''Folksongs and Instrumentals with Guitar'' is a 1958 album by American blues and folk musician

Elizabeth Cotten Elizabeth "Libba" Cotten ( Nevills; January 5, 1893 – June 29, 1987) was an American folk and blues musician. She was a self-taught left-handed guitarist who played a guitar strung for a right-handed player, but played it upside down. This po ...

and was released on Folkways Records as FG 3526. In 1989 it was reissued by

Smithsonian Folkways Smithsonian Folkways is the nonprofit record label of the Smithsonian Institution. It is a part of the Smithsonian's Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, located at Capital Gallery in downtown Washington, D.C. The label was fo ...

as SFW40009 featuring

Mike Seeger Mike Seeger (August 15, 1933August 7, 2009) was an American folk musician and folklorist. He was a distinctive singer and an accomplished musician who played autoharp, banjo, fiddle, dulcimer, guitar, mouth harp, mandolin, dobro, jaw harp, a ...

's updated notes with comments on Cotten's life, musical style, and song lyrics. The album is also known as ''Freight Train and Other North Carolina Folk Songs and Tunes'' and was originally released as ''Elizabeth Cotten: Negro Folk Songs and Tunes''. It is best known for containing the earliest recording of her classic "

Freight Train Rail freight transport is the use of railroads and trains to transport cargo as opposed to human passengers. A freight train, cargo train, or goods train is a group of freight cars (US) or goods wagons (International Union of Railways) haul ...

." The album cover was designed by Ronald Clyne. In 2008, the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...

named the album to its

National Recording Registry The National Recording Registry is a list of sound recordings that "are culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant, and/or inform or reflect life in the United States." The registry was established by the National Recording Preservati ...

as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Track listing

References

{{Authority control 1958 debut albums Folkways Records albums United States National Recording Registry recordings Elizabeth Cotten albums