Larry Kurtz of Trouble & Strife Trouble & Strife, an Orangeville Blues group headed by Larry Kurtz and Bruce Ley, has been voted "favourite blues artist/group or duo of the year" in the seventh annual Canadian Independent Music Awards.

The local group was in competition with four others in its category. Voting had been Canada-wide, and the results had not been announced until the night of the awards.

For Trouble & Strife, this nomination itself was the third one in the past year, but Larry was especially delighted with this one as it is an all-Canadian event for groups that don't have a major record label.

This week, Larry said he had already been interviewed by three radio stations, including one in Newfoundland.

"The win came as a surprise to us," he said, "but it's kind of nice to get recognition after 10 years of work - considering that we had made our first CD only a year ago, and there were some pretty good groups (in the competition)."

He said the IMA trophy is likely to help when it comes to bookings, especially at music fairs and such. "It gives us credibility (nationwide)."

In addition to its three nominations in a single year, Trouble & Strife had been recommended for a Juno award, but Larry couldn't say how close it came to winning a nomination.

"Someone on the (Juno) selection committee recommended us. The fellow said it's not always the major artists who win, but I suppose we didn't make it to the top five.

"I was just amazed that we were even recommended," Larry said.

Trouble & Strife did make it to the top five in the other two nominations as well as in the one it won. It was a finalist in the "new artist" category at the Maple Blues awards in Toronto, and a finalist in the Toronto Blues Society's Canada-wide new talent search.

Larry and Bruce began playing together about 10 years ago, and have continued since then. More recently, Greg Smith of Mount Forest and Bruce's son, Michael, joined.

Those generally make up the core of the group, but Maureen Brown - an awardwinning drummer from Mississauga - and Mike Fitzpatrick, who drums with another band in Toronto, are more or less on call, "depending on which is available."

As well, Dennis King has filled in on drums, and local bass guitarist has often played with the group.

With the touring and other appearances, are members of the group getting rich?

No, says Larry, who operates a woodworking business in his day job.

"There's not a lot of money in it.

"There are no rich blues musicians in Canada. Some are comfortable, but nobody's getting rich. It's more for the music.

"For me, it's a love of music. I really like it," he said.