Various Artists – Classic Railroad Songs
Trains have been an enduring feature in American songs, perhaps more than any other invention of the past two centuries. They’ve generally been presented as a harbinger of a better life, both for the economic upturn they’d bring to an area’s industry and agriculture, and as a means of escape, the alluring possibility of starting over somewhere down the tracks. Drawn from the Smithsonian’s collection of Folkways recordings, these 27 songs are bookended by brief half-minute excerpts of the actual sound of trains. Included are such essential staples as Elizabeth Cotten’s “Freight Train” and Lead Belly’s “Midnight Special”, along with such obscure delights as L.M. Hilton’s ode to a polygamist, “Zack, The Mormon Engineer”, and a variant on the John Henry legend as performed by Henry Grady Terrell. The latter is also one of the set’s field recordings, the ambiance of which further celebrates the time before highways ruled the landscape.