Customer Reviews

Classic Railroad Songs, Vol. 2: Mystery Train

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Rounder have released several excellent compilations of train songs, covering folk, blues, country and bluegrass styles, each including comprehensive liner notes from Norm Cohen, who wrote a book about trains songs (long out of print, unfortunately).

This particular collection is prefominately traditional country, though Sleepy LaBeef provides a rockabilly cover of Mystery train and there are a few bluegrass tracks too.

Johnny Cash (who has recorded many train songs) opens the set with Casey Jones, a song which (like other old songs, especially Frankie and Johnny) exists with different lyrics - if you have other Casey Jones songs, listen carefully and comapare.

Steve Goodman wrote City of New Orleans, and it's good to see his own recording of the song included here. I like Willie Nelson's version best, but that version is easy to find while Steve's is much rarer - and still worth hearing.

Patsy Cline sings a fine version of Life's railway to heaven (not really a train song, but who cares?).

The brilliant but obscure folk-country singer Mary McCaslin sings The Cannonball - a song she wrote herself about the passing of the steam age.

There are so many other great songs here, but I'll not waste your time going through them all - if you have any interest in train songs, just buy this and all the other Rounder train collections.

There's not a clunker on here, and it's good to see "City Of New Orleans", what Johnny Cash calls "the best damn train song ever written."

"Mystery Train" makes another appearance on Volume 3, but that's more than forgiveable. I wouldn't mind an entire album of "Mystery Train" versions, a la Rhino's "Louie Louie" album.