Libba: The Magnificent Musical Life of Elizabeth Cotten

Elisabeth Cotten was only a little girl when she picked up a guitar for the first time. It wasn’t hers—it was her big brother’s—and it wasn’t strung right—she was left-handed. But she flipped that guitar upside down and backwards and taught herself how to play it anyway. By eleven, she’d written “Freight Train,” one of the most famous folk songs. And by the end of her life, everyone from the California beaches to the rolling hills of England knew her music.

This lyrical, loving book from acclaimed singer-songwriter Laura Veirs and debut illustrator Tatyana Fazlalizadeh tells the story of the determined, gifted, daring Elisabeth Cotten—one of the most celebrated American folk musicians of all time.|Elisabeth Cotten was only a little girl when she picked up a guitar for the first time. It wasn’t hers—it was her big brother’s—and it wasn’t strung right—she was left-handed. But she flipped that guitar upside down and backwards and taught herself how to play it anyway. By eleven, she’d written “Freight Train,” one of the most famous folk songs. And by the end of her life, everyone from the California beaches to the rolling hills of England knew her music.

This lyrical, loving book from acclaimed singer-songwriter Laura Veirs and debut illustrator Tatyana Fazlalizadeh tells the story of the determined, gifted, daring Elisabeth Cotten—one of the most celebrated American folk musicians of all time.|Elisabeth Cotten was only a little girl when she picked up a guitar for the first time. It wasn’t hers—it was her big brother’s—and it wasn’t strung right—she was left-handed. But she flipped that guitar upside down and backwards and taught herself how to play it anyway. By eleven, she’d written “Freight Train,” one of the most famous folk songs. And by the end of her life, everyone from the California beaches to the rolling hills of England knew her music.

This lyrical, loving book from acclaimed singer-songwriter Laura Veirs and debut illustrator Tatyana Fazlalizadeh tells the story of the determined, gifted, daring Elisabeth Cotten—one of the most celebrated American folk musicians of all time.