By Jed Finley These days it seems like everybody’s got the blues. At least that’s what Pat “Mother Blues” Cohen tells me. “I think a lot of people have the blues these days. It’s behind the [...]
Loneliness is a recurring subject in the Blues. A lover gone or the loss of a family member typically inspires one of the most archetypal themes within the genre. For our Partner Artists, music [...]
Rufus McKenzie was born to a sharecropping family in Perry, Georgia, in 1927. As a child he worked in the cotton fields, singing to his mule to pick up the pace. Rufus reflects, “I learned my [...]
To say the coronavirus has had a devastating impact on our partner artists would be an understatement. All Spring concerts have been cancelled and with the bars and restaurants closed the smaller [...]
Dear supporters, As the number of coronavirus cases continues to rise we are communicating with our partner artists on a daily basis to ensure they are aware of this rapidly developing [...]
Our newest partner artist, Mary Lane, is no stranger to struggle. Born in 1936, in Clarendon, Arkansas, she grew up picking cotton until moving to Chicago where she became a staple on the [...]
Sadly, Beverly “Guitar” Watkins passed away the morning of October 1st, 2019 due to complications from a stroke. Though she has captured the rapt attention of audiences across the [...]
Sam Frazier, Jr. is a powerful vocalist, with a lilting drawl that whines, growls and whistles through a smile neatly tucked under his pristine ten gallon hat. He’s a careful study that can blow [...]
Eddie Tigner is a longtime Music Maker artist, a national treasure, and a living legend. Born in 1926, Eddie is approaching his 93rd birthday. With each passing year, this original Ink Spot and [...]
Not many people have had careers as long and as varied as Sandra Hall, “The Empress of the Blues.” Her career in the music industry began when she was just 12 years old, and it has never [...]
Chapel Hill, N.C., October 8th, 2018 – Timothy Duffy has been photographing musicians throughout the Southeastern U.S. for over thirty years. His upcoming book, Blue Muse: Timothy Duffy’s [...]
This blog post was originally posted on Dec. 5th, 2016 | The blues call us to face the reality of mistreatment. Blues songs are full of people doing one another wrong—mistreatment from lovers, [...]
The Folk Revival movement of the 1940s, 50s, and 60s played an integral role in our ability to look back at our musical traditions with reverence. Known for producing several Mississippi John [...]
We recently sat down with donors Al and Rich to ask them about their Music Maker experience and why our mission resonates with them. Al and Rich are both longtime donors and provided the $15,000 [...]
The holiday season—a time often equated with comfort and joy—can bring feelings of anxiety and despair when you’re living alone in chronic poverty. This is the case for many of our artists who, [...]
Robert Finley’s talent is undeniable. Music Maker founder Tim Duffy knew this the second he spotted him playing on the street at the King Biscuit Blues Festival. After working to address [...]
Music scholars such as Mike Seeger and Taj Mahal have often told me that John Lee Zeigler is the most important artists that Music Maker has ever partnered with. John was from Kathleen, [...]
Music Maker’s Next Generation program connects younger musicians with our elder partner artists to ensure that our musical traditions are passed on. For years our Next Generation Program has [...]
Theotis Taylor’s new album, Something Within Me, will be the first time the world has heard a full length album from this legendary Georgian gospel singer and pianist. Something Within Me [...]
Tim and Denise Duffy founded Music Maker because the musicians we partner with, who our society has cast away, are actually rockstars. Pictures of Guitar Gabriel, Precious Bryant, Ironing Board [...]
Music Maker’s Photo Exhibit, Our Living Past, On Display at the Gregg Museum of Art & Design in Raleigh!
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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 [...]
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 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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Music Maker partner artists Guitar Lightnin’ Lee, the Como Mamas, Little Freddie King and Robert Finley will all be playing at the 12th annual Crescent City Blues & BBQ Festival, [...]
By: Christina Cooke Back when she dealt blackjack and performed the blues in Atlantic City, a music promoter named Peachy Lee assigned Pat Cohen the nickname “Mother Blues” in the advertising one [...]
Partner artists Sam Frazier, Jr. and Ardie Dean will be inducted into the 2017 Alabama Blues Hall of Fame on September 23rd. The annual event will be hosted by Jim Newport at the Drish House [...]
Gospel Train by Bishop Dready Manning It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of two longtime partner artists. Clyde Langford and Bishop Dready Manning were both unique and loving [...]
When Tim texted me early on a Sunday morning about taking a trip (the very next day) to Southern, GA, I knew it would be a unique journey. On the way down, Tim explained that he had spoken with [...]
ON THE BEAT APRIL 14, 2017 12:00 PM ‘A hard life of bad luck and trouble’ BY DAVID MENCONI MIDDLESEX, N.C. It’s been a while since Algia Mae Hinton was on a stage, but she’s still a dancer. That [...]
The Glorifying Vines Sisters are a thriving musical institution. Based in Eastern North Carolina, they’ve been tearing up the road for decades and tearing up every church they visit. But they [...]
I had the same conversation over and over again when I was conducting research for my doctoral dissertation on contemporary black gospel music. When I spoke to older churchgoers—dozens of [...]
The Blues Doctor knows what ails you. He’s an expert diagnostician of the many maladies of the heart and soul. He got his education early, being born in the depths of the Depression to the [...]
Pat Sky’s biography reads like fiction. He’s a man of extraordinary gifts. A Southerner of Creek Indian heritage, he helped establish the Greenwich Village folk scene in the early [...]
When I was studying ethnomusicology in graduate school, we sat around a classroom one day debating the question, “What is the most fundamental element of music?” Some argued for pitch. Some [...]
I had the pleasure of meeting Albert over the summer when he came up from Atlanta to play at the Freight Train Blues series in Carrboro, NC. Albert and some other artists had just arrived from [...]
Check out the story behind Ironing Board Sam’s incredible new album, here!
