伊丽莎白·科顿

伊丽莎白 "莉巴" 科顿 (Elizabeth "Libba" Cotten）（出生名Elizabeth Neville） （1893年1月5日 – 1987年6月29日）是一名美国蓝调、民谣音乐人、歌手和词曲作家。

科顿是一名自学成才的左手吉他手，因此有着独特的风格。她的吉他奏法包括使用没有重新装弦（通常是标准调音）的右手吉他演奏，也就是把一把右手吉他反着拿来演奏。这种拿法需要她用拇指在高音弦上演奏旋律，其他手指在低音弦上演奏贝斯旋律线。她那标志性的奏法后来成为了著名的“Cotten picking”。

早年生活
伊丽莎白·科顿于1893年出生在北卡罗来纳州的[[教堂山|教堂山这把“Sears and Roebuck ”牌的吉他花了她3.75美元。而且她在不到十几岁就开始写歌了，其中“”成为了她日后最知名的一首。她写这首歌是为了纪念她在童年时的家附近经常听到的火车声。

在她13岁左右时，科顿开始跟着母亲做女佣。科顿在1910年11月7日，即17岁时，嫁给了弗兰克·科顿（Frank Cotten）。后来他们有一个叫莉莉（Lillie）的女儿，伊丽莎白便为了家庭和教会中断了吉他演奏。伊丽莎白、弗兰克和女儿莉莉在美国东部的北卡罗莱纳、纽约和华盛顿间辗转住了一些年，最后在华盛顿区域定居。 在女儿莉莉结婚时，伊丽莎白跟丈夫弗兰克离了婚，并搬到了女儿家里。

重新被发现
科顿除了偶尔为教堂演奏之外有25年没有弹吉他，直到60多岁时才开始重新公开演奏和录音。她是在做管家时被主人——民谣歌手皮特·西格（Pete Seeger）发现的。

当时科顿在一个百货公司短暂工作，期间帮助了一个在走廊走失的小孩子找到了母亲。这个孩子恰好是潘妮·西格（Penny Seeger），她的母亲是作曲家 露丝·克劳馥·西格（Ruth Crawford Seeger）。这之后不久，科顿便开始在露丝和皮特·西格家中做女佣，照顾他们的孩子们—— Mike, Peggy, Barbara, 和 Penny。在西格家工作时，科顿回忆起她40年前的吉他演奏，于是她重新拿起了这个乐器，并从几乎是乱弹开始试着重新去学习演奏它。这些录音后来变成了专辑《Folksongs and Instrumentals with Guitar》（中文：吉他民谣歌曲和纯音乐） ，并由 Folkways Records唱片公司发行。专辑发布后，她的音乐，特别是她11岁时写的那首标志性的《Freight Train》开始被众多著名音乐人翻唱，其中包括彼得、保罗和玛丽、傑瑞·加西亞、鲍勃·迪伦、琼·贝兹、、、、，Doc Watson， 和空手道乐团。在第一张专辑发布不久，科顿开始和迈克·西格巡演，其中首场演出是于1960年在斯沃斯莫而学院。===

• Folksongs and Instrumentals with Guitar (also known as Negro Folk Songs and Tunes), Folkways Records (FG 3526), 1958
• Vol. 2: Shake Sugaree, Folkways Records (FTS 31003), 1967
• Vol. 3: When I'm Gone, Folkways Records (FA 3537), 1979

CD唱片

• Freight Train and Other North Carolina Folk Songs and Tunes, Smithsonian Folkways, 1958 (also known aa Folksongs and Instrumentals with Guitar)
• Shake Sugaree, Smithsonian Folkways
• Live!, Arhoolie Records
• Vol. 3: When I'm Gone, Folkways Records

特别精选

• [http://www.lib.unc.edu/mss/inv/s/Seeger,Mike.html "Mike Seeger Collection Inventory (#20009)"] Southern Folklife Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

