The nominees have been announced, and the readers of Blues Blast magazine, a free weekly Internet blues music magazine published by Illinois Blues, have the chance to vote and choose the winners in the publication's second annual Blues Blast Music Awards.
Last year, over 11,000 readers from all 50 states and 40 other countries voted online for their award winners, which included Chicago blues legends Buddy Guy and Koko Taylor. Nominees in eight categories are chosen by the magazine's staff, music writers, managers, musicians and other industry professionals. See who was nominated this year....
There have been a lot of musical siblings through the years and some of them immediately come to mind, but it's difficult to imagine a group of brothers and sisters quite like the Dinnings. Over a period of several decades, they covered just about every aspect of music; including songwriting, bandleading, recording, and performing on stage and screen. And those doing the performing included a popular all-girl singing group, and a young crooner who thrilled teens with a chart-topping hit that was banned in Great Britain. (And if that wasn't enough, the family's next generation included a member of a popular modern rock group -- but more later about that.) Of course, there were nine Dinning siblings so that gave them a leg up but it's still a fascinating story, one that began with a musical childhood in Oklahoma encouraged by their father, the musical director of a
