1 00:00:01,466 --> 00:00:05,066 JUDY WOODRUFF: Finally tonight: singing the coronavirus blues. 2 00:00:05,066 --> 00:00:10,066 Jeffrey Brown revisits a musician who has met many challenges with song in the past, 3 00:00:11,233 --> 00:00:13,500 and now confronts one that is quite personal. 4 00:00:13,500 --> 00:00:18,500 The story is part of our ongoing American Creators series on rural arts and Canvas. 5 00:00:21,900 --> 00:00:26,900 JEFFREY BROWN: Outside the Citadel nursing home in Salisbury, North Carolina, an uplifting 6 00:00:30,433 --> 00:00:33,766 one-woman performance. 7 00:00:33,766 --> 00:00:38,733 The singer, 63-year-old blues musician Pat "Mother Blues" Cohen. 8 00:00:41,166 --> 00:00:46,133 PAT "MOTHER BLUES" COHEN, Musician: There's been like a huge outbreak of the coronavirus. 9 00:00:49,233 --> 00:00:52,400 And everybody's in their rooms. And everybody is afraid. 10 00:00:52,400 --> 00:00:57,366 And I want to do something that's going to brighten up somebody's day. And in brightening 11 00:00:59,966 --> 00:01:02,966 somebody else's day, it brightens my day also. 12 00:01:02,966 --> 00:01:06,833 WOMAN: The citadel in Salisbury now considered the site of an outbreak. 13 00:01:06,833 --> 00:01:11,066 JEFFREY BROWN: The nursing home is the scene of one of North Carolina's worst outbreaks 14 00:01:11,066 --> 00:01:13,100 of COVID-19. 15 00:01:13,100 --> 00:01:18,000 Health officials say the 160-bed facility has had more than 150 confirmed cases among 16 00:01:19,900 --> 00:01:24,666 residents and staff, one of the residents, Pat Cohen's 59-year-old brother, George. He 17 00:01:26,333 --> 00:01:31,333 first went into the home two years ago after suffering a stroke. 18 00:01:33,333 --> 00:01:36,933 He's not been diagnosed with COVID, but is mostly confined to his bed, and watches his 19 00:01:38,066 --> 00:01:40,300 sister perform through the window. 20 00:01:40,300 --> 00:01:45,266 PAT "MOTHER BLUES" COHEN: My brother used to help me with my equipment that he would 21 00:01:47,233 --> 00:01:51,433 carry it to my car for me. And he was -- I could always depend on him. 22 00:01:52,600 --> 00:01:55,200 So I'm doing the same thing for him. 23 00:01:55,200 --> 00:02:00,200 JEFFREY BROWN: We first met Pat Cohen in 2014 at a gathering in Durham of the Music Maker 24 00:02:03,700 --> 00:02:08,700 Relief Foundation, an organization that's supported more than 400 blues musicians around 25 00:02:10,600 --> 00:02:15,066 the South, mostly African-American, often rural, people like Ironing Board Sam, who 26 00:02:17,000 --> 00:02:21,266 briefly reached the spotlight, but never made it big, and eked out a living playing small 27 00:02:21,266 --> 00:02:24,233 clubs and busking on the streets. 28 00:02:24,233 --> 00:02:28,733 Music Maker helps these musicians meet basic needs and, for some, has gotten them back 29 00:02:28,733 --> 00:02:31,033 to performing paying gigs. 30 00:02:31,033 --> 00:02:36,033 Now, founder Tim Duffy says, the shows have stopped. The fear is real. 31 00:02:37,800 --> 00:02:39,866 TIM DUFFY, Founder, Music Maker Relief Foundation: They're scared. 32 00:02:39,866 --> 00:02:43,300 When you live -- like, an average check is like $600 to $800 a month, sometimes as low 33 00:02:45,200 --> 00:02:48,500 as $400 a month. All the artists that we are working with, a lot of them are between 75 34 00:02:51,333 --> 00:02:55,366 and 85 and have diabetes. They're highly intelligent. 35 00:02:55,366 --> 00:03:00,400 And so, like, they will tell me, if I make a mistake, I might die, if I touch the wrong 36 00:03:02,400 --> 00:03:06,133 thing. So, they're being very, very careful. But that's a lot of pressure to live under. 