Program Blues singers Elizabeth Cotten and "Mother" Esther Mae Scott talk with Topper Carew about their music and perform in studio for this one-hour program. Elizabeth Cotten, in her early eighties at the time of this appearance, performs her famous folk songs "Freight Train" and "Shake Sugaree" using her distinctive left-hand style of guitar playing known as "Cotten pickin'" and Esther May Scott, also in her early eighties, performs songs by Bessie Smith and Leadbelly. Both musicians were active participants in blues festival circuits at the time of the interview. Produced by Topper Carew. Directed by Conrad White.
Series Say Brother is WGBH's longest running public affairs television program by, for and about African Americans, and is now known as Basic Black. Since its inception in 1968, Say Brother has featured the voices of both locally and nationally known African American artists, athletes, performers, politicians, professionals, and writers including: Muhammad Ali, Maya Angelou, Thomas Atkins, Amiri Baraka, Doris Bunte, Julian Bond, Stokely Carmichael, Louis Farrakhan, Nikki Giovanni, Odetta Gordon, Henry Hampton, Benjamin Hooks, Jesse Jackson, Hubie Jones, Mel King, Eartha Kitt, Elma Lewis, Haki Madhubuti, Wallace D. Muhammad, Charles Ogletree, Byron Rushing, Owusu Sadaukai, and Sonia Sanchez.
