The 2008 Blues Music Awards were announced in the Mississippi Delta on Thursday, May 8. The winners selected by the vote of the Blues Foundation’s members are.

1. DVD – Kenny Wayne Shepherd – 10 Days Out: Blues from the Backroads
2. Traditional Blues Male Artist – Hubert Sumlin
3. Traditional Blues Female Artist – Koko Taylor
4. Acoustic Artist – Bobby Rush
5. Acoustic Album Bobby Rush – Raw
6. Pinetop Perkins Piano Player – Honey Piazza
7. Instrumentalist-Guitar – Bob Margolin
8. Soul Blues Male Artist – Bobby Rush
9. Soul Blues Female Artist – Irma Thomas
10. Soul Blues Album – The Holmes Brothers – State of Grace
11. Historical Album – Epic/Legacy – Breakin’ It UP, Breakin’ it DOWN
12. Contemporary Blues Album – Tommy Castro – Painkiller
13. Contemporary Blues Female Artist – Bettye LaVette
14. Contemporary Blues Male Artist – Tab Benoit
15. Instrumentalist-Harmonica – Kim Wilson
16. Instrumentalist-Bass – Bob Stroger
17. Instrumentalist-Drums – Sam Lay
18. Instrumentalist-Horn – Deanna Bogart
19. Instrumentalist-Pedal Steel- Robert Randolph
20. Best New Artist Debut – Diunna Greenleaf & Blue Mercy – Cotton Field to Coffee House
21. Song – “Gonna Buy Me a Mule” – Koko Taylor
22. Traditional Blues Album – Koko Taylor – Old School
23. Album – Watermelon Slim & the Workers – The Wheel Man
24. Band – Watermelon Slim & the Workers
25. B.B. King Entertainer – Tommy Castro

For more information about the winners, and the Blues Foundation, check out: www.blues.org.