2014 Maple Blues Award – Best New Group
Many thanks to the City of Ottawa
Gritty Roots Rock!
Reviewers have described this Maple Blues Award-winning band as stripped-down, hellaciously rockin’ new blues with the distinctive voice and guitar-work of Murray Kinsley, awesome harmonica, and a rhythm section that swings with reckless, casual precision (Laura Greenberg on bass and Dave Tettmar on drums).
Based in Ottawa, Canada, the band has delivered it’s innovative, original blues to venues and festivals across Canada, the US, England and Germany with great success and accolades.
Murray Kinsley & Wicked Grin won the Maple Blues Award for “Best New Group” in 2014 and Laura Greenberg is a two time Maple Blues Awards Bassist of the Year. The act was a semi-finalist at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis, January 2019.
Wicked Grin’s album “Murder Creek,” released October 2018, has earned widespread industry acclaim and was a semi-finalist for the 2019 International Blues Challenge Best Self-Produced CD Award.
Wicked Grin’s album “Eye Of The Storm” was released Jan 2025 to industry acclaim and play.
To the journey!
High Resolution Photos
Video
Murray Kinsley & Wicked Grin Quartet
Murray Kinsley & Wicked Grin Trio
Testimonials
“Thanks for the EP… the real, raw, authentic and not derivative sound fits right into the second hour of B&B along with guitarist Tommy Castro’s soon to be released album. With Steve, Jesse, and Zeek adding their parts EYE is an EP that should get a lot of attention from blues fans in lots of place. Congrats…” – John Tackaberry, CKCU, Black & Blues, Jan 30 2025
“Yesterday, over 300 of us at The Eastside Bar witnessed an entire afternoon of greatness – a level of musicianship that frankly I have never heard even from the biggest bands in the world I’ve seen at major arena concerts.”
“Their style of “Gritty Roots Rock” is a marvel to listen to, played with such precision and power – this band went into overdrive from the 1st song and almost dared the crowd to hang on for two amazing sets. The entire band is on another level of musical skill, it’s frightening how good they are individually and as a collective within a band. Murray’s use of a “Cigar Box” guitar totally blew me away” – Jim McCormick, Great Lakes Blues Society
“Murray Kinsley knows how to get at the emotion of an incident and set it to lyrics and song. His take on both the Boston Marathon bombings in 2013 ‘Heaven’ was a moving moment in the evening’s music. ‘Trouble Coming’, inspired by shootings in Florida was another such emotional song that had me thinking Johnny Cash would have loved to have tackled – it had that God-fearing gospel vibe that Cash handled with such ease and power, towards the end of his career particularly.” John Hurd, 3 Songs Bonn, Kleines Theater, Bonn, Germany
“By evening’s end there was loud applause and repeated calls for encores that could have gone into the the midnight hours. It was that sort of magical evening” – John Hurd, 3 Songs Bonn, Kleines Theater, Bonn, Germany
“Stormy Water finds Kinsley and his cohorts exploring topics like domestic abuse and the inevitability that gives mortality its power with a clear eye and an unsentimental approach. Factor into that the man’s obvious dexterity on the six-string and the unmistakable bite in his seen-it-all vocals laid out clean and neat with a band matching him step for step and the end result is an album totally justified in taking its rightful place in this year’s best-of lists.” – Rod Nicholson, Scene Magazine
“sleeves-rolled-up rough and ready set of blues tunes that will make your Saturday night a hell of a lot more fun than it would have been otherwise.” – John The Rock Doctor, Gonzo Online
“some of the raunchiest blues-rock heard around here in years!” – Owen Evans, Canada South Blues Society
Social Media Links
http://www.youtube.com/wickedgrinblues
http://www.instagram.com/wickedgrinblues
http://www.wickedgrin.ca
AWARDS
- 2014 Maple Blues Award – Best New Group
- 2014 Runner-up – Toronto Blues Society New Talent Search
- 2014 Blues Rock Album of the Year – Shame On Me – The Blues Underground Network
- 2014 Winner Ottawa Blues Society’s Road To Memphis Challenge
- 2015 Maple Blues Award – Bassist of The Year – Leigh-Anne Stanton
- 2015 Blues Rock Album of the Year – Stormy Water – The Blues Underground Network
- 2015 International Blues Challenge Participants
- 2015 Top 20 Canadian Blues Albums – Stormy Water – Brent Morrison – Rockin’ Blues Show
- 2018 Winner of the Loyal Blues Fellowship Road To Memphis Challenge
- 2018 Maple Blues Award Nomination – Bassist of the Year – Leigh-Anne Stanton
- 2018 International Blues Challenge Semi Finalists
- 2018 International Blues Challenge Best Self Produced CD Semi Finalists – Murder Creek