Classic Railroad Songs

Track Listing

1. An excerpt from "Rail Dynamics"
2. Train 45: The New Lost City Ramblers
3. Kassie Jones: Furry Lewis
4. Jay Gould's Daughter: Pete Seeger
5. Railroad Bill: Walt Robertson
6. Linin' Track: Lead Belly
7. Freight Train: Elizabeth Cotten
8. Drill, Ye Tarriers, Drill: Cisco Houston
9. Zack, the Mormon Engineer: L. M. Hilton
10. Lost Train Blues: The Virginia Mountain Boys
11. The FFV: Annie Watson
12. He's Coming to Us Dead: The New Lost City Ramblers
13. The Train That Carried My Girl from Town: Doc Watson
14. Rock Island Line: Lead Belly
15. Lonesome Train: Sonny Terry, Woody Guthrie, and Cisco Houston (Instrumental)
16. John Henry: Woody Guthrie and Cisco Houston
17. The Wreck of the Number Nine: Rosalie Sorrels
18. Freight Train Blues: Brownie McGhee
19. The New Market Wreck: Mike Seeger
20. Jerry, Go Oil That Car: Harry "Haywire Mac" McClintock
21. Way Out in Idaho: Rosalie Sorrels
22. Old John Henry Died on the Mountain: Henry Grady Terrell
23. Casey Jones: John D. Mounce
24. Wreck of the Old 97: Ernest V. Stoneman
25. Midnight Special: Lead Belly
26. Wabash Cannonball: Doc Watson
27. Lost Train Blues: Vernon Sutphin
28. New River Train: Iron Mountain String Band
29. Excerpt from "Three Little Engines and 33 Cars"

Review:

Jim Clark

Folkways is doing some good stuff digging into its huge archives and building CDs based on themes, rather than artists. This railroad sampler is my favorite so far. We will have descriptions and reviews of both the Folkways children's CD and their Joe Hill sampler. All these CDs clearly are trying to be, if not all things to all people, at least satisfactory to some pretty cranky constituencies. As I've perused various folk music commentators, I've often read that songs such as these should be performed only by gritty voiced veterans of wandering the tracks. Other writers abhor the slick sounds of the studio, demanding straightforward renditions. Still others demand to hear the appropriate number of minorities represented. And yet others want good music well performed. Tradition. Authenticity. Diversity. All goals important to some. Not to me. I place myself firmly in the last group: those for whom quality is the most important.

There is a lot of that on this CD. I am not one who believes good musicians or good singers can't perform "traditional" music. After all, we sure don't know that the gravel voiced smoker has seen the inside of a box car any more than we know that the sweet voiced tenor hasn't. See Here for my uninformed thoughts on authenticity, however that might be defined, vs the equally hazy quality. Music is not an opportunity to satisfy my moral predilections or demonstrate my overweening self-righteous tendencies. It is a place to experience sonic pleasure.

This CD offers some very good singing, some great singing, and a heap of exquisite picking. Elizabeth Cotten's sumptuous guitar playing on "Freight Train," Walt Robertson's glorious finger work on "Railroad Bill," and the always excellent Doc Watson are highlights for me. Pete Seeger, not my favorite performer, performs wonderfully on "Jay Gould's Daughter."

A couple of the "authentic" voices are excellent as well. Haywire Mac and Furry Lewis, known only by name, both delighted me. Leadbelly, a "minority" if there ever was one, owns this genre, and three of his classics are perfect. With a few exceptions, Rosalie Sorrells being the most egregious, this is an excellent compilation, nicely framed by twenty seconds of steam engine on both ends. Enough for mood, probably not enough for the true steam locomotive fan, who can distinguish the whistle of a Reading 6 Chime from a Southern 3 Chime.

But for this web site, we are looking at Cisco Houston. Even if the chosen song isn't his best railroad tune, it is superlative. If he could have sung "Railroad Bill" over Robertson's guitar, that would have been a heavenly blend. As it is, we must be grateful that Folkways found one not on another CD but went back to the previously unreleased content and offered his stirring Drill Ye Tarriers, Drill in addition to his backup vocals on John Henry and some non-descript guitar on Sonny Terry's Lonesome Train.

The notes by Jeff Place are a bit self-important, with the "Who actually wrote this" analysis that seems silly with performances by guys who may not have been able to read. A common, and long-standing, tradition, in the folk music world. Oh well. A very fine CD. Even if insufficiently "authentic."

Review:

Some good, some not so good, except for Pete Seeger's "Jay Gould's Daughter" which is among his finest performances.

CD Notes:

Cisco Houston (1918-1961) was another of the cast of characters who recorded for Moses Asch in his early years. Houston spent his youth working various jobs in the west, including that of a ranch hand, picking up songs along the way. During World War II, he served in the Merchant Marine with his frequent musical partner, Woody Guthrie. Houston and Guthrie recorded many duets for Asch, and it was Cisco whose keener sense of musical meter would keep Woody on time. Unfortunately, Houston lost his battle with cancer at the young age of 42, too early to enjoy the fame he would have likely had during the folk revival of the 1960s.

The song "Drill Ye Tarriers, Drill" is "generally attributed to Thomas F. Casey" and was published in 1888 (Cohen 2000:555). The tarriers were the men who worked at drilling and blasting away rock to make way for track. Casey, in addition to being a tarrier, was an entertainer,a nd the song was included in the musical A Brass Monkey in 1888 (Cohen 2000:555). It has been recorded numerous times, and was frequently performed during the folksong revival.

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