Elizabeth Cotten

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Elizabeth "Libba" Cotten (born January 5, 1895 in Chapel Hill , North Carolina , † June 29, 1987 in Syracuse , New York ) was an influential American folk and blues musician. She only became known to a wider audience when she was well over 60 years old. The Grammy winner's songs were recorded by such well-known bands and musicians as Pete Seeger , Peter, Paul and Mary and the Grateful Dead . Her piece Ain't Got No Honey Baby Now was recorded in 1940 by Blind Boy Fuller as Lost Lover Blues .

Life

Birth year and date are controversial, some sources give 1892 or 1893 or another day in January. As a child, Elizabeth Cotten first taught herself to play the banjo , then the guitar herself. As a left-handed woman , she held the instruments “upside down”. This resulted in her unique guitar technique, in which she played the melody on the high strings with her thumb and the alternating bass on the lower strings with her index finger when fingerpicking .

Elizabeth Cotten is said to have been able to act out songs after hearing them once. She is said to have written her best-known piece, Freight Train , at the age of 12.

At 11, she left school to work as a housemaid. With the money she earned she bought her first own guitar. She made music at parties and festivals. At 15 she married Frank Cotten and soon had a daughter.

Elizabeth Cotten almost completely gave up music. The family moved several times, including to New York and Washington, DC. Her husband was divorced in 1940, and she moved in with her daughter Lillie's family.

In the mid- 1940s , she met Ruth Crawford Seeger when she brought back her lost daughter. Elizabeth ended up working for the Seegers, a very musical family, where she looked after the children Mike , Pete and Peggy .

Elizabeth's musical talent was discovered by chance. In 1957, Mike Seeger produced their first album, Negro Folk Songs and Tunes , which was later re-released as Freight Train and other North Carolina Folk Songs . From 1960 she appeared in front of an audience, mostly with Mike Seeger. She was now 65 to 68 years old, depending on the year of birth.

Elizabeth Cotten benefited from the folk and blues revival of the 1960s . In 1963 she played at the first Philadelphia Folk Festival and in 1964 at the Newport Folk Festival . She performed with blues greats such as Mississippi John Hurt , John Lee Hooker and Muddy Waters , but also gave concerts of her own.

In 1967 her second album, Shake Sugaree, was released . In 1985 she won a Grammy for the album Elizabeth Cotten Live! . She was also awarded a National Heritage Fellowship . In 1989 she was counted among the 75 most influential African American women to whom the photographic documentation "I Dream a World" was dedicated.

Elizabeth Cotten now lived in Syracuse , New York, where she died in 1987, probably 92 years old. She had performed until the very end.

Discography

  • 1957: Freight Train and other North Carolina Folk Songs and Tunes. Smithsonian Folkways.
  • 1967: Shake Sugaree. Smithsonian Folkways.
  • 1979: When I'm Gone. Smithsonian Folkways.
  • 1979: Richie Havens , Taj Mahal , Albert Collins , Queen Ida, Elizabeth Cotton: At The New Morning Blues Festival, Intercord Ton GmbH (double LP).
  • 1984: Elizabeth Cotten Live! Arhoolie Records.

See also

Videos and DVDs

  • Masters of the Country Blues: Elizabeth Cotten and Jesse Fuller. Yazoo Records , 1960.
  • Elizabeth Cotten with Mike Seeger. Vestapool Productions, 1994.
  • Legends of Traditional Fingerstyle Guitar. Cambridge, Mass .: Rounder Records , 1994.
  • Mike Seeger and Elizabeth Cotten. Sparta, NJ: Stefan Grossman's Guitar Workshop, 1991.
  • Jesse Fuller and Elizabeth Cotten. Newton, NJ: Yazoo Video, 1992.
  • Me and Stella: A Film about Elizabeth Cotten. New Brunswick, NJ: Phoenix Films and Video, 1976.
  • John Fahey, Elizabeth Cotten: Rare Performances and Interviews. Vestapool Productions, 1969, 1994.
  • Rainbow Quest with Pete Seeger, Judy Collins and Elizabeth Cotten. Shanachie Entertainment , 2005.
  • Libba Cotten, an Interview and Presentation Ceremony. Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, 1985.
  • Homemade American Music. Mendocino California: Lawren Productions, 1980.
  • Elizabeth Cotten in Concert, 1969, 1978, and 1980. Vestapool Productions, 1969, 2003.
  • The Guitar of Elizabeth Cotten. Sparta, NJ: Stefan Grossman 's Guitar Workshop, 2002.
  • The Downhome Blues. Los Angeles, California: Distributed by Philips Interactive Media, 1994.
  • Elizabeth Cotten Portrait Collection. Public Broadcasting System, United States, 1977-1985.

literature

  • Bruce Bastin: Red River Blues. Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1986.
  • Jessie Carney Smith: Epic Lives: One Hundred Black Women Who Made a Difference. Detroit: Visible Ink Press, 1993.
  • Phil Hood: Artists of American Folk Music: The Legends of traditional Folk, the Stars of the Sixties, the Virtuosi of New Acoustic Music. New York: Quill, 1986.
  • Michael Wenberg: Elizabeth's Song. Oregon: Beyond Words Pub., 2002 (children's book).
  • Brian Escamilla: Contemporary Musicians: Profiles of the people in music. Vol. 16. 1996.
  • John Cohen and Greil Marcus: There is no Eye: John Cohen Photographs. New York: PowerHouse Books, 2001.
  • Lawrence Cohn: Nothing But the Blues: The Music and the Musicians. New York: Abbeville Press, 1993.
  • Robert Santelli: American Roots Music. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 2001.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The year of birth 1895 according to Russell, Tony: "Elizabeth Cotten (1895–1987)", in ders .: The Blues: From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray, Schirmer Books, New York 1997, p. 102.
personal data
SURNAME Cotten, Elizabeth
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Cotten, Libba (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American folk and blues musician
DATE OF BIRTH January 5, 1895
PLACE OF BIRTH Chapel Hill , North Carolina
DATE OF DEATH June 29, 1987
Place of death Syracuse , New York (State)