影像制品及DVD

• Masters of the Country Blues: Elizabeth Cotten and Jesse Fuller. Yazoo, 1960.
• Elizabeth Cotten with Mike Seeger. Vestapool Productions, 1994.
• Legends of Traditional Fingerstyle Guitar. Cambridge, Mass.: Rounder Records, 1994.
• Mike Seeger and Elizabeth Cotten. Sparta, N.J.: Stefan Grossman's Guitar Workshop, 1991.
• Jesse Fuller and Elizabeth Cotten. Newton, N.J.: Yazoo Video, 1992.
• Me and Stella: A Film about Elizabeth Cotten. New Brunswick, N.J.: Phoenix Films and Video, 1976.
• John Fahey, Elizabeth Cotten: Rare Performances and Interviews. Vestapool Productions, 1969, 1994.
• Rainbow Quest with Pete Seeger. Judy Collins and Elizabeth Cotten. Shanachie Entertainment, 2005.
• Libba Cotten, an interview and presentation ceremony. Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, 1985.
• Homemade American Music. Aginsky Productions, 1980.
• Elizabeth Cotten in Concert, 1969, 1978, and 1980. Vetstapool Productions, 1969, 2003.
• The Guitar of Elizabeth Cotten. Sparta, N.J.: Stefan Grossman's Guitar Workshop, 2002.
• The Downhome Blues. Los Angeles: distributed by Philips Interactive Media, 1994.
• Elizabeth Cotten Portrait Collection. Public Broadcasting System, 1977–1985.

参考文献
更多阅读

• Smith, Jessie Carney (1993). Epic Lives: One Hundred Black Women Who Made a Difference. Detroit: Visible Ink Press.
• Hood, Phil (1986). Artists of American Folk Music: The Legends of Traditional Folk, the Stars of the Sixties, the Virtuosi of New Acoustic Music. New York: Quill.
• Wenberg, Michael (2002). Elizabeth's Song [children's book]. Oregon: Beyond Words Publishing.
• Escamilla, Brian (1996). Contemporary Musicians: Profiles of the People in Music. Vol. 16.
• Cohen, John, and Greil Marcus (2001). There is No Eye: John Cohen Photographs. New York: PowerHouse Books.
• Cohn, Lawrence (1993). Nothing but the Blues: The Music and the Musicians. New York: Abbeville Press.
• Santelli, Robert (2001). American Roots Music. New York: Harry N. Abrams.
• Bastin, Bruce (1986). Red River Blues. Chicago: University of Illinois Press.
• Conway, Cecilia (1995). African Banjo Echoes in Appalachia. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press.
• Harris, Sheldon (1979). Blues Who's Who. New York: Da Capa Press.
• Lanker, Brian (1989). I Dream a World: Portraits of Black Women Who Changed America. New York: Stewart, Tabori & Chang.
• Smith, Jesse Carey, ed. (1992). Notable Black American Women. Detroit: Gale Research.

外部链接

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20080320003136/http://openvault.wgbh.org/saybrother/MLA000994/index.html%3A "Interview with blues and folk singer Elizabeth Cotten"] for the WGBH series, [https://web.archive.org/web/20100306075844/http://openvault.wgbh.org/series/Say%20Brother/ Say Brother]
• [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=6666716 Find-a-Grave profile for Elizabeth Cotten]
• [http://www.folkways.si.edu/searchresults.aspx?sPhrase=Elizabeth%20Cotten&sType='phrase'/ Cotten Discography on Folkways]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20110812213721/http://guitarvideos.com/assets/vidramvesta/13019x.ram A clip of Cotten performing in 1969]
• [https://www.eclectica.org/v1n1/nonfiction/demerlee.html Remembering Elizabeth Cotten, Eclectica Magazine, Acoustic Guitar Magazine]
• [http://www.geocities.co.jp/Hollywood/1061/cotten_bio.html Elizabeth Cotten]
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tm5-WdB_aVE Elizabeth Cotten Freight Train]
• [http://www2.lib.unc.edu/mss/inv/s/Seeger,Mike.html#d2e12179 "Mike Seeger" collection]
• [http://www.ncmarkers.com/Markers.aspx?MarkerId=G-129 North Carolina Highway Marker for Elizabeth Cotten]