Changes to the Best of the Blues Awards Ballot
Honoring the legacies of Patti Allen & Kathi McDonald and info on how and who nominate
After petitioning the membership, the executive board of the Washington Blues Society has voted to make changes to three categories in its Best of the Blues Awards beginning in 2025.
The photography award will be expanded to include video productions as well as still photography and return to the name of Blues Image Award.
Two other categories will strive to honor legendary Pacific Northwest musicians by renaming them as the Kathi McDonald Female Vocalist Award and the Patti Allen Blues Performer Award.(open to any gender)
Please take note of these changes on the 2025 Best of the Blues nominations ballot on page 31 of the December Bluesletter and the online ballot.
Additional Nomination Info for 2025
*Members may nominate artists who have performed in Washinton State in 2024.
*Best New Act Award is for groups who began perfroming in 2023 and 2024.
*The Blues Songwriting award and Washington Blues recording Award is for New recordings released between Nov 2023 and Dec 2024 ,check the Northwest buys guide page for info on new releases. https://wablues.org/music-listings/nw-music-buyers-guide/
*Hall of Fame Band Award is for groups/acts who have been together for 25 years or more.
NOMINATE HERE: https://wablues.org/wbs-best-of-the-blues-awards/
The following is a brief introduction to Patti and Kathi.
Ms. Patti Allen has performed and/or recorded with: Duke Ellington, B.B. King, Lou Rawls, Little Bill and the Bluenotes, RandyOxford Band, Dave Lewis Trio, Don Ells Orchestra and many other international & regional artists. Patti Allen was the first female recipient of the Washington Blues Society’s Lifetime Achievement Award and received seven other Best of the Blues Awards.
As Bill Engelhart put it, “Patti sang with my band for five or six years back in the 80s. We were working six nights a week in those days. Patty doesn’t know how to give less
than at least 150% on her shows.” Allen was also the featured singer with the Seattle Women in Rhythm & Blues, The Randy Oxford Band, and Monster Road,where her smoldering voice and dynamic movements on stage radiated a spirit so true to life, they mesmerized audiences. Patti rocked the stage during seven of the eight years that the blues benefit Jam for Cans has been held.
Kathryn Marie “Kathi” McDonald (Sep-tember 25, 1948 – October 3, 2012) was an American blues and rock singer and song-writer. As a teenager, she sang with different bands around the Pacific Northwest including The Accents (also known as The Bellingham Accents), The Checkers, The Unusuals,and Fat Jack, before she was discovered by Ike Turner. She sang as an Ikette with Ike & Tina Turner and eventually replaced Janis Joplin as the front woman of Big Brother and the Holding Company. McDonald also became a background vocalist for various artists, including Leon Russell, Joe Cocker, The Rolling Stones, Freddie King, and Long John Baldry. She also recorded as a solo artist and fronted her own band, Kathi McDonald & Friends.
Photos:
Patti Allen (Photo by Tom Hunnewell)
Kathi McDonald (Artist Courtesy)
