El Paso blues guitarist became the first person to win in both the Solo/Duo and the Full Band categories at the the Blues Foundation’s International Blues Challenge Preliminary competition with his duo, The MoneyRaker$ and with his quartet, Sam Barlow & His True Blue Band!

The Blues Foundation was founded in Memphis, Tennessee, “The Home of the Blues,” in 1980 and over the past 40 years, has grown from a small base of Memphis supporters to an international membership of over 4,000 individuals and organizations. Winners are determined by a vote of The Blues Foundation membership. https://blues.org/

Sam will be representing the Greater West Texas Blues Society in Memphis in January at the finals! So why do we mention this? Because Sam records at Montrose Records in Ruidoso, was a finalist in the Blues Album category at the2020 NMMAs and plays primarily in New Mexico.

Producer and engineer Richard Cagle moved is operation from Houston, Texas a few years ago and built a beautiful mountaintop studio in Ruidoso where he has recorded many New Mexico artists as well as acts from west Texas. Richard is also an NMMA winner.

Here’s a link to Sam’s performance. https://youtu.be/Nn6lLiZU1LU?si=moxe88RH-6YwY2vH