The Telluride Blues & Brews Festival will be honored with The Blues Foundation's 2009 Keeping the Blues Alive (KBA) Award on, Saturday, February 7, 2009 in Memphis Tennessee. The KBA ceremony will be held in conjunction with the 25th International Blues Challenge (IBC) weekend of events that will feature the semifinals and finals of the world’s largest gathering of Blues bands, as well as seminars, presentations, and receptions for Blues societies, fans and professionals.
The Keeping the Blues Alive Awards recognize the significant contributions to Blues music made by the people behind the scenes. Each is selected on the basis of merit by a select panel of Blues professionals. KBA Chairman Art Tipaldi notes with respect to this year’s recipients, “As is often the case, this year the committee recognized some individuals that have long-deserved to be honored as well as identifying others who have made a very impressive mark on Blues music in a relatively short period. Once again, the honorees cover the United States map. In addition, two Italian organizations were selected for their commitment to the Blues genre in their country.”
Celebrating 15 years this past September, Telluride Blues & Brews has become one of the hottest Blues festivals in America. Though the primary focus is Blues, soul, gospel, rock with a touch of jam bands make to the Telluride Blues & Brews Festival noteworthy enough to be listed in the best selling book, 1,000 Places to See in the USA and Canada Before You Die. B.B. King was quoted saying, “Out of the 90 different countries I’ve been to, I’ve never seen anything more beautiful than what you have here.” With the Rocky Mountains as the stage backdrop, the King of the Blues is absolutely right.
