Music Maker Revue: Pat "Mother Blues" Cohen & Big Ron Hunter

Music Maker Relief Foundation is a nonprofit organization based in Hillsborough, NC, dedicated to helping the true pioneers and forgotten heroes of the blues gain recognition and meet their day-to-day needs. The organization is currently commemorating its 20th anniversary and in celebration has collaborated with Duke Performances' Music in the Gardens for a series of multi-artist summer concerts.We close our 2015 season in the Gardens with a double-bill of artists who have been supported by the Music Maker Relief Foundation: Pat 'Mother Blues' Cohen was a long time fixture on the New Orleans blues scene until Hurricane Katrina forced her from her home; with the help of Music Maker, she's managed to resettle in her home state of North Carolina. 'Mother Blues' is a fine blues belter with a brassy stage presence that rivals her idols Koko Taylor and Etta James. Big Ron Hunter was born the son of a sharecropper in Winston Salem, and mentored in the country blues by the legendary Guitar Gabriel. Big Ron plays both acoustic and electric guitar and croons a jubilant, good-time blues in a warm and disarming tenor. **Duke Performances' Music in the Gardens is made possible, in part, with support from Duke Continuing Studies, Duke Summer Session, and the Sarah P. Duke Gardens.**