Creator: Duffy, Timothy.
Collection number: 20044
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Abstract: Timothy Duffy (1963- ), folklorist and musician, produced field recordings of the American roots tradition as an undergraduate at Warren Wilson College and while working on a folklore master’s degree at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. A few years after graduating in 1991, he co-founded the Music Maker Relief Foundation (MMRF), a non-profit organization near Hillsborough, N.C., that helps southern roots tradition musicians meet their financial needs and gain recognition for their work. The collection includes chiefly sound recordings, but there are also artist files, CD liner proofs, correspondence, photographs, posters, documentation, video recordings, DVDs, and miscellaneous items. Most of the material relates to Duffy’s work with MMRF. Sound recordings include Duffy’s folklore thesis fieldwork in the Black Mountains of North Carolina and recordings of blues, gospel, and R& B artists such as Walt Davis, Ray Greene, Jeeter Riddle, James Guitar Slim Stephens, Etta Baker, Willa Mae Buckner, Guitar Gabriel, Cool John Ferguson, Cootie Stark, Cora Mae Bryant, Sammy Mayfield, Neal Pattman, Beverly Guitar Watkins, Jerry McCain, Essie Mae Brooks, Precious Bryant, Preston Fulp, Macavine Hayes, Algia Mae Hinton, John Dee Holeman, Captain Luke Mayer Luther, Taj Mahal, and the Greene Acres Picking Party. Some of the sound recordings include interviews with artists.
Repository: Southern Folklife Collection
Collection Highlights: There are sound recordings, oral histories, and artist files for numerous gospel, R&B, and blues artists.