The Blackburn Brothers are a Canadian blues band composed of a core group of three siblings, Duane Blackburn (lead vocals, organ, piano), Brooke Blackburn (guitar, vocals, composition), and Cory Blackburn (drums, harmony vocals).[1] They are most noted as two-time Juno Award nominees for Blues Album of the Year.
Formerly known as Blackburn, the band has been described by Living Blues magazine as a "generational family band [that] plays traditional blues and R&B with a contemporary take."[2]
Additional band members include longtime horn section bandmates Neil Brathwaite on tenor saxophone and Ted Peters on trombone, as well as Andrew Stewart on bass guitar. Their studio production team includes oldest sibling Robert Blackburn (guitar, vocals, composition), Howard Ayee (producer, bass), and cousin Nathan Blackburn (bass).
The band's first album, Soul Searchin', was released in 1997.[5]
In 2010, they released their second album, Brotherhood,[6] and won the Maple Blues Award for Best New Band.[7]
In 2015, Blackburn Brothers released Brothers in This World, which earned them their first Juno nomination for Blues Album of The Year at the Juno Awards of 2016.[8]
Their fourth album, SoulFunkn'Blues, was released in 2023,[9] and garnered the band their second Juno Award nomination for Blues Album of the Year at the Juno Awards of 2024.[10] Additionally, the album received three Blues Music Award nominations for Album of the Year, Soul Blues Album of the Year, and Song of the Year (a new precedent from a Canadian band), and a record-setting nine nominations in the 2024 Maple Blues Awards, including Entertainer of the Year and Electric Act of the Year.[11]
Discography
Soul Searchin' (1997, Arctic Records Canada)
Brotherhood (2010, Make It Real Records)
Brothers in This World (2016, Electro-Fi Records) (#1 RMR. May 28, 2015)