WEBVTT

00:01.466 --> 00:05.066 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80%
JUDY WOODRUFF: Finally tonight:
singing the coronavirus blues.

00:05.066 --> 00:10.066 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70%
Jeffrey Brown revisits
a musician who has
met many challenges
with song in the past,

00:11.233 --> 00:13.500 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70%
and now confronts one
that is quite personal.

00:13.500 --> 00:18.500 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
The story is part of our
ongoing American Creators
series on rural arts and Canvas.

00:21.900 --> 00:26.900 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70%
JEFFREY BROWN: Outside
the Citadel nursing
home in Salisbury, North
Carolina, an uplifting

00:30.433 --> 00:33.766 align:left position:20% line:89% size:70%
one-woman performance.

00:33.766 --> 00:38.733 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70%
The singer, 63-year-old
blues musician Pat
"Mother Blues" Cohen.

00:41.166 --> 00:46.133 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80%
PAT "MOTHER BLUES" COHEN,
Musician: There's been
like a huge outbreak
of the coronavirus.

00:49.233 --> 00:52.400 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80%
And everybody's in their
rooms. And everybody is afraid.

00:52.400 --> 00:57.366 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80%
And I want to do
something that's going
to brighten up somebody's
day. And in brightening

00:59.966 --> 01:02.966 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70%
somebody else's day, it
brightens my day also.

01:02.966 --> 01:06.833 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70%
WOMAN: The citadel in
Salisbury now considered
the site of an outbreak.

01:06.833 --> 01:11.066 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
JEFFREY BROWN: The nursing home
is the scene of one of North
Carolina's worst outbreaks

01:11.066 --> 01:13.100 align:left position:30% line:89% size:60%
of COVID-19.

01:13.100 --> 01:18.000 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
Health officials say the
160-bed facility has had more
than 150 confirmed cases among

01:19.900 --> 01:24.666 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
residents and staff, one of
the residents, Pat Cohen's
59-year-old brother, George. He

01:26.333 --> 01:31.333 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70%
first went into the
home two years ago after
suffering a stroke.

01:33.333 --> 01:36.933 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
He's not been diagnosed with
COVID, but is mostly confined
to his bed, and watches his

01:38.066 --> 01:40.300 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70%
sister perform
through the window.

01:40.300 --> 01:45.266 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
PAT "MOTHER BLUES" COHEN: My
brother used to help me with
my equipment that he would

01:47.233 --> 01:51.433 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
carry it to my car for
me. And he was -- I could
always depend on him.

01:52.600 --> 01:55.200 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70%
So I'm doing the
same thing for him.

01:55.200 --> 02:00.200 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
JEFFREY BROWN: We first met Pat
Cohen in 2014 at a gathering
in Durham of the Music Maker

02:03.700 --> 02:08.700 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70%
Relief Foundation, an
organization that's
supported more than 400
blues musicians around

02:10.600 --> 02:15.066 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70%
the South, mostly
African-American, often
rural, people like
Ironing Board Sam, who

02:17.000 --> 02:21.266 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
briefly reached the spotlight,
but never made it big, and
eked out a living playing small

02:21.266 --> 02:24.233 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70%
clubs and busking
on the streets.

02:24.233 --> 02:28.733 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
Music Maker helps these
musicians meet basic needs and,
for some, has gotten them back

02:28.733 --> 02:31.033 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80%
to performing paying gigs.

02:31.033 --> 02:36.033 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
Now, founder Tim Duffy
says, the shows have
stopped. The fear is real.

02:37.800 --> 02:39.866 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
TIM DUFFY, Founder,
Music Maker Relief
Foundation: They're scared.

02:39.866 --> 02:43.300 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
When you live -- like, an
average check is like $600 to
$800 a month, sometimes as low

02:45.200 --> 02:48.500 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
as $400 a month. All the artists
that we are working with, a
lot of them are between 75

02:51.333 --> 02:55.366 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80%
and 85 and have diabetes.
They're highly intelligent.

