Elizabeth Cotten

Elizabeth 'Libba' Cotten was a self-taught left-handed guitarist who developed a unique upside-down playing style (she played a right-handed guitar flipped over, picking the bass strings with her fingers and the melody with her thumb) that produced a distinctive alternating-bass sound. She composed her most famous song, 'Freight Train,' when she was approximately eleven years old. She largely abandoned music for decades while working as a domestic servant, and was rediscovered when she was employed by the Seeger family (Pete Seeger's family) in Washington, D.C. Mike Seeger recorded her for Folkways Records, and her debut album, released when she was in her sixties, launched a late-career performing life that lasted into her nineties. She won a Grammy Award at age 90. Her fingerpicking style, known as 'Cotten picking,' has influenced generations of folk and blues guitarists.