Carolina Music History
Elizabeth Cotten
Born and raised near Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
Biography
Elizabeth Cotten was born near Chapel Hill, North Carolina and wrote "Freight Train" as a young girl.
Left-handed, she played a right-handed guitar upside down, producing the alternating-bass style now known as Cotten picking.
Carolina story
One of the most covered songs in American folk music was written by a Black woman from Chapel Hill decades before the folk revival found her.
Music
Career & impact
Cotten's guitar style is a standard part of the American folk vocabulary, and her songwriting outlived every revival that rediscovered it.
Sources
This is an original Drake Magazine editorial profile built from verifiable public record. It is not an exclusive interview, and no quotes, awards or recordings have been invented.