Awarding The Blues

The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, among 20 other organizations and individuals, will be recognized with Keeping The Blues Alive awards February 3rd during an annual Blues Foundation ceremony in Memphis.

Other honorees will include Memphis’ Rum Boogie Café, manager Charles Driebe, promoter Terry O’Halloran and – wait for it – Pollstar.com as the best Web site for concert information for blues fans.

The KBA Committee also unveiled a new “International” category during the announcement November 29th, set to honor the Lucerne Blues Festival in Lucerne, Switzerland.

While past KBA awards have honored Canadians and Europeans, the committee said in a statement the award recognizes the “global reach and popularity of blues music.”

Each is selected on the basis of merit by a select panel of blues professionals.