Cotten pickin' good

February 20, 2008 1:08 PM

Elizabeth Cotten [previously] sits down and talks with Pete Seeger. She plays the "Wilson Rag," "Mama, Your Papa Loves You," and Pete joins her for "Freight Train." (Lyrics are provided for "Freight Train," so you can all sing along, too.)

More footage of Libba being interviewed can be found here.

And, because it's such a good song, here's Libba by herself performing "Freight Train."

posted by not_on_display (6 comments total)

This is wonderful. Freight Train was the first fingerpickin' tune I ever learned, and it's amazing to see her play it with the strings all backwards.

Thanks so much for this.
posted by ORthey at 1:47 PM on February 20

She also showed up in this FPP from *ahem* yours truly.

Thanks for the fine post, n_o_d.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 2:27 PM on February 20

oh lord - freight train has me crying like a baby. thanks for this.
posted by Baby_Balrog at 2:56 PM on February 20

Freight Train was the first fingerpickin' tune I ever learned

I was gonna say the exact same thing, only Orthey beat me to it.
posted by timsteil at 3:17 PM on February 20

This is great, thanks. I like the Jerry Garcia version of 'Freight Train' from Not For Kids Only.
posted by fixedgear at 5:51 PM on February 20

They are both great examples of the virtue of simplicity. Clean, pure expression beats technical flash every time, at least for me. Thanks for these great links.
posted by RussHy at 3:27 PM on February 21