Please read our full 2020 Program and Activities report here
“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 [...]
You can blame Henry Slyker’s two decades-plus loving relationship with Music Maker on Holiday Inn Express. Up through 2002, if you checked into a Holiday Inn Express, you would find in your room [...]
After 26 years of running the Music Maker Foundation, I have a lot to be thankful for, and most all of it comes down to the laughs and good times I’ve had with Music Maker artists in their homes, [...]
Here are our suggestions for holiday gifts at every budget. Proceeds from every purchase go directly to help our partner artists — Southern musicians who live on the edge of poverty, but keep our [...]
When asked if he has cut his portions to make his food last through the month, Pee Wee Hayes, pictured below, replied, “Yeah, you’ve got to, that’s quite common in life for [...]
We’re doing Mardi Gras in Durham style – Boom Unit Brass Band and Paperhand Puppet Intervention kick off with a second line at 8pm from the downtown Bull statue to the Bullpen. March to the [...]
King Dracula by Homesick James Slide master Homesick James’ credentials were legend, starting from his Chicago sides in the 50’s with cousin Elmore James to recording LPs in the early [...]
Gingerbreadd Mindd by Paul Clayton Imagine this… It’s 1966 and a group of American musicians have traveled across time and space to form an impromptu band. They’re hometown music-makers, no [...]
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Help Save Our American Roots – Sign Up Today! Join us in the Listener’s Circle and get exclusive releases curated by the MM staff every other month. You can preview last April’s [...]
Get your free download here In the month of May Music Maker received a $5,000 matching gift from a generous donor. With contributions from donors like YOU we were able to meet the match! Without [...]
Music Maker is a small organization that does big things. As a result, the bond that Music Maker’s small team share with one another and our talented artists is strong and deep. We are [...]
Music Maker is always looking for new ways to give music fans access to our vast catalog. Our catalog features recordings of the many legendary artists we have worked with over the years. Their [...]
Thank you so much for joining our weekly email newsletter. Every week you will receive updates on Music Maker Relief Foundation’s work to empower elderly musicians living in poverty. If you [...]
In celebration of Black History Month, I’ve been listening to the Music Maker catalog nonstop, going through tons of incredible material. Today I stumbled upon Ben Payton; what a [...]
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Made famous by Hank Williams, a sad song of unrequited love. Wedding bells are ringing in the chapel/ but wedding bells with never ring for me. These lyrics fit right into the canon of country [...]
One of the best parts about working with Music Maker is being able to put faces to songs after meeting artists in person for the first time. I’ve seen Little Pink Anderson perform here and there, [...]
Jontavious struck the last note of “Big Road Blues” and both Boo Hanks and Jontavious burst out laughing. A musical connection has a beautiful way of closing an age gap of 70+ years. [...]
In 2006, an unknown Piedmont Blues guitarist joined Music Maker. Now a blues legend, Boo Hanks would not have been known to Music Maker or the world without the efforts of volunteer Tony Young. [...]
Dave McGrew has spent his life following the harvest as a fruit picker; Lemons, apples, cherries, mangoes, avocados, strawberries, grapes – you name it. His hands have likely been on your [...]
Big Ron Hunter was the first artist I met through Music Maker, and I was eager to get to know his music after getting a chance to meet him. We met while MMRF’s Founder, Tim Duffy, was taking a [...]
Last year, I traveled to New Orleans with Ironing Board Sam to help with his performance at JazzFest. While checking into the hotel I noticed a short man with a cane and a golfing cap standing by [...]
Tim, Guitar Gabriel, Captain Luke This is a beautiful gospel song that Guitar Gabriel composed the night his mother passed. It asks the question, Do You Know What it Means to Have a Friend? [...]
Here’s a sneak peek at what Ironing Board Sam has been up to. We can’t say anything right now, but stay tuned for a big announcement, coming soon!
Check out some photos of Major Handy and Ironing Board Sam from last week’s Jazzfest!
