A Heart of Blues

Tar Heel Keeps the Blues Alive

Mr. Q, Tim Duffy and Captain Luke. Album cover of Dr. Burt's They Call Me Dr. Burt

Top: Mr. Q (L), Tim Duffy (C) and Captain Luke (R). Bottom: Album cover of Dr. Burt's "They Call Me Dr. Burt".

In the background, the rhythm of sorrow and joy floats through the air like a thick fog. Fingers gracefully strum a guitar, a foot taps a slow count and lips take on the motion of words as the mind wanders back to the birth of the often-forgotten song of the blues. Time appears to pause in observance and out of respect, and it is here in this place of old­school musicality that you will find Timothy Duffy.

As the founder and director of the Music Maker Relief Foundation, located in Hillsborough, North Carolina, Duffy has made it his mission to inspire, develop and maintain the talents of older blues musicians in the state, working to ensure that their music does not go ignored.

Designed to make certain the “true pioneers and forgotten heroes of Southern music gain recognition and meet their day-to-day needs,” Music Maker reaches out to Southern musicians who are over the age of 55 and have an annual income less than $18,000. Recognizing how cutthroat the music business can be, Duffy emphasizes the importance of providing aging artists with support.

“My job is about removing this hidden blues culture from behind the veil and highlighting the work of the gifted people involved with it through the elevation and packaging of their music,” says Duffy. “Music is a universal language so it is a work that speaks to everyone.”

As a child, Duffy found himself touched by the blues as he listened to his father, a record collector, playing old records around their house. At the age of 15, Duffy received his first guitar and spent countless hours practicing.

Taj Mahal and Tim Duffy, Jeff Robbins and Tim Duffy

Top: Taj Mahal (L) and Tim Duffy (R). Bottom: Jeff Robbins (L) and Tim Duffy (R).

“Every kid has a passion. The trick is finding it,” says Duffy. “Martin Luther King Jr. used to say that it does not matter whether it is pushing a broom or driving a truck, everyone has a calling to follow. For me, that passion is folk music.”

It was this calling that would bring him from his home state of Connecticut to North Carolina.

During the `80s, Duffy tested the folk music waters of the Tar Heel state in Greensboro and Asheville before stumbling upon the Southern Folklife Collection at Carolina. It was here that he was approached by a professor about enrolling in the University's Folklore program. Cognizant of the state's rich musical history, Duffy felt obliged to apply.

“Everyone thinks the blues came from Mississippi, but North Carolina is one of the most influential states in the union for the genre,” Duffy says. “In fact, one of the greatest blues albums, Blind Boy Fuller's “Step It Up and Go,” came right out of Durham. There is no other state in the country that has as many folk artists or the rich musical culture that North Carolina possesses. Plus, it is a wonderful state with wonderful people.”

While attending Carolina, Duffy received a formative education, one that would provide the foundation for his work at Music Maker and give him the social skills necessary to reach out to the blues community.

“I got a great perspective and training on how to be a folklore student,” Duffy says. “Not only did Carolina instruct me on how to form my own thoughts, but it taught me how to be a public servant through the use of folklore and not every institution teaches or emphasizes that.”

Much of his time as a Carolina student was spent at hangout spots and the homes of friends and strangers across the state in an attempt to connect with hard-to-find blues musicians. Even after locating them, getting them aboard with Music Maker was not always an easy task.

“I had a lot of doors slammed in my face from wary people who were ripped off from the last white guy who stepped on their porch back in the `70s,” Duffy says. “Sometimes I talked to a screen door for an hour and a half, but it was what had to be done to develop that trust. I had to earn it.”

Today, Duffy has earned the trust of dozens of musicians resulting in the production of 100 albums in the last decade. Artists such as B.B. King and Tift Merritt are on Music Maker's advisory board and the organization has grown each year in financial support and the scope of assistance it provides to musicians.

Of the musicians who have entered the Music Maker program, the majority started with an average income of less than $6,000 a year. On social security and without alternative financial venues, many of them lack the money to cover their monthly expenses.

Album cover of Randy Burns's The Simple Things. Tim Duffy, Guitar Gabe and Captain Luke.

Top: Album cover of Randy Burns's "The Simple Things". Bottom: Tim Duffy (L), Guitar Gabe (C) and Captain Luke (R).

“Our musicians are given the opportunity to provide a better life for themselves and their community. We donate the CD to the artist and they are able to sell their music and keep 100% of the profit,” Duffy says. “We even had one artist whose income went from $3,000 to $40,000 a year. It never made sense to me that people who changed the musical landscape of our country are going without.”

In addition to creating a stable source of income, working with Duffy has enabled many musicians to buy much-needed prescription drugs and groceries and obtain proper housing, all of which are important to their overall health and well being.

“What we do for our artists is not about giving them a handout but a hand up,” says Duffy. “We are not big enough to just give out money, so we show them how to fish, how to make money with their music and handle their money for the future.”

For Duffy, however, the ultimate success of his work is determined by the survival of the blues from one generation to the next. Joe Thompson, an African-American fiddler and Music Maker musician, is 90 years old and children still gather at his feet to hear him perform.

“Inspiring the younger generation to take part in this music is important to keeping the traditions of North Carolina and its people alive,” Duffy says. “To see these young kids come around and learn music, that is probably the greatest thing I can do for these old guys. Their community is treasuring them and keeping them alive for the next generation. Who says it has to be over?”

Certainly not Duffy.

Continuously doing his part to keep the blues alive, Duffy has kept a strong connection with Carolina to make sure that its students are included in the process. The Southern Folklife Collection features a Timothy Duffy collection that contains an assortment of his work and those of Music Maker musicians (i.e. past and present recordings, posters, newsprint, etc.) who are frequently invited to perform on campus. Furthermore, UNC-Chapel Hill students are constantly working and interning at Music Maker offices.

“My studies at Carolina are representative of my work at Music Maker today. We never forgot the past because we studied our predecessors, but we looked toward the future by challenging the old model of folklore. We looked at the politics of right and wrong so I know how to do what is right for people,” says Duffy. “Without Carolina's training there would be no Music Maker.”

• Tiffany N. White