37 00:03:06,133 --> 00:03:11,133 JEFFREY BROWN: A lot of artists and arts organizations are now looking to new models, like streaming... 38 00:03:11,733 --> 00:03:13,733 TIM DUFFY: Yes. 39 00:03:13,733 --> 00:03:15,966 JEFFREY BROWN: ... as a way to stay connected, also to possibly raise funds. 40 00:03:15,966 --> 00:03:19,966 Is that sort of thing possible for you and these artists? 41 00:03:19,966 --> 00:03:24,966 TIM DUFFY: It's possible, but there's a great digital divide. They're elderly. They don't 42 00:03:26,900 --> 00:03:30,100 know how to use the devices. A lot of places are in rural communities that don't have the 43 00:03:31,300 --> 00:03:33,266 best Internet, so we can't do that. 44 00:03:33,266 --> 00:03:37,833 JEFFREY BROWN: Pat Cohen was once a regular on the New Orleans scene. She lost her home 45 00:03:39,700 --> 00:03:42,833 during Hurricane Katrina, along with her professional connections. 46 00:03:42,833 --> 00:03:47,833 Music Maker helped her relocate to North Carolina and pick up her career. She was scheduled 47 00:03:49,733 --> 00:03:53,400 to perform at Jazz Fest earlier this month, in fact, and in Portugal later on. But now 48 00:03:54,600 --> 00:03:57,366 all the gigs are gone, the money not coming in. 49 00:03:57,366 --> 00:04:02,333 PAT "MOTHER BLUES" COHEN: If all you do is sing or play an instrument, or whatever it 50 00:04:04,300 --> 00:04:06,600 is, you don't know what you're going to do, because, after this is over, if it's ever 51 00:04:06,600 --> 00:04:09,500 over -- you wonder if it's ever going to be over. 52 00:04:09,500 --> 00:04:14,233 You don't know how things are going to change. And you know it's going to change. Will there 53 00:04:14,233 --> 00:04:17,400 ever be live concerts again? 54 00:04:17,400 --> 00:04:22,400 JEFFREY BROWN: She used to be paid to perform inside the nursing home. Now there's just 55 00:04:24,033 --> 00:04:28,366 singing outside to lift up her brother and others. 56 00:04:28,366 --> 00:04:33,366 Music Maker's Tim Duffy says it's another example of why the musicians he's worked with 57 00:04:33,366 --> 00:04:37,233 for 25 years deserve our respect and help. 58 00:04:37,233 --> 00:04:39,533 TIM DUFFY: She just keeps on going. 59 00:04:39,533 --> 00:04:43,866 And now she literally has very little money. And she gets up the gumption to go out and 60 00:04:43,866 --> 00:04:48,866 sing for them and do something to help others with what she has. She has joy in her heart. 61 00:04:50,833 --> 00:04:55,000 She has music. And I think, in times of crisis, we look for our folk musicians to guide us. 62 00:04:56,133 --> 00:04:59,066 That's their role. They're bards. 63 00:04:59,066 --> 00:05:03,533 JEFFREY BROWN: Pat "Mother Blues" Cohen puts it this way: 64 00:05:03,533 --> 00:05:08,533 PAT "MOTHER BLUES" COHEN: Everybody has a currency, and everybody's currency is different. 65 00:05:09,266 --> 00:05:12,000 My currency is my voice. 66 00:05:12,000 --> 00:05:17,000 You don't have to do what I do, but do something nice for somebody else. And that makes you 67 00:05:18,200 --> 00:05:20,266 feel good. And that's contagious by itself. 68 00:05:20,266 --> 00:05:25,000 JEFFREY BROWN: Blues, both sad and joyful, now comforting others in a time of pandemic. 69 00:05:27,033 --> 00:05:30,200 For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Jeffrey Brown. 70 00:05:30,200 --> 00:05:34,766 JUDY WOODRUFF: And singing to her brother, that is special.