Byron Bay Bluesfest 2015 was a memorable trip. I gave the Revue the pet name “Guitar Heaven,” stealing from Cool John Ferguson’s record title. The show featured guitar slingers from across [...]
Tad Walters was one of the first Music Maker artists I saw perform, at a SOOTS event in 2011 in Raleigh. Tad is a Next Generation artist, and he performed his own set at that show while also [...]
I had just met Guitar Gabriel the week before in the Piedmont Housing Projects in Winston-Salem, NC. While driving down Cleveland Avenue, Guitar spotted a dapper, muscular black man coming out of [...]
We arrived to Mr. Drink’s house and he was happy to have us visit! We chatted for a bit and soaked up his poetic “drinkisms” and enjoyed hearing his stories. Lakota John asked [...]
Alabama Slim is one of many Music Maker artists that knows how to tell a story. Storytelling can be just as much a source of subject matter as it can be a delivery technique. The song “Mr. [...]
Tim took this photo last week, when visiting Freddie in New Orleans. Find out more about Little Freddie King here!
We were just visiting Captain Luke at hospice, and he has a TV/DVD player in his room, so we brought along Toot Blues to watch together. While Captain chatted on the phone with his many admirers [...]
Cary Morin’s “Old Guitar” is a great video to see some of the outstanding picking that goes on amongst the guitarists at Music Maker. “Old Guitar” is one of Cary’s original songs and some [...]
Cool John Ferguson grew up in the Georgia Sea Islands and has spent the majority of his life living near the salty shores of the Atlantic Ocean. Cool’s music has been described as “a [...]
Aaron writes about the trip he and Ironing Board Sam recently took to record a new album in Mississippi. On the morning of our second day in Mississippi working on Ironing Board Sam’s new [...]
Music Maker supporters are often curious how we meet the artists we work with. There is a different story for every artist. This past week, we had the opportunity to begin work with Sam [...]
Listen: Well, Well Don’t You Worry About Me Chances are, if you visited the Music Maker offices any time in the last few months, a track from the Como Mamas was playing, set to loud. [...]
Often the Music Maker artists we cherish and love are not seen the same way in their own communities. This perception has an impact on the way these artists see themselves. Opportunities like the [...]
Listen: The Mighty Flood The destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina can be felt in many of the songs and stories here at Music Maker. If you’re familiar with Alabama Slim and Little Freddie [...]
John Dee Holeman is 87. He speaks softly. When he picks up his guitar, it’s a different story. John Dee’s brand of blues swings and shuffles to where you have no choice but to stamp your feet or [...]
When we learned that George Daniels had passed away last month, I thought back to my first meeting with him. I went to look for George Daniels in 1995 as I was re-tracing the trail of the great [...]
We’ve been working hard to edit and post video from the Homecoming Celebration – and this clip of Alabama Slim performing is one of the first we finished. In this video, Slim is performing at our [...]
Tim Duffy and BB King in 1995 I met B.B. King in 1995 at Ocean Way Studio in Los Angeles, CA when he was recording with the Rolling Stones. I showed him photographs and played him our first CD [...]
Photo by Jimmy Williams Listen: Dr. Feelgood This track was on our Listener’s Circle #6, which I was listening to the other day as we were printing this month’s [...]
Listen: Lucy’s Voodoo When you see images of Lee Gates around the Music Maker office, you know you’re looking at a real deal, tried and true bluesman. The guy is over six feet tall, yolked [...]
Listen: Bring It On Down to My House Honey Little Pink Anderson’s “Bring It On Down to My House Honey” is a song that popped out at me from our new jukebox. I’m so excited to finally meet Pink, [...]
Listen: Today I Started Loving You Again Ironing Board Sam is a relentless and prolific creator. Whenever I call him or go by his house to discuss business, I have almost always interrupted a [...]
