My brother Dan brought home each American Splendor comic book as Harvey Pekar published them when I was growing up.  Harvey Pekar was a jazz critic, an original bebop fan, who wrote an annual comic about daily life in the Veterans Administration hospital in Cleveland where he served as file clerk.  His old record-picking friend, […]

Rhiannon Giddens, a member of the Carolina Chocolate Drops, an MMRF board member and a Next Generation artist, has partnered here with her sister, Lalenja, to release a unique, multidimensional album featuring gospel duets, old-time music, and original poetry. On the 15-track album, Rhiannon plays banjo and fiddle on the album in addition to singing. […]

Listen: Here Come the Girls In our past twenty years, there are many artists Music Maker has worked with; some needed more help than others. In the case of Ernie, photographed here with legendary Bluesman Taj Mahal, he needed assistance with paying for his medicine, and with the opening of his “Mother-In-Law Lounge” in New […]

One of the great boons to being located in the Triangle region of North Carolina is the thriving cultural scene: museums, music and film abound, and this atmosphere naturally lends itself to the kind of work that we do at Music Maker. Not only that, but our musicians and the genres they tend to play […]

Listen: John Henry I was listening to the local jazz station on my way into work this morning and Kenny Burrell’s “Chitlins con Carne” came on. Kenny Burrell is a jazz guitarist and composer who’s style is deeply influenced by blues and his musical surrounding growing up in Detriot, MI. When I got into work, […]