Steel Rails: Classic Railroad Songs, Vol. 1 (1997)

About this title: As long as railroads have existed, there have been songs sung about them, whether to praise their wonders, tell stories, or condemn them as tools of evil. Steel Rails and its companion volume, Mystery Train, set out to sample this particular vein of American song, offering up versions of "Wabash Cannonball" and "The Orange Blossom Special" (an amusing live version from the Johnson Mountain Boys) alongside twelve other songs that might not be quite as familiar as those two. A mixture of well-known artists and fairly new names is also a plus for the package -- Kieran Kane, slipped in between ... read more

Tracks:

1. Wabash Cannonball [Carter]
2. Orange Blossom Special [Rouse]
3. Daddy, What's a Train? [Phillips]
4. Jimmie the Kid [Neville/Rodgers]
5. Ramblin' Man [Williams]
6. Steel Rails [Branscomb]
7. Trainwreck of Emotion [Vezner/Rhody]
8. Slow Moving Freight Train [Moffatt]
9. Lord of the Trains [Russell]
10. Last Train [Rowan]
11. Nine Pound Hammer [Travis]
12. When the Golden Train Comes Down [Nolan]
13. Texas, 1947 [Clark]
14. Pan American Boogie [Delmore/Delmore]

Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is further described below.