For Your Grammy® Consideration 2025
Earwig Music Company — The Living Blues, Reimagined
This year, Earwig Music proudly presents three unforgettable albums that honor the roots and expand the reach of American blues and roots music — each one distinct, authentic, and alive with spirit. From the groundbreaking guitar artistry of Harvey Mandel’s Snake Walk, to the roadhouse fire of Rusty Ends & Hillbilly Hoo Doo’s Roadhouses, Juke Joints and Honky-Tonks, to the rediscovered folk-gospel soul of Jim Brewer & Rev. Dan Smith’s Take It Easy Greasy — these recordings embody the heart, grit, and innovation that define the blues today.
🎧 Explore the Albums Below
- Rusty Ends & Hillbilly Hoo Doo — Roadhouses, Juke Joints and Honky-Tonks
- Harvey Mandel — Snake Walk
- Jim Brewer & Dan Smith — Take It Easy Greasy
For Your Grammy® Consideration
Best Americana Album
Rusty Ends & Hillbilly Hoo Doo — Roadhouses, Juke Joints and Honky-Tonks
“You can almost smell the sawdust on the floor and the beer in the Pabst Blue Ribbon air.” — Americana Highways
“A rollicking trip through roots, blues, and rockabilly, driven by Rusty’s storytelling and gritty guitar work.” — John Apice, Americana Highways
Rusty Ends brews up a heady mix of gut-punch blues, backwoods funk, and barroom soul—the kind of raw, roadhouse music that keeps feet moving till closing time. Drawing on his Kentucky roots and the swampy pulse of New Orleans, Rusty channels the spirit of the juke joint into every note—where grit, groove, and heart collide. Roadhouses, Juke Joints and Honky-Tonks is a celebration of American roots music at its most primal and joyful, alive with swagger, storytelling, and the unmistakable beat of Hillbilly Hoo Doo.
🎥 Watch The Worm’s Turned Music Video
🎥 Watch the Bad Like Billy The Kid Music Video
🎥 Watch the Midnight Screams Music Video
For Your Grammy® Consideration
Best Contemporary Instrumental Album
Harvey Mandel — Snake Walk
“A master class in innovation.”
– Blues Blast Magazine
“A sonic journey that defies genres.”
– North Jersey Blues Society
A visionary force in electric blues and psychedelic rock, Harvey “The Snake” Mandel’s Snake Walk is a daring fusion of progressive blues, experimental textures, and searing guitar mastery. Across ten tracks imagined during his recovery from a near-fatal illness, Mandel delivers some of the most expressive playing of his five-decade career. A pioneer whose fretboard innovations influenced generations—from Jeff Beck to Eddie Van Halen—Mandel brings his signature sustain, tone, and fearless creativity to an album that’s both deeply personal and sonically transcendent.
🎥 Watch the “Freak of Dawn” Video
For Your Grammy® Consideration
Best Historical Album
Jim Brewer & Dan Smith — Take It Easy Greasy
“A priceless rediscovery of authentic country blues and gospel soul — two masters captured in their element.” — Blues Bytes
“This is the real thing — raw, heartfelt, and steeped in the traditions that shaped American roots music.” — Living Blues Magazine
Take It Easy Greasy brings together two legends of traditional folk-blues and gospel — Jim Brewer (1920–1988) and Rev. Dan Smith (1911–1994) — in a newly remixed and remastered collection spanning 1966–1984. Drawn from rare concert and studio tapes, the album captures the soulful interplay of Brewer’s guitar and autoharp with Smith’s harmonica and vocals on songs that reach back to the golden age of 78-rpm blues. Produced by Michael Frank (Earwig Music) and Andy Cohen (Riverlark Music), this long-awaited collaboration honors a shared legacy of storytelling, spirit, and joy — a testament to two artists who kept the blues and gospel flame alive for generations.