In 1999, a new, progressive high school rose from the ruins of the Historic Pilot Cotton Mill and called itself Raleigh Charter. In 2005, Newsweek ranked Raleigh Charter the ninth best public high school in the United States. A year later this school began an innovative Citizenship Program in which students and teachers developed and led service programs together. Thus in 2006, The Sustaining Roots Music Community Project (SOOTS) was born to help the critically acclaimed and internationally renowned Music Maker Relief Foundation (MMRF) in assisting elderly Southern American blues musicians.

Six years ago SOOTS hosted the First Annual Sustaining Roots Music Benefit Concert in conjunction with Music Maker. MMRF is a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving Southern Blues music. Backed by B.B. King, Eric Clapton, Peter Townsend, and Taj Mahal, MMRF does everything from recording, pressing and releasing albums to paying the medical bills that so many aging bluesmen and women struggle to meet. Best of all, MMRF seeks to give these artists “a hand up rather than a handout,” and the best way to do this is to find these artists a gig in which they can share their wealth of talent and earn next month’s rent.

We invite you to join in the fun as SOOTS and MMRF give back to Southern blues artists who have given so much of themselves to lend our regional culture, music and tradition its soul-food flavor.

What makes our work so fun? SOOTS operates on the philosophy that the South’s authentic blues tradition is best homegrown, and thus we seek to support it in a homegrown manner. When you see SOOTS t-shirts, they have been designed by students and silk screened in a classroom. When you attend the SOOTS annual “Fat Tuesday Film Feastival”, to benefit New Orleans Musicians you enjoy homemade student prepared gumbos and, or the past two years, live music from MMRF blues artists including Tim Duffy, Boo Hanks, George Higgs, and Lightnin’ Wells. Then, the icing on our cake is our annual “May Day Cake Bake,” which offers the best local Southern kitchen-created desserts our students can conjure. Our work is hard - but oh so fulfilling. When you help us help our community’s musicians you’ll find everyone is smiling.

The Sixth annual Sustaining Roots Music Benefit Concert will feature Justin Robinson and the Mary Annettes, a local band featuring Justin Robinson (formerly of the Carolina Chocolate Drops), Big Ron Hunter, and Tad Walters. The event will be held Friday, April 13th at the Lonview Center in Downtown Raleigh. Doors open at 7:00 pm, and we invite you to attend. The night’s proceeds go to support Music Maker Relief Foundation’s treasured artists.

We're also excited to inform you of the grant we received from the Pepsi Refresh Project. In May of 2010 Raleigh Charter rallied together to win $5,000. Since winning this money, SOOTS has organized a medical mini-grant to George Higgs and has taken part in a Pepsi Refresh Project commercial on WTVD ABC. While SOOTS is growing, we still need your help for us to reach our potential.

Let’s work together to preserve priceless local rhythms.

Sincerely,