Etta Baker

Etta Baker (born Etta Lucille Reid in Caldwell County, North Carolina, 31 March 1913, died 23 September 2006 in Fairfax, Virginia) was a Piedmont blues guitarist and singer from North Carolina, United States. She was of African American, Native American, and European American heritage. She played both the 6-string and 12-string forms of the acoustic guitar, as well as the five-string banjo. Baker received the Folk Heritage Award from the North Carolina Arts Council in 1989, the National Endowment for the Arts' National Heritage Fellowship in 1991, and the North Carolina Award in 2003.

Baker received the Folk Heritage Award from the North Carolina Arts Council in 1989, the National Endowment for the Arts' National Heritage Fellowship in 1991, and the North Carolina Award in 2003. Along with her sister, Cora Phillips, Baker received the North Carolina Folklore Society's Brown-Hudson Folklore Award in 1982.[1]

Baker lived last in Morganton, North Carolina, and died on September 23, 2006 in Fairfax, Virginia at the age of 93, while visiting a daughter who had suffered a stroke.