Etta Baker
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Etta Baker (March 31, 1913 – September 23, 2006) was an American Piedmont blues guitarist and singer from
North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...
.


Early life and career

She was born Etta Lucille Reid in
Caldwell County, North Carolina Caldwell County is a county in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is located in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. As of the 2020 census, the population was 80,652. Its county seat is Lenoir. Caldwell County is part of the Hickory- ...
, of
African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...
, Native American, and European-American heritage. Baker began playing guitar at the age of three. She was taught by her father, Boone Reid, a longtime player of the Piedmont blues on several instruments. He was her only musical instructor. She played both the 6-string and the 12-string
acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked, its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...
and the five-string
banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and in modern forms is usually made of plastic, where early membranes were made of animal skin. ...
. Baker played the Piedmont blues for nearly ninety years. The family moved to
Keysville, Virginia Keysville is a town in Charlotte County, Virginia, United States. The population was 832 at the 2010 census. One of two branches of Southside Virginia Community College is in Keysville. The surrounding area has tobacco and mixed farming. Geogra ...
, in 1916. There were eight Reid children, four girls and four boys. All but one survived into adulthood. Each of her siblings played instruments. Occasionally, Baker, her father, and her sister, Cora, would play together at dances on Saturday night. Boone Reid worked a series of jobs during the 1910s and 1920s, occasionally taking work in factories and shipyards in other states. The rest of the family lived with an uncle. By the time Etta Reid was 14 years old, the entire family worked on a tobacco farm in southern Virginia, which meant that they were together. She dropped out of school after tenth grade. Baker was first recorded in the summer of 1956, after she and her father happened across the folksinger Paul Clayton while visiting the Cone mansion, in
Blowing Rock, North Carolina Blowing Rock is a town in Watauga County, North Carolina, Watauga and Caldwell County, North Carolina, Caldwell counties in the U.S. state of North Carolina. The population was 1,376 at the 2020 census. The Caldwell County portion of Blowing Roc ...
, near their home in Morganton. Baker's father asked Clayton to listen to his daughter playing her signature "One Dime Blues". Clayton was impressed and arrived at the Baker house with his tape recorder the next day, recording several songs. Clayton recorded five solo guitar pieces by Baker, which were released as part of the 1956 album ''Instrumental Music of the Southern Appalachians'', one of the first commercially released recordings of African American banjo music. Baker was not monetarily compensated for these early recordings. Only after working with the Music Maker label later in life was she able to get rights back for this music. Baker said that she got inspiration for chords through her dreams, stating that it is "like putting a crossword puzzle together". Baker influenced many well-known musical artists, including
Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan; born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Described as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his nearly 70-year ...
,
Taj Mahal The Taj Mahal ( ; ; ) is an ivory-white marble mausoleum on the right bank of the river Yamuna in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India. It was commissioned in 1631 by the fifth Mughal Empire, Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan () to house the tomb of his belo ...
, and
Kenny Wayne Shepherd Kenny Wayne Shepherd (born Kenneth Wayne Brobst; June 12, 1977) is an American guitarist. He has released several studio albums and experienced significant commercial success as a blues rock artist. Early life Shepherd was born in Shrevepo ...
. Etta married Lee Baker, a piano player, in 1936 after courting for six years. They had nine children, one of whom was killed in the
Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...
in 1967, the same year her husband died. For a while after these deaths, she stopped playing, but found she missed the consolation the blues brought her. She last lived in
Morganton, North Carolina Morganton is a city in and county seat of Burke County, North Carolina, United States. It is located in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains along the Catawba River. The population was 17,474 at the 2020 census. Morganton is approximately ...
, and died at the age of 93 in
Fairfax, Virginia Fairfax ( ) is an independent city (United States), independent city in Virginia and the county seat of Fairfax County, Virginia, in the United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 24,146. Fairfax is pa ...
, while visiting a daughter who had suffered a stroke.


