Acoustic Blues

Little Pink Anderson

“I think feeling is the most important part of music.” - Little Pink Anderson Born: July 13, 1954 in South Carolina. Repertoire Summary: Acoustic Blues, Folk/Other Current Location: Vermillion, SD More about Little Pink: Alvin “Little Pink” Anderson was born on July 13, 1954, in South Carolina. His father, blues…

Etta Baker

“I was immediately taken by her version of Railroad Bill. [Etta Baker] is the greatest influence on my guitar playing.” - Taj Mahal Etta Baker worked in a textile mill, raised nine children, and didn’t take her music to the stage until she was 60 years old. Fortunately for all…

The Branchettes

The Branchettes of Johnston County, North Carolina (Ethel Eliot and Lena Mae Perry) have been performing hymns and gospel songs together for well over twenty years. Their style and repertory have their roots in the older African-American musical traditions of congregational hymn singing.

Cora Mae Bryant

Cora Mae Bryant was the daughter of Georgia guitar legend Curley Weaver. She remembers, “When the weekend came, Daddy would come and get me. We did not know the difference between night and day.” Curley would perform from one house party to the next often meeting up with his friends…

Willa Mae Buckner

“The Wild Enchantress,” “Princess Ejo,” “The Snake Lady,” and “The World’s Only Black Gypsy.” Born: June 15th, 1922, Augusta, GA Repertoire: Silent Strings, Acoustic Blues Willa Mae Buckner was born on June 15th, 1922 in Augusta, Georgia. In her days as a touring performer, Buckner was known as “The Wild…

Carolina Chocolate Drops

“The Carolina Chocolate Drops are the hottest thing to hit the old-time music community in decades.” - Karen Michel, NPR “Tradition is a guide, not a jailer. We play in an older tradition but we are modern musicians.” - Justin Robinson Band Members: Dom Flemons, Rhiannon Giddens, Justin Robinson Repertoire…

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. Born: January 29, 1955 Repertoire Summary: Acoustic Blues and Electric Blues, drums Current Location: Huntsville, AL More about Ardie: Ardie Dean has been keeping blues time since…

Drink Small

“Drink Small has the biggest, deepest bass voice in the blues. His amazingly expressive sound falls right in between B.B. King and Bo Diddley. But Drink’s got a little something extra. I think it’s his gospel background.” Mapleshade Records Born: 1933, Bishopville, SC Repertoire Summary: Acoustic Blues Current Location: Columbia,…

Dom Flemons

Dom Flemons is a native Arizonan and a true modern Songster, engaging audiences from the green Carolinas to the ruddy Southwest with personalized interpretations of folk, blues, early jazz and rock, country, and original material. Where else can you hear Ma Rainey, the Beatles and the Band in one pyrotechnic…

Preston Fulp

Preston Fulp grew up in Walnut Cove, an area just north of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where his family sharecropped tobacco. Preston took to music at an early age, starting to play the guitar when he was six. By his teens he was proficient on the violin and banjo and was…

Guitar Gabriel

Drink houses in Winston-Salem, North Carolina’s black community, like juke joints in the Mississippi Delta, remain a vigorous setting for the perpetuation of the blues at its most real and rooted level. A refuge for the homeless and the down-and-out, as well as a gathering place for friends and lovers,…

Elder James Goins

Elder James Goins born July 18th, 1921 is Pastor for the Spiritual Holiness Church in Simpson, South Carolina. He and his wife Mother Pauline are a classic example of performing great music at its most basic and powerful best. It just shows you how much that less is more. Their…

Boo Hanks

“Most people, when they hear me play, they think it’s two guitars, because I play the bass and the other strings at the same time. They say, man that’s two guitars, and I say no, me, it’s just me by myself.  They say, don’t believe you, it sounds like two…

Macavine Hayes

Macavine Hayes was born in Tampa, Florida on June 3rd 1943. His family farmed and he was the oldest of 5 sisters and 5 brothers. He remembers, “There was always something to do down on the farm, we listened to the radio and got up on the back porch and…

