By Scott Zuppardo When music fans think of Macon, Georgia, they instantly think of three musical legends: Little Richard, Otis Redding and the Allman Brothers Band. The more knowledgeable might [...]
By Gabi Mendick When Charles Burroughs was only 8 years old in Tampa, Florida, his peers picked him on because of a speech impediment. To avoid their incessant bullying, Charles chose not to [...]
By Ryan Lee Crosby Just off highway 49 at the south end of the Mississippi Delta, a secluded village quietly attracts passionate music lovers from every corner of the globe. Blues fans from [...]
When Music Maker heads to the legendary Telluride Blues & Brews festival in September, we will bring along our own beloved Music Maker Blues Revue — a group filled with old friends like [...]
By Tim Duffy and Gabi Mendick Little Pink Anderson grew up in South Carolina playing guitar and singing with his father Pinkney “Pink” Anderson, a much beloved but not widely known blues player. [...]
Harvey Dalton Arnold first gained the music world’s attention in a huge, arena-sized way: He was a member of The Outlaws, one of the giant wave of 1970s Southern rock bands that rose in the wake [...]
By Nick Loss-Eaton The Hamiltones have GRAMMY nominations on their shelves for performances with the great R&B singer Anthony Hamilton, but those shelves aren’t in LA or NYC or Nashville. [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
As it did for every touring musician, the pandemic changed everything for Dom Flemons, a founding member of the Carolina Chocolate Drops, a 15-year friend of the Music Maker Foundation, and a [...]
By Gabi Mendick Ring up Benjamin Tehoval and you might be taken aback by the thick, jovial French accent on the other end of the line. When you listen to Benjamin’s one-man-band take on the [...]
By Scott Zuppardo “People say I was born with the blues,” Willie Farmer says. “The blues is in me.” There’s a loneliness that goes with growing up in the rural South. Willie Farmer has embraced [...]
Music Maker lost a dear friend and partner artist, Sam Frazier Jr., on March 23. I first heard of Sam when a package arrived at our office in 2015. One of Sam’s nieces had filled a manila [...]
It overjoys all of us at Music Maker to wish our partner artist David Bryant a happy 62nd birthday. David’s roots in the blues run deep. His grandfather, Curley Weaver, was a great [...]
Chance meetings have always played a huge part in how Music Maker has built up its roster of partner artists over the years. From the beginning, when James “Guitar Slim” Stephens told me I had to [...]
To hear Ernie Vincent and the Top Notes’ 1970s single “Dap Walk” for the first time is like standing in a hurricane of funk. “Hey, get up, brothers! Don’t sit there with your head hangin’ [...]
Turns out that we’re not the only ones who believe that our partner artist Alabama Slim’s January album, “The Parlor,” is a masterful take on the blues. Here is a roundup [...]
The seeds of Music Maker were planted in 1989, even though our Foundation didn’t take its current shape until five years later. I was still in my last semester of study for my master’s degree in [...]
Since Netflix released its film “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” with Viola Davis masterfully playing the Mother of the Blues, critics all over the world have raved about the film. Rainey was a true [...]
When I called him, Robert Lee Coleman’s phone was disconnected. This pandemic year has made hard times harder for many Music Maker partner artists. Losing regular gigs has brought ripple effects, [...]
“My great-grandparents and grandparents were not educated because state laws prohibited the education of slaves; but they developed their own language, music, and other means of communication. My [...]
I first met Freeman Vines in 2015 at his home in the rural town of Fountain, North Carolina. Vines’ work had slowed down considerably as a result of poor health and isolation—both geographic and [...]
The blues live on because the blues give people life, not the other way around. Talk about the blues with Taj Mahal or Tim Duffy—founder of the Music Maker Relief Foundation—and you [...]
Yesterday our good friend Lonnie Holley came to visit the MM office to say hello. Lonnie is an amazing artist based out of Atlanta, GA. During his visit he showed us his latest video, focused on [...]
Robert Finley arrived like it was any other night, excited, grinning from ear to ear, guitar in hand. He wore pressed jeans, cowboy hat and boots and a Western shirt accented by a belt buckle [...]
Several weeks ago the Music Maker staff was making calls to artists impacted by the Louisiana Flood. Upon making these calls we learned that Buckwheat’s house had experienced significant [...]
You weren’t really worried. This wasn’t a hurricane, not even a tropical storm—no roof-ripping tornado, no tower-toppling earthquake, no fire-spewing eruption—it was just rain. And it doesn’t [...]
On Sunday, October 2nd at 1:00pm the Music Maker Blues Revue will take the stage at the Roots N Blues N BBQ Festival in Columbia, MO. Music Maker has been playing Roots N Blues N BBQ since their [...]
Sam Frazier, Jr. Inducted Into the Birmingham Record Collectors Hall of Fame & Honored By His Church
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Two years ago Music Maker received a letter in the mail after a piece about the Foundation aired on CBS Evening News. The letter was from Sam Frazier, Jr.’s daughter-in-law telling us about [...]
Receding floodwaters in Louisiana have revealed the utter devastation left in their wake. News sources are calling the flooding as the worst natural disaster since Superstorm Sandy in 2012. Even [...]
When we boarded the plane, early in the morning, the flight attendant came on the PA to tell us that the weather in Los Angeles was 62 with 0% humidity. Everyone sighed with relief. The Revue was [...]
Phil Cook (Hiss Golden Messenger/Megafuan) has partnered with Music Maker partner artists, The Branchettes for his Southland Revue project. They will be playing at the Eaux Claires Festival in in [...]
