Part Hispanic, part black and all female, Danielia Cotton is not your prototypical rocker.
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Most people still associate rock music with white males and many resist the notion of a woman, especially one of mixed race, slinging an electric guitar over her shoulder and belting out a song that sounds more like Led Zeppelin than Tracy Chapman.
Cotton, who is headlining Saturday's Freedom Fest at Marion Courtroom in downtown Lancaster, is out to shatter that stereotype. Cotton trusts her instincts and trusts that those who listen with eyes shut and ears wide open will like what they hear.
"The crazy thing is I know you can't underestimate the American public," Cotton says during a telephone interview. "I know when I'm out there, even in the Midwest, they get it — if you do it and it's really true to what you are and you're not just, 'I'm going to be black and sing rock and be different.' I think if you're always true and what you put out there is real, they will get it."
Cotton, who was raised by her mother and never knew her father, grew up in Hopewell, N.J., a small town that counts few blacks as residents. She raided her mother's collection of vinyl records, including titles by Phyllis Hyman, Donnie Hathaway, Jimi Hendrix and Etta James. She also listened to her brother's favorites, which included Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Foreigner and Todd Rundgren.
Cotton, who eventually majored in the theater arts at Bennington College in Vermont, also loved old movies and adored Bing Crosby.
"I had crazy taste," Cotton says.
When it came time to choose a musical direction in high school, however, it was a no-brainer.
"Rock spoke to me," she says. "I had a lot of teenage angst, being one of the only black kids in my school. It spoke to me. It was a little bit more rebellious and it gave me someplace to put whatever I was feeling, whether it was anger or feeling displaced. It hit every chord."
Cotton, who writes her own songs, sings and plays guitar and piano, will front a four-piece band with the classic rock lineup of two guitars, bass and drums when she performs here.
She and her band mates will close a long day of music when they take the stage at 10 p.m.
The rest of the festival's lineup goes like this: 3:35 p.m., the Main Street Mystics; 4:10, Dan Kauffman & the Educated Mess; 4:45, Wetlands; 5:20, Kheris; 5:55, They Were Only Satellites; 6:30, FL Jones; 7:05, Falcon Jones; 7:40, Slimfit; 8:15, Barrel of Wolves; 8:50, Perkasie; and 9:25, the Free Press.
The festival is sponsored by radio station WXPN, which is fitting considering it started playing Cotton's music upon the 2005 release of her debut album, "Small White Town,"
She released the follow-up, "Rare Child" (which opens with the line, "I'm a little black girl who'll rock your world") in 2008 and will soon release a live EP titled "Live Child."
She says the seven songs on the EP were culled from five shows she and her band performed unplugged.
"I think our albums are always good but I'm one of those performers where live, there's nothing like it," she says. "And we actually captured it. It's really good. I think it's probably one of the best real representations for what it's like when you see a live show."
For her performance here, Cotton and her band, which has performed on bills with disparate acts like Robert Cray, Gregg Allman, Little Feat and Lynyrd Skynyrd, will be fully electric.
And that's exactly how it should be for a budding rock star.
"I just keep fighting and hope to break through," Cotton says.
Freedom Festwith headliner Danielia CottonSat. 3 p.m.-midnight. $10Marion Court Room and surrounds7 Marion Courtwww.marioncourtroom.com
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