Elizabeth Cotten

Elizabeth Cotten (January 5, 1895 - June 29, 1987) was an American musician whose style was traditional blues and folk but was unavoidably original due to her lack of any musical lessons or knowledge of tuning in the traditional sen

Elizabeth Cotten (January 5, 1895 - June 29, 1987) was an American musician whose style was traditional blues and folk but was unavoidably original due to her lack of any musical lessons or knowledge of tuning in the traditional sense.

Elizabeth Cotten was born in Chapel Hill, North Carolina to a musical family. She began writing music while toying around with her older siblings instruments, sometimes having to sneak into her older brother's room to lay the hidden guitar across her lap and play. After more tinkering with these instruments she begun playing the guitar upside down (left handed). By age 8 she was playing songs, and after scraping together some money she bought her own guitar, which she named "Stella".