Cootie Stark was a dear friend to Music Maker. A blind blues bard who spread joy and hope, and inspired everyone he met. Not one to stay home, Cootie would often call me from the Durham, NC Greyhound Bus station. Cootie would take the bus up to come visit me and my family at my […]

Maybe it was the captivating music; maybe it was the welcoming people; or maybe it was the place and the laid-back, everyone’s like family attitude that made me fall in the love with the Roots Blues and ‘soul of the American music’ that the Music Maker Relief Foundation represents. But honestly, I think it was […]

Leyla McCalla’s debut album, Vari-Colored Songs is one of the most well rounded a intellectually stimulating records I have heard in a long time. The elegant simplicity of the traditional tune, “Manman Mwen,” exhibits Leyla’s deep understanding for this music while still allowing the interpretation to sound fresh. This song features Leyla on the tenor […]

When we learned that George Daniels had passed away last month, I thought back to my first meeting with him. I went to look for George Daniels in 1995 as I was re-tracing the trail of the great folklorist and blues researcher George Mitchell, who had discovered many great blues artists in Georgia and Alabama. […]

We’ve been working hard to edit and post video from the Homecoming Celebration – and this clip of Alabama Slim performing is one of the first we finished. In this video, Slim is performing at our exhibit launch and performance* at The ArtsCenter in Carrboro, NC. I love to see Alabama Slim perform, but it’s […]