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THE GRAMMY FOUNDATION^® AND GRAMMY MUSEUM^® PARTNER TO PRESENT ICON: THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF B.B. KING FEATURING JOE BONAMASSA, KEB’ MO’, KENNY WAYNE SHEPHERD, SLASH, SUSAN TEDESCHI, DEREK TRUCKS, JIMMIE VAUGHAN, AND JOE LOUIS WALKER WITH JIMMY VIVINO AND THE BASIC CABLE BAND

GRAMMY Foundation^® Vice President Scott Goldman to Host Benefit Tribute Event

SANTA MONICA, Calif. (July 26, 2016) — The GRAMMY Foundation^® and GRAMMY Museum^® are partnering on Sept. 1 to celebrate the life and legacy of B.B. King, 15-time GRAMMY^®-winning rhythm & blues singer. Titled Icon: The Life And Legacy Of B.B. King, the live tribute, sponsored in part by Gibson USA, will include performances by multi-GRAMMY winners Keb’ Mo’, Derek Trucks, and Jimmie Vaughan; GRAMMY winners Slash and Susan Tedeschi; GRAMMY nominees Joe Bonamassa and Kenny Wayne Shepherd; and blues guitarist Joe Louis Walker. The show’s music director will be Jimmy Vivino of the “Conan” show. He will be joined by the Basic Cable Band, who will serve as the house band for the evening. Scott Goldman, Vice President of the GRAMMY Foundation, will be the evening’s host.

In addition to live tribute performances and storytelling by artists influenced by King’s music, a pre-event VIP reception will be held at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills, Calif.

“This evening marks a unique collaboration between the GRAMMY Foundation and GRAMMY Museum, and it serves to showcase these charities founded by The Recording Academy^® that share a mission of preserving music’s legacy and presenting it to a wide range of audiences,” said Neil Portnow, President/CEO of The Recording Academy and the GRAMMY Foundation, and Board Chair of the GRAMMY Museum. “This event is designed to be an annual fundraiser in honor of a music icon that will invite the public to enjoy tribute performances by an array of talented artists that engage, entertain, and enlighten.”

“Exploring the enduring legacies of all forms of music, and the artists who created them, is a large part of our mission, and we couldn’t be more thrilled to partner with the GRAMMY Foundation on a spectacular evening that will demonstrate our shared commitment to preserving the legacy of B.B. King,” said Bob Santelli, Executive Director of the GRAMMY Museum. “We’re looking forward to having this amazing lineup of artists join us for a night that will introduce, or reintroduce, hundreds of music fans to the legacy of the King of the Blues.”

Proceeds raised from Icon: The Life And Legacy Of B.B. King will support the initiatives of the GRAMMY Foundation and GRAMMY Museum, two charitable organizations of The Recording Academy.

Referred to as the King of the Blues, King released more than 50 albums since he began recording in the 1940s, creating classics such as “3 O’Clock Blues,” “You Don’t Know Me,” and “The Thrill Is Gone,” among many others. King was inducted into the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame in 1980 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987. He received The Recording Academy’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 1987, has had four recordings inducted into the GRAMMY Hall Of Fame, and he received honorary doctorates from several universities and music colleges. King has inspired a variety of artists through the years, including Bonamassa, Elvis Costello, Robert Cray, J.J. Cale, John Mayer, Delbert McClinton, Jimmy Page, Diane Schuur, Slash, Tedeschi, and Vaughan, several of whom will perform at the concert.

The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts is located at 9390 N. Santa Monica Blvd., Beverly Hills, Calif., 90210. The red carpet portion of the evening will take place from 5:30–6:30 p.m., the reception from 6:30–8 p.m., and the show will begin at 8 p.m. The attire is business casual, and ticket prices are $250 for admission to the reception and show, $100 for the show only, and $50 for mezzanine seating. Tickets can be purchased here.

The GRAMMY Foundation was established in 1988 to cultivate the understanding, appreciation, and advancement of the contribution of recorded music to American culture. The Foundation accomplishes this mission through programs and activities that engage the music industry and cultural community as well as the general public. The Foundation works in partnership year-round with its founder, The Recording Academy, to bring national attention to important issues such as the value and impact of music and arts education and the urgency of preserving our rich cultural heritage. In recognition of the significant role of teachers in shaping their students’ musical experiences, The Recording Academy and the GRAMMY Foundation partnered to present their first Music Educator Award^TM in 2014. Open to current U.S. music teachers in kindergarten through college, the fourth annual Music Educator Award will be given out during GRAMMY Week 2017 and nominations are being accepted for the 2018 cycle. With funding generously provided by The Recording Academy, the GRAMMY Foundation Grant Program awards grants each year to support efforts that advance the preservation of music and the recorded sound heritage of North America, and research projects related to the impact of music on the human condition. Letters of Inquiry are currently being accepted through Oct. 1, 2016, for the 2017 grant cycle. For more information about the Foundation, please visit www.grammyfoundation.org. For breaking news and exclusive content, please “like” GRAMMY in the Schools on Facebook, follow the GRAMMY Foundation on Twitter (@GRAMMYFdn) and join us on Instagram (@GRAMMYFdn).

