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 16th, an EF-2 tornado with winds up to 135 mph swept through Greensboro, killing one person and leaving 85,000 people without power. Sadly, Chuck’s home was destroyed by several trees that were blown down and landed on his house during the storm.

Chuck Cotton’s home in Greensboro, NC

A Greensboro native, Chuck grew up playing the blues, starting with the saxophone in elementary school, he eventually gravitated towards the drums. Throughout his younger years Chuck would piece together gigs while working for his family business shining shoes and cleaning hats. In the 90s, Chuck got hooked up with legendary blues guitarist Bob Margolin and became his regular tour drummer. Chuck has played alongside Pinetop Perkins, John Brim, Jimmy Rogers and many others and he continues to play behind Bob Margolin whenever he’s touring. Chuck has been part of the Music Maker family since the beginning and even played with founding partner artist Guitar Gabriel. Chuck now hosts a regular show at the Bullpen alongside a revolving cast of other partner artists.

But like the tornado that tore through Greensboro last week, steady employment for a working musician comes and quickly goes often leaving artists in the lurch, wondering when the next gig will come so they can pay down any accumulated bills. It was this predicament that leaves many musicians, including Chuck, in a very precarious place.  Chuck could never get enough money together to make some critical repairs to his home so that his insurance premium was within reason. He had no insurance on his home, making this a total loss.

Our new Social Worker Brittany Anderson and Programs Manager Aaron Greenhood assess Chuck Cotton’s situation.

Music Maker immediately sent out emergency relief funds to Chuck through our Sustenance Program and connected him with Brittany. Brittany received her MSW from UNC-Chapel Hill and has worked in social services since 2010. With her vast experience as a social worker, she was able to streamline the process of connecting Chuck with other organizations to further assist him through these trying times. We are thrilled to have Brittany on staff at Music Maker and she is already addressing our partner artists’ most critical needs. Your support allows Music Maker to help these important American artists when they need it most. Please make your tax-deductible contribution today.

“I feel blessed that folks are looking out for me and it’s really reassuring to know that people care about the music and that artists can get this kind of support” – Chuck Cotton

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