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A visual history · Grammys

The winners who defined Trad. Blues Album.

38 ceremonies, 1983–2025. 27 different winners. The longest run belongs to B.B. King, with 2 straight wins.

Who won most recently?
The Taj Mahal Sextet in 2025 for Swingin' Live at the Church in Tulsa.
Who has won the most?
B.B. King, 8 wins (1984, 1986, 1991, 1992, 1994, 2000, 2003, 2009).
  1. Swingin' Live at the Church in TulsaThe Taj Mahal Sextet
  2. All My Love for YouBobby Rush
  3. Get On BoardTaj Mahal & Ry Cooder
  4. I Be TryingCedric Burnside
  5. Rawer than RawBobby Rush
  6. Tall, Dark and HandsomeDelbert McClinton & the Self-Made Men + Dana
Years explored
1983–2025
Different winners
27
Category leader
B.B. King · 8
About this record

Best Traditional Blues Album was first awarded in 1983, so it does not run the full 1959–2025 window.

No traditional blues award was given from 2012 to 2016, when it and Best Contemporary Blues Album shared a single Best Blues Album category.

2000–2025

21 ceremonies

19832025

01 / The reigns

16 winners shaped this category.

The timeline turns the 2000–2025 record into a sequence of reigns. Longer bands reveal sustained runs; color shows the credited label.

  1. 01
    B.B. King3 wins
  2. 02
    Bobby Rush3 wins
  3. 03
    Buddy Guy2 wins
One band per year, because no winner has gone back-to-back in the years on record. Colored by label; scroll sideways for the full run. Outlined blocks are years the award was not presented.
B.B. King'00
B.B. King & Eric Clapton'01
Jimmie Vaughan'02
B.B. King'03
Buddy Guy'04
Etta James'05
B.B. King & Friends'06
Ike Turner'07
Last of the Great Mississippi Delta Bluesmen: Live in Dallas'08
B.B. King'09
Ramblin' Jack Elliott'10
Pinetop Perkins & Willie "Big Eyes" Smith'11
'12–'16not awarded
Bobby Rush'17
The Rolling Stones'18
Buddy Guy'19
Delbert McClinton & the Self-Made Men + Dana'20
Bobby Rush'21
Cedric Burnside'22
Taj Mahal & Ry Cooder'23
Bobby Rush'24
The Taj Mahal Sextet'25

02 / The power map

Who stood behind the winners?

Universal leads the recorded label credits with 5 wins, 2000–2025. The full distribution shows whether power was concentrated or shared.

Universal5 wins
Deep Rush2 wins
Silvertone2 wins
Anti-1 win
Artemis1 win
Duck1 win
Wins by label
  1. Universal524%
  2. Deep Rush210%
  3. Silvertone210%
  4. Anti-15%
  5. Artemis15%
  6. Duck15%
  7. Other943%

03 / The near misses

The names that kept coming back without the ending they wanted.

Counting nominations in this category only, 2000–2025. Excludes 3 nominations credited to Various Artists, which names a compilation rather than an act.

Most nominated, never won this award

  1. 01
    Charlie Musselwhite
    2 noms
  2. 02
    Duke Robillard
    2 noms
  3. 03
    Elvin Bishop's Big Fun Trio
    2 noms
  4. 04
    Eric Bibb
    2 noms
  5. 05
    James Cotton
    2 noms
  6. 06
    John Lee Hooker Jr.
    2 noms

Most losses in this category

  1. 01
    Buddy Guy
    2L · 2W
  2. 02
    Cedric Burnside
    2L · 1W
  3. 03
    Charlie Musselwhite
    2L · 0W
  4. 04
    Duke Robillard
    2L · 0W
  5. 05
    Elvin Bishop's Big Fun Trio
    2L · 0W
  6. 06
    Eric Bibb
    2L · 0W

04 / The archive

Every year.
Every winner.

The complete reference behind the story, showing 2000–2025. Open any year to see the rest of the field when nominee records are available.

