Folksongs And Instrumentals With Guitar
by Elizabeth Cotten
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Elizabeth Cotten bestography
Folksongs And Instrumentals With Guitar is ranked as the best album by Elizabeth Cotten.
(N.B. Bestographies include all albums by an artist (and their variations), but do not include albums ranked outside the top 100,000).
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Folksongs And Instrumentals With Guitar track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 78 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
Folksongs And Instrumentals With Guitar rankings
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings). Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 5 hours ago)
| Year | Source | Chart | Rank | Rank Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 |  Tamthebam | Top 90 Music Albums of 1958 | 52/90 | 2 |
| 2026 |  Norman Bates | Top 38 Music Albums of 1958 | 16/38 | 3 |
| 2026 |  Patman360 | Top 43 Music Albums of 1958 | 4/43 | 5 |
| 2026 |  Hayden | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1950s | 43/100 | 12 |
| 2026 |  baystateoftheart | Top 22 Music Albums of 1958 | 20/22 | 1 |
| 2026 |  LedZep | Top 100 Greatest Music Albums | 34/100 | 62 |
| 2026 | Weepingguitarman | Top 17 Music Albums of 1958 | 1/17 | 5 |
| 2026 | Exist-en-ciel | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1950s | 51/100 | 10 |
| 2026 |  bertrandu | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1950s | 22/100 | 16 |
| 2026 | Hayden | Top 97 Music Albums of 1958 | 17/97 | 4 |
| Total Charts: The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. | 68 | |||
| Total Rank Score: The total rank score. | 523 | |||
Folksongs And Instrumentals With Guitar collection
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Folksongs And Instrumentals With Guitar ratings
Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AVwhere:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
m = minimum number of ratings required for an item to appear in a 'top-rated' chart (currently 10).
AV = the site mean average rating.
Showing latest 3 ratings for this album. | Show all 50 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 03/10/2026 09:56 | Leginlists | 3,842 | 83/100 |
| ! | 02/09/2026 07:16 |  CellarDoor | 8,895 | 79/100 |
| ! | 12/21/2025 16:53 | Exist-en-ciel | 15,778 | 70/100 |
Rating metrics:
Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some albums can have several thousand ratings)
This album is rated in the top 2% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 77.9/100, a mean average of 76.7/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 79.1/100. The standard deviation for this album is 14.9.
Folksongs And Instrumentals With Guitar favourites
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Folksongs And Instrumentals With Guitar forum mentions
BestEverAlbums 09/19/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5440): By LedZep
RoundTheBend 08/28/2020 04:34 in What new albums have you found through your friends' charts? baystateoftheart 08/10/2018 02:53 in Human Canon Ball Relaunched: A Trip Through TimeFolksongs And Instrumentals With Guitar comments
Top Comments First | Newest First | Positive Sentiment First | Longest Comments First
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meccalecca TOP 100 COMMENTER 12/04/2013 19:02 | #96342 | TOP COMMENT
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From here lies the origin of the term “Cotten-picking”, based around her unique technique of guitar playing. Recorded in the 50s, while Cotten was in her 60s, Freight Train & Other North Carolina Folk Songs & Tunes is a collection of songs that Elizabeth Cotten had originally written in the early 1900s as a young girl. Freight Train, the most famous song of Cotten’s career was written when she was only 11 years old. Dusty, intimate folk, Cotten’s aged voice cries with the wisdom of an old soul. It’s hard to imagine the songs providing such an impact when sung in her youth. The marriage of the playful songs of her youth with the weathered voice of her 60s bridges a gap that is rarely left to be returned to.
RoundTheBend TOP 100 COMMENTER 02/11/2016 01:32 | #159299 | TOP COMMENT
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I'll admit the voice threw me off, so I appreciate MeccaLecca saying something about her age at the time of the recording. At first glance this is like an amateur recording from some old lady, but as you truly pay attention, it has some of the sweetest/real to life recordings I've ever heard. There's no convoluted performance. No trickery of any kind, just pure human.
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