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"Life is the blues. Not necessarily all good. Not necessarily all bad. It's a feeling that can't be faked." - Jontavious Willis - His first recorded album, Blue Metamorphosis, first became available on his website. He's also got Jock Webb on there, which should have an effect similar to telling Jules from Pulp Fiction that Winston Wolf is coming. Do you feel better about grabbing a copy of his debut knowing about the appearance of Jock Webb? [grinning] "Shit, yeah! That's all you had to say!"
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A few years ago, Jock Webb walked on stage in Memphis and won the International Blues Challenge (IBC), but the judges did not agree with our assessment and handed the hardware off to another contestant. The IBC regained some of its integrity in 2018 when it made a correct decision and handed the...
Award for Best Self-Produced CD to Jontavious Willis for his debut album, Blue Metamorphosis!
The album was always deserving of an award, and I sincerely congratulate my friend on the production of such a high-quality debut. Perhaps most responsible for the IBC award was the Atlanta Blues Society, for it was almost certainly their nomination that put the freshmen recording effort in the race in the first place. We know that the IBC made the right decision about this award--what a refreshing, yet unfortunately novel, a concept that should be done for all awards in the future.
A Disturbing Development Revealed
Acting on the concerns of Jock Webb, and after conducting a little research into the history of the awards, the MZMF has discovered a disturbing development. Since the inception of the awards at the Blues Foundation, each of them had been given in a specific category and each award had been given on the basis of merit. Beginning in 2016, this policy changed, and the following examination of a single award for "Historic Preservation" will illuminate this problem.
The Historic Preservation Award had always been a very important part of the Keeping the Blues Alive Awards, having gone almost every year to a major leader or institution involved in the blues. In 2016, the Blues Foundation did away with this important award in favor of doling out awards of a general nature, and sometimes with no regard for industry standards and practices.
Historic Preservation Award Recipients since 1981
David Evans in 1981
Sid Graves in 1989
Bob Koester, Delmark Records in 1990
Larry Cohn, Roots N’ Blues Series, Columbia Records - 1991
Center for Southern Folklore - 1993
Skip Henderson
(founder of the Mt. Zion Memorial Fund)
1995
Delta Blues Museum - 1996
Blues Archive at University of Mississippi - 1997
David Sanjek–New York, NY - 1998
Yazoo Records - 1999
Maxwell Street Historical Preservation Coalition - 2000
Johnny Parth of Document Records - 2001
Blue Heaven Studios & Revenant Records and John Fahey - 2002
Nuthin’ But The Blues - 2003
Europas Blues Senter, Nottoden, Norway - 2004
Music Maker Relief Foundation, Hillsborough, NC - 2005
River Museum Experience – Davenport, IA - 2006
Howlin’ Wolf Blues Society, West Point, MS - 2007
Mississippi Blues Commission and MDA, Division of Tourism, Jackson, MS - 2008
Shack Up Inn, Clarksdale, MS - 2009
Eric Leblanc, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada - 2010
Canada South Blues Museum – Windsor, Ontario, Canada - 2011
No Award in 2012
Critters – Clarksdale, Mississippi - 2013
George Mitchell – Fort Myers, Florida - 2014
Guido van Rijn Overveen, The Netherlands - 2015
Canada South Blues Museum – Windsor, Ontario, Canada - 2011
No Award in 2012
Critters – Clarksdale, Mississippi - 2013
George Mitchell – Fort Myers, Florida - 2014
Guido van Rijn Overveen, The Netherlands - 2015
In 2016, the Blues Foundation quit handing out the specific award for historic preservation and started handing out general awards for general blues stuff. It is antithetical to give out an award won by the Mt. Zion Memorial Fund to another organization that intentionally leaves out families and does no research whatsoever before throwing down the cheapest possible stone, which several times have been stolen and sometimes have been thrown down in the wrong cemeteries out of pride and disrespect. To give an award to a group that intentionally disregards and ignores the standard practices of respect, decency, and inclusive practice has no place on this list, even with a more general blanket award for having done blues stuff. I am filled with hope that their moratorium on intentionally disrespectful projects will end with their latest milestone. I won't say the devil's name. No one ever cares about preservation much in Mississippi.
We do. Now that's the deep blues.
