This week, we were pleased to welcome the newest member of the Music Maker staff, Gabi Mendick, who will serve as our Advancement Coordinator. Gabi is a graduate of Tufts University in Boston, and her duties will spread all across our operation. She’ll help us build and manage our outreach to donors, work on bringing […]

A few weeks ago, one of Music Maker’s most important partner artists, Freeman Vines, lost his right eye.  And this is not a story about a sudden emergency that brought on the surgery to remove his eye. It’s a story about how difficult it is for the poor and elderly to get access to the […]

Since Netflix released its film “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” with Viola Davis masterfully playing the Mother of the Blues, critics all over the world have raved about the film. Rainey was a true pioneer of American music — and she was only one degree removed from the Music Maker Relief Foundation. One of our original […]

It’s officially winter, and freezing temperatures have brought cold nights to towns all over the South, where most of Music Maker’s partner artists live. And every night when the temperatures drop, we never forget to ask ourselves, “Are our partners safe and warm tonight?” In our 26 years of existence, Music Maker has worked to […]

When I called him, Robert Lee Coleman’s phone was disconnected. This pandemic year has made hard times harder for many Music Maker partner artists. Losing regular gigs has brought ripple effects, like the inability to keep the phone bill paid and, in Coleman’s case, a car breakdown. Losing one’s car hurts an aging musician like […]