Photo: Smerdis / CC BY-SA 4.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
Elizabeth Cotten is one of those figures whose story is almost too good to be true. A self-taught, left-handed player turning a right-handed guitar upside down and inventing her own picking style from scratch is the sort of folk legend that makes me believe in raw, untutored genius. That she earned a Grammy in 1985, well into her nineties, and a posthumous Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction in 2022 tells me her influence kept compounding long after most careers would have faded. I find her endlessly inspiring: proof that you don't need formal training to leave a permanent mark on American music.
Overview
Elizabeth "Libba" Cotten (née Nevills; January 5, 1893 – June 29, 1987) was an influential American folk and blues musician. She was a self-taught left-handed guitarist who played a guitar strung for a right-handed player, but played it upside down. This position meant that she played the bass lines with her fingers and the melody with her thumb.
Summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Elizabeth Cotten
- Name (Japanese)
- エリザベス・コットン
- Reading
- えりざべす・こっとん
- Born
- January 5, 1893 – June 29, 1987
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Capricorn / Snake
- Origin
- Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States
- Blood type
- Private
- Height
- Private
- Agency
- Private
- Occupation
- singer / guitarist / folk musician / songwriter
2. Background
- Elementary school
- Private
- Junior high
- Private
- High school
- Private
- University
- Private
Awards & achievements
- 1985 Grammy Award for Best Ethnic or Traditional Folk Recording
- 2022 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
3. Relationships
- Spouse
- Private
- Children
- Private
- Parents
- Private
- Siblings
- Private
4. Personality
Motto
Private
6. Links
Singer — see all → · Guitarist — see all → · More people from United States →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-02
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.