Every Grammys Best Traditional Blues Album winner

21 ceremonies, 2000–2025. 16 different winners.

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

B.B. King ×3Bobby Rush ×3Buddy Guy ×2
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
Henry James Townsend, Pinetop Perkins, Robert Lockwood Jr. & David "Honeyboy" Edwards'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
Wins by label
  1. Universal524%
  2. Deep Rush210%
  3. Silvertone210%
  4. Anti-15%
  5. Artemis15%
  6. Duck15%
  7. Other943%

Who kept losing

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

  • Charlie Musselwhite2 noms
  • Duke Robillard2 noms
  • Elvin Bishop's Big Fun Trio2 noms
  • Eric Bibb2 noms
  • James Cotton2 noms
  • John Lee Hooker Jr.2 noms

Most losses

  • Buddy Guy2L · 2W
  • Cedric Burnside2L · 1W
  • Charlie Musselwhite2L · 0W
  • Duke Robillard2L · 0W
  • Elvin Bishop's Big Fun Trio2L · 0W
  • Eric Bibb2L · 0W

The full list

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

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