Background
Elizabeth “Libba” Cotten was born in January of 1982 in North Carolina. She was musically inclined even as a child. She would play around with her brother’s banjo and play it upside down to better suit her left-handed style. She worked for a dollar a month at a live-in job until she had saved enough for her mother to buy her a guitar, which she taught herself to play, much like the banjo. At the age of 14, she was able to play chords and a large repertoire of dance tunes. A religious conversion led her to be convinced by her church fellows to cease playing “secular music” for almost 50 years. She eventually got back into playing the guitar when she was surrounded by instruments while working for the Seeger family (whom she accredits for reinspiring her love for the guitar). From then on, she went on to perform at many concerts and festivals and recorded a few songs before she eventually passed in 1987.
She was a big name in the Bluesy/Folk Genre, especially for an independent woman artist in the mid 1900s. Her most popular song, “Freight Train” was written when she was in her early teens and it was about a train that she would play with near her childhood home. The song was a staple in a musical revolutionary movement and inspired the likes of artists like Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell. Her unique way of playing was named “Cotten-Picking” after her and her left-handed style and she served as a monumental figure in the folk revival that took place in the 1960’s. She is now acknowledged as a staple in traditional American music and received recognition such as the American Heritage Fellowship and a Grammy for Best Ethnic or Traditional Folk Recording. “Freight Train” is still covered and sampled today by many contemporary artists who are inspired by her music a century after it’s creation.
Notability in the Folk Genre
