Guitarist, vocalist, songwriter and bandleader Joe Louis Walker is nominated for five awards — Album of the Year and Contemporary Blues Album (for Between a Rock and the Blues), Contemporary Blues Male Artist, Guitar Instrumentalist, and Song of the Year for “I’m Tide,” one of the tracks on his Stony Plain CD.

Guitarist, producer, songwriter and touring bandleader Duke Robillard — who recently earned his second Grammy for his 16th Stony Plain album, Stomp! The Blues Tonight — earned four Blues Award nominations, again reflecting the success of his new Stony Plain album. The CD is up for Album of the Year, while Duke Robillard’s Jumpin’ Blues Revue is nominated as Band of the Year; the artist also earned nods as Guitar Instrumentalist and Traditional Blues Male Artist.

Ronnie Earl, the Boston-area guitarist, earned two nominations — for Contemporary Blues Album for his Stony Plain CD, Living in the Light, and for Guitar Instrumentalist.

A fourth Stony Plain artist, singer Maria Muldaur, was nominated for Acoustic Album of the Year, for Maria Muldaur & Her Garden of Joy - Good Time Music for Hard Times, a spirited album recreating the jug band era of the Great Depression.