Elizabeth Cotten

**Elizabeth "Libba" Cotten** (im papa name na **Nevills**; dem bon am January 5 1893 and shi kpai June 29 1987) na American blues an shi dey sing abaut kolsho. Shi Sabi pley guitar by hasef, shi dey uze left hand pley guitar an shi dey pley guitar for pipul wit rait hand. Shi dey pley bass line wit finga an Melody wit im thumb. Plenti pipul don no as shi dey pley an dey kol am "Cotten Picking". Shi dey insaid Rock and Roll  Hall of Fame class of 2002.

## Hau e tek stat life
Dem bon Cotten for 1893 to famili wey like music wel wel for Chapel Hill, North Carolina, for one plez wey leta dey insaid Carrborro. Im papa an mama na George Neville(wey som dey spel as Nevills) an Louisa (or Louise) price Nevill. Na Elizabeth smol pas among di five pikin. Na shi giv imsef nem for fest day wey shi enta skul, wen e ticha ask am im nem, bikos for haus dem dey kol weam Li'l Sis.  Wen shi dey eight years shi don dey pley song, wen shi rich nine years dem fos am komot for skul an e Kon go du haus hep, wen e dey twelve years old, e don get wok for Chapel Hill. Dem dey giv am one dollar evri month, na insaid di moni im papa saf to buy am im fest guitar. Di guitar Sears and Roebuck brand,  wey di money rich $3.75. Na im tich imsef, but e Sabi pley di guiy wel wel, e dey use am dey pley difren songs.

E stil dey smol wen e don dey rait im own songs, one of dem na, "Freight Train" , wey kon bi song wey Plenti pipul sabi wel wel. E rait di song to uze  rimemba train wey e dey ear wen e dey smol. Di 1956 UK rekodin of songs wey Chas McDevitt an Nancy Whiskey du wey pipul lik wel wel na bikos of hau Elizabeth tek wok for Skiffle insaid UK.

Cotten stat to dey wok wit im mama as haus hep wen e dey 13 years old. On November 7, 1910, wen e dey 17, e mari Frank Cotten . Dia two bon one daughta, Lillie, afta smol time Elizabeth no pley guitar lik bifor bikos of im famili an chorch . Elizabet, Frank an dia Pikin Elizabeth Lillie muv around United States for some years, bifor dem kon sta for  D.C area. Wen Lillie mari, Elizabeth liv Frank, kon go dey sta wit im pikin famili.

## Hau dem tek diskova am bak
Cotten no pley guitar for 25 years, na onli for chorch sho. E no dey du sho for poblic an du rekodin ontil shi rich im 60s. Na Seeger famili diskova am wen e dey du haus hep for dem.

Wen e dey wok for store, e hep one pikin find im mama. Di pikin na Peggy Seeger, an dia mama na pesin wey rait Ruth Crawford Seeger. Afta smol time. Cotten Stat to dey du haus hep, na for Ruth Crawford Seeger an Charles Seeger, na im dey hep dem luk afta dia pikin, Mike, Peggy, Barbara, an Penny. Di Segeer famili pikin wey no fit kol "Elizabeth" nem, Kon dey kol am "Libba". Wen e dey wok for di Seegers ( nh hol di famili sabi sing beta song wey Peter Seeger, pikin wey Charles bon for di pesin e mari bifor), e rimemba hau shi tek dey pley wit guitar 40 years ago kon Kari am an len am agiain, lik say na fom stat.

## Hau e tek wok an rekodin
Insaid 1950s, Mike Seegers stat to dey du rekodin of Cotten song insaid Im haus. Na dis rekodin kon bi *Folksong and Instrumental with Guitar* album, na Folksway rekod rilis am. Sins e don rilis dat album, hol im songs, wit di one wey pipul tek no am "Frieght Train" - wey e rait wen e dey smol - singas lik Peter, Paul, an Mary, Jerry Garcia, Bob Dylan, Joe Dassin, Joan Baez, Davendra Banhart, Laura Gibson, Laura Veirs, His name is Alive, Doc Watson, Taj Mahal, Geoff Farina, an Country Teasers.

Peggy Seeger kari di song "Freight Train" go England,  plenti pipul wey lik kolsho song lik am for England.  Paul James an Fred Williams klaim sey na dem get di song.  Leta Cotten let dem no sey na I'm own.

Afta e du im fest album, e Kon stat to dey du concert wit Mike Seeger, di fest na insaid 1960 for Swartmore College.

For stat of 1960s, Cotten don dey pley wit popula pipul wey dey sing kolsho song. Som of dem na Mississppi John Hurt, John Lee Hooker, an Muddy Waters, for ples lik Newport folk Festival an di Smithsonian Festival Of America Folklife.

