Ethel Caffie-Austin

Ethel Caffie-Austin
Caffie-Austin performing at the Lowell Folk Festival in 2012
Caffie-Austin performing at the Lowell Folk Festival in 2012
Background information
Born(1949-02-11)February 11, 1949
Bluefield, West Virginia, U.S.
DiedDecember 11, 2024(2024-12-11) (aged 75)
Charleston, West Virginia, U.S.
Genres
Occupations
Instrument(s)Piano, voice
Years active1958–2024

Ethel Caffie-Austin (February 11, 1949 – December 11, 2024) was an American gospel musician.[1][2][3] Known for her skills as a pianist and vocalist, she was dubbed the "First Lady of West Virginia Gospel Music".[4][5] In 2020, she was inducted into the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame.[6]

Early life

Caffie-Austin was born on February 11, 1949, in Bluefield, West Virginia, and raised near Mount Hope, West Virginia. She began playing piano at the age of six and began playing at her father's church at the age of nine. Caffie-Austin is a graduate of West Virginia University Institute of Technology, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in Language Arts.[6]

Caffie-Austin formed The Collegiate Gospel Choir at West Virginia Tech in 1967.[6]

Career

Caffie-Austin taught English studies in West Virginia public schools for 20 years.[7]

In 1971, Caffie-Austin and her musical group performed at the Federal Prison Camp, Alderson (then named Federal Reformatory for Women). After hearing the performance, the warden of the prison, Virginia McLaughlin, soon hired Caffie-Austin as an intern to teach both gospel and secular music in the prison.[7]

Caffie-Austin was the founder, lead singer and pianist of the Ethel Caffie-Austin Singers.[8]

Caffie-Austin has toured worldwide, performing numerous festivals and concerts.[9]

In the 1990s, Caffie-Austin performed at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.[7][10]

Caffie-Austin has made several appearances on NPR's Mountain Stage and at the Vandalia Gathering in Charleston, where she was awarded the Vandalia Award in 2006 by the West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture & History.[7][11]

She founded the Black Sacred Music Festival at West Virginia State University.

Caffie-Austin recorded two songs for The Harry Smith Connection: A Live Tribute to the Anthology of American Folk Music (1998). She recorded her own DVD titled Learn to Play Gospel Piano (2003),[12] an instructional video released by Homespun Video. Caffie-Austin was the subject of a 1999 documentary film titled "His Eye is on the Sparrow,"[13] for Kentucky Educational Television (KET) and a 1997 edition of Goldenseal magazine titled “Hand-Clapping and Hallelujahs: A Visit with Ethel Caffie-Austin.”[6]

She was nominated in 2019 to be inducted into the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame[14] and was inducted during a televised ceremony on November 14, 2020,[15] during which she also performed.

Personal life and death

Caffie-Austin married James Austin in 1982. He died from an enlarged heart in 1989.[7]

Caffie-Austin died on December 11, 2024 in Charleston, West Virginia, at the age of 75.[16][17]

Discography

Albums

Title Details References
Harry Smith Connection
  • Release Date: 1997
 [18]
Gospel Live from Mountain Stage
  • Release date: 1998
 [19]

Single releases

Title Details References
"I'm on the Battlefield for My Lord"
  • Release Date: 1998
 [20]
"John the Revelator"
  • Release date: 1998
 [21]
"Up Above My Head"
  • Release date: 1997
 [22]

References

  1. ^ "AllMusic page". AllMusic. Retrieved June 7, 2023.
  2. ^ United States Congress Senate Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on the Department of the Interior - Department of the Interior and Related Agencies Appropriations for Fiscal Year 1991: Hearings Before a Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations, United States Senate, One Hundred First Congress, Second Session on H.R. 5769--an Act Making Appropriations for the Department of the Interior and Related Agencies for the Fiscal Year Ending September 30, 1991, and for Other Purposes. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1991. pp. 427, 431, 434.
  3. ^ Carnegie Magazine. The Institute. 1986. p. 7.
  4. ^ "Dr. Ethel Caffie-Austin: West Virginia's "First Lady of Gospel Music"". February 21, 2020.
  5. ^ "West Virginia's "First Lady of Gospel Music" scheduled to perform April 3". University of the Ozarks. Retrieved 2024-02-05.
  6. ^ a b c d "Ethel Caffie-Austin". West Virginia Music Hall of Fame.
  7. ^ a b c d e "e-WV | Ethel Caffie-Austin". www.wvencyclopedia.org. Retrieved February 5, 2024.
  8. ^ Petrusich, Amanda (May 10, 2009). "Summer Stages: Pop". The New York Times. Retrieved February 8, 2024.
  9. ^ Kidd, Vernon (March 16, 1997). "All that jazz: where to find the festivals abroad". The New York Times.
  10. ^ "The Ethel Caffie-Austin Singers". Lowell Sun. July 25, 2012. Retrieved February 5, 2024.
  11. ^ "Gospel singer to receive 2006 Vandalia Award". archive.wvculture.org.
  12. ^ Learn to Play Gospel Piano, Homespun Video, May 13, 2003, retrieved February 5, 2024
  13. ^ "His Eye is on the Sparrow". Folkstreams. Retrieved February 5, 2024.
  14. ^ "Caffie-Austin to be honored". Montgomery Herald. April 3, 2019.
  15. ^ Votaw, Emily (November 11, 2020). "West Virginia Music Hall of Fame 2020 Class Includes Larry Groce, Mayf Nutter". WOUB Public Media. Retrieved February 5, 2024.
  16. ^ "Dr. Ethel Caffie-Austin – Snodgrass Funeral Home". December 14, 2024. Retrieved January 14, 2025.
  17. ^ Schulz, Chris (December 16, 2024). "W.Va.'s First Lady Of Gospel Dies At 75". West Virginia Public Broadcasting. Retrieved January 14, 2025.
  18. ^ "Harry Smith Connection Album", AllMusic
  19. ^ "Gospel Live from Mountain Stage", AllMusic
  20. ^ I'm on the Battlefield for My Lord by Ethel Caffie Austin, AllMusic
  21. ^ John the Revelator by Ethel Caffie Austin, AllMusic
  22. ^ Up Above My Head by Ethel Caffie Austin, AllMusic