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Rockument's collection (part one) of rock and blues tunes about trains, by Tony Bove |
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What is it about trains and the blues? The sound of a train, roaring through town, the mournful whine of the lonely whistle at night. Most of the songs about trains are also about hard times, lost chances, running away from failures. Some are also melancholic, about a love coming or going, or about going back home. There are almost as many train songs in rock 'n' roll as there are love songs. Part 1 of this series focuses on songs that remind you of the sound of a train, which is mostly a bluesy rock 'n' roll sound. PlaylistYou
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My favorite harmonica song, featuring two harmonicas -- a chromatic and a blues harp. Blues and rock godfather Muddy Waters (McKinley Morganfield) journeyed up the Mississippi from the Delta region of Clarksdale, Miss. to Chicago and invented a new form of the blues. His "Rolling Stone" is the song the Rolling Stones named themselves for. Muddy is joined by Otis Spann on piano, Mike Bloomfield on guitar, Jeff Carp on chromatic harmonica, Paul Butterfield on harmonica, Phil Upchurch on bass, and Sam Lay on drums (representing most of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band).
Elizabeth Cotten was a left-handed finger-picking singer-songwriter-guitarist in the country blues tradition from North Carolina, born in 1895. This song is perhaps the oldest blues song about a train ever recorded, as she used to sing it as a child. It was actually put down on vinyl much later, in 1957, after folk singers like Pete Seeger had popularized it. Cotten was well known for songs such as "Going Down the Road Feeling Bad", "Oh Babe It Ain't No Lie" and this song. Jerry Garcia (of the Grateful Dead) and David Grisman often collaborated, and are here joined by Hal Blaine on drums and Joe Craven on steam-engine voice. Check out Dawgnet, online home of mandolinist David "Dawg" Grisman and his independent record label, Acoustic Disc.
Elvis Presley heard Little Junior's Blue Flames do this song in 1953, and he recorded it in 1955. Herman "Junior" Parker wrote the song along with Sam Phillips of Sun Records. Parker toured with Howlin' Wolf's band and was part of the Beale Streeters with B.B. King and Bobby Bland. It is actually a blues version of a folk song called "Worried Life Blues" recorded by the original Carter Family and others. "Mystery Train" was a staple of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band and a favorite cover song by the Band, as well as the title of Greil Marcus' definitive book about rock music and American culture. Check out the Original Unofficial Elvis Home Page, which has links to thousands of Elvis sightings on the Web.
John Lee Hooker joined Canned Heat for these sessions: Alan Wilson on guitar, Henry Vestine on guitar, Antonio de la Barreda on bass, Aldofo de la Parra on drums. John Lee Hooker's first recorded song, "Boogie Chillen" was an instant #1 song on the rhythm and blues charts in 1949. He is the undisputed godfather of boogie music. In 1962 he released "Boom Boom" which was covered by many English blues-rock bands, including the Animals and the Yardbirds.
Ry Cooder started out in LA playing folk music, and in 1966 teamed with Taj Mahal in the Rising Sons before joining Captain Beefheart's Magic Band, then contributing to various albums by Little Feat, Randy Newman, and the Rolling Stones, among many others. Here he performs Johnny Cash's song by himself on guitar.
Bob Dylan is joined by Michael Bloomfield on guitar, Al Kooper on organ and piano, Paul Griffin on piano and organ, Bobby Gregg on drums, Harvey Goldstein on bass, Charley McCoy on guitar, Frank Owens on piano, and Russ Savakus on bass. Check out the Rockument review of Dylan's Live 1966 CD as well as Bob Dylan's Official Page, the renowned Bob Links of site listings, and an excellent fan site, Expecting Rain.
Bert Jansch and John Renbourn performed together as a folk duo in the Sixties. They teamed up with Jacqui McShee, Danny Thompson, and Terry Cox to form Pentangle, one of the first English-folk-rock groups. Check out Jacquie McShee's The Pentangle Pages at the Folk Corporation.
The Rising Sons featured Taj Mahal and Ry Cooder in their first band, around 1965-66. The Sons were influential, playing in all the clubs around LA. Many LA bands of the late Sixties trace their influences to the Sons, including Love, the Byrds, and Canned Heat.
Peter Rowan (vocals and guitar) and Richard Greene (violin), both well known among bluegrass fans, teamed up with Andy Kulberg from the Blues Project (flute on "Flute Thing" -- see Monterey Pop Songs), Larry Atamanuik on drums and Lloyd Baskin on keyboards to make Seatrain, a bluegrass-rock fusion band in 1970. This song is a traditional bluegrass tune given an almost rock treatment.
Chuck Berry was joined by Otis Spann on piano, Willie Dixon on bass, and Eddie Hardy on drums -- the Chess house backing band. Bruce Springsteen would later write a song with the same title, and nearly the same meaning.
The Charlatans were San Francisco's first acid rock band, started in 1964. They included Richard Olsen on bass, Mike Wilhelm on guitar and vocals, Dan Hicks on drums and vocals, and Mike Ferguson on keyboards, with George Hunter on style (he created that Wild West Victorian hippie look). Dan Hicks went on to form Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks. The Charlatans musical style could be described as early wild-west-Victorian-hippie rock, and was appreciated and even partially copied by many S.F. bands that came later, including the Grateful Dead, Quicksilver Messenger Service, and Country Joe and the Fish. This song was written by Johnny Cash.
The Dead at that time were Jerry Garcia on guitar, Bob Weir on guitar, Phil Lesh on bass, Bill Kreutzmann on drums, and Ron "Pig Pen" McKernan on organ and harmonica, with Merle Saunders also on organ (Mickey Hart had temporarily left the band). The Dead most likely heard the Cannon's Jug Stompers version and may have performed it that way in early incarnations such as Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions. Check out Rockument's History of the Grateful Dead, Rockument's Haight-Ashbury page, and the Official Grateful Dead page.
Little Feat included at this time Lowell George and Paul Barrere on guitars, Bill Payne on keyboards, Kenny Gradney on bass, and Richie Hayward on drums, with many backup vocalists including Bonnie Raitt and Bonnie Bramlett. Little Feat were one of the best "boogie" bands of the Seventies and their live act was superb. The band fell apart when Lowell George died, but then reformed with new members in the late Eighties. Little Feat is now considered one of the pioneers of the jam-band movement and tours regularly.
Adrian Belew is a noted guitarist who has played with David Bowie, Frank Zappa, Talking Heads, and King Crimson, among others. No one can make a guitar sound quite like Belew with his renderings of rhinos and passing trains.
"When the train left the station..." Robert Johnson, king of the Delta blues, was the main inspiration for a generation of country blues and rock. Johnson was cited as the main influence by Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, and many others.
Another Simularities show: "Groovy Folk Rock"
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The
Golden Road (1965 - 1973)
King
of the Delta Blues
