It is always interesting when stories are told and there is no photographic evidence to validate the story. This is particularly true when the story is so outrageous that it is borderline [...]
After Music Maker’s 20th Anniversary Homecoming Party Peter O’Dowd from NPR’s Here and Now came to Music Maker studio to interview Captain Luke and Boo Hanks.
Tim recently did an interview with the Tavis Smiley Radio Show to discuss our 20th Anniversary and the Music Maker mission. Listen to the interview below.
The Music Maker Relief Foundation was founded in Winston-Salem in 1994. Check out this incredible article from our hometown! Read the article here
Garden & Gun Magazine did a full page feature on our 20th Anniversary Homecoming event! Read the feature here Purchase tickets here
Check out this great piece from the Huffington Post. Tim talks about the many facets of the Music Maker Relief Foundation. Read the article here
The Music Maker Blues Revue will be performing in Columbia, MO at Roots N Blues N BBQ September 28th at 12:15 on the Missouri Lottery Stage. Get your tickets here
Check out this incredible article about Robert Lee Coleman and the work he did in the 60s and 70s with Percy Sledge and James Brown. Robert Lee Coleman played an integral role at the beginning of [...]
Check out Barry Mazor’s article about Music Maker’s 20th Anniversary in the Wall Street Journal! https://online.wsj.com/articles/giving-music-makers-a-hand-1407362559
Taj Mahal curated a Music Maker playlist, streaming on the New Yorker now! Check it out! https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/listening-booth-taj-mahal-unsung-blues-south
Sam’s new album, Ironing Board Sam & the Sticks, is streaming on Billboard.com! Check it out here!
American Songwriter debuted a song from Pura Fé, Rhiannon and Charly Lowry today! Read about the creation of the tune and listen to it here!
Don’t Miss Dom Flemons on Fresh Air! Wednesday, July 30 Dom will perform and chat with Terry Gross about his upcoming album from the Music Maker label. Find your local NPR station here [...]
Check out this great article about Music Maker’s 20th Anniversary on Wondering Sound – https://www.wonderingsound.com/feature/music-maker-relief-foundation-20-years/ The [...]
You could say that my long journey to Music Maker started at the Mt. Airy Fiddler’s Convention which also happened to be old time fiddler Benton Flippen’s home. My immersion in [...]
Music Maker Events in NYC August 9th & 10th Join us for a celebratory weekend! Saturday – August 9th 4pm – Meet up with MM staff for a tour of We Are the Music Makers! [...]
Come out and celebrate Dom Flemons’ upcoming release, Prospect Hill! You can preview the album on USA TODAY here. And you can pre-order the album on our store here! John Dee Holeman will [...]
Listen: Two Trains Runnin’ Last Saturday night the Music Maker team headed down to Southern Pines for their Annual Blues Crawl, which this year featured Music Maker artists for the entire [...]
This year, we’ve been able to hang with Cool John a lot, for which we are very grateful. Back in April, Cool John and his wife Shirley were both with me at Byron Bay Bluesfest. Our conversations [...]
The Como Mamas – Meet Me At The River Being in the room while these five women sang was one of the most incredible experiences of my life. The lead singer, Esther, sang with Mississippi [...]
Michael Weintrob’s InstrumentHead series of photographs captures an eclectic array of unique musicians and characters including Ironing Board Sam, Bootsy Collins and King Sunny Ade, Big Chief [...]
Listen: Chokin’ Kind A few weeks ago I picked up guest of honor John Dee Holeman and his girlfriend Joan to take them to the North Carolina Heritage Awards, an event familiar to the two as [...]
Robert Lee Coleman is playing at the Mars Theater in Springfield, GA on Friday, June 21st, as part of our series there. Today, we saw a wonderful article about Robert’s decades long career, [...]
Listen: Dap-Walk At New Orleans Jazz Fest Tim ran into an old friend, rhythm and blues legend Ernie Vincent. A fixture of the New Orleans music scene for years, after Katrina, he received [...]
If you’ve never seen Cool John and Captain Luke play together, you are missing out. These two never fail to blow me away, and everyone I know feels the same. But Cool John lives in Atlanta [...]
