Elizabeth Cotten ‎- Freight Train And Other North Carolina Folk Songs And Tunes (1958)

Elizabeth "Libba" Cotten (1895-1987), best known for her timeless song "Freight Train," built her musical legacy on a firm foundation of late 19th- and early 20th-century African-American instrumental traditions. Through her songwriting, her quietly commanding personality, and her unique left-handed guitar and banjo styles, she inspired and influenced generations of younger artists. In 1984 Cotten was declared a National Heritage Fellow by the National Endowment for the Arts and was later recognized by the Smithsonian Institution as a "living treasure." She received a Grammy Award in 1985 when she was ninety, almost eighty years after she first began composing her own works.

Recorded in 1957 and early 1958 by Mike Seeger, "Freight Train and Other North Carolina Folk Songs and Tunes" collects the influential debut sides cut by a then-62-year-old Elizabeth Cotten; even decades after their first release, they remain a veritable primer in the art of finger-picked style guitar playing. The quaint, homespun quality of the material - much of it recorded at Cotten's home with her grandchildren looking on in silence - adds immensely to its intimacy and warmth; the sound quality varies wildly from track to track, but the amazing instrumental work shines through regardless on tracks like the opening "Wilson Rag" and the now-standard "Freight Train."               


Tracklist:

1	Wilson Rag	1:35
2	Freight Train	2:42
3	Going Down The Road Feeling Bad	2:09
4	I Don't Love Nobody	1:10
5	Ain't Got No Honey Baby Now	0:53
6	Graduation March	2:29
7	Honey Babe Your Papa Cares For You	2:11
8	Vastopol	2:08
9	Here Old Rattler Here / Sent For My Fiddle Sent For My Bow / George Buck	3:45
10	Run…Run / Mama Your Son Done Gone	2:15
11	Sweet Bye And Bye / What A Friend We Have In Jesus	3:00
12	Oh Babe It Ain't No Lie	4:40
13	Spanish Flang Dang	2:49
14	When I Get Home	2:21

Elizabeth Cotten ‎- Freight Train And Other North Carolina Folk Songs And Tunes (1958)
(320 kbps, cover art included)