional Blues Male Artist of the Year. Other Rosebud related wins were: Album of the Year Winner Between a Rock and the Blues by Joe Louis Walker, on which Duke produced 10 of the 12 tracks and guests on one song. Winner of Best Historical Album: Chess' Authorized Bootleg - Muddy Waters Live. Muddy was a Rosebud artist until his passing in 1983.  Best Horn Winner Deanna Bogart plays in the Rosebud booked Legendary Rhythm & Blues Revue with Tommy Castro. The Blues Hall of Fame inducted Charlie Musselwhite in a ceremony the night before the Awards on May 5.  Also inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame this year were Howling Wolf's version of  "Spoonful", written by former Rosebud artist, the late Willie Dixon, who also played bass on the session. Another former Rosebud artist, Robert Cray, had his 1986 Double Platinum Strong Persuader inducted as well. This was the first recording from Robert Cray after signing for management with Rosebud founder/owner, Mike Kappus. The album went on to win the GRAMMY for Best Contemporary Blues Recording in 1987. Please see Tommy, Ruthie, Duke and Charlie live on stage, please see Tour Dates >>

Duke Robillard and Tommy Castro will both have their music featured on The House of Blues Radio Hour episode premiering March 13, 2010. Duke's GRAMMY Nominated Stomp! The Blues Tonight will be highlighted. The album is nominated for Album of the Year at the upcoming Blues Music Awards, where Duke is also nominated for Band of the Year, Traditional Blues Male Artist of the Year and Best Instrumentalist - Guitar (an award he has already won a very impressive four times before).

Tommy Castro's Hard Believer will be featured in the first half of the show. The album was named #3 Blues Album of 2009 by MOJO Magazine, #2 in the House of Blues Radio Hour Listener Poll and Top 10 on NPR's All Blues program. Hard Believer is nominated for Contemporary Blues Album of the Year at The Blues Music Awards and Tommy is also nominated this year for B.B. King Entertainer of the Year, Contemporary Blues Male Artist of the Year and Band of the Year. Tommy previously won the 2008 B.B. King Entertainer of the Year Award and 2008 Best Contemporary Blues Album for his Painkiller CD.

The House of Blues Radio Hour is hosted by Elwood Blues, also known as Dan Aykroyd, and airs on 200+ stations across the U.S. and Canada.  Click here to find a station in your area broadcasting the show or click here after the show airs to stream it from their archives.

Duke is finishing his tour of Europe in mid-March, where he will have performed 11 shows in Greece, The Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Norway and Denmark before returning to play across the Northeast U.S. this Spring.

The Tommy Castro Band is continuing it's tour throughout the Western U.S., followed by select dates with The Legendary Rhythm and Blues Revue, as well as their own shows, in the Spring.

Catch Duke and Tommy live on stage! Duke Robillard tour dates >> Tommy Castro tour dates >>

Rosebud Artists Score Year and Decade End Honors ... read more >>

DECEMBER 2009: Rosebud Artists Nominated for 10 Blues Music Awards

Duke Robillard, Tommy Castro, Bettye LaVette and Ruthie Foster have been nominated for a total of 10 Blues Music Awards. The 31st Blues Music Awards will take place at the Cook Convention Center in Memphis, TN on May 6, 2010. Rosebud artist nominations are as follows:

Duke Robillard and Tommy Castro both have four nominations each. Duke is nominated for Album of the Year for Stomp! The Blues Tonight, Band of the Year, Best Instrumentalist - Guitar and Traditional Blues Male Artist of the Year. Tommy is nominated for B.B. King Entertainer of the Year, Band of the Year, Contemporary Blues Album of the Year for Hard Believer and Contemporary Blues Male Artist of the Year. Bettye LaVette and Ruthie Fosterare both nominated for Contemporary Blues Female Artist of the Year. In addition, Duke produced 10 of the 12 tracks and guests on one song on Album of the Year / Contemporary Blues Album of The Year nominee Between a Rock and the Blues by Joe Louis Walker.

Other Rosebud related nominations are, in the Instrumentalist - Horn category: longtime Tommy Castro Band saxophonist Keith Crossan and Deanna Bogart, who plays in the Rosebud booked Legendary Rhythm & Blues Revue with Tommy Castro. Nominated in the Historical Album of the Year category are: Muddy Waters' Authorized Bootleg and Little Walter's The Complete Chess Masters, featuring hit compositions by Willie Dixon. Both Muddy Waters and Willie Dixon were Rosebud artists until their passing. Nominated in the Acoustic Album of the Year category is: Things About Comin' My Way - A Tribute to the music of the Mississippi Sheiks, which features songs by Rosebud artists John Hammond and Bill Frisell.

Congratulations to all the nominees!

DECEMBER 2009: 10 Grammy Nominations for Rosebud Artists!

