A cotton mill is a factory that houses spinning and weaving machinery. Typically built between 1775 and 1930, mills spun cotton which was an important product during the Industrial Revolution.

Cotton mills, and the mechanisation of the spinning process, were instrumental in the growth of the machine tool industry, enabling the construction of larger cotton mills. The requirement for water helped stimulate the construction of the canal system, and the need for power the development of steam engines. Limited companies were developed to construct the mills. This led to the trading floors of the cotton exchange of Manchester, which in its turn created a vast commercial city. The mills also created additional employment, drawn largely from rural areas, leading to the expansion of local urban populations and the consequent need for additional housing. In response, mill towns with municipal governments were created. The mills provided independent incomes for girls and women. Child labour was used in the mills, and the factory system led to organised labour. Poor conditions in cotton mills became the subject of exposes, and in England, the Factory Acts were written to regulate them. The cotton mill was originally a Lancashire phenomenon that then was copied in New England and later in the southern states of America. In the 20th century, North West England lost its supremacy to the United States, then India and then China. In the 21st century, redundant mills have been accepted as part of a country's industrial heritage.

Malvina Reynolds (August 23, 1900 – March 17, 1978) was an American folk/blues singer-songwriter and political activist, best known for her song-writing, particularly the songs "Little Boxes" and "Morningtown Ride".

Malvina Milder was born in San Francisco to David and Abagail Milder, Jewish and socialist immigrants, who opposed involvement in World War I.

She married William ("Bud") Reynolds, a carpenter and labor organizer, in 1934. They had one child, Nancy Reynolds Schimmel (a songwriter and performer in her own right), in 1935. She had earned her Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts in English from the University of California, Berkeley, and later earned a doctorate there, finishing her dissertation in 1938.

Though she played violin in a dance band in her twenties, she began her songwriting career late in life. She was in her late 40s when she met Earl Robinson, Pete Seeger, and other folk singers and songwriters. She returned to school at UC Berkeley, where she studied music theory. She went on to write several popular songs, including "Little Boxes," "What Have They Done to the Rain," recorded by The Searchers and Joan Baez (about nuclear fallout), "It Isn't Nice" (a civil rights anthem), "Turn Around" (about children growing up, later sung by Harry Belafonte), and "There's a Bottom Below" (about depression). Reynolds was also a noted composer of children's songs, including "Magic Penny" and "Morningtown Ride," a top five UK single (December 1966) recorded by The Seekers.

Roger Robinson ("Trey") Wright III (born April 1, 1974) is an American classical concert pianist. He is also a Scrabble player who won the United States National Scrabble Championship in 2004.

Roger Wright was born in Houston, Texas, the son of Roger Wright, Jr., and Christy (Schmidt ) Wright. He began piano study at age 12. During high school he studied with Houston teacher John Weems. At 18 Wright made his concerto debut with the Houston Symphony Orchestra.

Wright entered the piano program at the University of Houston, where he continued his studies with Nancy Weems, Ruth Tomfohrde, Abbey Simon, and Horacio Gutiérrez, and earned his Bachelor of Music degree. During this time he won second prize in the 1996 (U.S.) Music Teachers National Association Piano Competition, College Division. Wright remained in Houston for graduate study, earning his Master of Music degree as a student of John Perry at Rice University's Shepherd School of Music; he would later do doctoral work with Perry at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.

Hedy West (April 6, 1938 - July 3, 2005) was an American folksinger and songwriter.

West was of the same generation as Joan Baez, Judy Collins, and others of the American folk music revival. Her most famous song "500 Miles" is one of America's best loved and best known folk songs. She was described by the English folk musician AL Lloyd as "far and away the best of American girl singers in the [folk] revival."

She was born Hedwig Grace West in Cartersville in the mountains of northern Georgia in 1938. Her father, Don West, was a southern poet and coal mine labor organizer in the 1930s; his bitter experiences included seeing a close friend machine-gunned on the street by company goons in the presence of a young daughter. Later, he operated the Appalachian South Folklife Center in Pipestem, West Virginia and co-founded the Highlander Folk School in New Market, Tennessee.

Her great-uncle Augustus Mulkey played the fiddle; her paternal grandmother Lillie Mulkey West played the banjo. By her teens West was singing at folk festivals, both locally and in neighbouring states. In the mid-50s she won a prize for ballad-singing in Nashville, TN. Many of her songs, including the raw materials for "500 Miles", came from Lily, who passed on the songs she had learned as a child. She used her father's poetry in several songs, such as Anger in the Land.

Emily Nemmers (born July 9, 1981 in Waterloo, Iowa) is an American country music artist who records under the name Emily West. Signed to Capitol Records Nashville, she debuted on Billboard Hot Country Songs charts in early 2008 with the single "Rocks in Your Shoes". This song peaked at #39 early in the year, and is the first single from a self-titled EP. She entered the country charts a second time with "Blue Sky" in 2010.

West, the youngest of four children, was born in Waterloo, Iowa. She moved to Nashville, Tennessee in 2000 following her graduation from Waterloo West High School in hopes of achieving her goals of becoming a country music singer. West soon signed a deal with a publishing company in Nashville, Warner-Chapell. West was then signed to Capitol Records Nashville when producer Mike Dungan listened to her demo tapes. One of her first appearances was as a background vocalist on Chely Wright's 2005 album The Metropolitan Hotel.

Capitol released a self-titled EP December 11, 2007 to the iTunes music store. In early 2008, West was featured in People Magazine and completed a media tour for her debut single, "Rocks in Your Shoes". "Rocks in Your Shoes" peaked in the Top 40 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart in early 2008. The song received a "thumbs up" rating from The 9513 critic Jim Malec, who called it "a fun-but-gritty up-tempo that exudes confidence and perfectly frames her music." A second single, "That Kind of Happy" was released in April 2009 and failed to enter the chart.