Elizabeth Cotten

Elizabeth Cotten
Background information
Birth nameElizabeth Nevills
Born(1893-01-05)January 5, 1893
Carrboro, North Carolina, U.S.
DiedJune 29, 1987(1987-06-29) (aged 94)
Syracuse, New York, U.S.
Genres
Occupations
  • Musician
  • songwriter
Instruments
Labels

Elizabeth "Libba" Cotten (née Nevills; January 5, 1893 – June 29, 1987)[1][2][3] was an influential American folk and blues musician. She was a self-taught left-handed guitarist who played a guitar strung for a right-handed player, but played it upside down.[4] This position meant that she would play the bass lines with her fingers and the melody with her thumb. Her signature alternating bass style has become known as "Cotten picking".[5] NPR stated "her influence has reverberated through the generations, permeating every genre of music."[6]

Her album Folksongs and Instrumentals with Guitar (1958), was placed into the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress, and was deemed as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". The album included her signature recording "Freight Train", a song she wrote in her early teens.[7] In 1984, her live album Elizabeth Cotten Live!, won her a Grammy Award for Best Ethnic or Traditional Folk Recording, at the age of 90.[8] That same year, Cotten was recognized as a National Heritage Fellow by the National Endowment for the Arts.[9] In 2022, she was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, as an early influence.[10]

  1. ^ Eagle, Bob; LeBlanc, Eric S. (2013). Blues: A Regional Experience. Santa Barbara, California: Praeger. p. 278. ISBN 978-0313344237.
  2. ^ "Happy Birthday Libba Cotten!". ncarts.org. Retrieved March 8, 2022.
  3. ^ "Remembering Elizabeth Cotten by L. L. Demerle'". eclectica.org. Retrieved March 8, 2022.
  4. ^ Larkin, Colin, ed. (2009). "Cotten Elizabeth 'Libba'". Encyclopedia of Popular Music (4th ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-531373-4.
  5. ^ Zollo, Rick (2006). "Cotten Picking: Elizabeth Cotten and the Folk Revival". Shenandoah. 56 (2): 67–75.
  6. ^ "How Elizabeth Cotten's music fueled the folk revival". NPR.
  7. ^ "Elizabeth Cotten: musician who kickstarted the folk revival". faroutmagazine.co.uk. May 14, 2023. Retrieved July 7, 2023.
  8. ^ "Elizabeth Cotten: Master of American folk music". Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. Retrieved July 7, 2023.
  9. ^ "Elizabeth Cotten". www.arts.gov. Retrieved July 7, 2023.
  10. ^ "Elizabeth Cotten | Rock & Roll Hall of Fame". www.rockhall.com. Retrieved May 4, 2022.