In The Sweet By And By: Elizabeth Cotten

[appalachiablue]

Awarded folk music legend Elizabeth Cotten of North Carolina. Elizabeth "Libba" Cotten (née Nevills) (Jan. 5, 1893 – June 29, 1987) was an American blues and folk musician, singer, and songwriter. A self-taught left-handed guitarist, Cotten developed her own original style. She played a guitar strung for a right-handed player, but played it upside down, as she was left-handed. This position required her to play the bass lines with her fingers and the melody with her thumb. Her signature alternating bass style has become known as "Cotten picking".

Early life: Cotten was born in 1893 to a musical family near Chapel Hill, North Carolina, in an area that would later be incorporated as Carrboro. Her parents were George Nevill (also spelled Nevills) and Louisa (or Louise) Price Nevill. Elizabeth was the youngest of five children. She named herself on her first day of school, when the teacher asked her name, because at home she was only called "Li'l Sis." At age seven, she began to play her older brother's banjo. "From that day on," she said, "nobody had no peace in that house".

By the age of eight, she was playing songs. At age 9, she was forced to quit school and began work as a domestic. At the age of 11, after scraping together some money, she bought her own guitar. The guitar, a Sears and Roebuck brand instrument, cost $3.75 (equivalent to $105 in 2018). Although self-taught, she became proficient at playing the instrument, and her repertoire included a large number of rags and dance tunes. By her early teens she was writing her own songs, one of which, "Freight Train", became one of her most recognized. She wrote the song in remembrance of a nearby train that she could hear from her childhood home. The 1956 UK recording of the song by Chas McDevitt and Nancy Whiskey was a major hit and is credited as one of the main influences on the rise of skiffle in the UK..https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Cotten

[unc70]

1. Saw her perform several times locally

The first time was, I think, 1969 in Kenan Stadium at UNC at Jubilee.

[appalachiablue]

2. Lucky you, thanks for sharing

[Hoyt]

3. I've been trying for 50 years to play 25% that good. Wonderful.