[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E265]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     HONORING MR. EDDIE COTTON, JR.

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. BENNIE G. THOMPSON

                             of mississippi

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, March 31, 2025

  Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor a 
torchbearer of the blues tradition, Mr. Eddie Cotton, Jr. Mr. Cotton 
exemplifies what can be achieved through hard work, dedication, and a 
desire to achieve success.
  Bluesman Eddie Cotton, Jr.'s music is rooted in the church. His 
father was a Pentecostal minister, shepherding the Christ Chapel Church 
of God in Christ, which he founded in Clinton, Mississippi, just west 
of Jackson. While music was central to church services, both his family 
and his congregation shunned secular music. Still, Cotton reflects, 
``The deepest of the blues I've ever played is in church. . . . The 
style they play on is nothing but blues.'' When he was six, his father 
bought him his first electric guitar, and by age eight, the younger 
Cotton was an official member of the church band, eventually becoming 
the lead guitarist. At 18, he earned a full scholarship to study music 
theory at Jackson State University, where he learned music theory and 
discovered that the basic structures of blues were ingrained in his 
playing. After college, he became the minister of music at the family 
church while simultaneously playing with Mississippi bluesman King 
Edward Antoine, known in Jackson as ``The Blues Picking King.''
  Cotton is a master of a genre called soul blues. Emerging in the 
1960s, soul blues fuses the gritty guitar sound central to blues with 
the smoother, gospel-influenced vocal style of soul and R&B music. Soul 
blues is music meant to move the body and spirit, which is why Cotton 
describes his sound as ``hard-driving blues'' or ``juke joint blues.'' 
Eddie's musical career remains focused on two things: regular gigs for 
enthusiastic soul blues audiences and a continuing commitment to his 
home church in Clinton, where he serves as both church administrator 
and minister of music. Whatever the venue, Cotton's goal is always to 
find what his church calls ``the pocket,'' a place of spiritual 
transcendence where ``the music just pulsates in everybody's mind and 
heart.''
  Now in his 50's, Eddie Cotton, Jr. is a blues master with a growing 
international fan base. He has opened for legends like Ike Turner and 
B.B. King, and in 2015, he took top honors at the International Blues 
Challenge in Memphis. Eddie Cotton performed at the Richmond Folk 
Festival in 2017 and is among the favorites returning to celebrate the 
festival's 20th anniversary. He released his latest album, The Mirror, 
in March of 2024, just days after an electrifying set at the SXSW 
Festival in Austin, Texas. In July of 2024, he traveled to Las Vegas to 
perform at the National NAACP Convention, where he has frequently 
performed for the gathering's Mississippi Catfish and Blues Night over 
the past 15 years. Recently, Eddie received the 2025 Governor's Arts 
Award for Excellence in Music. Among his awards and accolades, he has a 
Mississippi Blues Trail marker in his hometown of Clinton.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in recognizing Mr. Eddie 
Cotton, Jr. for his passion and unwavering dedication to the art of 
music.

                          ____________________