Beale Street Caravan featured Music Maker on their May 28th show! Artists featured include John Dee Holeman, Beverly “Guitar” Watkins, and Captain Luke. Check it out here! From the [...]
Listen: My New Next Door Neighbor I never had the pleasure of meeting Jerry “Boogie” McCain but I spoke with him on the phone many times in order to set him up to receive [...]
6pm – 8pm Fridays in June! Village Green in Southern Village, Chapel Hill (Aberdeen and Market Streets) Rain Location: Christ United Methodist Church 800 Market St, Chapel Hill, NC 27516 [...]
Music Maker Homecoming Events We hope you can join us, buy your tickets here! October 3rd 3pm – Panel Discussion with Music Maker Artists and Folk Scholars The ArtsCenter, 300 E. Main St, [...]
Listen: You Want to Boogie I’ve been listening to Willie King’s classic blues tune this week – it helps me set the pace for our busy 20th Anniversary year! If my toe is tapping to “You Want to [...]
Jakprints & Michael Weintrob proudly present… INSTRUMENTHEAD Pop-Up Gallery Debuts in Charleston During Spoleto! Quirky Photography Series Showcasing Musicians From Bootsy Collins To Sol [...]
Listen: Whistlin’ Britches – Clickin’ I had the pleasure of meeting Haskell “Whistlin’ Britches” Thompson on several occasions before his passing. His [...]
Berklee School of Music Student David had an incredibly meaningful trip to the Piedmont region of NC in March. When we asked the students who visited to write about their experience, David jumped [...]
Listen: Two Train’s Runnin’ I let fate choose this week’s Diggin when I stuck my hand into our set of master CD’s and pulled out John Dee Holeman’s “You Got To [...]
On April 4th, we celebrate the official Kickoff of Music Maker’s 20th Year – with a free, fun night at The Crunkleton!* Friday, 4/4 7 – 10pm The Crunkleton 320 W. Franklin [...]
Listen: Let’s Talk It Over I happened to be in my car, stuck in rush hour traffic after a day’s work, when I first heard this wonderful song by Guitar Gabriel. My car’s manual transmission [...]
Tim Duffy and Aaron Greenhood will exhibit their Tin Type photography at the Skylight Gallery in Hillsborough, NC beginning March 28th. The exhibit will launch with an opening event on March 28th [...]
March is Women’s History Month, and we’re spotlighting women in roots and blues on our blog for the next several weeks. This week we’ve written about Etta Baker, legendary [...]
Listen: Lima Beans We’ve been working to spotlight women in blues and roots on our blog this month, and that has us digging further into the albums from our female artists. Algia Mae Hinton, a [...]
Don’t miss this wonderful show with the students from Berklee School of Music and John Dee Holeman! Friday, March 21st Free! Show begins 9pm Mystery Brewing Public House 230 [...]
Listen: Cocktail Boogie We’ve been working with a lot of photos of Mr. Q lately, and Tim always tells the story of Mr. Q’s hat, which he painted over and over again until it weighed a ton. The [...]
Tim and Corn decorated this guitar for David Bryant last week. He was elated when he received it and said, “All I’m gonna do is play guitar!” Read about Tim, B and [...]
Berklee College of Music’s Country Blues Program will travel to Durham, N.C. from March 20th-23rd to learn about the history of the Piedmont Blues tradition! The group includes students [...]
Listen: King Cotton I was lucky enough to be running the recorder when Harvey recorded “King Cotton.” It’s a short song with a lot of punch. Harvey writes from his own [...]
B reminisces on the blog about her first road trip as part of the Music Maker team! Check it out here.
This February, Music Maker and several artists we reached out to are all writing blog posts specifically relating to Black History Month, either their thoughts about the celebrations, specific [...]
High Strung Violins and Guitars hosted a workshop with Ironing Board Sam this past weekend, and it was a big success! Check out a photo of Sam and his students, and stay tuned for more workshops [...]
Listen: Latit Bonit Leyla McCalla has had a brilliant career of late. In 2011 she was playing Bach on Royal St in New Orleans, the next year she was touring the world with the Carolina Chocolate [...]
In 1997 Tim saw a photo negative plate owned by photographer Mark Austin – a young black man was holding a harp guitar. Through research Tim identified the man in the photo, and the [...]
