Congratulations to all the Artists and Bands I have picked this year in the following categories... Your faith and dedication to your Art is not only an inspiration to your fellow peers, but also a immense source of joy for all your fans.

Future Of The Blues - Class Of 2014

Johnny Cox (Canada)
Magnus Berg (Norway)

Blues Underground Network Editor Choice Award 2014
(Most Unique & Original Sounding Blues Album Of The Year)

"Blue Yonder" Hard Garden (USA)

It always amazes me when artists change up their music and still manage come out with a simply brilliant sound. Such is the case with Hard Garden, a newly formed trio that hail out of Seattle, Washington, consisting of Son Jack Jr., (Guitar/Vocals/Bass), Michael Wilde (Harp/Vocals), and Garrett Williams (Guitar/Percussion/Bass/Keys). Son Jack Jr., and Michael Wilde had previously released the critically acclaimed album "Walk The Talk" in 2010, an album which had no problem getting my nod as Best USA Blues Album in my 2010 Year End Review and #2 on my 2010 Top 10 Albums List. "Blue Yonder" marks Son Jack Jr. and Michael Wilde's debut release as Hard Garden, and although still only January of 2014, as I write this review, I got a pretty good feeling that this beauty will still be a mighty big consideration for me come Year End Review and Top 10 List time.

Continue Reading My Review Of This Amazing Album Here... https://bluesundergroundnetwork.com/Hard_Garden_CD.html

Marshall Lawrence Ambassador Of The Blues Award 2014

The Marshall Lawrence Ambassador Of The Blues Award category, is awarded each year to an individual whoms cornerstones of dedication, love, enthusiasm, and respect for the blues goes far beyond your typical Blues Artists. It is with absolute honor that I pick Kat Danser as this years recepient.

About Kat

Kat Danser’s music navigates a paddle steamer from the muddy banks of the Mississippi Delta downriver toward a big ol’ full moon over New Orleans. Dubbed ‘Queen of the Swamp Blues’, this Edmonton-based guitar slinger, songsmith, and blazing vocalist channels the spirit of roots, blues and gospel music pioneers.

Her fourth album, Baptized by the Mud, is a collaboration between Danser and Juno-award winning producer Steve Dawson. The recording addresses the dichotomy of ‘church-blues’: blues music as devilish and church music as angelic. This sub-genre demonstrates that human truth and the divine are one in the same – “one is preached from behind the pulpit and the other from behind the plow”. 

This CD (distributed by Outside Music) is the summation of years of study, mentorship, and songwriting with legendary blues icons in Mississippi-  birthplace of the blues- and her graduate studies at the U of A, where Danser focused her Masters thesis on the representation of blues music over the past century. 

A national touring and award-winning artist, Danser has performed at the 25^th Anniversary of Canadian Women in Blues at Massey Hall in Toronto, the Calgary International Blues Festival, Winnipeg Folk Festival, Edmonton Folk Music Festival, Calgary Folk Festival, Vancouver Folk Festival, Folk on the Rocks Festival in Yellowknife, Regina Folk Festival, Saskatoon Blues Festival, Vancouver Island MusicFest, The Winspear Centre’s ‘Mayor’s Celebration of the Arts’, Lunenburg Folk Harbour Festival, Mountainview Music Festival, Islands Music Festival and the Winter Roots and Blues Festival.

Media reviews and interviews have occurred on CBC Radio, Global TV, Halifax Chronicle, FYI Music, Vancouver Georgia Straight, Edmonton Journal, CKUA Radio, Winnipeg Free Press, CTV, Edmonton Sun, Toronto Blues Society, Blues Matters!, Penguin Eggs; with highlights being featured by CTV’s Alberta Primetime, co-hosting an edition of Natch’l Blues on CKUA with Holger Petersen, and completing a short documentary film entitled Rails & Rivers: Searching for the Heart of the Blues. 

Her accolades of late have been many. Danser recently won the ‘Best Blues Album’ (Alberta-International Blues Foundation) award, the ‘Top 13 of 2013’ CBC Readio, garnered her first national Maple Blues ‘Best New Artist’ nomination, her second Western Canadian Music Award ‘Blues Recording of the Year’ nomination, and the completion of a Masters in Music from the University of Alberta.

Danser is currently working on her PhD in Music focusing on music and meaning. She instructs undergraduate students of Popular Music at the University of Alberta, facilitates music and healing at the U-School Program, and instructs her own Music Education Program from elementary schools to adult instructional camps. Danser’s primary goal is to use music as a space for personal exploration and as a method to strengthen communities.

For more information on Kat Danser, visit http://katdanser.com/

This year saw the release of Kat's Critically Acclaimed Album, "Baptized by the Mud". My review of that release can be read here...