By Nick Loss-Eaton The book was a graduation gift from a fan of my blues radio show on WVKR, the student radio station at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York, and it changed my life. “Music Makers: Portraits & Songs From the Roots of America” was filled with the black and white photography and stories […]

By Gabi Mendick Chattanooga-born musician Amythyst Kiah is simultaneously rooted in tradition and steeped in modernity. She speaks more to the living history of American music than any other artist I know of. Her songs trace generations of culture passed down and sometimes passed over, and her voice poetically, anthemically reclaims every part of her […]

When James “Bubba” Norwood graduated from Lincoln High School in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, in 1961, he was already a drummer, but he didn’t think he was much of one.  Ike Turner thought differently and hired him to play drums for both the Ike & Tina Turner Revue and Ike Turner’s Kings of Rhythm. But […]

By Nick Loss-Eaton This Friday will be the last “Bandcamp Friday,” a day when Bandcamp takes no cut for sales of music on its platform, so Music Maker has decided to blow it out. In addition to my usual recommendations (and see social media for more), we are offering 20 percent off of the entire […]