Guitar, blues, and Mississippi all mean the same thing to Eddie Cotton, Jr.

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“I’ve been around music all my life,” said Cotton, an indelible blues musician and lead guitarist of his band, Eddie Cotton and the Mississippi Cotton Club. “I got my chops playing at church. My dad was a preacher, and he got his church when I was 8, back in 1978.”

Cotton has been playing the blues for over 30 years to give people of all religions, backgrounds, and nationalities a musical soundtrack of southern living and resilience. Blues is a mixture of spirituals, work songs, and narrative ballads, among other musical contributions from the Black culture that harmonize together. It’s that historical piece that has enamored Cotton all these decades.

“The sound comes from what we’ve been through,” said Cotton, referring to the birth of blues originating from Blacks in the Deep South starting from the late 1800s. “This is our contribution to the world.”

Cotton was awarded a full scholarship to Jackson State University to play jazz, even though he wasn’t quite sure what jazz was then. He quickly realized he had been playing music closely similar to jazz all along. While experiencing his journey of higher learning, he became acquainted with different genres of music. Once he found blues, he was bitten by the storytelling bug. Blues depicts stories like no other category of music can.

“Eddie’s got soul, funk, and the main traditional blues.,” said John Genous, Cotton’s Road Manager for virtually his entire career. “When people hear blues, they want the real thing. You can only get that here.”

Eddie Cotton and the Mississippi Cotton Club have dedicated their lives to sharing that authenticity. Cotton learned the art of blues and how to make a living performing from blues legend King Edward Antoine, and he’s traveled across the country and internationally performing ever since. He is not a fan of traveling long distances, but his passport would mislead you. His desire to share blues has taken him to France, Germany, Norway, and Finland, revisiting some of these countries multiple times.

Cotton has seven albums, including Eddie Cotton: The Mirror, recently released in March 2024 with Malaco Music Group. His inspiration comes from being a “country boy “grounded in the Magnolia state that raised him.

“You say ‘the blues and a lot of people look at you like you’re an alien,” said 54-year-old Cotton. “It’s not mainstream, and most don’t know it. I love playing the blues and keeping it alive.”