We're thrilled to announce that Rosebud Artists received 10 Grammy nominations for this year's awards taking place on January 31, 2010 in Los Angeles. Artists honored with nominations include Allen Toussaint for The Bright Mississippi (Best Jazz Instrumental Album); Booker T. for both Potato Hole (Best Pop Instrumental Album) and a track from that album, "Warped Sister" (Best Rock Instrumental Performance); Jim Lauderdale for Could We Get Any Closer? (Best Bluegrass Album); John Hammond's Rough & Tough and Duke Robillard's Stomp! The Blues Tonight are both nominated for Best Traditional Blues Album; Ruthie Foster's The Truth According To Ruthie Foster and Mavis Staples' Live: Hope At The Hideout are both nominated for Best Contemporary Blues Album; Loudon Wainwright III for High Wide & Handsome: The Charlie Poole Project (Best Traditional Folk Album); Beausoleil Avec Michael Doucet for Alligator Purse (Best Zydeco Or Cajun Music Album).

Other CDs honored with nominations include the collection Oh Happy Day, nominated for Best Traditional Gospel Album which features a song by Mavis Staples with Patty Griffin. True Blood, nominated for Best Compilation Soundtrack Album, features a song by Allen Toussaint. Buckwheat Zydeco's Lay Your Burden Down features a guest appearance by Rosebud artist, Trombone Shorty. Ann Savoy of The Savoy-Doucet Cajun Band is also a member of The Magnolia Sisters whose Stripped Down CD was nominated. And Elvis Costello's Secret, Profane & Sugarcane features Rosebud artist, Jim Lauderdale. Jim also co-wrote the title track to George Strait's Twang.

In other Grammy related news, Grammy nominated CDs, Cadillac Records - Music From the Motion Picture and Little Walter - The Complete Chess Masters also include songs written and made famous respectively by former Rosebud artists, the late Willie Dixon and Muddy Waters.

Rosebud has been fortunate in that generally our artists score between 4 and 6 Grammy nominations every year but 10 is definitely a new record and we are Thrilled, especially considering the fact that Rosebud artists only released 14 eligible CDs this past year. Congratulations to all the nominees!

NOVEMBER 2009: Duke Robillard and Sunny Crownover's Tales From The Tiki Lounge November 17, 2009

Duke Robillard and Sunny Crownover will release a new CD, Tales From The Tiki Lounge, on November 17, 2009.  Conceived as a tribute to Les Paul and Mary Ford, it is also a concept lounge music CD.  It encompasses blues to standards, vintage tunes from movies to South American pop from the 40s and 50s, all recorded in the sprit of Les Paul, featuring Duke's orchestral approach to his guitar tracks and the wonderfully warm vocals of Sunny Crownover.  This release is Duke's third collaboration with Sunny this year.  Duke says of the new CD: "I want to transport people to an age when music had beautiful melodies and a genuine feel-good quality."  See Duke live on stage, including the Legendary Rhythm and Blues Cruise in January, please see Tour Dates >>

JULY 2009: Charlie Musselwhite and Duke Robillard CDs Selected As Best Blues Albums Of 2009 (so far) By About.com:Blues

Charlie Musselwhite's Rough Dried: Live At The Triple Door and Duke Robillard's Stomp! The Blues Tonight have been chosen as the Best Blues Albums Of 2009 (so far) by About.com:Blues.  Of the ten CDs selected, Charlie's is listed #1, while Duke's is #3.  Charlie has recently been nominated for the upcoming Living Blues Awards as Most Outstanding Musician - Harmonica, a category he has won the past two years.  In addition to media acclaim for Duke's Stomp! The Blues Tonight, he has just released an instructional DVD, Guitar Method Volume 1, a master class in playing blues guitar, which includes lessons for choosing chord voicings, experimenting with boogie and other rhythms, using a variety of picking techniques, his favorite turnarounds for playing the blues, demonstrating sliding sixth chords, tips on playing rhythm guitar to back a blues solo and more.

JULY 2009: Bill Frisell Duke Robillard and Marcia Ball NPR Features

Bill Frisell, Duke Robillard and Marcia Ball are all featured on separate NPR programs in the coming weeks:

Bill Frisell's new album, Disfarmer, out July 21 on Nonesuch Records, was chosen as an Exclusive First Listen on NPR's website. Recently named Guitarist of the Year for the second year in a row by the Jazz Journalists Association, Bill's new CD showcases "evocative original themes and motifs here, surrounded by backgrounds sounding distant echoes of country, bluegrass and old-time mountain music" per NPR's Patrick Jarenwattananon. The Disfarmer project began as a touring multimedia work, with Bill scoring a slideshow of images from photographer Mike Disfarmer (1884-1959). Bill is joined on the CD by Greg Leisz (steel guitars, mandolin) Jenny Scheinman (violin) and Viktor Krauss (bass).

