Elizabeth Cotton’s legendary folk classic “Freight Train” became a standard showpiece for fingerpicking artists in the folk revival movement of the 1960’s and has enduring popularity. Cotten composed “Freight Train” when she was 11 years old (around 1904), inspired by a train that ran near her home in North Carolina: “We used to watch the freight train. We knew the fireman and the brakeman, and the conductor—my mother used to launder for him. They’d let us ride in the engine, put us in one of the coaches while they were back up and changing. That was how I got my first train ride.”

The tune showcases Cotten’s unique style, described by folklorist Mike Seeger as “a synthesis of turn-of-the-century parlor music, blues, church songs, and a little ragtime.” Mike’s sister and folksinger Peggy Seeger popularized “Freight Train” (1957) in England and passed it on to others in the scene like Rusty Draper, Pete Seeger, Chat Atkins, Peter, Paul and Mary and Joan Baez. Cotten’s unique style of playing guitar—fine Piedmont finger picking, upside down guitar with bass strings on top—came to be known as “Cotten picking” and has inspired countless other artists.  By the time Cotten recorded the song in 1958 (age 65), every young guitar picker swept up by the folk revival had learned it. In the 1960’s and 1970’s, Cotten appeared at many folk festivals across America, giving audiences the chance to hear this beautiful song as performed by its creator.  In 1974, she performed the song before the US Capitol where senators and audience joined in singing.