YearWinnerLabel
2025The Taj Mahal Sextet (Swingin' Live at the Church in Tulsa)
beat 4 others
  • Cedric Burnside (Hill Country Love)
  • The Fabulous Thunderbirds (Struck Down)
  • Sue Foley (One Guitar Woman)
  • Little Feat (Sam's Place)
Lightning Rod
2024Bobby Rush (All My Love for You)
beat 4 others
  • Eric Bibb (Ridin)
  • Mr Sipp (The Soul Side of Sipp)
  • Tracy Nelson (Life Don't Miss Nobody)
  • John Primer (Teardrops For Magic Slim Live at Rosa's Lounge)
Deep Rush
2023Taj Mahal & Ry Cooder (Get On Board)
beat 4 others
  • Gov't Mule (Heavy Load Blues)
  • Buddy Guy (The Blues Don't Lie)
  • John Mayall (The Sun Is Shining Down)
  • Charlie Musselwhite (Mississippi Son)
Nonesuch
2022Cedric Burnside (I Be Trying)
beat 4 others
  • Elvin Bishop & Charlie Musselwhite (100 Years of Blues)
  • Blues Traveler (Traveler's Blues)
  • Guy Davis (Be Ready When I Call You)
  • Kim Wilson (Take Me Back)
Single Lock
2021Bobby Rush (Rawer than Raw)
beat 4 others
  • Frank Bey (All My Dues Are Paid)
  • Don Bryant (You Make Me Feel)
  • The Robert Cray Band (That's What I Heard)
  • Jimmy "Duck" Holmes (Cypress Grove)
Deep Rush
2020Delbert McClinton & the Self-Made Men + Dana (Tall, Dark and Handsome)
beat 4 others
  • Christone "Kingfish" Ingram (Kingfish)
  • Bobby Rush (Sitting on Top of the Blues)
  • Jimmie Vaughan (Baby, Please Come Home)
  • Jontavious Willis (Spectacular Class)
Hot Shot
2019Buddy Guy (The Blues Is Alive and Well)
beat 4 others
  • Elvin Bishop's Big Fun Trio (Something Smells Funky 'Round Here)
  • Cedric Burnside (Benton County Relic)
  • Ben Harper & Charlie Musselwhite (No Mercy In This Land)
  • Maria Muldaur (Don't You Feel My Leg (The Naughty Bawdy Blues of Blue Lu Barker))
Silvertone
2018The Rolling Stones (Blue & Lonesome)
beat 4 others
  • Eric Bibb (Migration Blues)
  • Elvin Bishop's Big Fun Trio (Elvin Bishop's Big Fun Trio)
  • R.L. Boyce (Roll and Tumble)
  • Guy Davis & Fabrizio Poggi (Sonny & Brownie's Last Train)
Polydor
2017Bobby Rush (Porcupine Meat)
beat 4 others
  • Lurrie Bell (Can't Shake This Feeling)
  • Joe Bonamassa (Live at the Greek Theatre)
  • Luther Dickinson (Blues & Ballads (A Folksinger's Songbook: Volumes I & II))
  • Vasti Jackson (The Soul of Jimmie Rodgers)
Rounder
2011Pinetop Perkins & Willie "Big Eyes" Smith (Joined at the Hip)
beat 4 others
  • James Cotton (Giant)
  • Cyndi Lauper (Memphis Blues)
  • Charlie Musselwhite (The Well)
  • Jimmie Vaughan (Plays Blues, Ballads & Favorites)
Telarc
2010Ramblin' Jack Elliott (A Stranger Here)
beat 4 others
  • The Mick Fleetwood Band featuring Rick Vito (Blue Again!)
  • John P. Hammond (Rough & Tough)
  • Duke Robillard (Stomp! The Blues Tonight)
  • Various Artists (Chicago Blues: A Living History)
Anti-
2009B.B. King (One Kind Favor)
beat 4 others
  • Elvin Bishop (The Blues Rolls On)
  • Buddy Guy (Skin Deep)
  • John Lee Hooker Jr. (All Odds Against Me)
  • Pinetop Perkins & Friends (Pinetop Perkins & Friends)
Geffen
2008Henry James Townsend, Pinetop Perkins, Robert Lockwood Jr. & David "Honeyboy" Edwards (Last of the Great Mississippi Delta Bluesmen: Live in Dallas)
beat 4 others
  • Pinetop Perkins – Pinetop Perkins on the 88's (Live in Chicago)
  • Otis Rush (Live... and in Concert from San Francisco)
  • Kenny Wayne Shepherd featuring Various Artists (10 Days Out: Blues from the Backroads)
  • Koko Taylor (Old School)
The Blue Shoe Project
2007Ike Turner (Risin' with the Blues)
beat 4 others
  • Tab Benoit with Louisiana's LeRoux (Brother to the Blues)
  • Dion (Bronx in Blue)
  • James Hunter (People Gonna Talk)
  • Duke Robillard (Guitar Groove-A-Rama)
Zoho Roots
2006B.B. King & Friends (B.B. King & Friends: 80)
beat 4 others
  • Marcia Ball (Live! Down the Road)
  • John P. Hammond (In Your Arms Again)
  • Maria Muldaur (Sweet Lovin' Ol' Soul)
  • Hubert Sumlin (About Them Shoes)
Geffen
2005Etta James (Blues to the Bone)unverified
beat 4 others
  • Eric Clapton (Me and Mr. Johnson)
  • James Cotton (Baby, Don't You Tear My Clothes)
  • John Lee Hooker Jr. (Blues with a Vengeance)
  • Pinetop Perkins (Ladies Man)
RCA Victor
2004Buddy Guy (Blues Singer)
beat 4 others
  • Eddy "The Chief" Clearwater featuring Los Straitjackets (Rock 'n' Roll City)
  • Jay McShann (Goin' to Kansas City)
  • Roomful of Blues (That’s Right!)
  • Kim Wilson (Lookin' for Trouble!)
Silvertone
2003B.B. King (A Christmas Celebration of Hope)
beat 4 others
  • R. L. Burnside (Burnside on Burnside)
  • James Cotton Blues Band (35th Anniversary Jam of the James Cotton Blues Band)
  • Alvin Youngblood Hart (Down in the Alley)
  • Various Artists (Preachin' the Blues: The Music of Mississippi Fred McDowell)
MCA
2002Jimmie Vaughan (Do You Get the Blues?)
beat 4 others
  • Maria Muldaur & Various Artists (Richland Woman Blues)
  • Ike Turner & The Kings of Rhythm (Here and Now)
  • James Blood Ulmer (Memphis Blood: The Sun Sessions)
  • Various Artists (Hellhound on My Trail: The Songs of Robert Johnson)
Artemis
2001B.B. King & Eric Clapton (Riding with the King)
beat 4 others
  • James Cotton, Billy Branch, Charlie Musselwhite & Sugar Ray Norcia (Superharps)
  • B.B. King (Let the Good Times Roll)
  • Robert Lockwood Jr. (Delta Crossroads)
  • Willie Nelson (Milk Cow Blues)
Duck/Reprise
2000B.B. King (Blues on the Bayou)
beat 4 others
  • Bobby "Blue" Bland (Memphis Monday Morning)
  • Ruth Brown (A Good Day for the Blues)
  • Odetta (Blues Everywhere I Go)
  • Pinetop Perkins & Hubert Sumlin (Legends)
MCA