No Depression and Music Maker Foundation to Release ‘Song Keepers’ Book and Compilation
If the Music Maker Foundation sounds familiar, it should. The North Carolina-based nonprofit organization — which, according to its mission, “meets the day-to-day needs of the artists who create traditional American music, ensures their voices are heard, and gives all people access to our nation’s hidden musical treasures” — celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2019. Even more recently, Music Maker released Deep in the South: A Music Maker Songbook (ND review) in 2022, which was covered in the Summer 2023 issue of No Depression. With parallel visions for how roots music ought to be protected, preserved, and celebrated, it’s a natural progression for ND to announce a collaboration with this esteemed organization.
To celebrate Music Maker’s 30th anniversary this year, No Depression has agreed to co-publish Song Keepers: A Music Maker Foundation Anthology. Due out Feb. 16, Song Keepers comprises a 143-page book by Georgann Eubanks, 100 original photos (including tintypes by Music Maker co-founder Tim Duffy), and 85 songs. The four-CD box set is divided into themes — Acoustic Blues, Electric Blues, Eclectic Folk, and Sacred Soul and Gospel — and includes tracks collected from Music Maker’s catalog of more than 200 releases.
Today, No Depression shares the first song from the forthcoming release, Etta James’ “Carolina Breakdown.” James is one of the most foundational women in folk and blues music history, and this track in particular showcases her intricate, instrumental picking.
Music Maker has also shared the liner notes about this track, which illustrate how the nonprofit helped James earn back royalties to some of her earliest songs:
A big finish on this album with Etta Baker who began playing guitar at age three in her North Carolina Caldwell County home under the guidance of her father Boone Reid, a multi-instrumentalist and Piedmont bluesman. In her nearly 90-year career, Etta, whose heritage included African-American, Native American, and European American ancestors, could play six-string guitar and five-string banjo. Her work first appeared in 1956 on the album Instrumental Music of the Southern Appalachians, for which she was not compensated. MMF helped her get the rights back to those early songs, including “One Dime Blues.” She earned many national and state awards for her contributions to folk and Piedmont blues. This instrumental was the first song Etta heard her father play when she wasn’t yet big enough to hold a guitar.
Listen to “Carolina Breakdown” below and pre-order Song Keepers: A Music Maker Foundation Anthology though No Depression‘s store here.