Etta Baker, American musician

March 12, 2012 3:45 AM

Guitarist Etta Baker worked in a textile mill, raised nine children, and didn’t take her music to the stage until she was 60 years old. Fortunately for all of us, she continued to play and record right up until her death in 2006 at the age of 93.
posted by flapjax at midnite (11 comments total)

This is awesome. I was just telling my teammates at work about her a few weeks ago. I saw her a few times at Merlefest and it was magic every time. You close your eyes and you swear there are two people up there playing guiars. It's that banjo style finger picking Piedmont blues.
posted by NoMich at 3:51 AM on March 12, 2012

.
posted by Mister Bijou at 4:31 AM on March 12, 2012

Awesome, as usual, flapjax. Etta Baker should be a household name, if only for One Dime Blues.

I have always been a sucker for the alternating bass of acoustic country blues. I literally played the grooves off that Etta Baker/Taj Mahal album. The Crow Jane cut on that album is incredible.
posted by Benny Andajetz at 5:57 AM on March 12, 2012

Previously
posted by IndigoJones at 6:43 AM on March 12, 2012

Previously

Thanks for that, IndigoJones. Certainly didn't come up when I previewed the post.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 7:07 AM on March 12, 2012

Oh, you can't have too much Etta Baker! This was good.
posted by IndigoJones at 8:25 AM on March 12, 2012

♪
posted by Smart Dalek at 10:15 AM on March 12, 2012

A friend of mine loves finger picking. He's pretty good at it and has learned quite a few of Etta Baker's songs. It seems like it's pretty difficult to deconstruct all the layers. It's nice to finally hear the originals.
posted by wierdo at 3:06 PM on March 12, 2012

Love her beautiful fingerplucking. Thanks so much for posting this. Marvelous post flapjax!
posted by nickyskye at 3:28 PM on March 12, 2012

This is a great story. Thank you so much for bringing this to light, I had no idea about this incredible woman.
posted by kettleoffish at 6:43 PM on March 12, 2012

Good stuff. Amazing woman.

Great post.
posted by BlueHorse at 2:04 PM on March 13, 2012