SPEAKER_00: Hello, from Wonder Media Network, I'm Jenny Kaplan, and this is Encyclopedia Wamanica. Our local legend today is from my home state of North Carolina. She was an incredibly gifted musician whose impact on folk music was immense, belying the fact that her talents went largely unappreciated for most of her life. Her distinctive style of playing the banjo and guitar is imitated widely by folk musicians today as the cotton style. We're talking about Elizabeth Cotton. Elizabeth Cotton was born in Chapel Hill, North Carolina on January 5, 1895 to George and Louisa Nevels. Elizabeth, or a Liba as she was often called, grew up in a musical home. From a young age, she was surrounded by the sound of spirituals. She was incredibly gifted, though she never formally learned to read or write music. When she was eight years old, Liba taught herself how to play the banjo. To do so, she borrowed her brother's instrument when he wasn't around. There was just one hiccup. Liba was left-handed, and her brother was right-handed. Liba wasn't bothered. She taught herself to play with a right-handed guitar flipped upside down. For the rest of her life, her unique playing style, in part, derived from her unusual instrument positioning. When her brother moved out, Liba was determined to buy herself her own instrument. She got a babysitting and house cleaning gig and eventually bought a guitar. She developed a technique with a simple bass line strummed with her fingers, countering the melody produced by her thumb on the treble strings. She had an incredible ear and could pick up a tune after hearing it just once. When Liba was 11 years old, she wrote a song that would one day be world famous, covered by the likes of Bob Dylan and Peter, Paul, and Mary. It was called Freight Train. But before all that, Liba's musical endeavors took a decades-long pause as she became more involved in her church. Around the age of 13, Liba was baptized into the Baptist Church. As part of her new dedication to her faith, the local church leadership pleaded with Liba to give up playing the secular music that they believed was damned. For many years, she complied. At the age of 15, Liba married a man named Frank Cotton. The couple had one daughter, Lily. About a year after Frank and Liba married, Frank moved to New York, where he started a chauffeur business. Liba and Lily soon followed. For the next 25 years, Liba refrained from playing or composing music except for occasional church performances. Lily and Frank eventually divorced, and Liba moved to Washington, D.C. to be close to her grown-up daughter. While living in D.C., Liba supported herself by working at a department store. One day on the job, she saw a little girl crying in her department, searching for her mom. As fate would have it, the lost girl was Peggy Seger. Peggy Seger was the daughter of Ruth Crawford Seger, a composer and music teacher, and Charles Seger an ethnomusicologist. Peggy's stepbrother was famed folk singer and activist Pete Seger. When Liba returned Peggy to her very worried mother, Ruth, Ruth offered Liba a job. Liba took her up on it and began working at the Seger household as a cook and cleaner. The Segers were a very musical family. While in their employ, Liba picked back up the guitar. When the Seger family heard Liba, they were amazed by her talent and encouraged her to perform publicly. Mike Seger recorded her singing some of her songs on a home reel-to-reel. These recordings later became the album Folk Songs and Instrumentals with Guitar. In 1958, Liba's first album was released. She was 62 years old. The album quickly became influential in the folk music world. In the 1960s, Liba toured around the country, playing her music at concerts and festivals, including the Newport Folk Festival, the Chicago Folk Festival, and the Smithsonian Festival. She eventually saved up enough money from her records and touring to move with her daughter and grandchildren to a house she bought in Syracuse, New York. Liba continued touring and releasing albums well into her 80s.
SPEAKER_03: Freight train, freight train, run so fast Freight train, freight train, run so fast
SPEAKER_00: Her songs became increasingly popular and were covered by music luminaries including The Grateful Dead, Bob Dylan, Mike Seger, Taj Mahal, and Peter Paul and Mary. Towards the end of Liba's life, her raspy voice and unique guitar technique drew attention, respect, and awards from the music industry at large. When Liba was 90, she won perhaps her greatest honor, the Grammy Award for Best Ethnic or Traditional Folk Recording. In addition to her Grammy, Liba won the 1972 National Folk Burl Ives Award and was named a National Heritage Fellow by the National Endowment for the Arts. There's a park in Syracuse, New York named in Liba's honor. And when Brian Langer wrote I Dream a World, Portraits of Black Women Who Changed America, Liba was included alongside Rosa Parks and Oprah Winfrey. Liba performed as long as she could. Her last concert took place in the spring of 1987. Not long after, in June of that year, she passed away. This month we're talking about local legends. For more on why we're doing what we're doing, check out our newsletter, Womanica Weekly. Find us on Facebook and Instagram at Encyclopedia Womanica. Special thanks to Liz Kaplan, my favorite sister and co-creator. Talk to you tomorrow.
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