Tedeschi Trucks Band, photo by Bill Kelly

On Friday, May 7, The Blues Foundation celebrated the artists pioneering a future for the foundational form of American music with the 47th Annual Blues Music Awards. Presented as always in Memphis, Tenn., a city essential to the genre’s development, at the Cannon Center for Performing Arts, the non-profit heritage organization offered 26 awards to longtime standard-bearers and young pioneers alike, interspersed with performances from Sean “Mack” McDonald, Eden Brent, Derrick D’Mar Martin and more.

The highest honor at the 2026 Blues Music Award went to Chicago blues guitarist and singer-songwriter Ronnie Baker Brooks, whose selection for the B.B. King Entertainer of the Year followed three wins at last year’s ceremony. D.K. Harrell, who first took the stage at the 2024 awards to accept a Best Emerging Artist Album nod, returned this year to graduate to an Album of the Year award, as well as Best Contemporary Blues Album. Tedeschi Trucks Band took home Band of the Year, while frontman Derek Trucks independently won in the Guitar category.

Other Relix favorites who stood behind the podium included Buddy Guy (Traditional Blues Album), Christone “Kingfish” Ingram (Contemporary Blues Male Artist), Danielle Nicole (Contemporary Blues Female Artist and Instrumentalist – Vocals), Trombone Shorty (Instrumentalist – Horns) and Mike Zito & Albert Castiglia’s Blood Brothers (Blues Rock Album). Read on for the complete list of winners.

• Acoustic Blues Album: Doug MacLeod – Between Somewhere and Goodbye
• Acoustic Blues Artist: Kevin Burt
• Album of the Year: D.K. Harrell – Talkin’ Heavy
• Best Emerging Artist Album: Sean McDonald – Have Mercy!
• Blues Rock Album: Blood Brothers Mike Zito & Albert Castiglia – Help Yourself
• Instrumentalist – Drums: Derrick D’Mar Martin
• Instrumentalist – Guitar: Derek Trucks
• Instrumentalist – Harmonica: Billy Branch
• Instrumentalist – Horn: Trombone Shorty
• Instrumentalist – Piano (Pinetop Perkins Piano Player): Marcia Ball
• Instrumentalist – Vocals: Danielle Nicole
• Song of the Year: Can’t Catch a Break, written by Tommy Castro & Christoffer Andersen
• Soul Blues Album: Johnny Rawls – Make Them Dance
• Soul Blues Female Artist: Thornetta Davis
• Soul Blues Male Artist: Curtis Salgado
• Traditional Blues Album: Buddy Guy – Ain’t Done With The Blues
• Traditional Blues Female Artist (Koko Taylor Award): Eden Brent
• Traditional Blues Male Artist: John Primer
• International Blues Album: J.T. Lauritsen & The Buckshot Hunters – Still Be Friends