E kon lik to dey rait an sing pas bifor, wey mek mak am rilis rekod in 1967 wit im pikin, di nem na "Shake "Sugaree". Brenda Joyce Evans, an future Undisputed Truth singa.

Moni wey e get fom sho, awod an rekod wey e don du, e gada smol moni buy haus for Syracuse New York wit I'm pikin. E kontiniu to dey rilis rekod an du sho   sotey e rich im 80s. Insaid 1984 e win Grammy awod for *Best Ethnic or Traditional Recording*, for di album Elizabeth Cotten Live, rilis by Arhoolie rekods. Insaid 1989, Cotten dey insaid 75 *influncial Africa- America Women* wey dey insaid *I Dream  A World* foto.

Cotten kpai in June 1987, for Crouse-Irving Hospital in Syracuse, New York wen e dey 94 years old.Cotten stat to dey rait music wen e dey uze im broda banjo pley. Na left hand e dey use pley am wey dey difren fom hau im broda dey pley am.  Wen e kon uze guitar wit im song e kon dey niu to Plenti pipul. E go fest uze hol im finga down pley lik banjo. Im kain way wey e dey pley Kon bi wetin pipul dey kol "Cotten Picking" . Meni oda singa don kopi hau e tek dey uze guitar pley.

## Som of im wok

*LPs*

Folksongs and Instrumentals with Guitar (1958)

Vol. 2: Shake Sugaree (1967)

Vol. 3: When I'm Gone (1979)

## Rekording on CD

Freight Train and Other North Carolina Folk Songs and Tunes (also known as Folksongs and Instrumentals with Guitar) (1958)

Shake Sugaree

Live!

Vol. 3: When I'm Gone

Special collectionsEdit

Mike Seeger Collection (#20009), Southern Folklife Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

## Som fim wey e du

*Video an DVD*

Masters of the Country Blues: Elizabeth Cotten and Jesse Fuller(1960)

Me and Stella: A Film about Elizabeth Cotten (1976)

Elizabeth Cotten Portrait Collection(1977–1985)

Homemade American Music (1980)

Libba Cotten: An Interview and Presentation Ceremony (1985)

Elizabeth Cotten with Mike Seeger(1994)

Legends of Traditional Fingerstyle Guitar (1994)

Mike Seeger and Elizabeth Cotten (1991)

Jesse Fuller and Elizabeth Cotten (1992)

The Downhome Blues (1994)

John Fahey, Elizabeth Cotten: Rare Performances and Interviews (1969 & 1994)

Rainbow Quest with Pete Seeger. Judy Collins and Elizabeth Cotten(2005)

Elizabeth Cotten in Concert, 1969, 1978, and 1980 (1969 & 2003)

The Guitar of Elizabeth Cotten (2002)

## Awords and honors

In 1980, 1982, and 1987, Cotten was nominated for a Blues Music Awardin the Traditional Blues Female Artist category.[23]

Cotten was a recipient of a 1984 National Heritage Fellowshipawarded by the National Endowment for the Arts, which is the United States government's highest honor in the folk and traditional arts.[24]

In 1985, she won the Grammy Awardin the Best Ethnic or Traditional Folk Recording category for Elizabeth Cotten Live![25]

In 1986, she was nominated for a Grammy Award in the Best Traditional Folk Recording category for her 20th Anniversary Concertalbum.[25]

In 2022, Cotten was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the Early Influence category.[13][26]

*Odas*

Bastin, Bruce (1986). Red River Blues. Chicago: University of Illinois Press.

Cohen, John; Marcus, Greil (2001). There Is No Eye: John Cohen Photographs. New York: PowerHouse Books.

Cohn, Lawrence (1993). Nothing but the Blues: The Music and the Musicians. New York: Abbeville Press.

Conway, Cecilia (1995). African Banjo Echoes in Appalachia. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press.

Escamilla, Brian (1996). Contemporary Musicians: Profiles of the People in Music. Vol. 16.

Harris, Sheldon (1979). Blues Who's Who. New York: Da Capa Press.

Hood, Phil (1986). Artists of American Folk Music: The Legends of Traditional Folk, the Stars of the Sixties, the Virtuosi of New Acoustic Music. New York: Quill.

Santelli, Robert (2001). American Roots Music. New York: Harry N. Abrams.

Seeger, Mike. Liner notes accompanying Freight Train and Other North Carolina Folk Songs and Tunes, by Elizabeth Cotten. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Folkways, 1989 reissue of the 1958 album Folksongs and Instrumentals with Guitar.

Smith, Jessie Carney (1993). Epic Lives: One Hundred Black Women Who Made a Difference. Detroit: Visible Ink Press.

Smith, Jesse Carney, ed. (1992). Notable Black American Women.Detroit: Gale Research.

Wenberg, Michael (2002). Elizabeth's Song. (Children's book.) Hillsboro, Oregon: Beyond Words Publishing.