CARRBORO, N.C. – 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, 2025, as Elizabeth Cotten Day in Carrboro.
The Town of Carrboro invites community to enjoy a special event featuring Brenda Evans, the great-granddaughter of Elizabeth Cotten, for songs and remembrances at 1 p.m. Sunday, at the Carrboro Century Center, 100 N. Greensboro St. Evans was only 12 years old when she performed as a vocalist featured on the album Shake Sugaree.
The Town of Carrboro is also pleased to announce that joining in music, song, and the sharing of family stories are the great-great grandchildren of Ms. Cotten -- Jordan, Jared and John Evans of Charlotte, N.C. Join us for this special celebration of her life and legacy!
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. https://rockhall.com/inductees/elizabeth-cotten/
In addition to the January special event, the Town of Carrboro is partnering with the Music Maker Foundation on its 2025 concert series of Freight Train Blues, which will include free evening concerts featured from May to June at Carrboro Town Commons, 301 W. Main St. The concert series honors 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.
We encourage everyone to give her songs a listen! Learn more about Elizabeth Cotten from the following: