CARRBORO, NC -- Legendary North Carolina musician Elizabeth “Libba” Cotten is being feted by her hometown with her very own day on her upcoming birthday anniversary.
Mayor Barbara Foushee is officially proclaiming Sunday, Jan. 5, 2026, as “Elizabeth Cotten Day” in Carrboro.
- Read the full proclamation at https://www.carrboronc.gov/2630/Proclamations-and-Resolutions ;
The Town of Carrboro is pleased to announce that a special celebration of Ms. Cotten is planned for the opening concert of the Freight Train Blues Concert Series on May 15, 2026. The concert series is produced by the Music Maker Foundation with support from the Town of Carrboro. The free evening concerts honor Cotten’s legacy in the world of roots music by emphasizing the cultural diversity, complexity, and vitality of her music and the music of many other artists local to her community and all over the country.
- Learn more: https://www.musicmaker.org/freight-train-blues/ ;
Born on Jan. 5, 1893, Cotten wrote her signature song “Freight Train” about the train she could hear from her childhood home on Lloyd Street in Carrboro, North Carolina. Cotten's talents as guitarist and songwriter came to light while she was working in the home of the Seeger family, who encouraged her career as a professional musician. Cotten toured across the country, recording several albums and winning a Grammy Award and a National Heritage Fellowship before her death in 1987. She was inducted into the 2022 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
- Learn more: https://rockhall.com/inductees/elizabeth-cotten/ ;
In 2025, the Town of Carrboro produced a special event featuring Brenda Evans, the great granddaughter of Elizabeth Cotten, for songs and remembrances. Evans was only 11 years old when she performed as a vocalist featured on the album Shake Sugaree. View the sharing of family stories with the great-great grandchildren of Ms. Cotten -- Jordan, Jared and John Evans of Charlotte, N.C.
• Watch at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4i7ygVcyAk&t=187s ;
We encourage everyone to give her songs a listen!
Elizabeth Cotten Mural – This mural is featured on a building at 111 North Merritt Mill Road in Carrboro (on the border with Chapel Hill). It is a part of an ongoing series called the “North Carolina Musicians Murals Project,” which highlights famous musicians from North Carolina in their respective birthplaces. The mural was co-commissioned by the towns of Carrboro and Chapel Hill, located at the Cut Above Barber Shop located in the Midway, a historically Black business district that connects the towns. It is adjacent to the St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church.
Learn more about Elizabeth Cotten from the following:
- Town of Carrboro webpage: https://www.carrboronc.gov/3120/Elizabeth-Libba-Cotten ;
- When I’m Gone: Remembering Folk Icon Elizabeth Cotten – This program from University Libraries at UNC-Chapel Hill features an evening of stories and music, including guitarist Yasmin Williams, musician and scholar Alice Gerrard and Cotten’s great-grandson John W. Evans Jr. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfQ5Oit6324
- The Southern Folklife Collection at the Wilson Special Collections Library collects, preserves and disseminates music, art and culture related to the American South. The SFC is honored to preserve and provide access to studio masters, interviews, concert recordings, photographs and papers relating to Elizabeth Cotten’s extraordinary musical career. Learn more at https://library.unc.edu/wilson/sfc/
- Elizabeth Cotten Folk Alliance International 2010 Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHyM5nNIxWg
- Me and Stella https://www.folkstreams.net/films/me-and-stella
- Homemade American Music https://www.folkstreams.net/films/homemade-american-music
- Elizabeth Cotten In Portland (Bill Fisher, 1978) - YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8AazOEGgAQ
- Elizabeth Cotten - Rainbow Quest Tv Show - YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAPibSxgIyw&
- Libba Cotten Documentary - YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k439N7Ns0wg
- Kid Lit Review of “Libba: The Magnificent Musical Life of Elizabeth Cotten” by Laura Veirs | Rhapsody in Books Weblog (wordpress.com) - https://rhapsodyinbooks.wordpress.com/2018/06/02/kid-lit-review-of-libba-the-magnificent-musical-life-of-elizabeth-cotten-by-laura-veirs/
- Pete Seeger on Libba Cotten, musical genius cast in bronze in Syracuse - https://www.syracuse.com/kirst/2012/09/post_324.html