Algia Mae Hinton was a national treasure. Guitars and songs and tap shoes were her tools but resilience and joy were her currency. We were deeply saddened to learn of her passing on February 8th, 2018. Born in 1929, Algia Mae came up hard on the farm in eastern North Carolina and raised seven children on her own while earning her living as a farmworker. She spent what little spare time she had celebrating life by buck dancing and guitar picking her witty, tongue-in cheek compositions like “If You Kill a Chicken, Save Me the Head” and “Cook Cornbread for Your Husband and Biscuits for Your Outside Man”.

Timothy Duffy was introduced by Algia Mae Hinton by his professor Glenn Hinson in 1989 while getting his masters at UNC Chapel Hill. Glenn had discovered Algia in 1976, and soon after she was acknowledged as a national treasure. The legendary folklorist Alan Lomax filmed her for his American Patchwork Series.

When he began touring with Guitar Gabriel, they often performed together at festivals and she became an essential member of the Music Maker family of artists along with Willa Mae Buckner, Guitar Slim, Etta Baker, Captain Luke and many others. Music Maker was honored to partner with Algia Mae to support her creative talents for more than 20 years. She might be gone, but her legacy lives on through her spirited recordings and her amazing family.

— Denise Duffy