Leyla McCalla releases her album at The Pinhook! Tuesday 2/4 – Doors @ 8pm, Show @ 9pm Leyla McCalla has been a Music Maker Next Generation Artist since 2011, and now [...]
Listen: David Bryant’s “One More Time” Around Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, it is tradition to listen to the blowing of the shofar, a primitive bugle made out of a [...]
Former MMRF Intern and Filmmaker Tom Ciaburri made this short documentary of Little Freddie King, where he talks about his two-wheel Cadillac, the Blues and living in the south. Check it out!
Day three of the Music Maker Road Trip saw Tim, Aaron and B in New Orleans visiting several artists, including Little Freddie King. Read about their stop in NOLA on the blog!
Listen: Carolina Breakdown Etta Baker has been playing guitar since she was three, and it’s obvious. Carolina Breakdown is one of her best. Maybe it’s because I can’t listen [...]
B (right) and David Bryant My name is Rebecca Parsons but I go by my nickname “B.” I’m originally from New York, but just recently moved to Hillsborough, NC to work for Music Maker Relief [...]
MMRF volunteer Karen Mack and her husband Greg are curating a 40-piece exhibition of folk art hosted by The Orange County Main Public Library in Hillsborough, NC. “Road Trip: Folk Art from Mike’s [...]
Tim, B and Aaron went out on the road last week, visiting Music Maker artists across the South. Along the way they visited artists, worked to help them meet their needs, recorded and [...]
In early 2014, Tim, B and Aaron took a road trip through the South visiting Music Maker artists – the first of many such trips planned for our 20th year. These trips allow us to visit [...]
Listen: “Drink Blues” Drink Small is a classic bluesman – and his “Drink Blues” is definitely a classic Blues tune. This track is one I’ve listened to many times since starting [...]
Thank you SO much for your support by purchasing our Blues Cruise Raffle Tickets! Music Maker Next Generation Artist Cary Morin was in the office today and helped us draw the lucky winner [...]
Dom Flemons was in the Music Maker offices in 2006 when Boo Hanks came in to connect with us. Ever since, the two have had a special partnership, which led to the 2012 release “Buffalo [...]
Yesterday, Music Maker Artist Services Coordinator Aaron Greenhood and Program Associate Rebecca (B) Parsons met with the Sunrise Preservation Group in Southern Pines, NC. They met to plan for [...]
Listen: God Don’t Like It I first heard of Elder Anderson Johnson when I was interning at Music Maker last spring. My task was to transcribe an interview that Tim and Axel Kustner recorded [...]
We’re drawing the winner of the Blues Cruise on January 15th, 2014 in Music Maker’s Hillsborough office! There’s still time to enter to win, and all purchases go to support [...]
You may remember it as an iconic Christmas album, but Tim remembers it as a great meeting of musicians one Holiday season that led to a classic recording – one of Music Maker’s [...]
Is everyone on your list taken care of? It’s time to take care of YOU! We’ve got the albums you’ll love, plus things like the Blues Cruise Raffle and Ironing Board Sam’s [...]
One thing that you can definitely say about Ironing Board Sam – he loves Christmas music, because he loves seeing people smile. The other night, while Aaron and Tim were busy with a tintype [...]
Listen: “Big Stuff” I recall walking into the Music Maker offices in the Spring of 2010, sitting down at my desk and hearing loosely arranged acoustic guitar playing on the computer [...]
Listen: Christmas Medley As a Jewish boy, Christmas music always seemed to wag a finger at me. I hated the Santa Claus conspiracy and pitied my cousins for believing in such a fallacy. I still [...]
We’re excited to announce the debut album from Lakota John & Kin! Although Lakota John released a solo album two years ago, this is the family’s first as a group. Mama Tonya, Papa [...]
Stumped about what to get your loved ones? New to Music Maker’s immense CD collection? The Gift Guide can help! We’ve chosen Music Maker favorites in a variety of categories, and [...]
We’re all set to be your Santa’s helpers – but in order to ensure your orders get to you in time for Christmas, please place your order no later than 5pm on December [...]
Music Maker has a special addition to our store this Holiday season – a silver pendant designed by Ironing Board Sam. Aaron wrote about how Sam designed the pendant, and why, as a lot of [...]