02:55.366 --> 03:00.400 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
And so, like, they will tell
me, if I make a mistake, I
might die, if I touch the wrong

03:02.400 --> 03:06.133 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
thing. So, they're being very,
very careful. But that's a
lot of pressure to live under.

03:06.133 --> 03:11.133 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80%
JEFFREY BROWN: A lot of
artists and arts organizations
are now looking to new
models, like streaming...

03:11.733 --> 03:13.733 align:left position:30% line:89% size:60%
TIM DUFFY: Yes.

03:13.733 --> 03:15.966 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
JEFFREY BROWN: ... as a
way to stay connected, also
to possibly raise funds.

03:15.966 --> 03:19.966 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80%
Is that sort of thing possible
for you and these artists?

03:19.966 --> 03:24.966 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
TIM DUFFY: It's possible, but
there's a great digital divide.
They're elderly. They don't

03:26.900 --> 03:30.100 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
know how to use the devices.
A lot of places are in rural
communities that don't have the

03:31.300 --> 03:33.266 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70%
best Internet, so
we can't do that.

03:33.266 --> 03:37.833 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
JEFFREY BROWN: Pat Cohen was
once a regular on the New
Orleans scene. She lost her home

03:39.700 --> 03:42.833 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
during Hurricane
Katrina, along with her
professional connections.

03:42.833 --> 03:47.833 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
Music Maker helped her relocate
to North Carolina and pick up
her career. She was scheduled

03:49.733 --> 03:53.400 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
to perform at Jazz Fest earlier
this month, in fact, and in
Portugal later on. But now

03:54.600 --> 03:57.366 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70%
all the gigs are gone,
the money not coming in.

03:57.366 --> 04:02.333 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
PAT "MOTHER BLUES" COHEN: If
all you do is sing or play
an instrument, or whatever it

04:04.300 --> 04:06.600 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
is, you don't know what you're
going to do, because, after
this is over, if it's ever

04:06.600 --> 04:09.500 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80%
over -- you wonder if it's
ever going to be over.

04:09.500 --> 04:14.233 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
You don't know how things are
going to change. And you know
it's going to change. Will there

04:14.233 --> 04:17.400 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80%
ever be live concerts again?

04:17.400 --> 04:22.400 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
JEFFREY BROWN: She used to
be paid to perform inside the
nursing home. Now there's just

04:24.033 --> 04:28.366 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80%
singing outside to lift
up her brother and others.

04:28.366 --> 04:33.366 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
Music Maker's Tim Duffy says
it's another example of why
the musicians he's worked with

04:33.366 --> 04:37.233 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70%
for 25 years deserve
our respect and help.

04:37.233 --> 04:39.533 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70%
TIM DUFFY: She just
keeps on going.

04:39.533 --> 04:43.866 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
And now she literally has very
little money. And she gets
up the gumption to go out and

04:43.866 --> 04:48.866 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
sing for them and do something
to help others with what she
has. She has joy in her heart.

04:50.833 --> 04:55.000 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
She has music. And I think, in
times of crisis, we look for
our folk musicians to guide us.

04:56.133 --> 04:59.066 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70%
That's their role.
They're bards.

04:59.066 --> 05:03.533 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80%
JEFFREY BROWN: Pat "Mother
Blues" Cohen puts it this way:

05:03.533 --> 05:08.533 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80%
PAT "MOTHER BLUES"
COHEN: Everybody has a
currency, and everybody's
currency is different.

05:09.266 --> 05:12.000 align:left position:20% line:89% size:70%
My currency is my voice.

05:12.000 --> 05:17.000 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80%
You don't have to do what
I do, but do something
nice for somebody else.
And that makes you

05:18.200 --> 05:20.266 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70%
feel good. And that's
contagious by itself.

05:20.266 --> 05:25.000 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80%
JEFFREY BROWN: Blues, both
sad and joyful, now comforting
others in a time of pandemic.

05:27.033 --> 05:30.200 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70%
For the "PBS NewsHour,"
I'm Jeffrey Brown.

05:30.200 --> 05:34.766 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80%
JUDY WOODRUFF: And singing to
her brother, that is special.