Paying tribute to music’s rich cultural history, the GRAMMY Museum explores and celebrates the enduring legacies of all forms of music, the creative process, the art and technology of the recording process, and the history of the premier recognition of excellence in recorded music — the GRAMMY Award. The GRAMMY Museum features 30,000 square feet of interactive and multimedia exhibits located within L.A. Live, the downtown Los Angeles sports, entertainment, and residential district. Through thought-provoking and dynamic public and educational programs and exhibits, guests experience music from a never-before-seen insider perspective that only the GRAMMY Museum can deliver. For more information, please call 213.765.6800 or visit www.grammymuseum.org. For breaking news and exclusive content, follow @TheGRAMMYMuseum on Twitter and Instagram, and “like” The GRAMMY Museum on Facebook.

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Media Contacts:

Christina Cassidy/GRAMMY Foundation /310.581.8670/ christina.cassidy@grammy.com

Crystal Larsen/GRAMMY Museum /213.763.2133/ clarsen@grammymuseum.org

Joe Schneider/Rogers & Cowan/310.854.8140/jschneider@rogersandcowan.com

Holly Taylor/Rogers & Cowan/310.854.8115/hetaylor@rogersandcowan.com

The Delta Generators are excited to release their fourth studio album “Hipshakers & Heartbreakers”, a collection of ten songs that range from Roots Rock to Blues, Soul to Americana. This time around the Delta Generators recorded at Woolly Mammoth studio in Waltham MA. David Minehan (guitar player for The Replacements and the Neighborhoods) recorded the album. This album was mixed by multi Grammy Award winner Vance Powell (Jack White, Buddy Guy, Chris Stapleton, Sturgill Simpson, North Mississippi Allstars, Beck, etc.) at Sputnik Sound in Nashville, TN and mastered by multi Grammy Award winner Richard Dodd (Tom Petty, Keb Mo’, Dixie Chicks). Fans helped us to fund the album through PledgeMusic.com.

This album is special to the band because nine months before this album was recorded, Rick O’Neal (cofounding member and bass player) had a major (idiopathic) stroke at age 41. His stroke was so serious that after his five-hour surgery to repair his artery and remove blood clots from his brain, he could not talk and his right arm and leg did not work. To continue performing, Rick had to relearn how to play bass in a different way. For now, Rick actually has to play almost exclusively with his left hand (fretting hand). He has inspired many people who come see the Delta Generators play live. His message to anyone who asks is “Don’t give up” and Rick has not given up his dream of being a recording and live/performing artist. He has been a huge inspiration to us all.

In the last couple of years, the Delta Generators have shared the stage with such acts as Robert Cray, Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Three Dog Night, Jimmie Vaughn, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Johnny Winter, Walter Trout, Popa Chubby, Bonerama, Candye Kane, Michael Burks, John Lee Hooker Jr. and Sonny Landreth, among many others. Notable musicians have joined the Delta Generators on stage, including Brad Whitford of Aerosmith.

The Delta Generators have accomplished a lot since forming in 2008. They won the Boston Blues Society’s Blues challenge in 2008, which earned them a spot in the International Blues Challenge held in Memphis in 2009. The band finished as a Top 10 Finalist out of over a hundred bands. The Delta Generators also won an Independent Music Award for Best Blues Album category for their debut album, Devil in the Rhythm, in 2009 . In 2009 they won Best Blues Band in Worcester Magazine and were nominated for Best R&B Act in the Boston Phoenix in 2010. The DG’s 2nd album Hard River to Row was selected by the Blues Foundation as a Top 5 Finalist (out of entries worldwide) in the Best Self Produced CD competition at the International Blues Challenge in 2011. This album also placed nationally at # 8 on the JamBand Radio Chart, # 17 on the Living Blues Radio Chart and #25 in the Roots Music Report. The DG’s were nominated for Best Blues Act 2011 by The Boston Music Awards, and Best Blues Band 2013 by Worcester Magazine Music Awards. In 2016 the band is nominated for a New England Music Award

The City of Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events has announced the Petrillo Bandshell line-up for the 33rd Annual Chicago Blues Festival taking place June 10–12, 2016 in Grant Park. The free admission three-day festival opens on Friday, June 10 with a celebration of Alligator Records’ 45th anniversary, and concludes on Sunday, June 12 with a special tribute to legendary bluesman Otis Rush featuring notable friends and other musicians he has influenced throughout his career. Other festival headliners include Fred Wesley & The New J.B.’s, Irma Thomas and Ronnie Earl & The Broadcasters. The full schedule will be announced later this spring.

