Phuket Blues Fest Artists Nominated For Top Accolades

[webfact]

Phuket Blues Fest artists nominated for top accolades

Phuket Blues Fest headline act Curtis Salgado has been nominated for

a major blues music award. Photo: Bengt Nyman

PHUKET: -- Curtis Salgado, one of the headline acts to play at the Phuket International Blues Rock Festival next month, has been nominated for the Soul Blues Male Artist of the Year award at the 2011 Blues Music Awards.

The awards, the blues music equivalent of the Grammys, will be held in Memphis, Tennessee, on May 5.

The nomination follows Salgado's award as Soul Blues Male Artist of the Year for his album 'Clean Getaway' last year.

Apart from his distinguished career as a soul blues musician, Salgado is well known as the man who inspired and mentored John Belushi for his role in the classic film The Blues Brothers.

Joining Salgado on stage next month will be Mason Ruffner, an artist who has gained the respect of iconic artists Bob Dylan and Santana.

Ruffner, from New Orleans, is best known for his track Gypsy Blood, which featured on the Steel Magnolias soundtrack.

Former Phuket Blues Fest greats Eric Bibb, Mitch Woods and Charlie Musselwhite also have been nominated for awards this year.

Bibb has been nominated for Acoustic Artist of the Year and Acoustic Album of the Year for his album 'Booker’s Guitar'.

He has also been nominated for the best Instrumentalist-Harmonica award.

The legendary Charlie Musselwhite has been nominated for Traditional Blues Male Artist of the Year and his latest track Sad and Beautiful World has been nominated for Song of the Year.

The track features on his latest album 'The Well', which has been nominated for Album of the Year and Traditional Blues Album of the Year.

Musselwhite is no stranger to the awards. In 2007 he won Song of the Year for Church is Out, one of the main tracks on his CD 'Delta Hardware', which won Album of the Year and Traditional Blues Album of the Year.

Tickling the ivories, Mitch Woods has been nominated for the Pinetop Perkins Piano Player award.

The Phuket Blues Fest, now in its sixth year, will return to the Hilton Phuket Arcadia Resort and Spa in Karon on February 25-26, with performances on stage from 6pm to midnight on both nights.

The Phuket Gazette sponsors this festival.

For more information, contact Andy Andersen at 086-682 2639 or phuketmusic [at] yahoo.com

-- Phuket Gazette 2011-01-16

[sabaijai]

Could be the best Phuket blues fest yet, with Mason and Curtis on board.

Mason Ruffner will also be joining Santana on stage next Tues night in Bangkok at Impact Arena. Santana's latest single, "Angel Love," was written by Mason.

http://masonruffner.com/

[bbradsby]

My vote goes to Mitch Woods for burning the place down. Saw him rock the house in SF a few times. Memorable. I'll be in Kanchanaburi for the weekend...

[webfact]

Phuket Blues Rock Festival set for blast off tomorrow

The Curtis Salgado Band arrived safely in Phuket last night after a

35-hour trip from the USA. Seen here at dinner at Skipper's are

(L to R): Curtis Salgado, Rich Harper, Chris Cooke, Danny Leoni

and Festival Director Andy Andersen.

PHUKET: -- The Sixth Annual Phuket International Blues Rock Festival is set to rock the island from the moment it starts tomorrow evening.

The ten bands come from seven different counties and are among the best in the world of Blues, many honored with multiple awards and nominations.

Headliner Curtis Salgado, the man who inspired and mentored John Belushi for his role in The Blues Brothers mega movie, probably leads the award winners with his 'Male Artist of the Year', garnered last year at the Blues Foundation Awards in Memphis, Tennessee.

For a full list of the bands and the schedule of their performances over the next two nights, click HERE.

Note that the action starts tomorrow evening at 6pm, at the Hilton Phuket Arcadia Resort & Spa on Karon Beach.

Festival Director Andy Andersen told the Phuket Gazette this afternoon that, "Tomorrow night we're going to let loose the brakes. You will see. I'm expecting absolutely the best festival and the largest crowds in the event's history."

Once again this year, the festival is proudly sponsored by the Phuket Gazette and The Nation multimedia news organizations.

-- Phuket Gazette 2011-02-24