One evening last fall, Tim Duffy, my wife and I were chatting at an event featuring bluesman John Dee Holeman. I mentioned that I liked to build, troubleshoot and repair electric guitars, and Tim [...]
On August 11, Music Maker’s longtime partner artist and original Inkspot, Eddie Tigner turns 90. In a recent discussion with Eddie we asked him about how his house was doing. When we got down to [...]
Albert White began playing guitar in the late ‘50s with his legendary uncle, Piano Red, and his group “Dr. Feelgood & the Interns. Since then, Albert has performed with Joe Tex, The Tams, Ray [...]
In October 2015, just as Big Legal Mess was set to release Ironing Board Sam’s “Super Spirit,” Sam suffered a stroke that left him hospitalized for the better part of the [...]
While I was attending the Folklore graduate program at UNC in 1989, I was introduced to folk musician, Pat Sky. Born in Georgia and raised in Louisiana, Pat and his guitar headed north in the [...]
Big Bertha, Magdalena, Theresa, Melvina; names tossed around with such affection you’d think they were referring to wives, lovers or children. Nope. BBQs. Bernice, Louisiana (pop. 1,648) has as [...]
Guitar Lightnin’ Lee exudes an indescribable exuberance. A couple weeks ago he came to visit NC to play for our Freight Train Blues Series presented by Carrboro Parks & Recreation & [...]
For the past year and a half Music Maker has been working with luthier Freeman Vines. Freeman resides in Eastern, NC and fashions guitars from found wood. By hand carving each guitar into [...]
Music Maker is in the process of developing a partnership with piano player, Wilbur Tharpe. Wilbur has played for many years with Lena Mae Perry of the Branchettes, but since a house fire which [...]
Hallelujah Boogaloo by Drink Small Last week Aaron, myself and a food writer traveled down to visit 83 year old Drink Small in Columbia, SC for our upcoming food themed compilation album, [...]
Lee Gates grew up in Pontotoc, MS, his father African-American, his mother a Native American. He is first cousin to the blues legend Albert Collins. In his 20s he migrated up to Milwaukee, WI [...]
Little Freddie King was recently featured in Beyoncé’s new visual album Lemonade. Lemonade was filmed in New Orleans and features many people and places that represent New Orleans culture [...]
When Music Maker’s Executive Director, Tim Duffy, heard that partner artist Albert White’s laptop had “died,” Tim realized it was an issue that required an immediate solution. Thanks to Music [...]
Earlier this week beloved Music Maker artist passed away. Boo Hanks, a descendant of Abraham Lincoln on his mother’s side, is the greatest Piedmont Blues rediscovery in many years. He sings and [...]
Gail Ceasar, of Pittsville, VA is Music Maker’s newest Next Generation Artist partner. A country blues phenom and distinct singer, in her playing she honors and celebrates the music of her family [...]
Tim recently suggested that Aaron and myself go visit guitar player, Gail Caesar in Pittsville, VA. Gail is the niece of Music Maker artist Pete Witcher, an incredible guitar player in his own [...]
We are sharing this story at the request of Ironing Board Sam The past few months have been especially challenging for our partner artist, Ironing Board Sam. In October, just days before his [...]
Recently Music Maker started working with Bobby McMillon who has been suffering from serious health issues and has not been able to work. Music Maker has helped him with some heating bills and [...]
Sam Frazier, Jr.’s album Take Me Back is finally in print after 20+ years hiding in the storage of a Birmingham music enthusiast. The album and its release herald a new period in Sam’s life. Two [...]
Alabama Slim and Big Ron Hunter both have years of performing under their belts. Like Music Maker’s forefather Guitar Gabriel once said, “I’ve played so much guitar, it’d make your ass hurt.” [...]
In 1999 I was sent a newspaper clipping from Texas about a music writer’s chance meeting with Texas bluesman Clyde Langford. Clyde lived in Midway, TX, a small town between Dallas and [...]
I met Rufus McKenzie in Georgia, in a tiny town called Perry, just outside of Macon. This is one of the most magical musical spots in America; folks like James Brown, Otis Redding, Emmit [...]
While on the way to Jackson, MS for Cathead Vodka’s Distillery Grand Opening Tim and I decided to stop and visit David Bryant. David’s mother, Cora Mae Bryant was a Music Maker artist [...]
Early in Music Maker’s history, blues legend Taj Mahal traveled to visit. My wife Denise and I were renting an old farmhouse in Pinnacle, NC that was both our home and Music Maker’s headquarters. [...]
Guitar Gabriel loved to celebrate and I always loved to see him at holidays. When the Christmas season came around I would always run into Gabe dressed in his wonderful green and red plaid suit, [...]
Eddie Tigner was working in a school cafeteria in Atlanta, GA, when I first heard about him in 1995. He had toured the country running an Inkspots group for 35 years. He had played every Holiday [...]
Last night the MM team went to the Durham Performing Arts Center to see Jackson Browne’s show. Jackson Browne has been on the Music Maker Advisory Board since 2007. In late 2006 Tim (MMRF [...]
This month Robert Lee Coleman’s truck needed an expensive repair; it was not something his gig income could cover on top of rent, food and medication. Music Maker was able to step in and [...]
This week marks the 10 year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, the storm that shook a nation and changed the lives of New Orleanians forever. It’s hard to believe that 10 years have passed, [...]
In the winter of 1995, I discovered how a simple gift can be the difference between life and death for our elderly artists. In that year, there was a terrible ice storm in Winston-Salem, NC [...]