Although Elizabeth's Song is fiction, certain facts and events are based on the remarkable early life of the noted African-American folksinger, guitarist, and songwriter, Elizabeth "Libba" Cotten.

Born in Chapel Hill, North Carolina in 1893, Cotten is best known for "Freight Train," a song she wrote in 1904 when she was just 11-years-old.  Her music has been played and recorded by many including Pete Seeger, John Lennon, Joan Baez, Peter, Paul and Mary, Jerry Garcia, and even the jukebox band on the popular PBS series, "Shining Time Station."

In addition to her songs, Cotten is equally well-known for her distinctive left-handed guitar playing  - "Cotten-picking" - which created a rhythm and sound that has influenced many folk musicians. 

Despite her talent, musical success didn't come until late in her life. Beginning in her mid-teens and continuing for the next three decades, Cotten devoted her time and energy to raising a family and made her living as a housekeeper. A chance meeting with Ruth Crawford Seeger, stepmother of well-known folk singer, Pete Seeger, in the mid-1940s, and the subsequent relationship she developed with the musically-inclined Seeger family, sparked a return to the music she loved.

Encouraged by the Seegers, Cotten began playing again and released her first album in 1958.  She began performing a year later at the age of 67.

 Cotten's musical talents have been widely recognized.  She received the Burl Ives Award for exceptional contributions to music in 1972. A pocket park - "Elizabeth Cotten Grove" - was dedicated to her honor in 1983 in Syracuse, New York. She was made a National Heritage Fellow for her innovations in the field of folk arts by the National Endowment for the Arts in 1984.  She was named a "living treasure" by both the City of Syracuse and the Smithsonian Institution.  The Smithsonian has also honored Cotten by inducting one of her guitars into its collection.  Cotten was one of 75 influential African-American women included in the collection of photographs, "I Dream a World."  She won a Grammy award in 1985 for her recording, "Elizabeth Cotten Live" and a posthumous Sammy in 1996.  In  1995, the Elizabeth Cotten Conservancy was formed.

Elizabeth Cotten passed away June 29, 1987 in Syracuse.