Awards and honors

Baker received the North Carolina Folk Heritage Award from the North Carolina Arts Council in 1989, a
National Heritage Fellowship The National Heritage Fellowship is a lifetime honor presented to master folk and traditional artists by the National Endowment for the Arts. Similar to Japan's Living National Treasure award, the Fellowship is the United States government's h ...
from the
National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the feder ...
in 1991, and the North Carolina Award in 2003. She was nominated for several
Blues Music Award The Blues Music Awards, formerly known as the W. C. Handy Awards (or "The Handys"), are awards presented by the Blues Foundation, a non-profit organization set up to foster blues heritage. The awards were originally named in honor of W. C. Handy, " ...
s (formerly the W. C. Handy Blues Awards): in the Traditional Blues Female Artist category in 1987 and 1989, and her album ''Railroad Bill'' in the Acoustic Album category in 2000. Along with her sister, Cora Phillips, she received the Brown-Hudson Folklore Award from the North Carolina Folklore Society in 1982.


Discography

* 1956 : ''Instrumental Music of the Southern Appalachians'' (
Tradition Records Tradition Records was an American record label from 1955 to 1966 that specialized in folk music. The label was founded and financed by Guggenheim heiress Diane Hamilton (the pseudonym of Diane Guggenheim) in 1956. Its president and director was ...
; reissued 1997) * 1991 : '' One-Dime Blues'' ( Rounder) * 1998 : ''The North Carolina Banjo Collection'', various artists (Rounder) * 1999 : ''Railroad Bill'' ( Music Maker) * 2004 : ''Etta Baker with
Taj Mahal The Taj Mahal ( ; ; ) is an ivory-white marble mausoleum on the right bank of the river Yamuna in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India. It was commissioned in 1631 by the fifth Mughal Empire, Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan () to house the tomb of his belo ...
'' ( Music Maker 50) * 2005 : ''Carolina Breakdown'', with Cora Phillips ( Music Maker 56) * 2006 : ''Knoxville Rag'', with
Kenny Wayne Shepherd Kenny Wayne Shepherd (born Kenneth Wayne Brobst; June 12, 1977) is an American guitarist. He has released several studio albums and experienced significant commercial success as a blues rock artist. Early life Shepherd was born in Shrevepo ...
, issued on CD as ''10 Days Out: Blues from the Backroads'', with a DVD showing Shepherd and Baker playing guitar in her kitchen (
Reprise Records Reprise Records is an American record label founded in 1960 by Frank Sinatra. It is owned by Warner Music Group, and operates through Warner Records, one of its flagship labels. Artists currently signed to Reprise Records include Green Day, En ...
) * 2009: "Banjo" ( Music Maker) *2015: "Railroad Bill" Vinyl Reissue ( Music Maker)


References


External links

* *
Etta Baker page
from Music Maker Relief Foundation
Etta Baker Project
Site to "promote and preserve the rich musical legacy of Etta Baker". Information, links and guitar tabs.
Etta Baker
David Holt's memoirs of his mentor. *
ObituaryEtta Baker MP3s
from Music Maker Relief Foundation
Live recording of "One Dime Blues," performed by Baker
(track 7, recorded at the 1994 Florida Folk Festival and made available for public use by the State Archives of Florida)
Etta Baker page
fro
Lady Plays the Blues Project
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baker, Etta 1913 births 2006 deaths People from Caldwell County, North Carolina African-American banjoists American blues guitarists 20th-century African-American women singers Singers from North Carolina Country blues musicians National Heritage Fellowship winners Piedmont blues musicians Folk musicians from North Carolina Musicians from Appalachia Old-time musicians African-American guitarists 20th-century American women guitarists 20th-century American guitarists Guitarists from North Carolina Rounder Records artists Reprise Records artists Tradition Records artists 20th-century American women singers People from Morganton, North Carolina Women banjoists 20th-century American singers 21st-century African-American musicians 21st-century African-American women African American women guitarists American women guitarists North Carolina Heritage Award winners