Truckin’ My Blues Away was commissioned by AARP Prime Time Radio and was first broadcast by them in February 2010.

The project also received in-kind support from the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, a state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. This was the first hour-long radio documentary created collaboratively by Richard Ziglar and Barry Yeoman. AARP hosts the online version here: http://www.aarp.org/entertainment/arts-music/info-01-2011/truckin-my-blues-away_audio1.html.

Truckin’ My Blues Away introduces listeners to the stories and sounds of four older Southern bluesmen–and to the efforts of folklorist Tim Duffy, founder of the Music Maker Relief Foundation, to help lift these musicians from poverty. The musicians cover a wide swath of the South: Boo Hanks of Virgilina, Va.; Captain Luke of Winston-Salem, N.C.; Eddie Tigner of Atlanta; and Little Freddie King of New Orleans. Luke and Hanks have spent most of their lives performing for friends in community drink houses and country stores. Tigner and King have had some success as professional musicians in the past. All four are over the age of 70 and continue to sing the blues. They represent a great aquifer of traditional American music that is quickly disappearing and woefully under-appreciated.