Music Makers make good
Oct. 5, 2008
One-man-band Adolphus Bell performs with the Music Maker Revue on Oct. 4. Bell, 64, has been with the Music Maker Relief Foundation for more than three years.
Lil' Joe Burton and Tim Duffy perform together for the Music Maker Relief Foundation at the Peace Park stage Oct. 4. The foundation raises money to help support traditional roots and blues musicians in need to keep the music alive.
For these Music Makers, it's good to be back in CoMO.
The eight musicians representing the Music Maker Relief Foundation were just as excited to be here in Columbia for a second year as the crowd was to hear them again. The group began their share of the festivities Friday evening, performing for guests at the Whole Hog Lounge at The Tiger for the Roots 'N Blues 'N BBQ Festival.
"I'm really turned on," says Lil Joe Burton, the group's horn player. "Yeah, can't wait. Everybody's lookin' good, feelin' good." Burton has collaborated in the past with blues greats like B.B. King, Van Morrison and Junior Wells.
The Music Maker Relief Foundation is a unique group with about 100 different artists that come together and perform around the world. According to the foundation's Web site, the organization "helps the true pioneers and forgotten heroes of Southern music gain recognition and meet their day-to-day needs." In order to be a recipient of the group's funding, a musician must be 55 years of age or older and make less than $18,000 annually. Most of these incredible Southern music pioneers, though, are much older and make much less than that figure.
Adolphus Bell, a native of Birmingham, Ala., has been with the Music Makers for about three and half years now. He was discovered after playing on the streets of Atlanta for 15 years and, at 64 years old, knows what the blues means to his generation and wants to teach the younger crowds what it's all about.
"Some of the older people don't really get to the blues like they used to," Bell says. "And the younger people, it's new to them, and they are the ones that keep it alive, that keep it growing."
The Music Makers are doing their part to keep the blues alive and brought their message to Columbia through a well-received set Saturday evening at Peace Park, bringing in the largest crowd the stage had seen all day.
The ensemble won the audience over with virtuosity and showmanship, especially when Mudcat, a guitarist who was also playing in Atlanta when the Music Makers picked him up, got down off the stage and took his performance to the fans.
Mudcat says he appreciates the group and what the Music Makers have done for him.
"What you're seeing today is mostly the core group," Mudcat says.
Another group member, Sol, also expressed how big of an impact the Music Maker Relief Foundation had made on his life.
"I've been with the Music Makers since it started." Sol says. "My dad was friends with (founder) Tim Duffy, so I got to grow up with all the guys around me. They were a huge influence on me."
The Music Makers are like family, they don't just play together, they support one another, and the biggest lesson they want to get across to their fans is that the blues and other music feeds the soul and people should celebrate it to get through hard times.
"The way things are now in the world," Bell says. "Everybody is going to have the blues. Losing their homes, losing their cars, their jobs; that gives you the blues. The blues will always be around, it's the mother and father of all music."
More Oct. 5, 2008 Music Stories
- Music Makers make good — For these Music Makers, it's good to be back in CoMO. The eight musicians representing the Music Maker Relief Foundation ...
- Fourth graders sing the blues — It was probably the only time a Roots 'N Blues 'N BBQ Festival performer could be heard shouting, "We go ...
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