Often my Harmonikids sessions have particularly deep-rooted personal meaning. This is especially true in the case of my return visits to the Sunflower Landing facility in Mississippi. So much of the music and musicians that made the Blues the most popular and beloved music ever to be played on the harmonica came from rural towns in the Mississippi Delta. Howling Wolf, James Cotton, and Sonny Boy Williamson are just a few of the great Blues harpmen to come directly from the area. In my teens I had the unsurpassed thrill of witnessing the legendary Clarksdale, Mississippi-born Bluesman Muddy Waters perform with his band that included the legendary Pinetop Perkins, James Cotton, and Bob Margolin. The experience changed my life and shaped my musical direction. I imagined myself playing with them someday.

It was with great privilege and respect that Hohner has chosen, Buddy Wakefield, as its 2015 recipient of The Hohner Lifetime Achievement Medallion. For over 2 decades, Buddy has merged his 2 loves, playing music and helping people. His enormous heart has benefited a long list of notable charities and set forth an educational program of his own “Tuning for Better Breathing.”

Bruce Elementary School and Texas Children's Hospital in Houston, TX

On May 21, 2015 I provided two Hohner sponsored Harmonikids sessions to two facilities in Houston, Texas. The first was coordinated by the Houston Blues Society and provided educational outreach to 50 schoolchildren in an economically challenged area of the city. Many of these participants are recent refugees from Africa. The second session was to a dozen patients and family members at the Texas Childrens Hospital. In each case the participants were entertained then gifted harmonicas and taught to play four songs.

On April 3rd 2014 a Hohner-sponsored Harmonikids session at the Phoenix Children's Hospital's "Zone" facility brought healing joy to over a dozen child patients and members of their families. It was a fun and raucous session starting with a concert in which I played and the children sang along.

JOE FILISKO - THE WORLDS MOST RECOGNIZED CUSTOMIZER

THE LEADER OF THE HOHNER AFFILIATED CUSTOMIZER CERTIFICATION PROCESS (LCP)