Elizabeth Cotten (1893–1987) was a self-taught American folk and blues musician from North Carolina, best known for her iconic song "Freight Train," which she wrote as a child. Her playing style is legendary: being left-handed, she played a right-handed guitar flipped upside down, picking melodies with her fingers on the bass strings and rhythm with her thumb on the treble — a technique now called "Cotten picking" that gives her music its distinctive gentle, rolling quality. Rooted in Piedmont blues and Appalachian folk, her work is warm, unhurried, and deeply intimate. Rediscovered in the 1950s while working as a housekeeper for the Seeger family, she went on to win a Grammy at age 90 and remains a profound influence on acoustic and folk guitar.