With A Little Help from My Friends

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When America’s most popular songwriter penned “Hard Times Come Again No More,” little did he know how hard his own times would become. When he died a decade later from a fever-induced fall, Stephen Foster had only 38 cents in his pocket.

And songwriters are still struggling. But today, they can turn to the Recording Academy’s MusiCares Fund, the Rhythm ’n’ Blues Foundation or other charities formed by musicians to help their own. If they live in Austin, Texas, they can tap the Health Alliance for Austin Musicians. Or fellow players might throw a benefit concert; they happen often in the Live Music Capital of the World.

When Austin-based artist Alejandro Escovedo’s Hepatitis C became life-threatening in 2003, friends and admirers—including John Cale, Lucinda Williams, Steve Earle and bandmate Jon Dee Graham—clamored to participate in what became a double album (Por Vida: A Tribute to the Songs of Alejandro Escovedo). That outpouring of appreciation followed several spontaneously organized benefits around the country. Escovedo is still humbled by the experience. “Being sick and having the support of so many people … I’ve never seen anything like it in music,” he says.

Had Stephen Foster been a Hurricane Katrina victim, music-community support might’ve even helped him improve on his pre-flood existence. Funds raised by Louisiana native Marcia Ball bought a displaced fellow pianist a new keyboard; her friends found him more gigs than he ever had in New Orleans. Among the donors to her ad-hoc fund: longtime Letterman bandleader Paul Shaffer.

Another shining example of musicians taking care of each other was the effort to help Victoria Williams after she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1992. Shawn Colvin, T Bone Burnett, Vic Chesnutt and others raised $20,000 and inspired the disc, Sweet Relief: A benefit for Victoria Williams. In turn, Williams later created the Sweet Relief Musicians Fund to aid other musicians. Another fundraising album, Sweet Relief II—Gravity of the Situation: The Songs of Vic Chesnutt, was released in 1996 as an homage to the brilliant singer/songwriter, who’s a paraplegic.

Denise Duffy, administrative director of the Durham, N.C.-based Music Maker Relief Foundation, says such generosity is inspired by two factors: “the emotional pull” music has on us, and the cutthroat, chew-’em-up-and-spit-’em-out American music business. In Europe, players get government subsidies and pensions; here, they’re on their own. “The other thing that’s difficult about being a musician is that because what you’re doing for work is what other people do for fun, they don’t necessarily think you’re working,” she says. “It’s hard to get people to take it seriously.”

Duffy’s husband, Tim, a folklorist, founded Music Maker in 1994 after encountering a far-too-steady stream of poverty-stricken musicians. Says board member and legendary blues, rock and soul artist Taj Mahal, “Rarely does indigenous African-American music have a safe haven and concerned effort for the well-being of great traditional artists.”

Most of these charities have age and financial restrictions. But, in addition to giving cash to older artists, Music Maker also helps rebuild their careers with income-producing performances and recordings, such as the eponymous June release by bluesman John Dee Holeman and Australian folk/blues band The Waifs.

“We have a unique approach of preserving the music by preserving the musician,” says Duffy. “Cootie Stark went from playing his local pizza joint in Greenville, S.C., for $50 to opening at the Newport R&B Festival for Aretha Franklin—in his 70s. It gives me hope.”

For more information visit Sweetrelief.org and MusicMaker.org.