Duke Robillard's performance at the Mountain Stage radio show in Charleston, WV is scheduled to be broadcast beginning the weekend of July 24-26. It will also be archived in it's entirety. For a complete list of stations that carry Mountain Stage please click here. Duke, four-time Best Blues Guitarist winner at the Blues Music Awards, recently released Stomp! The Blues Tonight, which he describes as "Blues / classic-rhythm-and-blues, basically where I started in my Roomful of Blues days."

Marcia Ball will appear live on Mountain Stage on August 9, 2009 at the Clay Center in Charleston, WV. For detailed information, please click here. Also on the bill are Hill Country Revue, Cracker, Other Lives and Maia Sharp. Marcia, a four-time Grammy nominee, won her fourth Pinetop Perkins Best Piano Player Award in the past five years at the Blues Music Awards. Marcia was also recently nominated for Most Outstanding Musician, Keyboard in the upcoming Living Blues Awards, a category she has won the last two years.

JULY 2009: Duke Robillard Featured On House of Blues Radio Hour, Ruthie Foster Featured On Mountain Stage, Carrie Rodriguez Repeats on Austin City Limits

Bill Frisell, Duke Robillard and Marcia Ball are all featured on separateNPR programs in the coming weeks:

Duke Robillard's new CD, Stomp! The Blues Tonight, will be featured on the House of Blues Radio Hour, beginning the weekend of July 18-19. The radio show currently has a limited number of autographed copies of the CD available for purchase. Duke describes the new disc as "Blues / classic-rhythm-and-blues, basically where I started in my Roomful of Blues days." Duke has recorded with and / or produced Bob Dylan, Maria Muldaur, Dr. John, John Hammond, Jay McShann, Ruth Brown, Jimmy Witherspoon, Rosco Gordon and Long John Baldry. The W.C. Handy Awards (recently renamed the Blues Music Awards) have named Duke "Best Blues Guitarist" four times and his production work was honored by The Blues Music Foundation in 2004 when he won the Keeping The Blues Alive Award for Best Producer. Ruthie Foster returned to the Mountain Stage radio program on NPR, airing the weekend of July 10-12. Of her latest album, The Truth According to Ruthie Foster, The New York Times wrote, "She sounds long-suffering, forthright, resilient and thoroughly at home," while Paste magazine declared "There's no denying the power of Foster's monstrous voice..." Carrie Rodriguez's Austin City Limits appearance with Jakob Dylan to re-air the week of July 11th. You can also see clips from that show here "Absence"and "50's French Movie".

MAY 2009: Duke Robillard Featured In Blues Revue Magazine Cover Story

Duke Robillard, the four-time Blues Music Award winner for Best Blues Guitarist, is featured in the cover story of the June/July 2009 Blues Revue magazine. Duke is proclaimed as being "a master of many styles who moves forward while maintaining a firm ground in the past." This is borne out by Duke's illustrious history, having founded Roomful of Blues, replacing Jimmie Vaughan in The Fabulous Thunderbirds, leading his own bands with a mastery of blues, jazz, R&B, rock and rockabilly as well as production and/or studio work on records by Bob Dylan, Ruth Brown, Johnny Adams, Kim Wilson, Jay McShann, Pinetop Perkins, John Hammond, Jimmy Witherspoon and many more. His production work was honored by The Blues Music Foundation in 2004 when he was named Best Producer. Duke unveils his upcoming project, Stomp! the Blues Tonight, in the Blues Revue cover story as "Blues-slash-classic-rhythm-and-blues, basically where I started in my Roomful of Blues days." He also highlights his latest project, the recently released CD, Introducing Sunny and Her Joy Boys. "I found swing-era jazz and blues to be brother and sister. Especially the Kansas City sound because bands played a lot of blues, only in a big-band style. This is Depression-era jazz, played all acoustic - two acoustic guitars, acoustic bass, clarinet, and saxophone - and Sunny singing.

MARCH 2009: Introducing Sunny And Her Joy Boys, Featuring Duke Robillard, Out March 24

Sunny And Her Joy Boys debut CD, featuring Duke Robillard, will be released by Stony Plain Records March 24, 2009. Duke writes that the CD showcases, "some of my favorite 1930s tin pan alley and classic jazz tunes featuring the wonderful vocalist Sunny Crownover as well as Billy Novick, along with Paul Kolesnikow, Jesse Williams and myself. It was a joy to record and we are looking forward to doing many live appearances around New England and the country." The disc will be a featured CD of the Month on the internationally syndicated House Of Blues Radio Hour for the month of April. The Rosebud Agency will book the group exclusively while continuing to book Duke Robillard in his other band formats.

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