Listen: Get It I was speaking to George Stancell on the phone yesterday morning. We were chatting about the fantastic CD he sent me, a compilation of recordings he has personally written, [...]
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Listen: Why Don’t These Young People Understand? I’ve been so excited about the new Jukebox, and have been listening to the general playlist we have up right now. (Soon to come – curated [...]
Here at the Music Maker Relief Foundation our passion is MUSIC and the people who make it. We are always looking for ways to share the incredible history that Music Maker artists continue to make [...]
Listen: “Greasy Greens” “Well, way down South where I was born Didn’t raise nothin’ but cotton and corn Green tomatoes and black-eyed peas Man, good Lord, them greasy greens…” This groovy ode to [...]
Music Maker supporter Michael Weintrob joined us for our recent performance at the Lincoln Center Out of Doors Series, where he took these amazing photographs!
Listen: Nora When the Goins sing together, two distinct voices declare the most incorruptible love that could ever be shared. Mother Pauline sings the melody with a nasal vibrato while Elder [...]
After a jamming show at the Southern Pines Blues Crawl and in anticipation of their upcoming performance in Durham this weekend, I just can’t seem to get Lakota John & Kin’s “Key To [...]
I spend a lot of time on the phone these days. The conversations are varied, consisting of in-depth discussions regarding various blood pressure medications, the process of adjusting to bifocals, [...]
Several weeks ago I got to attend my first out-of-town music festival with Music Maker – the 14th annual Blues Crawl in the charming downtown area of Southern Pines, NC. Having been the first [...]
My Dad and I were able to make the recent Blues Crawl in Southern Pines, NC. We were very excited to be going because 1) it’s a nice town and 2) the line-up of MMRF artists was one of the [...]
Our We Are the Music Makers! exhibit has been a year and change in the making. Really, the idea has been ruminating for all the years I have been a part of the Music Maker team, but began to take [...]
“The blues tell you the truth,” the woman on the screen said with conviction. Even though I was watching Precious Bryant’s nearly twenty year-old interview on a giant iMac screen, it felt as if [...]
Music Maker has been blessed with some great summer interns, and it’s time for us to introduce them to you! Masyn and Erica will be working with us until they head back to school in the [...]
On my very first day of interning with the Music Maker Relief Foundation I was offered a chance to drive down to Mississippi and meet the Como Mamas. All I knew was they were a female gospel trio [...]
This past Thursday and Friday, Music Maker had the pleasure of hosting Piedmont blues master, Jeffrey Scott. Jeffrey, nephew of National Folk Heritage fellow John Jackson, is the heir to his [...]
On the way to the Juke Joint Festival, we stopped off in Como, Mississippi, to meet the Como Mamas – sisters Della and Angelia and cousin Ester Mae, all the grandchildren of Miles Pratcher. [...]
In October 1995 my friend the audio pioneer Mark Levinson was working hard to help me launch the Music Maker Relief Foundation. He had recently moved his audio company Cello to a brownstone on [...]
International travel is tricky. In the best of circumstances you can expect that there will be many transfers, visas, customs interrogations, passport inspections and the occasional pat [...]
Carl Rutherford and Tim Duffy Coupled with footage of “The L.B.J Poverty Tour” the New York Times recently released an article about McDowell County, the poorest in West Virginia, and the balance [...]
I was honored to accompany Ironing Board Sam as his road manager for the 45th annual New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival this past weekend. Tim and I had been working so hard “beading [...]
Last fall we found out that Ironing Board Sam was invited back to the 2014 New Orleans Jazz Festival; they made a special request for him to come with a big show. Early in Jazzfest’s history Sam [...]
MaryAnne is our spring intern, and she has helped us immensely with PR and artist services! Week before last she headed to Juke Joint with Aaron and several artists, and we asked her to write [...]
We arrived at David Bryant’s house just before sunset and he was sitting on his porch waiting for us. “Yes, mm hmm,” he said, and waved a greeting. We were picking up David on [...]
