Critics’ Poll
Blues Artist of the Year (Male)
Lurrie Bell
Blues Artist of the Year (Female)
Shemekia Copeland
Most Outstanding Blues Singer
Shemekia Copeland
Most Outstanding Musician (Guitar)
Lurrie Bell
Most Outstanding Musician (Harmonica)
Billy Branch
Most Outstanding Musician (Keyboard)
Marcia Ball
Most Outstanding Musician (Bass)
Benny Turner
Most Outstanding Musician (Drums)
Cedric Burnside
Most Outstanding Musician (Horns)
James “Boogaloo” Bolden
Most Outstanding Musician (Other)
Rhiannon Giddens – Banjo
Best Live Performer
Bobby Rush
Comeback Artist of the Year
Don Bryant
Artist Deserving More Attention
Marquise Knox
Best Blues Albums of 2018
Album of the Year
Shemekia Copeland – America’s Child – Alligator
New Recordings / Contemporary Blues
Walter Wolfman Washington – My Future Is My Past – Anti-
New Recordings / Southern Soul
Johnny Rawls – I’m Still Around – Third Street Cigar Records
New Recordings / Best Debut
Keeshea Pratt – Believe – No Label
New Recordings / Traditional & Acoustic
Dom Flemons – Black Cowboys – Smithsonian Folkways
Historical / Pre-war
Various Artists – Fiddle Noir: African American Fiddlers 1925–1949 – Old Hat Records
Historical / Postwar
Various Artists – Voices of Mississippi: Artists and Musicians Documented by William Ferris – Dust to Digital
Blues Book of the Year
Edited by Robert Sacré – Charley Patton: Voice of the Mississippi Delta – University Press of Mississippi
DVD of the Year
Leo “Bud” Welch – Late Blossom Blues – The Journey of Leo “Bud” Welch – Directed by Wolfgang Almer and Stefan Wolner
Producer of the Year: New Recording
Will Kimbrough – America’s Child – Shemekia Copeland – Alligator Records
Producer of the Year: Historical Recording
William Ferris, Steven Lance Ledbetter, and April G. Ledbetter – Voices of Mississippi: Artists and Musicians Documented by William Ferris – Dust to Digital
Readers’ Poll
Blues Artist of the Year (Male)
Buddy Guy
Blues Artist of the Year (Female)
Mavis Staples
Most Outstanding Musician (Guitar)
Buddy Guy
Most Outstanding Musician (Harmonica)
Charlie Musselwhite
Most Outstanding Musician (Keyboard)
Marcia Ball
Best Live Performer
Buddy Guy
Most Outstanding Blues Singer
Buddy Guy
Best Blues Album of 2018 (New Release)
Buddy Guy – The Blues Is Alive and Well – Silvertone/RCA
Best Blues Album of 2018 (Historical Recording)
Various Artists – Voices of Mississippi: Artists and Musicians Documented by William Ferris – Dust to Digital
Best Blues DVD of 2018
Professor Longhair – Fess Up – NEPO LLC
Best Blues Book of 2018
Bruce Iglauer and Patrick A. Roberts – Bitten By the Blues: The Alligator Records Story – University of Chicago Press
