Timothy Duffy has been photographing musicians in the South for thirty-five years and is the founder of the Music Maker Relief Foundation, a nonprofit organization based in Hillsborough, NC that helps elderly musicians meet their basic needs so that they can share their music with the world. The exhibit, Our Living Past features portraits of […]

Music Maker needs your support now to ensure that our collective culture lives on and remains vital for future generations: Your support identifies and serves artists who are an important part of the American story  Your support educates diverse audiences and celebrates our shared cultural heritage Your support empowers artists to get them much-deserved work […]

The Music Maker Minute was created using interviews from the Music Maker Relief Foundation Archive. Each episode features a Music Maker partner artist and their personal experience with race in America to celebrate Black History Month. Music Maker Relief Foundation is a 501(c)3 nonprofit dedicated to helping the true pioneers of American music by directly […]

Born in Detroit in 1938, Frank Robinson started playing the piano at a very young age. His natural talent playing the blues was immense, winning him a local talent show at the age of three. In 1946, Sugar Chile, as he came to be known, played for Harry S. Truman at the White House Correspondents […]

Both TIME Lightbox and the NY Times LENS blog have covered Our Living Past, a photography exhibition by Timothy Duffy and the Music Maker Relief Foundation, which features portraits of Music Maker Partner Artists. Highlighting Music Maker as a hub for cultural preservation, artists such as Ironing Board Sam, Sharon Jones, and Taj Mahal are among […]