Rush to Receive Lifetime Achievement Award at Golden Gods Awards

Veteran prog rockers Rush will be honored for their years of excellence at the upcoming Revolver Golden Gods Awards ceremony. The Canadian band will receive the Ronnie James Dio Lifetime Achievement award at the event, set to take place on April 11 at Club Nokia in Los Angeles. Jack Black and Kyle Gass of Tenacious D will present the honor, according to Ultimate Classic Rock.

“We are honored and delighted to receive this honor – especially because it will be presented by Jack and Kyle,” Rush drummer Neil Peart said. “Our ‘lifetimes’ are not over yet, and we dearly hope our ‘achievements’ are not either, so I suppose you could say that to us this is the ‘So Far, So Good’ award.”

Black also had this to say about Rush: “Rush was the most impressive band, musically, when I was just learning about rock. Weirdly, they got your body moving in interpretive-dancing ways, but it was still aggressive. Their stuff was just so complex and so tasty!”

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Teen Guitarist Wins Robert Johnson Award, Gibson Guitar

Matthew Davidson, a 13-year-old blues and rock guitarist, has won the 2011 Robert Johnson New Generation Award. The Shreveport Times reported that Davidson, who is from Shreveport, Louisiana, was chosen from among 25 artists by the Robert Johnson Blues Foundation.

As the winner, the guitarist and singer was given a Gibson Robert Johnson L-1 guitar, along with the opportunity to perform at a future foundation event.

“His style was kind of advanced for his age,” said Steven Johnson, Robert’s grandson and vice president of the foundation. “It was crisp; it was professional. His style with that electric guitar was amazing.”

After winning, Davidson expressed appreciation for the legendary bluesman, and discussed his musical influences, including The Beatles, ZZ Top and Chuck Berry.

“I’ve always been a huge fan of The Beatles,” he said. “In the past couple of years, I’ve started getting into the blues, and that’s been great for me because I’ve gotten so many opportunities and honors in the blues world. But I still like classic rock and some pop.”

Davidson performs with The Matthew Davidson Band and is scheduled to play the New Orleans Jazz Fest in May. For more information on this young star, visit MatthewDavidson.net.

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Allman Brothers Band to Receive Grammy ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’

The Allman Brothers Band are at last getting some long overdue respect from The Recording Academy. On February 12, the pioneering Southern rockers will be honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Grammys.

Joining the group as recipients of the Class of 2012 Special Merit Awards will be Glen Campbell, George Jones, The Memphis Horns, Gil Scott-Heron, Diana Ross and Antonio Carlos Jobim. In addition, three members of The Allman Brothers Band will be vying for a Grammy for their solo work, in the category of Best Blues Album. Among the nominees are Gregg Allman, for his album, Low Country Blues; the Tedeschi-Trucks Band, for Revelator; and Warren Haynes, for Man in Motion.

To date, The Allman Brothers Band have been awarded just one Grammy. That honor came for their live version of “Jessica,” from An Evening with The Allman Brothers: 2nd Set. The track took home a Grammy for Best Rock Instrumental Performance in 1996.

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Blur to Get Outstanding Contribution BRIT Award

Britpop legends Blur will be recognized at the U.K.’s version of the Grammys, the BRITs. Damon Albarn and crew will receive the prestigious Outstanding Contribution to Music award next year.

BRITs chairman David Joseph told Music Week: “Blur are as popular today as they have always been. They’ve always felt like the new guard, constantly pushing the boundaries, but incredibly it is 20 years since the release of Leisure, their first album. I’ve long felt they would be worthy winners – their contribution to British music is immense.”

The BRIT Awards will be held February 21 at the O2 Arena in London.

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