Elizabeth
Cotten was born near Chapel Hill, North Carolina on January 5, 1895. Her parents,
Mr. and Mrs. Neville, could not
agree on a name for her when she was born so she was called various things, like
"Babe", "Little Sis", and "Shug". She still did not have an "official" first
name when she started to school so she gave herself the name of Elizabeth. She
began sneaking into her brother's room at the age of seven to play his
homemade banjo. She did domestic work at the age of twelve to earn money
to buy her first guitar, which she named "Stella". Cotten’s way of playing the instrument was much different than
others. She picked at the cords with her left hand, using two fingers,
while her instrument laid upside-down on her lap. She married Frank Cotten
and at the age fifteen, her first child, Lillie, was born.
Cotten
continued doing housework as she moved with her husband and daughter between
Washington D.C. and New York City. She seldom played the guitar during the next twenty-five years,
only playing occasionally at church
gatherings. After she and her husband got a divorce in 1940, she moved in
with Lillie and her five grandchildren in Washington D.C. While there, she
worked for a while in a furniture shop and later in a Lansburgh department store.
One day while she was working, little Peggy Seeger became lost in the store.
Elizabeth was the one who found her returned her to her mother, Ruth Crawford Seeger. Seeger and Cotten became friends, and
soon she was doing housework for the Seeger family. It has been said that
Elizabeth Cotten was in the right place at the right time. The Seeger family
were musicologists. Peggy Seeger was
learning to play guitar, Pete Seeger, Peggy's brother, was already a folk singer
who played the guitar and banjo, and Ruth had written a song book for children.
One day Elizabeth picked up one of the Seeger's guitars and started playing it.
Peggy discovered her and very soon "Libba" as Peggy called her, was part of
the Seeger's musical circle.
In
1957, Cotten’s first album was produced. “Folksongs and
Instrumentals with Guitar” wasreleased with the help of Mike Seeger, who had been recording Elizabeth
since 1952. Together Cotten and Seeger
performed a concert at Swarthmore College in 1960. This was just the
beginning of her musical career at the age of sixty-eight. She went on to play at many
Folk Festivals throughout the years. Her
most famous song was “Freight Train”, which she wrote when she
was twelve, and the song was later recorded by some of music's greats.
Cotten
continued with her folk music career. In 1979, she recorded Elizabeth Cotten, Volume 2: Shake Sugaree, and
Volume 3: When I’m Gone. In 1984, Elizabeth Cotten, Live! was released and she
won a Grammy for Best Ethnic or Traditional Folk Recording. Some other honors Cotten received included: The National Folk Association’s Burl Ives
Award, received the National Endowment for the Arts
National Heritage Fellowship Award, a nomination for a Grammy: Best Traditional
Folk Recording, and Elizabeth Cotten Grove Park was dedicated to
her along with a street in New York City that was named for her. She also toured
with Taj Mahal.
After
many years, Cotten’s hands became very weak.She gave her last concert in
1986 at the Philadelphia Folk Festival, not long before she passed away on June 29th, 1987.
Elizabeth Cotten left her folk music world at the age of 92.
She is still an inspiration to many musicians today, and famous for her unique
upside-down left handed finger-picking style. Two years after her death, Cotten’s photograph was added to the 75 influential African-American
women collection, “I Dream a World”. Elizabeth Cotten can be seen
on YouTube videos.