30th Annual Blues Music Award Winners

Eden Brent, Janiva Magness, Buddy Guy, and B.B. King were the big winners at last night's 30th Annual Blues Music Awards presentation, which was held in Memphis, Tennessee. Each of these artists picked up two or more of the coveted awards during a lengthy ceremony that saw the best that the blues has to offer recognized with awards for excellence in 26 categories.

Blues pianist Eden Brent won her awards for "Acoustic Artist of the Year" and "Acoustic Album of the Year" for her impressive debut album, Mississippi Number One. Riding high on the success of her 2008 album, What Love Will Do, Janiva Magness was awarded both the "Contemporary Blues Female Artist of the Year" and the esteemed "B.B. King Entertainer of the Year" award.

Legendary blues guitarist Buddy Guy walked off with the "Album of the Year" award for his acclaimed 2008 release Skin Deep, which also earned the "Contemporary Blues Album of the Year" award. Guy was also named the "Contemporary Blues Male Artist of the Year." Fellow guitarist B.B. King earned a Blues Music Award for his 2008 album One Kind Favor, named the "Traditional Blues Album of the Year," while King also took honors as the "Traditional Blues Male Artist of the Year."

So how did the Reverend do in handicapping this year's awards honors? Not so good, actually…I only nailed eleven of the twenty-six categories, only 42% correct. Not bad if you're a major league baseball player, not great if you're a "blues expert." I picked a whopping 70% of the album/DVD winners, including Kenny Neal's "Song of the Year," but I took a bath in the individual artist categories. Check out all of the award categories, along with the Reverend's sorry predictions, on our list of the 2009 Blues Music Award winners.

Photo courtesy Yellow Dog Records