Aaron, Intern MaryAnne, Ironing Board Sam and David Bryant are on their way to the Juke Joint Festival in Clarksdale, MS! They’ll be playing off and on all day tomorrow. We thought [...]
My name is David Guillaume; I am a junior at the Berklee College of Music. I was recently invited to take part in what would become the single most rewarding vacation of my life. The premise was [...]
Beverly “Guitar” Watkins was born in 1940 in Atlanta, Georgia. She began a lifelong love of music at the age of eight, when her aunt gave her a guitar; the very first song she learned to play was [...]
Algia Mae Hinton was born on August 29, 1929 in Johnston County, North Carolina. Her parents, Alexander and Ollie O’Neal, were farmers who raised tobacco, cotton, cucumbers and sweet potatoes. [...]
This month, Women’s History Month, Music Maker is shining a light on women in Roots music. Etta Baker’s legacy will live on indefinitely as her influences on music can still be heard [...]
We think of the blues player as a wandering, itinerant musician, traveling with his guitar, playing his music and spreading the musical styles of the South across the nation. What we often don’t [...]
B is off to Atlanta this week visiting more artists, but while she’s away we wanted to share with you her thoughts about her first days as part of the Music Maker team! See the video she [...]
Harvey Dalton Arnold is a Music Maker Partner Artist, and will release his first album on the Music Maker label on March 4, 2014. When I think of black history month, and the struggle for civil [...]
Shelton Powe is a Music Maker artist who currently lives in Georgia. When we asked Shelton Powe to tell us his thoughts on Black History Month, he directed us to learn more about Claudette [...]
Doctor Dixon is a “Discovery Artist,” which means we’ve just begun to form a partnership with him. Read Dr. Dixon’s story about traveling in Chicago below. Enjoy! In 1976, [...]
Bring me all of your dreams, You dreamer, Bring me all your heart melodies That I may wrap them In a blue cloud-cloth Away from the too rough fingers Of the world. “The Dream Keeper” by [...]
I generally resist being politically charged. I use my music to convey different pieces of the American Experience as I interpret them. You can talk to me about my politics in person if you [...]
Leroy James, Willie James (Center), James Weston After leaving New Orleans, we headed towards Willie James – our country’s greatest Juke Joint drummer. When he plays the drum, you hear the [...]
Taj Mahal called me Saturday night and was excited as he had just learned that the legendary black jazz guitarist Charlie Christian’s father played the harp guitar. “What I would give [...]
Tim and David Bryant Tim, B and I traveled just under 2,000 miles throughout the South from January 13th – 17th, visiting Drink Small, David Bryant, Little Freddie King, Alabama Slim, Guitar [...]
Little Freddie King by Gregg Roth I have been traveling to New Orleans on a regular basis since my first visit in 1981. It is the northern tip of Caribbean and it is an enchanting magical city. [...]
The second day on the road we got to visit David Bryant’s small home in Covington, GA. Music Maker had worked with his mother Cora Mae Bryant for years. His grandfather, Curley [...]
We visited Drink Small today. I first met Drink in 1981 at Warren Wilson College. I used to tour with him in the early 1990s, with Guitar Gabriel. When Gabe died, I received a telegram from Drink [...]
My favorite memory of being on tour with Boo Hanks was when he told me about the time he went to see Louis Jordan as a young man. I’ve known Boo since 2006 and in my mind he is a [...]
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 [...]
Cootie Stark was an incredible Piedmont blues singer and guitarist whose repertoire harkened back to his youth, when he learned his music from the legendary Baby Tate. Cootie was the only fellow [...]
From 1991-94, Guitar Gabriel, Captain Luke, Macavine Hayes and I would spends days, upon weeks, upon months and years when we were not doing a show, going from drink house to drink house. [...]
Last night was a very special and exciting moment here in our Music Maker Grotto. Earlier in the afternoon our partner Tom Ciaburri stopped by the office. He had just come back from two weeks in [...]
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