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Published 3:00 pm Tuesday, March 24, 2026<\/p>\n
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It has been said that while pop music is aspirin, the blues are vitamins.<\/p>\n
Cowichan Valley blues man Brandon Isaak is up for a healthy dose of Canadian Blues Music Awards which will be held at the Phoenix Concert Theatre in Toronto on March 30. He has nominations for \u2018Songwriting of the Year, \u2018Blues Act of the Year\u2019, \u2018Producer of the Year\u2019, \u2018Guitar Player of the Year\u2019, and \u2018Album of the Year\u2019 all for his latest album \u2018Walkin\u2019 With The Blues\u2019, which was released in 2025.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt feels amazing to recognized by the highest blues award in our country, and to be nominated among such incredible talent,\u201d said Isaak. \u201cHaving my song \u2018Walkin\u2019 With The Blues\u2019 up for Song of the Year is such a honour. I always pride myself on strong lyrics that have something to say, most of the time. In a world where people use AI to write songs, I pride myself on doing it the way the good Lord intended it, with a feathered quill and a ink well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Born and raised in Whitehorse, Yukon, Brandon and his partner Cindy Mae moved from Langley to the Cowichan Valley back in 2022 craving a little less noise and a little more nature.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe people here are warm and welcoming and the arts are alive and well here on the island,\u201d said Isaak. \u201cIt\u2019s extremely conducive to making blues records over here and the pool of top notch musicians is very healthy.\u201d<\/p>\n
This is not the first time that Isaak has received a healthy dose of accolades. He has multiple Maple Blues and Juno nominations under his guitar strap. His latest album \u2018Walkin\u2019 With The Blues\u2019 has also received nominations for an American Blues Music Award, which really caught Isaak off guard, as well as a nomination from the Blues Foundation for \u2018Best Self Produced Album\u2019, which he received during the 2026 International Blues Challenge in Tennessee.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe got our fingers crossed,\u201d said Isaak. \u201cIt\u2019s a real honour to be noticed by the American Blues Foundation out of Memphis for 2026 International Blues Album of the Year; it\u2019s just all so very exciting for us, we are thrilled to be recognized by both our own country, and south of the border.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s an exciting year as a whole, as it\u2019s the first with an all new structuring and re-branding for the long running annual blues awards. Run by The Toronto Blues Society, and formerly called the Maple Blues Awards since 1997, this marks the first year it takes on a new name: The Canadian Blues Music Awards (CBMA). Isaak, who is thrilled to be one of the performers this year, said it is both an honour and a blast to play in front of all his peers and the who\u2019s who of the national blues scene.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s more like a family reunion or gathering of the tribes and we get a chance to catch up and share some stories and laughs,\u201d said Isaak. \u201cIn these divided times, it\u2019s a heartwarming feeling to get together with like-minded folks, who no matter their religion or political views, all support each other and encourage one another. This is what keeps this small but mighty blues scene strong and hopefully keep growing in Canada. It\u2019s hard times for this musical art form with venues and festivals disappearing and we need not just the people and fans support, but also each other\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n
Isaak was in good company while \u2018Walkin\u2019 With The Blues\u2019. A highlight was working alongside David Goatley, a world renowned portrait artist from England and his wife Sharon who now live on the island. Goatley offered to paint an album cover for Isaak after the two met during one of his sets at the Duncan Showroom. After hanging out, talking about a concept, and taking photos, Goatley painted the cover that has since been the talk of the town and earning rave reviews by both fans and art critics.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are so many aspects and parts of making this record that I loved doing,\u201d said Isaak. \u201cJust working with some of the best musicians in the country was humbling, and exhilarating.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fans will have several chances to see him up close and personal with his Mood Swings for their first live performance at the Duncan Showroom on April 24, and again in Duncan City Square on Canada Day. Isaak will return for a solo performance in Charles Hoey Park on July 14 for 39 Days of July\u2019s Tuesday Blues.<\/p>\n
\u201cI always have a message in my songs whether it\u2019s clear or you have to decipher the meaning,\u201d said Isaak. \u201cI hope people get a good feeling and heal when they listen to my album. I\u2019m currently working on another record and this one has a more current times theme. I always have songs about my baby as that\u2019s a big part of the blues, but I love to dive deeper than that too.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source lakecowichangazette.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Cowichan bluesman Brandon Isaak up for 5 Canadian Blues Music Awards Published 3:00 pm Tuesday, March 24, 2026 It has been said that while pop music is aspirin, the blues are vitamins. Cowichan Valley blues man Brandon Isaak is up for a healthy dose of Canadian Blues Music Awards which will be held at the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2344488,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25179],"tags":[25060,21800],"class_list":["post-2344487","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","tag-awards","tag-music"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Cowichan-bluesman-Brandon-Isaak-up-for-5-Canadian-Blues-Music.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2344487","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2344487"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2344487\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2344489,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2344487\/revisions\/2344489"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2344488"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2344487"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2344487"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2344487"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}