Most of the material that came out of the class with the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University was video, true, but we also got some insightful photos, snippets of audio and art projects. In today’s piece, graduate student Candice catches a moment in the life of Ms. Puddin’s social club in Winston-Salem, where Teresa Mayer (daughter of MMRF artist Captain Luke) sings one of her favorite songs. I’ve heard Teresa sing this song a few times and there’s nothing quite like the magic of silence falling over a crowded living room when she starts it.

-Whitney

Listen to the song here. 

Wildflower is the song that best sings the life of Teresa Mayer.

When Teresa was twelve years old, the American band of rhythm and blues, New Birth, released this single in 1973, which the Canadian group, Skylark, originally sung one year before.

But New Birth’s version captured Teresa’s heart as a young girl from Winston Salem. Little did she know then it would be the first song she performs for an audience in a small 52^nd street club in Philadelphia almost two decades later.

It was the first song her father ever heard her sing. Teresa is the youngest daughter of Captain Luke and his closest confidante – his very own wildflower.

-Candice Jansen