This week on Blues With A Feeling, we’re heading straight to Memphis for a full‑blown celebration of the 2026 Blues Music Awards — the biggest night in the blues world. The BMAs are where legends, lifers, innovators, and rising voices all gather under one roof, and this year’s ceremony delivered one of the strongest line‑ups in recent memory.

Across the show, we’ll walk through the artists who shaped the year: • Ronnie Baker Brooks, crowned B.B. King Entertainer of the Year • D.K. Harrell, whose album Talkin’ Heavy took home Album of the Year • Tedeschi Trucks Band, winners of Band of the Year • Tommy Castro, whose track “Can’t Catch a Break” claimed Song of the Year • And a powerful mix of emerging artists, acoustic storytellers, blues‑rock firebrands, and soul‑blues masters

But that’s only half the story.

The second half of the show is dedicated to a man whose journey feels carved from the heartwood of the American South — Robert Finley. Born a sharecropper’s son in Louisiana, Finley lived a full life before the world ever heard his voice: Army service, carpentry, raising a family, and then losing his sight. With the help of the Music Maker Foundation, he stepped into a second life as an artist, releasing some of the most soulful, lived‑in blues of the last decade.

We’ll explore his breakthrough album Sharecropper’s Son, dive into the emotional depth of his songwriting, and celebrate his current visit to Australia with two full sets of Finley’s finest work.

It’s a night of winners, storytellers, survivors, and soul. Join me for a special edition of Blues With A Feeling — where Memphis meets Louisiana, and the blues tells its truth.