When Billy Bragg and Joe Henry set off on a four-day railroad trip across America, guitars in hand, they weren’t just travelling by train.

Their destination was to record an album of railroad songs, Shine A Light: Field Recordings From The Great American Railroad.

The pair recorded tunes originally made famous by the likes of Hank Williams, Lead Belly, the Carter Family and Glen Campbell which focused on the part the railroad played in spreading the music which gave birth to the rock and roll era.

In March last year, Billy and Joe, boarded the Los Angeles-bound train at Chicago’s Union Station to travel 2,728 miles over four days, while the train paused to pick up passengers.

In waiting rooms and at the track side, they set up their recording equipment, and performed railroad songs at stops, while looking out for the train – jumping on board just before it pulled away each time! Pulling in at Los Angeles at 4.30am after four days travelling on the Texas Eagle railroad service, they recorded their final song at Union Station, accompanied by the local dawn chorus. Billy has a long-held interest in the mythology of the Americas.

“Railroad songs provided the bedrock of American popular music, from Jimmie Rodgers, the Singing Brakeman, to Lead Belly, whose repertoire provided several of the songs for this project,” he said. “In this country, Lonnie Donegan’s 1956 hit Rock Island Line sparked the skiffle craze, inspiring a generation of British teens to pick up guitars and form the groups that invaded America in the 60s, from the Beatles to Led Zeppelin.

“Growing up in the UK, I’d always been aware of this tradition but when I travelled to the US, I was surprised to find how few people look to the railroad as a means of transport. With this project, we wanted to explore the power that the coming of the railroad had on the lives of ordinary people by taking these songs back to the places that inspired their creation. Travelling on the train and recording the songs as we went allowed us to both visit places that were important 125 years ago when the lines were laid, but to also explore the viability of the railroad as a means of transport now.”

The album was released in September and features 13 railway-themed songs. The accompanying 23-date UK tour has songs from the journey and favourites from their back catalogues and will be in Canterbury next week.

CAREER

Billy’s first outing into music started in 1977 in the punk rock band Riff Raff with Wiggy.
In his career he has released a total of 11 studio albums.

Though he never released it as a single himself, his song A New England, became a Top 10 hit in 1983 sung by Kirsty MacColl. Since her death in 2000, he performs the song live, with an extra verse in her honour.

DETAILS

Billy Bragg and Joe Henry will be at the Marlowe Theatre in Canterbury on Wednesday, November 9 at 7.30pm. Tickets costing £23 are available from marlowetheatre.com or call 01227 787787.