Ethel Caffie-Austin

Ethel Caffie-Austin (born Ethel Caffie; February 11, 1949) is an American gospel musician. Known for her skills as a pianist and vocalist, she is dubbed the "First Lady of West Virginia Gospel Music." In 2020, she was inducted into the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame.

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.

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

Career
Caffie-Austin taught English studies in West Virginia public schools for 20 years.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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), an instructional video released by Homespun Video. Caffie-Austin was the subject of a 1999 documentary film titled "His Eye is on the Sparrow," for Kentucky Educational Television (KET) and a 1997 edition of Goldenseal magazine titled “Hand-Clapping and Hallelujahs: A Visit with Ethel Caffie-Austin.”

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

Personal life
Caffie-Austin married James Austin in 1982. He died from an enlarged heart in 1989.