1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:01,920 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of I 2 00:00:02,040 --> 00:00:06,960 Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Hi everyone, I'm Eves and welcome to This 3 00:00:07,040 --> 00:00:10,120 Speaker 1: Day in History Class, a podcast where we dust off 4 00:00:10,160 --> 00:00:12,720 Speaker 1: a little piece of history and placed it, ever so 5 00:00:12,760 --> 00:00:25,840 Speaker 1: gently on your brainshelf. Every day today is January. The 6 00:00:25,920 --> 00:00:32,120 Speaker 1: day was January. Blues and folk musician Elizabeth Cotton was 7 00:00:32,159 --> 00:00:36,680 Speaker 1: born near Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Sources differ on her 8 00:00:36,760 --> 00:00:40,320 Speaker 1: year of birth, with some saying eight two and others 9 00:00:40,400 --> 00:00:44,760 Speaker 1: saying Cotton was born into a family steeped in a 10 00:00:44,840 --> 00:00:49,320 Speaker 1: musical tradition. As a child, she often borrowed her brother's instruments, 11 00:00:49,560 --> 00:00:52,240 Speaker 1: and she taught herself to play the banjo and the guitar. 12 00:00:53,120 --> 00:00:55,560 Speaker 1: She was left handed, so it was easier for her 13 00:00:55,600 --> 00:00:58,960 Speaker 1: to hold the banjo upside down to play it. When 14 00:00:58,960 --> 00:01:01,600 Speaker 1: her brother left and had to quit school and take 15 00:01:01,720 --> 00:01:04,520 Speaker 1: jobs as a domestic worker. By the time she was 16 00:01:04,560 --> 00:01:07,640 Speaker 1: eleven or twelve years old, she had saved up enough 17 00:01:07,680 --> 00:01:10,920 Speaker 1: money to buy a Stella demonstrator a guitar for three 18 00:01:10,959 --> 00:01:15,479 Speaker 1: dollars and seventy cents. She played the guitar upside down too, 19 00:01:15,840 --> 00:01:19,360 Speaker 1: and developed a unique picking style. She fretted the strings 20 00:01:19,360 --> 00:01:22,360 Speaker 1: with her right hand and picked with her left. By 21 00:01:22,400 --> 00:01:24,640 Speaker 1: the time she was a teenager, she was able to 22 00:01:24,640 --> 00:01:28,360 Speaker 1: play several different songs. Cotton often stayed up late at 23 00:01:28,480 --> 00:01:31,319 Speaker 1: night playing the guitar, and her mother would scold her 24 00:01:31,400 --> 00:01:35,160 Speaker 1: and tell her to stop playing. As a teen, Elizabeth 25 00:01:35,280 --> 00:01:39,040 Speaker 1: married Frank Cotton. They had one child together not long after, 26 00:01:39,280 --> 00:01:43,720 Speaker 1: named Lily. As Elizabeth became busy with family life, she 27 00:01:43,840 --> 00:01:47,240 Speaker 1: became more involved in her church. Leaders at her church 28 00:01:47,360 --> 00:01:51,200 Speaker 1: urged her to stop playing worldly music. Committed to the 29 00:01:51,280 --> 00:01:53,840 Speaker 1: church and busy at home, she put down her guitar 30 00:01:54,000 --> 00:01:57,440 Speaker 1: for years. The Cottons lived in New York City for 31 00:01:57,480 --> 00:02:00,360 Speaker 1: a while, but when Lily got married and had a child, 32 00:02:00,480 --> 00:02:03,680 Speaker 1: Elizabeth left Frank and moved to Washington, d c. To 33 00:02:03,760 --> 00:02:07,400 Speaker 1: be close to her daughter. She cleaned and sold dolls 34 00:02:07,440 --> 00:02:10,679 Speaker 1: at a department store for a living, but one day 35 00:02:10,760 --> 00:02:13,680 Speaker 1: in the department store, she found a lost girl named 36 00:02:13,720 --> 00:02:17,880 Speaker 1: Peggy Seeger and returned her to her mother, Ruth Crawford Seeger. 37 00:02:18,200 --> 00:02:21,200 Speaker 1: Elizabeth soon began to work in the household of the Seegers, 38 00:02:21,360 --> 00:02:24,960 Speaker 1: who were also a musical family. Ruth was a composer 39 00:02:25,000 --> 00:02:28,960 Speaker 1: and music teacher, and her husband, Charles, was an ethno musicologist. 40 00:02:29,960 --> 00:02:32,600 Speaker 1: Cotton would play the guitar at the Seeger home, but 41 00:02:32,919 --> 00:02:36,000 Speaker 1: the family didn't find out about her musical talent until 42 00:02:36,040 --> 00:02:39,560 Speaker 1: a few years after she began working for them. Then, 43 00:02:39,560 --> 00:02:44,280 Speaker 1: in her sixties, Elizabeth began recording her songs. Those recorded 44 00:02:44,320 --> 00:02:47,960 Speaker 1: songs became the nineteen fifty eight album Folk Songs and 45 00:02:48,000 --> 00:02:53,160 Speaker 1: Instrumentals with Guitar, released on Folk Ways Records. The album 46 00:02:53,200 --> 00:02:56,440 Speaker 1: featured Freight Train, a song that Elizabeth composed when she 47 00:02:56,520 --> 00:03:00,440 Speaker 1: was a child. She had her performing debut at Worthmore 48 00:03:00,520 --> 00:03:04,120 Speaker 1: College with Mike Seeger, Ruth and Charles Son, and she 49 00:03:04,200 --> 00:03:07,920 Speaker 1: continued to perform solo and concert and at folk festivals. 50 00:03:08,960 --> 00:03:11,440 Speaker 1: She was on the same ticket as performers like Skip 51 00:03:11,520 --> 00:03:14,640 Speaker 1: James and Muddy Waters, and her music became a staple 52 00:03:14,680 --> 00:03:18,959 Speaker 1: of the folk revival of the nineteen sixties. Cotton continued 53 00:03:19,000 --> 00:03:21,720 Speaker 1: playing and touring throughout the US and Europe into the 54 00:03:21,800 --> 00:03:25,000 Speaker 1: nineteen eighties. She played her last show in New York 55 00:03:25,040 --> 00:03:29,400 Speaker 1: City in nineteen seven months before her death. I'm Eve 56 00:03:29,400 --> 00:03:31,960 Speaker 1: step Coote and hopefully you know a little more about 57 00:03:32,080 --> 00:03:35,720 Speaker 1: history today than you did yesterday. You can keep up 58 00:03:35,760 --> 00:03:39,720 Speaker 1: with us on social media on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram 59 00:03:39,760 --> 00:03:43,960 Speaker 1: at t D i h C Podcast email still works. 60 00:03:44,200 --> 00:03:46,320 Speaker 1: Send us a note at this day at i heart 61 00:03:46,360 --> 00:03:50,440 Speaker 1: media dot com. I hope you enjoyed today's episode. We'll 62 00:03:50,480 --> 00:03:59,800 Speaker 1: be back tomorrow with another one. For more podcasts for 63 00:03:59,880 --> 00:04:02,640 Speaker 1: my heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, 64 00:04:02,720 --> 00:04:04,440 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.