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What's Tim Duffy reading?

 
Tampa Bay Times
Published Nov. 13, 2014

Nightstand

Tim Duffy

It was Guitar Gabriel, a blues musician in Winston-Salem, N.C., who first took Tim Duffy's heart. Others followed, like Willa Mae Buckner, Preston Fulp, Mr. Q and Macavine Hayes. In 1994, Duffy, along with his wife, Denise, created the nonprofit Music Maker Relief Foundation after recognizing that blues men and women across the South were struggling in poverty and needed financial support. In the past two decades, Music Maker has helped 300 blues artists, issued more than 160 CDs and presented concerts in 40 states and 17 countries, all in support of preserving the American blues tradition. To mark its 20-year anniversary, the organization has released We Are the Music Makers, a book and CD set that includes stories and 65 photographs gathered by Duffy, 51, along with two discs showcasing Music Maker musicians. We caught up with Duffy, a guitar player who holds a master's degree in folklore from the University of North Carolina, at his home in Hillsborough, N.C. For information, visit musicmaker.org.

What's on your nightstand?

It's interesting. First, I have a 1969 Whole Earth Catalog. I look at it for ideas. You can glance on one page and see 30 different things and they all connect. I always go back to it as we develop our Web pages. It's great how they got a lot of information in a little bit. When you think about it, it's really like the beginnings of Google. I've also got The Americans by Robert Frank. It's a photography book, just pictures, and I also have Wright Morris (God's Country and My People). I like the way he put words and pictures together. It's cool to juxtapose with The Americans and how it's all photos.

Are there particular authors or journalists who focus on music that you often read?

Well, the big one was Robert Palmer, the great writer for the New York Times, but he passed away. And also there was Alan Lomax (a folklorist who died in 2002). But for modern-day music writers, I think the one I go to when I want to know what's going on is Peter Cooper, a guy in Nashville with the Tennessean. I read his blog frequently. A big influence for me also is Bill Ferris at UNC Chapel Hill. He just gave me a book when I saw him the other day on Southern authors (The Storied South: Voices of Writers and Artists).

Contact Piper Castillo at pcastillo@tampabay.com or (727) 445-4163. Follow @Florida_PBJC.