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

Once I heard Elizabeth Cotten (1895-1987) was going into the Rock Corridor, I almost fell out of my chair! As host of “The Village People Present,” I frequently hear Cotten’s identify from the mouths of distinguished 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 impression on roots music is robust, deep and persevering with.

In the meantime, her story is wonderful: Whereas working in a division retailer in Nineteen Forties Washington D.C., Cotten found a crying, misplaced, little woman 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 report, “Elizabeth Cotten: People Songs and Instrumentals with Guitar.”

Following a live performance on the residence of then-Sen. John F. Kennedy, Cotten turned a fixture on the Nineteen Sixties folks circuit, performing on the Newport People Competition, and later, Carnegie Corridor. Her songs had been lined by the Grateful Useless, 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 means of D.C.

Cotten continued taking part in reside till her loss of life in 1987 — a yr after she gained her first Grammy at 90. Thirty-five years later, folks artist and historian Rhiannon Giddens informed me she’d deliberately walked in Cotten’s footsteps. “Once I began entering into music, I discovered [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 will be heard on SiriusXM The Village.

This essay is a part of a collection — in partnership with the on-air expertise of SiriusXM — to pay tribute to the performers being inducted into the Rock and Roll Corridor of Fame on Nov. 5 in Los Angeles. Catch the whole Rock and Roll Corridor of Fame 2022 Induction Ceremony on HBO Nov. 19, at 8 p.m. ET, together with a simulcast on SiriusXM’s Rock and Roll Corridor of Fame Radio (channel 310). SiriusXM listeners may also catch reside, backstage protection and commentary on Quantity on the SXM app and on Faction Discuss (channel 103).