Elizabeth Cotten: Freight Train and Other North Carolina Folk Songs

Freight Train and Other North Carolina Folk Songs Review

 

by Jason Ankeny

Recorded in 1957 and early 1958 by Mike Seeger, Freight Train and Other North Carolina Folk Songs and Tunes collects the influential debut sides cut by a then-62-year-old Elizabeth Cotten; even decades after their first release, they remain a veritable primer in the art of finger-picked style guitar playing. The quaint, homespun quality of the material -- much of it recorded at Cotten's home with her grandchildren looking on in silence -- adds immensely to its intimacy and warmth; the sound quality varies wildly from track to track, but the amazing instrumental work shines through regardless on tracks like the opening "Wilson Rag" and the now-standard "Freight Train."

Fingerpicking legend of early 20th century folk blues and one-time Seeger family maid.
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Elizabeth Cotten

Freight Train and Other North Carolina Folk Songs and Tunes

0:00 Wilson Rag 1:37 Freight Train 4:21 Going Down The Road Feeling Bad 6:32 I Don't Love Nobody 7:45 Ain't Got No Honey Baby Now 8:40 Graduation March 11:11 Honey Babe Your Papa Cares For You 13:25 Vastopol 15:34 Here Old Rattler Here / Sent For My Fiddle Sent For My Bow / George Buck 19:21 Run…Run / Mama Your Son Done Gone 21:38 Sweet Bye And Bye / What A Friend We Have In Jesus 24:39 Oh Babe It Ain't No Lie 29:21 Spanish Flang Dang 32:11 When I Get Home Label: Smithsonian Folkways - SF CD 40009 Year: 1989