By Gabi Mendick Ross Wells and Greg Pugliese spent the Fourth of July in Fountain, North Carolina. The two “mostly retired” old friends who worked together as carpenters years ago, volunteered [...]
By Tim Duffy Almost all the musicians who become part of the Music Maker family face various obstacles in getting their work to the public. Sometimes, they live in rural areas far from the big [...]
In late February, Music Maker was pleased to welcome back Brittany Anderson as our social worker. Brittany had previously served in that position for us from April 2018 through December 2019. [...]
The world has now spent an entire year living with the COVID-19 pandemic. What has this meant for Music Maker’s many partner artists? Our social worker, Brittany Anderson, sums it up best: “What [...]
Witnessing the Como Mamas, the amazing gospel group from Como, Mississippi, on stage will transport you. No matter if you see them at a festival or a concert hall, where you wind up is in [...]
A few weeks ago, one of Music Maker’s most important partner artists, Freeman Vines, lost his right eye. And this is not a story about a sudden emergency that brought on the surgery to remove [...]
It’s officially winter, and freezing temperatures have brought cold nights to towns all over the South, where most of Music Maker’s partner artists live. And every night when the temperatures [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
The Blues was born in the South and dispersed wherever people would congregate. Shot houses, railroad depots, local bars, VFW halls and other community gathering places served as the melting pots [...]
Ester Mae Wilbourn, the eldest of the Como Mamas, embodies the Southern gospel tradition. Her voice is powerful enough to shake the floorboards and burst through walls like Joshua’s trumpet. She [...]
Born in Rosa, Louisiana, Chuck Bush helped redefine Zydeco’s sound in the 80’s and 90’s for a new audience while playing bass behind Beau Jocque and then Terry Dominique. In December 2019, Chuck [...]
These past couple of weeks have been a whirlwind. Most of our office has shifted to working remotely and we have been in daily communication with our Partner Artists who are experiencing, like [...]
Wayne Henderson is a famous luthier from southwest Virginia. I met him in 1981, I was 18 years old and had just moved South. Wayne worked for the US Post Service as a rural mail carrier. We [...]
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 [...]
With our 25th anniversary upon us, we reflect on some of the musicians that have been with us since the beginning. Essie Mae Brooks has been a Music Maker partner artist since 1995. Her original, [...]
As our partner artists get older and they are unable to perform as much, if at all, due to aging related issues, they become susceptible to isolation. Research links isolation to a variety of [...]
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 [...]
We recently sat down with donor and volunteer Carey Barnes to ask her about her Music Maker experience and why our mission resonates with her. Carey is part of the generous team of donors who [...]
“The blues is the truth. It’s an everyday reminder of your life, a different type of Gospel,” says Music Maker discovery artist Charles Jacobs. For 25 years, and usually 6 nights a week, Charles [...]
The individual situations of artists can be infinitely complex when it comes to addressing their needs. Music Maker Artist Support Specialist Christelle Ndong, MSW is constantly working to [...]
To the townsfolk of Adamsville, Alabama, Elnora Spencer’s birth was merely a cruel consequence of human nature. Two months premature, she was born to an 11-year-old rape victim and unlikely to [...]
Cookie McGee was born and raised in Dallas in the North Park neighborhood and started playing the guitar at the age of five years old. As a young girl she would visit her neighbor, blues legend [...]
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 [...]
We are thrilled to announce a new release from Music Maker partner artist Patrick Sky. The album is entitled Many a Mile, one of Patrick’s most famous songs and covered by Buffy [...]
Last year, Frank “Sugar Chile” Robinson reached out to Music Maker after he lost most of his belongings in a house fire. After a quick google search, we were astonished by his profound impact on [...]
Express your care for hardworking elderly musicians today! At 79, Beverly “Guitar” Watkins is STILL one of the toughest working blues musicians around; playing for packed clubs and ripping solos [...]
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, [...]
Double Bang: Big Bang! by Ironing Board Sam Ironing Board Sam’s musical showmanship is unparalleled and inspiring to all who have seen or heard him perform. Sadly in late 2016, just before [...]
Imagine being in your home, unwinding from a long day, when before you have a chance to grasp what is happening, you suddenly feel a bullet rip through your skin. This was the situation on May [...]
The death of a spouse when you’re elderly is an emotionally devastating experience, and the impact of this loss can become even more significant when your spouse was also your primary [...]
On Monday, May 29th Como Mamas singer Angelia Taylor was struck by a bullet while in bed at her Como, MS home from a drive-by shooting. Angelia believes the bullet was intended for her son, who [...]
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 [...]
The Kettle River runs through songster Dave McGrew’s hometown of Curlew in Washington state and has experienced record flooding due to snow melt. Dave’s home, which sits near the [...]
Just as soon as we welcomed our newly hired social worker, Brittany Anderson, to the Music Maker team, she jumped into action helping Music Maker partner artist and drummer Chuck Cotton. On April [...]
We asked new donor David Propst to write about his experience with Music Maker after visiting some of our partner artists. In July 2012, I moved back in with my parents. My mother had been [...]
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 [...]
Last year we talked about New Orleans artist Guitar Lightnin’ Lee’s need for new floors and other repairs in his home. Lee has been recovering from a tough bout with cancer and was [...]
Even in today’s music business, the album is crucial to an artist’s career. Without an album you can’t get gigs, and every musician wants to gig. When I met Guitar Gabriel, [...]
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 [...]
Ironing Board Sam’s sudden stroke in October of 2015 pulled him away from the stage just as his career was taking a turn towards stardom. But even if things have gotten a bit quiet in his life [...]
Born in Pontotoc, MS, Lee Gates is guitarist who stands among giants like Albert Collins, the Kings and Jimi Hendrix. For proof of this claim, one need look no farther than the three records he [...]
If there are a matriarch and patriarch of Music Maker, they must be Algia Mae Hinton and Eddie Tigner. Algia Mae Hinton is a Piedmont blues guitarist and buckdancer who, at 87, is as legendary [...]
Guitar Lightnin’ Lee looks about as mean as a junkyard dog and appropriately, his god given name is Leroy. But the gruff attitude that Guitar Lee projects from his rugged exterior has nothing to [...]
Late last year we posted a story about Folk music legend Patrick Sky and his need for being on Music Maker’s Sustenance Program due to his poor health. When we called to check in on Pat a couple [...]
The Musician Sustenance Program was the first program established by MMRF in 1994 and is designed to help musicians in crisis and to ease the chronic poverty endured by many of America’s senior [...]
Last week I had the honor of accompanying the Glorifying Vines Sisters on their errand to the Rocky Mount post office in order to get their passports for their upcoming tour in Europe. We would [...]
MARCH 29, 2017 by: JENNIFER ODELL Music Maker Relief Foundation gives $62,000 to Louisiana musicians” data-description=”The Music Maker Relief Foundation has been providing [...]
Many Americans are uncomfortable with the very idea of black people living in the rural South. “Black” plus “rural,” for them, evokes images of slavery and of the “Strange Fruit” hanging from [...]
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 [...]
For over 20 years Music Maker has been releasing albums, showcasing the amazing work of the artists we feel are so important to the fabric of our culture. During the CD boom of the late 90s and [...]