Friday, June 10 – Alligator Records 45^th Anniversary Celebration
The festival opens on June 10 with a salute to Chicago’s Alligator Records who, in 2016, celebrates 45 years of “Genuine Houserockin’ Music.” The Chicago Tribune says Alligator is “America’s most revered blues label.” Rolling Stone says, “Alligator Records has reached dizzying heights in celebrating the blues.”

6:00pm – Tommy Castro & the Painkillers. The San Francisco Chronicle says Castro plays ““funky Southern soul, big city blues and classic rock… silvery guitar licks that simultaneously sound familiar and fresh.” DownBeat calls the band’s new album, Method To My Madness, “a high water mark in their career.” Castro will be joined by special guest, Chicago bluesman Tornozo Cannon. He’ll unleash songs from his Alligator Records debut, The Chicago Way.

7:00pm – Longtime favorites Lil Ed & the Blues Imperials will bring their raw and rowdy blues back to the main stage. The Chicago Sun-Times says, “A party band in the best sense of the word…the hottest purveyors of bottleneck boogie to come out of Chicago since Hound Dog Taylor.” The band’s most recent CD is 2012’s Jump Start. Harmonica master Corky Siegel will join the band as a special guest for an unforgettable collaboration.

8:15pm – Shemekia Copeland, whose 2015 album Outskirts Of Love received a Grammy nomination, will headline the tribute. USA Today says, “Shemekia captures the timelessness of the blues while spinning it forward with remarkable maturity.” She will be joined by guest Curtis Salgado, the award-winning vocalist and harmonicist whose new Alligator CD, The Beautiful Lowdown, will be released on April 8, 2016.

Saturday, June 11 – Soul/R&B Night
6:30pm – Grammy-winner Irma Thomas’ career has spanned over five decades since her first hit in 1960, You Can Have My Husband But Don’t Mess With My Man.

8:15pm – Fred Wesley & The New J.B.’s. Wesley is best known as the music director, arranger, trombonist and a primary composer for the legendary James Brown from 1968 to 1975.

The evening’s opening performance begins at 5:30 p.m. and will be announced at a later date.

Sunday, June 12 – Tribute to Otis Rush
Legendary blues guitarist Otis Rush arrived in Chicago from Mississippi in the 1950s after seeing Muddy Waters perform while visiting his sister. Rush worked tirelessly to establish himself as an innovative blues guitarist, bandleader, singer and songwriter by playing with the legendary bluesmen of the day. Rush set new standards and influenced countless blues and rock musicians, including Carlos Santana, Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Led Zeppelin and many others. A fearless electric guitarist, Rush was a leader in creating the modern, R&B influenced Chicago blues we know today as the West Side Sound.

5:00pm – Ronnie Earl & The Broadcasters open the night. As an award-winning blues guitarist, Ronnie Earl learned from Rush and considers him to be the greatest musical influence on his career and life.

6:30pm – Eddy “The Chief” Clearwater brings his West Side blues to the main stage.The New York Times says, “Clearwater is equally adept at Chuck Berry-style guitar as he is at deeper blues style. He’s a fine singer who puts on a wild, exciting show…the sort of exuberant entertainer who can turn a concert into a party.”

8:00pm – Friends, artists and surprise guests will come together to celebrate Otis Rush with a special tribute featuring the confirmed artists to date: Jimmy Johnson, Abb Locke, Brian Jones, Carl Weathersby, Bob Stoger, Sumito Ariyoshi, Big Ray, John Kattke, Mike Wheeler, Lurrie Bell, Shun Kikuta, Eddie Shaw, Sam Burton, among others. The entire lineup and additional guests will be announced at a later date.  

A complete line-up and schedule for all stages, as well as preview events, will be released this spring.

For more information, please visit chicagobluesfestival.us.

Northport N.Y. – M.C. Records is proud to announce the signing of modern blues harmonica sensation Sugar Blue. The new release Voyage will be all originals except for one Ray Charles cover, “Mary Ann.” The recording is full of what makes Sugar Blue and his band so special; passionate song-writing, tight arrangements and of course Sugar Blue’s out of this world harmonica playing. Voyage is due out in the spring and will mark Blue’s first studio album in over five years.

Look for Sugar and his band to be taking their own brand of contemporary blues from coast-to-coast and around the world.

The 25th anniversary of M.C. Records is off to a strong start. We will not only be releasing a new Sugar Blue effort, also a new Joanna Connor recording both in the spring. In addition, look for an announcement of our third release coming later in 2016 with one of the great blues/roots guitarists of the past 30 + years!

“One of the foremost harmonica blowers in all of Modern blues…” – Rolling Stone

“…an extravagantly lyrical harmonica player” – New York Times