News — black voices
Hanging Tree Guitars
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Artist Freeman Vines on the guitars he creates and the wood he makes them with: “The wood, actually everything, is involved spiritually. A little spirit rubs off on everything.” Read more — and you should, you should click through and read the whole thing — at Atlas Obscura, “A North Carolina Artist’s Search for a Lost Sound Uncovered a Dark History,” by Winnie Lee.
Elizabeth Cotten and "Freight Train"
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If you're a Southerner and/or a fan of American folk music, you've probably heard the song "Freight Train" before. Freight train, freight train, run so fastFreight train, freight train, run so fastPlease don't tell what train I'm onThey won't know what route I'm going Yet you still might not know the name Elizabeth Cotten, and that would be a damn shame. Elizabeth Nevill Cotten was born in 1893 in North Carolina into a musical family. She was playing her brother's banjo by the age of 7. She had to drop out of school at age 9 to work, and by...