One act came from France and the other from Phoenix, but they both proved to be outstanding at this year’s International Blues Challenge finals, which took place May 9th in Memphis’ historic Orpheum Theatre.

The Wacky Jugs, representing France Blues, left Memphis with a first-place finish in the Band Division, while T.C. Carter Band took home the Gibson Guitar Award for Best Band Guitarist (Piedmont Blues Preservation Society.) Eric Ramsey from the Phoenix Blues Society triumphed in the Solo/Duo Division and also took home the Memphis Cigar Box Guitar Award.

Up and coming funk, soul, roots, pop singer/songwriter and pianist, Brittany Danielle has been a member of multiple Seattle-based bands over the years. Here we see her stepping out into her own for the first time with the debut of her new LP, Hindsight. 

Racing along the thin, permeable line between blues and rock is the high octane, precision-crafted, musical muscle car driven by Canadian power blues quartet Jim Dan Dee. On the way to delivering their much-anticipated second full-length album, they’re stopping just long enough to drop a hot and heavy appetizer, their searing new single “Bleed Me Dry” — available now!

Canadian folk duo Mama’s Broke have spent the past eight years in a near-constant state of transience, pounding the transatlantic tour trail. They've brought their dark, fiery folk-without-borders sound to major festivals and DIY punk houses alike, absorbing traditions from their maritime home in Eastern Canada all the way to Ireland and Indonesia.

If Jake Reeves’ clients had to occasionally wait a bit longer to see their attorney(which, he is quick to point out, none of them ever complained about!), that’s a small price for them to have paid to help him create music as his alter ego Silver People.

Medication Time, the highly-awaited album from longtime British Blues-Americana guitarist/singer/songwriter Todd Sharpville, explores a period of his life 16 years ago where the stress of a child contact battle during a messy breakup resulted in a total breakdown and a two-month stay in a mental hospital in West Wales. The album has been re-scheduled for a global release on July 8th from the DixieFrog label and distributed in the US by Redeye Distribution, with European distribution by Proper Music.

Nerd Salad’s debut album “Press Start'' continues to build upon the band’s eclectic yet accessible sound that they established on their 2017 EP “Your Father and I Aren’t Angry, We’re Just Disappointed”.

Legendary Afrobeat artist and Kuti family scion SEUN KUTI & EGYPT 80 has an upcoming US and European tour, manager Annie Ohayon of Knitting Factory Management announced today. Seun and his Egypt 80 band kick off their tour in the UK on June 1 and are currently booked through September 23, at the new Format Festival in Bentonville, Arkansas, USA.

Freedom Heartsong is a Los Angeles based singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and multimedia artist. In late 2019, he signed a global distribution deal with Dark Star Records, Sony Music, and The Orchard which released his first album “Get A Heart On” on May 23rd, 2020.

Freedy Johnston is pleased to announce the release of "There Goes a Brooklyn Girl", the first single off of his forthcoming album, and premiered previously by The Big Takeover.