Chapel Hill native Elizabeth “Libba” Cotten (January 5, 1895 – June 29, 1987) was a self-taught blues and folk musician, singer, and songwriter. She is best known for her timeless song “Freight Train.” Ms. 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 music.
Video: ”Washington Blues” and “I’m Going Away” by Elizabeth Cotten (1965) (by humbatron)
