Eddie Cotton, Jr.
Bluesman Eddie Cotton, Jr.’s music is rooted in the church. His father was a Pentecostal minister, shepherding the Christ Chapel Church of God in Christ that he founded in Clinton, Mississippi, just west of Jackson. While music was central to church services, his family and his congregation shunned secular music. Nonetheless, Cotton reflects, “The deepest of the blues I’ve ever...
Aurelio
One of the most extraordinary Central American artists of his generation, Aurelio Martinez is a musical ambassador and champion of the Garifuna, a culturally threatened African Amerindian ethnic minority living primarily along the Caribbean coasts of Belize, Honduras, Guatemala, and Nicaragua. Hailing from the small community of Plaplaya in Honduras, he grew up immersed in Garifuna rhythms, rituals, and songs....
Adonis Puentes & the Voice of Cuba Orchestra
Adonis Puentes has said, “My mission in life is to share my music, giving people joy.” Propelled by the rhythms of his sextet, the Voice of Cuba Orchestra, the multitalented Puentes—an accomplished guitarist, percussionist, and songwriter—transports listeners to Cuba, his birthplace, through the mesmerizing sounds of son. Son comes out of the centuries-old Afro-Cuban musical tradition, which married African percussion...
Roger Richardson
Roger Richardson’s family has been farming on the Eastern Shore since 1767. As residents of the Chesapeake region for nearly two and a half centuries, Richardson’s family is deeply knowledgeable about the agricultural industry and farming practices of the Eastern Shore. Richardson’s farm covers approximately 3,000 acres, touching Worcester, Somerset, and Wicomico counties. He has been involved with some of the Eastern Shore’s most important agricultural products, from chickens to corn,...
Mangum & Company
Led by soaring trombones with their slides pointed heavenward, Mangum & Company is a group of outstanding musicians representing many of Charlotte, North Carolina’s United House of Prayer congregations. Shout bands are all-brass, gospel-based trombone choirs that represent a sacred musical tradition unique to United House of Prayer churches, and are central to worship servcies, inspiring congregants with joyous sounds...
Ted Daniels
Captain Ted Williams Daniels is a lifelong resident of Deal Island, Maryland, and a standard-bearer for one of the region’s major lifeways: oyster harvesting. A fifth-generation skipjack, he is the grandson of “Daddy” Art Daniels, a local legend who was a frequent winner of the Deal Island Skipjack Races & Festival. Oystermen are integral to the Maryland economy, which relies heavily on annual shellfish harvests for...
Stoney Whitelock
Captain Stoney Whitelock is a lifelong resident of the Eastern Shore and a fourth-generation skipjack captain. Whitelock has been a prominent member of the skipjack community in Maryland for his entire life, first working on these distinctive Chesapeake workboats to harvest oysters from the bay and now leading efforts to preserve the remaining vessels that are so unique to the...
Rich Smoker & Kenny Glasgow
Rich Smoker is a master decoy carver who began his journey at a young age when he apprenticed to a master taxidermist. Smoker credits his success in wildfowl carving to his early immersion in taxidermy. He learned anatomy extensively, which enhanced his pursuits in wood carving and creating lifelike reproductions of a variety of birds. Smoker grew up on a tiny...
Rhonda Aaron
Rhonda Aaron, from Hooper’s Island, is renowned in her community for being a repeat Women’s Champion Muskrat Skinner of the Eastern Shore; her 2004 skinning performance was featured in the documentary film Muskrat Lovely. A nationally known Eastern Shore cook as well, her culinary specialties range from southwestern muskrat to Smith Island cake. Rhonda is closely associated with the National...
Pocomoke Indian Nation
The Pocomoke Indian Nation is a non-profit organization composed of descendants of one of the indigenous populations of the Delmarva Peninsula. The Pocomoke were a large and widespread group that exercised significant influence in the region. When Europeans first arrived in the Chesapeake Bay, the Pocomoke occupied a territory that included what is now Somerset, Wicomico, and Worcester counties in...
