#peggy seeger

ELIZABETH COTTEN

The folk legend was born in North Carolina in 1895. A left-handed banjoist and guitarist before Hendrix, Cotten learned how to play from a young age and scrounged up enough money to buy a Stella guitar from a local store for a whopping $3.75. Though she didn’t immediately pursue a career in music, a chance encounter with a young Peggy Seeger led her to work for the future folk icon’s family. They had her put on performances at their house, playing for the gilded likes of John F. Kennedy. She didn’t release her first album, Elizabeth Cotten: Negro Folk Songs and Tunes, until she turned 62. In 1985, she picked up her first Grammy award for Elizabeth Cotten Live.

Photographed above in Washington, D.C. in 1960, by John Cohen.