Thanks to Andy Frank and David Newland of Roots Music Canada
for this great video of highlights of the 13th Maple Blues Awards.

Out of 14 Canadian bands and or solo/duo entered in the International Blues Challenge, two made the finals:

Sponsored by the Ottawa Blues Society - Jesse Greene Band - in the band competition (see Memphis performance below). Finals took place Saturday afternoon, Jan. 23. Sponsored by the Harvest Jazz and Blues Festival - Matt Andersen (see video below) - in the Solo/Duo competition. Finals took place Saturday evening, Jan. 23.

Pic: David Hoerl from the Twisters and Eric Thom, our roving reporter.

On Monday, January 18, 2010, the 13th Annual MapleBlues Awards took place at Koerner Hall at the Telus Centre on Bloor St in Toronto.

For the past few years, the MBAs had been held at the Phoenix, a large concert theatre (club) on Sherbourne St in Toronto. On the one hand that venue offered a relaxed, gritty atmosphere where attendees could walk around, network/schmooze and drink while the awards were presented. According to many "regulars" of the event, this seemed to be the right mix for a blues crowd. But on the flip side, this informal setup offered little respect to the artists who were being recognized as the crowd tended to chat as if they were attending a regular "bar gig".