Active Touring Artists

Little Pink Anderson

“Little Pink” Anderson of Spartanburg, SC began singing at medicine shows and carnivals with his legendary father Pink Anderson at the age of 3. He still performs the highly entertaining old folk songs that his Dad made famous.

Adolphus Bell

“I got the advantage over a lot of artist. I got my whole band by myself.” Feet flying, eyes flashing, hands on the guitar and song coming from the heart, that’s the Adolphus Bell One-Man Band. Born: June 5, 1944, Birmingham, Alabama Repertoire Summary:  One Man Band, original Blues, Spirited…

Essie Mae Brooks

Essie Mae Brooks was born in Houston County, Georgia in 1930. Her father was a great drummer in the nearly forgotten African-American tradition called “Drumbeat.” He would play the drum every weekend and people would gather and dance all night long. Her grandfather was a harmonica player and Essie started…

Tommy Brown

After 60 plus years in the show business, he still can make you dance, sing, laugh and cry all in a single song. Tommy Brown is more than a legendary Blues singer, he is truly a legendary entertainer.  This is proven in his classic Blues recordings of the 1950s including…

Carolina Chocolate Drops

The Carolina Chocolate Drops are a group of young African-American stringband musicians that have come to together to play the rich tradition of fiddle and banjo music in Carolinas’ piedmont. Rhiannon Giddens and Justin Robinson both hail from the green hills of the North Carolina Piedmont while Dom Flemons is…

Pat Cohen

Pat “Mother Blues” Cohen’s powerful voice, humor and deep Blues bring the audience to their feet. Since the age of six, Pat was surrounded by music.  Her blues classroom was on the porch of her uncle’s house where one played the guitar and the other played the harmonica.  Her first…

Robert Lee Coleman

After years of playing the Blues, Robert continues on while his stirring vocals and dynamic guitar playing light the stage on fire. Robert Lee Coleman of Macon, Georgia played guitar for Percy Sledge from 1964 to 1969.  In 1970, James Brown hired him for his new band, “the JBs.” Robert’s…

Ardie Dean

Ardie Dean’s infectious happy-spirited charisma drives the Music Maker Revue. He is a world-class drummer who has been with Music Maker since 1991. Dean played at Carnegie Hall with Guitar Gabriel and Tim Duffy in the original “Brothers in the Kitchen,” then the “Limestone Correctional Facility” near his home outside…

Drink Small

They call me the blues Doctor ‘cause I can play all the styles, bottleneck, ragtime, Piedmont Blues I can tear them up, Chicago Blues; I am the blues Doctor. Rich people got the blues because they are trying to keep the money, the poor people are trying to get the…

Pura Fé

Pura Fé‘s voice soars the heavens, taking us on a visionary ride, elegantly stating the indigenous influence on the birth of the Blues.  Like all truly great singers, Pura Fe has the power to move you. With a potent mix of Native influences and good old-fashioned blues, her voice is…

Cool John Ferguson

He was born on Saint Helena Island off the coast of South Carolina. His mother is of the Gullah people and John grew up with the old ways all around him. His first guitar was a Harmony #1 with a one-coil pick-up, two knobs, and a Marvel amplifier. He still…

Benton Flippen

Benton was born in 1920, the seventh of eight children. Benton recounts that he started playing the banjo in his early teens, and picked up the fiddle when he was about eighteen. He also played guitar from time to time, and his wife Lois recalls that he even sang the…

Lee Gates

Lee Gates has an incredible presence, standing well over six feet tall, his entire body draped with muscles from a life of hard work. He also has Blues genes, since he’s a first cousin to Albert Collins.  If Lee isn’t a true-Blue, Mississippi Delta Bluesman, then nobody can carry that…

George Higgs

George Higgs was born in 1930 in a farming community in Edgecombe County near Speed, North Carolina (“a slow town with a fast name” as he is fond of saying.) He learned to play the harmonica as a child from his father, Jesse Higgs, who enjoyed playing favorite spirituals and…

John Dee Holeman

“His playing and singing have that special feel like they’re pouring out as natural as breathing.  He’s such a genuine bluesman that I want to touch him and hope it rubs off on me.” -Harvey Arnold, Music Maker guitarist Born: April 4, 1929, Hillsborough, North Carolina Repertoire Summary: Piedmont Blues…

Little Freddie King

Little Freddie King was born in McComb, Mississippi but left home at 17 to go to New Orleans.  For decades he performed at the roughest juke joints like “The Bucket of Blood.”  Freddie has performed at every New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and is acknowledged the world over as…

Sonny Boy King

Sonny Boy King was born July 14, 1930 in rural Lowndes County, Alabama. He grew up in Birmingham, Alabama. He is a self-taught bluesman who honed his craft in clubs and house parties when he lived in Alabama, Chicago, Detroit and Cleveland from 1946 into the 1970s. In 1975, he…

Captain Luke

Luther Mayer, known as “Captain Luke,” was born in Greenville, South Carolina in 1926. He grew up on his grandparent’s farm in nearby Clinton, where he followed the furrows barefoot behind the plow as his Uncle Jesse worked and sang to his mule. Luke’s ambition at the time was to…

Bishop Dready Manning

You may have been going to church all your life, but chances are you have never attended a church with as much spirit as Bishop Dready Manning’s St. Mark Holiness Church outside Roanoke Rapids. Bishop Manning, a traditional guitarist, harmonica player, and gospel singer, has infused his church with music,…

