The Mississippi Arts Commission presented blues music icon (and Tunica, Mississippi native) James Cotton with the coveted Governor’s Award For Excellence In The Arts in a ceremony held February 20, 2014 at Belhaven University in Clarion, Mississippi. The Governor’s Arts Awards are presented annually to outstanding writers, artists, performers, craftsmen and educators who have made significant and lasting contributions through their work as well as to corporations or organizations on the basis of their dedication to arts advancement. Previous winners include B.B. King, Little Milton Campbell, and Bo Diddley.

Video of the presentation and live performance is here: http://www.alligator.com/artists/James-Cotton/.

Cotton is currently celebrating his 70th year as a professional entertainer. His Grammy-nominated 2013 CD, Cotton Mouth Man, is an upbeat, warm blues album boasting fine musicianship and Cotton’s undeniable spirit. Living Blues says, “James Cotton is one of the great harmonica innovators of his generation. Cotton Mouth Man is a star-studded affair that makes James Cotton’s best recording for Alligator. It is an autobiographical narrative of Cotton’s eventful life and soul-deep relationship with the blues. He plays with an authority and energy that belies his age.”