CLASSIC RAILROAD SONGS

Since the railroad's rise in the 1800s it has een a thing of musical fascination and fodder for American musicians and songwriter. Railroad work songs, ballads recounting riveting exploits and instrumental echoes of the once familiar sounds of the steam locomotive have enshrined the railroad in America's musical memory. CALSSIC RAILROAD SONGS mines the Smithsonian Folkways archives to create this tribute to a favorite American source of inspiration.



An Excerpt from "Rail Dynamics" Recorded By Emory Cook
Train 45 - the New Lost City Ramblers
Kassie Jones - Furry Lewis
Jay Gould's Daughter - Pete Seeger
Railroad Bill - Walt Robertson
Linin' Track - Lead Belly
Freight Train - Elizabeth Cotten
Drill Ye Tarriers, Drill - Cisco Houston
Zack, the Mormon Engineer - L. M. Hilton
Lost Train - the Virginia Mountain Boys
The F. F. V. - Annie Watson
He's Coming to Us Dead - the New Lost City Ramblers
The Train That Carried My Girl from Town - Doc Watson
Rock Island Line - Lead Belly
Lonesome Train - Sonny Terry, Woody Guthrie, and Cisco Houston
John Henry - Woody Guthrie and Cisco Houston
The Wreck of the Number Nine - Rosalie Sorrels
Freight Train Blues - Brownie McGhee
The New Market Wreck - Mike Seeger
Jerry, Go Oil That Car - Haywire Mac
Way Out in Idaho - Rosalie Sorrels
Old John Henry Died on the Mountain - Henry Grady Terrell
Casey Jones - John D. Mounce
Wreck of the Old 97 - Pop Stoneman
Midnight Special - Lead Belly
Wabash Cannonball - Doc Watson
Lost Train Blues - Vernon Sutphin
New River Train - Iron Mountain String Band
Excerpt from "Three Little Engines and 33 Cars" Recorded By Vinton Wight