Elizabeth “Libba” Cotten was an important American folk and blues musician. She taught herself to play guitar and, as a left-handed player, used a right-handed guitar turned upside down. This unique style meant she played bass lines with her fingers and melodies with her thumb, creating a technique now called “Cotten picking.” It is said that her influence has shaped many types of music across generations.

Her 1958 album Folksongs and Instrumentals with Guitar was added to the National Recording Registry for being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.” It features her famous song Freight Train, written when she was a teenager.

At 90 years old, she won a Grammy Award for her live album Elizabeth Cotten Live! in 1984. That same year, she was named a National Heritage Fellow by the National Endowment for the Arts. In 2022, she was honoured posthumously by being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as an early influence.