Big Boy Henry

Although Richard “Big Boy” Henry was an imposing figure at first glance, he was one of the sweetest, most gentle men ever to sing the blues. Born in Beaufort, North Carolina in 1921, he spent much of his life near the coast earning a modest living for himself and his…

George Higgs

“Higgs is a moving singer, powerful harp blower and has a gentle, propulsive guitar style that make for engaging listening.” - Jeff Harris, Bad Dog Blues Born: Edgecombe County, NC, 1930 Repertoire Summary: Acoustic Blues Current Location: Tarboro, NC George Higgs was born in 1930 in a farming community in…

Algia Mae Hinton

“Algia Mae is a great example of what is called in and throughout the African diaspora, ‘Original Joe.’ This is an innovative character who survives and creates anew under all circumstances. Algia Mae Hinton is someone not to be missed!” -Taj Mahal Born: August 29, 1929 in Johnston County, NC…

Carl Hodges

Carl Hodges of Saluda, Virginia was born in 1931 and is among the few Chesapeake Bay blues artists performing today. In true songster tradition he performs old blues, country, and gospel songs sung with his old-time vibrato laden voice.

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…

Ron Hunter

The world’s happiest Bluesman. Ron owns a voice that gives people chills. It’s the kind of voice that carries warmth and tenderness, a voice that is unmistakably his own and embodies everything that’s raw, pure and beautiful about the blues. Born: September 3, 1953 in Winston-Salem, NC Repertoire Summary: Acoustic…

Lucille Lindsay

I asked Guitar Gabriel one day if he had any brothers or sisters. He mentioned that he had a sister but he had not seen her in eight years. He gave me her married name and I found her, blind from diabetes, in an awful nursing home. When I reunited…

Captain Luke

“In his own low-key way, Captain Luke Mayer is one of the most versatile and entertaining ‘discoveries’ that Music Maker has documented for quote a while.” -David Whiteis, Living Blues Magazine Born: November 27, 1927 in Greenville, SC Repertoire Summary: Acoustic Blues Current Location: Winston-Salem, NC More about Captain Luke:…

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,…

Chicago Bob Nelson

“Chicago Bob Nelson’s singing and playing is in prime form; he plays the Blues the way it was meant to be played-from the heart.” Born: July 4, 1944, in Bogalusa, LA Repertoire Summary: Acoustic Blues, Electric Blues Current Location: Atlanta, GA Chicago Bob Nelson has played the Blues ever since…

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. Born: June 20, 1942 in North Carolina Repertoire Summary: Acoustic…

Alabama Slim

“I grew up listening to the old blues since I was a child. I spent summers with my grandparents who had a farm. Them old folks would get to moanin’ while they worked, and I just started moanin’ with them. That’s where I learned to sing.” -Alabama Slim Slim grew…

Albert Smith

Albert Smith (born 1912) of Rembert, South Carolina began playing the piano in 1927 when his parents bought him one from the Sears and Roebuck catalog. Albert is a lovely, soft-spoken man who at the age of 90 remains a powerful blues shouter and barrel-house pianist. Albert has remained in…

Cootie Stark

A blind street singer, he learned his stuff from Greenville, South Carolina, bluesmen Uncle Chump and Pink Anderson in the 1930’s. At 70 he rediscovered his unplugged genius and has headlined at festivals throughout the U.S. and Europe. His card catalog repertoire runs from soul classics to Piedmont blues songs…

James “Guitar Slim” Stephens

James “Guitar Slim” Stephens was born on March 10, 1915 near Spartanburg, South Carolina. He began to play the pump organ at the age of 5 and two years later he switched to piano. Slim was so small that his feet would not even reach the organ pedals, so he…

Tad Walters

Born: Canton, OH, 1976 Repertoire Summary: Acoustic Blues Current Location: Raleigh, NC 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…

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

“He is the only fellow I have heard who can pop and click his tongue like a bushman.” Tim Duffy Born: Winston-Salem, NC, 1932 Repertoire Summary: Acoustic Blues Current Location: Winston-Salem, NC Haskel Thompson was born in Winston-Salem, NC in 1932, and has lived there to this day. Captain Luke…