Elizabeth Cotten
Elizabeth Cotten was among the most influential guitarists to surface during the roots music revival era, her wonderfully expressive and dexterous fingerpicking style a major inspiration to the generations of players who followed in her wake.
Cotten was born in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, in the early weeks of 1893. After first picking up the banjo at the age of eight, she soon moved on to her brother's guitar, laying it flat on her lap and over time developing her picking pattern and eventually her chording. By the age of 12 she was working as a domestic, and three years later gave birth to her first child. Upon joining the church, she gave up the guitar, playing it only on the rarest of occasions over the course of the next quarter-century. By the early '40s, Cotten had relocated to Washington, D.C., where she eventually began working for the legendary Charles Seeger family and caring for children Pete, Peggy, and Mike.
When the Seegers learned of Cotten's guitar skills a decade later, they recorded her for Folkways, and in 1957 she issued her debut LP, Folksongs and Instrumentals. The track "Freight Train," written when she was 12, became a Top Five hit in the U.K., and its success ensured her a handful of concert performances. The great interest in her music spurred her to write new material, which appeared on her second album, Shake Sugaree. As Cotten became increasingly comfortable performing live, her presentation evolved, and in addition to playing guitar she told stories about her life and even led her audiences in singing her songs; over the years, she recalled more and more tunes from her childhood, and in the course of tours also learned new material. Cotten did not retire from domestic work until 1970, and did not tour actively until the end of the decade. The winner of a National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellowship Award as well as a Grammy -- both earned during the final years of her life -- she died on June 29, 1987.
© Jason Ankeny /TiVo
Diskografie
14 Album, -en • Geordnet nach Bestseller
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Freight Train and Other North Carolina Folk Songs and Tunes
Folk - Erschienen bei Smithsonian Folkways Recordings am 14.09.2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Shake Sugaree
Folk - Erschienen bei Smithsonian Folkways Recordings am 21.09.2004
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Elizabeth Cotten, Volume 3: When I'm Gone
Folk - Erschienen bei Folkways Records am 01.01.1979
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Freight Train and Other North Carolina Folk Songs and Tunes (Original Album 1958)
Pop - Erschienen bei Folk, Blues & Beyond am 01.01.1989
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Folksongs And Instrumentals With Guitar (Remastered Edition)
Pop - Erschienen bei jjjedizionimusicali am 22.10.2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Euphoria Blues (Live Portland '75) (Live)
Blues - Erschienen bei Wolf Tree am 15.06.2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ain't Got No Honey Baby Now
Pop - Erschienen bei Royale Grande am 01.03.2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Going Down the Road Feeling Bad
Pop - Erschienen bei Grammphon am 01.12.2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Folksongs and Instrumentals with Guitar
Blues - Erschienen bei Start Up Records am 02.07.2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Freight Train (All Tracks Remastered, Ep)
Pop - Erschienen bei Hit Singles Records am 17.04.2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Freight Train and Other North Carolina Folk Songs and Tunes
Pop - Erschienen bei Start Up Records am 14.09.2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Wilson Rag / When I Get Home (All Tracks Remastered)
Pop - Erschienen bei Hit Singles Records am 06.05.2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo