Elizabeth Cotten: A Folks Pioneer Who Deserves a Spot in Rock Corridor

After I heard Elizabeth Cotten (1895-1987) was going into the Rock Corridor, I almost fell out of my chair! As host of “The Village Folks Present,” I recurrently hear Cotten’s title from the mouths of outstanding folks artists — Man Davis, David Bromberg, Gillian Welch, Eliza Gilkyson, Amy Ray. Credited with the “Cotten-picking” guitar-playing model — she performed left-handed and upside-down — this grasp’s affect on roots music is powerful, deep and persevering with.

In the meantime, her story is wonderful: Whereas working in a division retailer in Forties Washington D.C., Cotten found a crying, misplaced, little lady and returned her to her mom. The grateful mother: singer-songwriter Peggy Seeger, sister of legendary Mike Seeger, who promptly employed Cotten as a home for the household. When Mike Seeger found her long-dormant expertise with a six-string, he recorded and launched the 62-year-old’s first document, “Elizabeth Cotten: Folks Songs and Instrumentals with Guitar.”

Following a live performance on the residence of then-Sen. John F. Kennedy, Cotten grew to become a fixture on the Nineteen Sixties folks circuit, performing on the Newport Folks Pageant, and later, Carnegie Corridor. Her songs have been coated by the Grateful Lifeless, Bob Dylan, Mississippi John Damage, Peter Paul and Mary, whereas followers Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Doc Watson,and Damage paid her visits when their excursions got here by way of D.C.

Cotten continued taking part in reside till her dying in 1987 — a yr after she received her first Grammy at 90. Thirty-five years later, folks artist and historian Rhiannon Giddens advised me she’d deliberately walked in Cotten’s footsteps. “After I began stepping into music, I realized [Cotten’s ‘Shakee Sugar’], and I additionally sung and studied with Mike and Peggy Seeger,” she stated. “She’s been part of the material of my music [since] I began listening to [folk].”

MarySue Twohy could be heard on Sirius XM The Village. Catch the entire Rock and Roll Corridor of Fame 2022 Induction Ceremony on HBO on November 19, at 8 p.m. ET, together with a simulcast on SiriusXM’s Rock and Roll Corridor of Fame Radio (ch. 310) and on Quantity on the SXM App. SiriusXM listeners also can catch reside, backstage protection and commentary from the Nov. 5 induction ceremony in Los Angeles on Quantity on the SXM App, together with recaps on “Suggestions” on Faction Discuss (ch. 103) starting Monday, Nov. 7.