Jerry “Boogie” McCain

Jerry “Boogie” McCain is the greatest post war harp player alive today. In 2001 he remains at the height of his powers, constantly writing and delivering amazing live performances with the energy of a teenager. Born in 1930 in Gadsden, Alabama, Jerry began playing his harp and singing along with…

Dave McGrew

The Okies and the Arkies used to do it. Now the Mexicans do it. In August they follow the pears and then the apples north from the eastern desert of Oregon and Washington into British Columbia. Some start in May with cherries in California and follow them north then east…

Mudcat

Born in St. Paul on the banks of the Mississippi River and raised on Tybee Island, Georgia, Mudcat began engaging audiences while traveling and busking on the sidewalks and at fairs throughout the US.  Mudcat has apprenticed under many American musical pioneers, including Frank Edwards, Cootie Stark, Cora Mae Bryant,…

Chicago Bob Nelson

Chicago Bob Nelson has played the Blues ever since he was a child.  He was trained under Howlin’ Wolf and Muddy Waters and played harp in John Lee Hooker’s Coast to Coast Blues Band for several years.  Bob jammed with everyone in Chicago including Buddy Guy and Slim Harpo, which…

Bubba Norwood

Drummer James “Bubba” Norwood’s credentials are among the brightest of any MM artist. Known mostly for his long-time association with Ike and Tina Turner, James has anchored the rhythm section for a Who’s Who of blues, soul, and R&B greats. He graduated from Chapel Hill, North Carolina’s Lincoln High School…

Abe Reid

Abe Reid is a master of growling out old tunes and screaming harmonica, and now his authentic finger picking style has lots of new guitar squeaks and squonks to unleash on the unsuspecting. Abe’s style inspires countless imitations and makes getting the blues enjoyable. He’s an innovator, creating infectious melodies…

Larry Shores

Larry Shores was born in 1948 in Elkin, Surry County, North Carolina, the sixth child and only boy to the teen bride of a man just back from World War II. Hard times saw young Larry a seasoned farmhand by the time he was on his own at 14. At…

Patrick & Cathy Sky

Patrick Sky, for those of you unfamiliar with the ‘60s, has been involved in singing, playing and performing his music and songs for over thirty years. In the past he has sold out Carnegie Hall and played for standing room only all over Europe and the United States. Among his…

Slewfoot & Cary B.

Slewfoot was born Mark McLaughlin in 1953. He began playing guitar at the age of 13 and in 1980 he started his career as a New Orleans street musician. Cary Beckelheimer, born in 1968, graduated with a degree in Theater. She traveled with a childrens theater company for 9 years…

Alabama Slim

Slim grew up playing in juke joints in Alabama and moved to New Orleans in the ‘60s.  Since joining MM, his music has been felt at performances in the States and abroad and has recorded, The Mighty Flood, an album featuring Slim & Blues guitarist Little Freddie King. More about…

Sol

Sol is a rare, one of a kind musician. His talent stretches from fiery rock to laid back jazz, and from funky innovative grooves to soulful ballads, always drawing on a deep background in blues. Sol began his musical experiences gigging with blues luminaries such as Guitar Gabriel, Captain Luke,…

Sweet Betty

Born in Duluth, GA, just northeast of Atlanta, Betty Echols Journey grew up listening to gospel music. (Her mother’s singing in church influenced her.) Aspiring to become a singer herself, Betty began singing at parties at her friends’ homes. In the mid 1980’s, she was introduced to legendary saxophonist, Grady…

Eddie Tigner

Eddie Tigner joined the Army in 1944 with guitar legends Les Paul and T-Bone Walker; these men gave Eddie his core musical training.  After his stint in the Army, Eddie backed up Blues slide-guitar legend Elmore James and then went to lead an “Ink Spots” group for 35 years.  He…

Tad Walters

Born in Canton, OH, raised in Raleigh, NC, Tad Walters began playing the guitar at age twelve. As he was developing his guitar skill, Tad picked up the harmonica a couple years later at fourteen. He was influenced by the likes of Blind Boy Fuller, Robert Lockwood, Charlie Patton, Robert…

Beverly Guitar Watkins

“My style is real Lightnin’ Hopkins lowdown blues. I call it hard classic blues, stompin’ blues, railroad smokin’ blues.” If you’ve never seen a blues lady who can play her guitar behind her head, belt out songs and roll over to sweet gospel, you’ve never been in the house when…

Lightnin’ Wells

Mike “Lightnin’” Wells was raised in North Carolina and has had an interest in traditional forms of music since childhood. An avid collector of country and blues recordings, these formed the basis for his developing style of playing and singing using a variety of acoustic instruments, including the guitar, banjo,…

Whistlin’ Britches

Haskel Thompson was born in Winston-Salem, NC in 1932, and has lived there to this day. Captain Luke gave Haskel his nickname Whistlin’ Britches a year ago. He has an amazing spirit and exudes utter joy when he sings. He is the only fellow I have heard who can pop…

Albert White

Albert White began playing guitar in the late 50s with his legendary uncle, Piano Red, and his group “Dr. Feelgood & the Interns.”  Since then, Albert has performed with Joe Tex, The Tams, Ray Charles and many such artists during his 50 year tenure as a Blues and R&B musician. …