Thank you so much to everyone who has made an Annual Fund, purchased something in our store, or has just wished us well – the response to our Black Friday sale and #GivingTuesday was [...]
Check out our Black Friday Deals! You can do all your shopping with us this year! Music Maker Staff Favorites on sale – half off our staff’s top ten! Free shipping on the Ironing [...]
We wanted to make sure you know how much we value you, our supporters. Every one of us, from staff to board members to artists, will be thanking you at our tables this year. Your support means [...]
Listen: Listen Mr DJ John Lee Zeigler, from Kathleen, GA played guitar upside-down and backwards in a style that directly reflects African griot traditions. In the late 1960s George Mitchell [...]
Captain Luke’s birthday is coming up, and while we prepare to throw a little soiree for him here at the office, Aaron remembers the first time he met Captain Luke. It was the first time [...]
Have you met Ejo, our office mascot and “task master?” Some days, Ejo just has the blues. Particularly Mondays. Check out this video our intern Swathi made characterizing Ejo’s [...]
Listen: Dr. Dixon and Harvey Dalton Arnold’s “Rollin’ and Tumblin’” The past few days we’ve been welcoming Dr. Dixon, Bh.D, into the Music Maker family, and what better way to kick off our new [...]
Dr. Burt passed away last week after a battle with cancer. We were all saddened to hear this, and Tim wrote the following to commemorate him: Dr. Burt was a dear friend to everyone that he met. [...]
Want the Music Maker Party Pack? You get it free if you let us know you’ll be raising funds for Music Maker at your party! Email Corinne@musicmaker.org and tell us how many people [...]
Listen: Can’t Stand To Let You Go Many times I let my co-workers choose the music we listen to in the office since, before working for Music Maker, I had very little working knowledge of Roots [...]
Many times when an artist passes away, Tim is asked “is that it? Is this the end of the music?” Tim addresses that concern and the answer is no – we have much more work to do [...]
Listen: Summertime There is something spooky about Guitar Gabriel’s “Summertime”. “Summertime” is a George and Ira Gershwin song from the musical Porgy and Bess. It is one of the most recorded [...]
We heard, sadly, that Adolphus Bell passed away this morning. Last week Aaron, Ardie Dean and I all met up in Birmingham to see our old friend. His four-year fight with lung cancer had taken a [...]
We here at Music Maker are very sorry to hear of the passing of Lou Reed. Back at the beginning of Music Maker, Mark Levinson invited Lou and Laurie Anderson to Cello Studios in NYC to listen to [...]
Last January Ironing Board Sam appeared on The State of Things with Frank Stasio – they aired the segment again today, right before TENTH debuts in its first screening in Durham NC! [...]
We have all been loving Ironing Board Sam’s recently released album Double Bang! It is a truly amazing blend of Sam’s first CD on the MMRF lable, Going Up!, new album Big Bang!, and [...]
Rhiannon Giddens and Leyla McCalla are teaming up for a few more dates in France coming off a great European tour this fall. The Art of Jazz Blog called their performance “a whirl of [...]
Listen: I’m Gone But I Don’t Know Where I’m Going “I’m Gone But I Don’t Know Where I’m Going,” by George Conner, is a great tune for so many occasions. I tend to listen to it when I’m [...]
The first screening of Tom Ciaburri’s documentary of Ironing Board Sam is happening this week in Durham! The event will feature the film as well as a discussion with Tom. Come out and watch [...]
Dr. Burt is facing some major health concerns, and we are all thinking about him and praying for him and his family this week. In honor of Dr Burt, Tim wrote a wonderful blog post detailing his [...]
We’re about to ship out Listener’s Circle Volume 3 – and it’s pretty awesome. Featuring tracks from artists like Harvey Arnold, Essie Mae Brooks, Guitar Gabriel, and more [...]
Link: Big Belly Momma There is a bar on Broad Street in Richmond, VA called Triple. It sits on a mostly abandoned block along one of the city’s grandest thoroughfares. On either side of it are [...]
Listen: The Winding Stream “Oh, give to me a winding stream, it must not be too wide, where waving leaves from Maple trees do meet from either side, the water must be deep enough to float a small [...]
