Blues Music Awards: Buddy Guy, Albert Castiglia, John Németh among winners

Mid-South artists John Németh, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram and Charlie Musselwhite were among the winners at the annual Blues Music Awards (BMA) on Thursday night.

The 44th edition of the BMA honors — staged by the Memphis-based Blues Foundation — were held at the Renasant Convention Center in Downtown Memphis.

The evening’s top winners, each taking home two trophies, were Chicago blues guitar legend Buddy Guy, Miami blues merchant Albert Castiglia and Németh.

Guy’s “The Blues Don’t Lie” won for Album of the Year and Contemporary Blues Album, while Castiglia’s “I Got Love” won for Blues Rock Album. Castiglia also took home the prize as top Blues Rock Artist.

Memphis resident Németh — who overcame surgery to remove an ameloblastoma, a benign but aggressive tumor, in his jaw last year — won for best Traditional Blues album for his LP, “May be the Last Time.” Németh also won the best instrumentalist award for harmonica.

Also from the Mid-South, young Mississippi guitar phenom Ingram continued his run at the BMAs, winning as the best Contemporary Blues Male Artist for the fourth consecutive year, while blues vet Musselwhite — born in Mississippi and raised in Memphis — earned a trophy for best Acoustic Album, for his LP, “Mississippi Son.”

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Meanwhile, Bay Area blues veteran Tommy Castro won the coveted B.B. King Entertainer of the Year Award for the second year in a row.

First-time winners included California six-string ace Laura Chavez, who earned top Instrumentalist in the Guitar category. Detroit singer Thornetta Davis won the Soul Blues Female Artist award, and St. Louis rising star Dylan Triplett’s album “Who Is He?” nabbed the Best Emerging Artist Album honor.

The BMA awards capped a busy week of blues world activity in Memphis, which also included the annual Blues Hall of Fame induction ceremony Wednesday.

Performers inducted as part of the Blues Hall’s 2023 class included Mississippi bluesman Junior Kimbrough. Among non-performers longtime Memphian and blues scholar Dr. David Evans was inducted.

For more information about the Blues Music Awards, visit blues.org.

2023 Blues Music Awards Winners

• Acoustic Blues Album: Charlie Musselwhite, “Mississippi Son”

• Acoustic Blues Artist: Doug MacLeod

• Album of the Year: Buddy Guy, “The Blues Don’t Lie”

• B.B. King Entertainer of the Year: Tommy Castro

• Band of the Year: Tedeschi Trucks Band

• Best Emerging Artist Album: Dylan Triplett, “Who Is He?”

• Blues Rock Album: Albert Castiglia, “I Got Love”

• Contemporary Blues Album: Buddy Guy, “The Blues Don’t Lie”

• Contemporary Blues Female Artist: Ruthie Foster

• Contemporary Blues Male Artist: Christone “Kingfish” Ingram

• Instrumentalist – Bass: Danielle Nicole

• Instrumentalist – Drums: Kenny “Beedy Eyes” Smith

• Instrumentalist – Guitar: Laura Chavez

• Instrumentalist – Harmonica: John Németh

• Instrumentalist – Horn: Deanna Bogart

• Instrumentalist – Pinetop Perkins Piano Player: Anthony Geraci

• Instrumentalist – Vocals: Shemekia Copeland

• Song of the Year: “Don’t Lie” written by Tom Hambridge

• Soul Blues Album: Sugaray Rayford, “In Too Deep”

• Soul Blues Female Artist: Thornetta Davis

• Soul Blues Male Artist: Curtis Salgado

• Traditional Blues Album: John Németh, “May be the Last Time”

• Traditional Blues Female Artist – Koko Taylor Award: Sue Foley

• Traditional Blues Male Artist: John Primer.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Winners of the Blues Music Awards 2023 ceremony in Memphis