Ry Cooder: Boomer’s Story
‘Just bury me down beside the railroad, so I can hear the trains go by.’ And so the title track of Ry’s classic 1972 LP concludes our season of train … Continue readingRy Cooder: Boomer’s Story
Author: Alan Ashworth
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Little Feat: New Delhi Freight Train
Excellent cover of the Terry Allen song, highlight of the 1977 Time Loves a Hero album. And here’s the man himself on the album Lubbock (on everything) which didn’t appear … Continue readingLittle Feat: New Delhi Freight Train
Randy Travis and Josh Turner: Long Black Train
A bit of gospel never did anyone any harm. Written by Turner, this was the title track of his 2003 debut album.
Paul Simon: Train in the Distance
From the 1983 album Hearts and Bones. And here’s a live version from 2008.
In praise of Spam
DESPITE its being ridiculed in a Monty Python sketch (here’s a Lego version) which led to its adoption as a term for junk mail, I have always been inordinately fond of … Continue readingIn praise of Spam
Jethro Tull: Locomotive Breath
A real period piece, this. A 1982 live version of the song from 1971’s Aqualung. Ian Anderson sweats for England.
Michael Nesmith: Medley – The Back Porch and a Fruit Jar Full of Iced Tea
The first part of which is The FFV – Bill Monroe’s story of a train crash. ‘So the very last words poor Georgie cried were, “Nearer my God to thee”.’
Keith Whitley: Daddy Loved Trains
‘Number two diesel fuel flowed through his veins, Mama loved Daddy but Daddy loved trains.’ From Whitley’s 1995 album Wherever You Are Tonight.
Grateful Dead: Casey Jones
‘Driving that train, high on cocaine’. The Dead’s idiosyncratic version of the Casey Jones story, from the 1970 LP Workingman’s Dead. Here’s a live version from 1978.
Travis Tritt: Southbound Train
Definitely not the same as the previous Graham Nash song. This is a live performance of the track from the album Down The Road I Go, played at Farm Aid … Continue readingTravis Tritt: Southbound Train