Elizabeth Cotten

According to the National museum of American History:

The guitar was owned and used by Libba (Elizabeth) Cotton. Libba taught herself to play the banjo and the guitar as a child, holding the instruments upside down because she was left handed. “… I learned the banjo upside down because I couldn’t change them (the strings) because it belonged to my brother.” By the age of twelve she had composed “Freight Train.” At fifteen Libba was already married. Her religious convictions prompted her to abandon musical pursuits in favor of raising her family and serving God. Elizabeth Cotton moved to Washington, DC in the 1930s where she found employment in the home of the musical Seeger family. Hearing music around the house where she was working, Libba was encouraged to pursue a professional career in music that included recordings, concerts and national tours. In 1984 she was awarded the NEA National Heritage Fellowship, and in 1985 she received a Grammy Award for her album “Elizabeth Cotton Live.” Her syncopated, lyrical blues music continues to live through a wide range of performers who have been influenced by her work.