2008 BMA Nominations: The Good, The Bad, And The Surprising
The 2008 BMA nominations are out so you know what the news is, here’s my reaction to it.
First, I’ve got a lot of music I need to get my hands on and hear before I submit my final ballot. I’m very interested in James Blood Ullmer’s album. Ullmer was nominated three or four times. I have a feeling the Koko Taylor record is going to walk out the door with a lot of hardware, so I need to hear it. I’ve also got to renew my BMA membership so I can turn in a ballot.
Watermelon Slim once again leads the pack and I’m fine with that. The Wheel Man is a fantastic record, worthy of consideration. I also think the BMAs kind of owe him after shutting him out last year. That was just a big bowl of wrong. I didn’t vote for him for album of the year, but he did vote for him down ballot a couple times. He shouldn’t have gotten shut out last year and I’m pretty sure he won’t go home empty handed this year.
What a great day for my friends at Blue Bella Records!
I guess it was from my lips to God’s ears when I told Nick he was a shoo-in for recognition on the B-Sides Concept Album program. Nick was nominated for three awards: Album of the Year for Play It ‘Til Tomorrow, Band of the Year, and Guitarist of the Year. I know he’s getting my vote for at least one of those, and he might just get my vote for all three.
Fellow Blue Bella artists Gerry Hundt and The Kilborn Alley Blues Band were nominated for awards. Killborn Alley is nominated in the Contemporary Blues Album of the Year category. I’ve not yet written my review of the album, but friend of the site Mark Saleski has and he loved it. My review will surface soon. Hundt, whose record I have reviewed and love, is nominated in one of the instrumentalist categories for his brilliance with the mandolin. I can already tell you Gerry will get my vote. That record is fucking great!
One of the other big stories this year is the great Bobby Rush. Rush is nominated four times, due in large part to his wonderful record Raw. I haven’t written what I’d consider a full-fledged review of it, but did write about my initial reaction to it. It is most certainly a worthy contender for some BMA hardware.
Another artist I’ve written about once or twice was nominated in the Best New Artist Debut category, that being Gina Sicilia. I’ll need to hear a few others in the category before I handicap her chances.
Let’s recap the positives: Watermelon Slim made a great record and I’m very happy to see him and his Workers once again leading the pack with six nominations. I thrilled for the Blue Bella Records family. They’ve been such a joy to deal with and I really enjoyed talking to Nick on the BSCA program. The records that were nominated are all first rate and I’m hoping Nick, Gerry, and Kilborn Alley will go home happy.
Now… onto the head scratchers and disappointments. Peter Karp should have been nominated in the contemporary blues category. It’s just unacceptable and a real oversight that he didn’t get any consideration in any category. As I said last night in my interview with Peter, his Shadows and Cracks will be my Album of the Year. I’m very disappointed to see the Blues Foundation didn’t choose to recognize it with a nomination of any kind.
I was disappointed to see The Twisters didn’t get any nominations in this year’s awards. After The Storm is a damn fine record and deserved to be considered.
Matt Scofield Trio’s “Ear To The Ground” should have been nominated for Song of the Year. I never get tired of hearing that one!
In terms of surprises, I’d have bet money Jimmy Thackery’s Solid Ice would have gotten consideration or that Thackery would have been nominated with the other guitarists. I really like that record a lot. I’m not prepared to say it should replace any of the other nominees, but I’m surprised it wasn’t included.
Mason Casey’s Sofa King Badass from NothernBlues seemed to generate some buzz. I’m surprised it didn’t get consideration, either. I liked The Twisters’ record better, but I’m still surprised this didn’t get wider recognition.
Those are my initial reactions. As we get closer to the awards, I’ll be listening to more of the nominees and you’ll be getting my “insider” view into the nominees and my ballot.
Filed under: Tags: Bloggin' the Blues, Nick Moss & The Flip Tops, Peter Karp, The Twisters, Watermelon Slim
Let me also say Nick Moss’ “Late Night Saint” should have been nominated for Song of the Year. Great, great tune.
Initial thoughts:
Picked up the Ulmer a couple of months ago and somehow it missed my iPod rotation. Wow, what a whiff, I gotta pull it out and test drive that mother!
Watermelon Slim never did anything for me.
I haven’t heard the new Bobby Rush yet, but I did like Folk Funk.
I like the Matt Scofield the one time I listened to it, it deserves more listens than that.
And I’ve still got to get that Nick Moss!
The Scofield disc isn’t necessarily a great listen from beginning to end for me but I like some songs on it, especially the title cut.
I’ve been meaning to get that Ullmer CD. That’s going high up on the list.
The Rush is a good one, and I love the Nick Moss. You should check that, Kilborn Alley, and Gerry Hundt’s mandolin CD out. They’re fabulous.
I can’t believe you’re not on the Watermelon Slim bandwagon. I love it. There are usually one or two songs on the album that don’t get it done for me, but the good stuff on there always gets me going.
[...] after a quick blues relapse tied to the BMA nominations, I’ve returned to my regularly scheduled Beatles OD-athon. I listened to “Yes It [...]
Josh, I finally listened to the Ulmer…man, I whiffed badly. This should have made it on my All Stars list. Well, I did state that I was going to miss out on at least one real good 2007 blues record until it was too late, and here it is.