(Written in the same week as Old Train.) Although that stemmed from me coming off the road from a long tour, then within a week I got a call from another guy who wanted me to go out for another 9 weeks.” Here’s Herb singing the song with The John Jorgensen Bluegrass Band. Old Train, just to think about those times I hear your rusty wheels grate against the rails It wasn’t a big set but plenty for me and I had a blast with it.” Santa left this on Christmas morning for Herb when he was 8 years old. Of course I had to ask if Herb had a Lionel train as a boy. And if I’m lucky enough to be around an instrument when I get an idea, I can put together a chord change thing and go from there”. I just have to go with what hits me in the head at the time. It’s not anything that’s very cut and dry. I played around on the guitar with a chord progression that’s how I came up with it. She and I did the lyrics together and them I put the melody to it. The co-author was my late ex-wife, Nikki Pederson. So I always had a fascination for trains. As a kid, I would go up there to visit with my parents to see him. I was just thinking about that because my uncle Lee was a chief of police in Dunsmuir, CA up there by Mt. “It was just an idea I had about the old Sacramento-Northern line that runs up the Northern California Railroad line. Herb, how were you inspired to write, Old Train?

I caught up with Herb Pedersen by phone from his home in California to talk about his experience with trains, the inspiration for the song, and his writing process. The sound of their mournful whistle is hard to ignore and the mystery of the destination can bring out the wanderlust and yearning for travel in even the most steadfast couch potato. A substantial, remarkable part of history and the American story.īluegrass music fans and really most Americans have a real and passionate romance and fascination with trains. After the civil war, displaced civil war vets found employment building lines and laying timber from coast to coast. Prior to this, the northern railways were credited in part for giving the union army a leg up on their civil war victory as northern railways were more intact, allowing union soldiers to travel more freely and in large groups. That was in 1863, and the project was completed in 1869. The American railroad has a long history that began even before President Abraham Lincoln signed a bill that Congress had authorized for funds to begin construction of the transcontinental railroad. It was recorded first by The Seldom Scene in 1973 as the title track on the album Old Train on Rebel Records, and then again by Tony Rice in 1979 as the blistering kick off song on his Manzanita LP for Rounder. This month’s Songwriter’s Back Story features the song Old Train, written by Herb Pedersen and the late, Nikki Pedersen (plus as a bonus, Wait A Minute, also by Herb).

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