Etta Baker

Etta Baker of Morganton, NC, was born in 1913 and began playing guitar at the age of 3. She was the premier female Piedmont blues guitar instrumentalist, playing the guitar everyday, and constantly working on new arrangements until just a short time before her death in September of 2006. Until her passing at the age of 93, Etta maintained a beautiful yard and garden and was matriarch of the 108 members in her family.

On a summer day in 1956, Mr. Boone Reid of Morganton, NC took his family to nearby Cone Mansion. The brilliant folksinger Paul Clayton happened to be walking the grounds with his guitar. Mrs. Etta Baker remembers, “My daddy asked Paul to let me play One-Dime Blues. He was over the next day with his tape-recorder.”

Clayton issued these pieces on an album that became among the most influential recordings of the folk era, Instrumental Music from the Southern Appalachians on Tradition Records. Etta’s renditions of One-Dime Blues and Railroad Bill became standards at the height of the folk music revival in New England. Taj Mahal a student at UMASS in the early 60s first heard this LP in a college dorm: “I was immediately taken by her version of Railroad Bill. She is the greatest influence in my guitar playing.” Etta had numerous offers to perform but did not go because, “My husband could play piano real well, we could have made it, but he did not want to leave home.”

Paul Clayton had a cabin outside of Charlottesville, VA, and he would bring his musician friends down from the New York folk scene to visit Etta. Paul, a friend to Bob Dylan brought Bob and Susie Rotolo to visit Etta in 1962 to celebrate Bob’s 21st birthday. Bob soon after rewrote Clayton’s song Whose Going to Buy You Ribbons, When I’m Gone into Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright, in which you can clearly hear Etta’s guitar influence.

Etta’s early recordings have always been available. The Bakers never granted permission for them to be released. Etta reflects, “Back then we just did not know what to do about it.” 48 years later she has reclaimed ownership for her music that had such far-reaching effect.

Taj Mahal has always made homage to Mrs. Etta Baker by performing her music. He explains, “That chord in Railroad Bill is a very ancient root chord; it strikes straight through me, every time I hear it played.” Taj and Etta performed this music one afternoon in my studio. Etta’s friends Algia Mae Hinton and Wayne Martin make guest appearances. We have included two recordings of her beloved father. I just met with Etta and she played wonderfully. She told me she had fully recovered from her heart condition, so I hope and pray that Etta remains a master musician for years to come, influencing future generations of guitarists with her joyful music.

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