"Say, Can You Hear That Whistle Blow?"

10 p.m. to Midnight Host: Steve Winters

I was off to my annual pilgrimage to the Old Songs Festival outside of Albany, N.Y. for the weekend. By listener demand, this is repeat broadcast of a themed show that was first aired on June 11, 2001. The show explores America's romance with railroads and the hobos who rode the rails as that lonesome freight whistle blew through the night and into the day. The show also features recorded train sounds not included in the playlist. As is custom for this show, one set focuses on an individual artist's efforts in continuing the folk culture that has sprung up around railroads. For this program, it was Doc Watson.

  • Artist, "Title", Album, Label

  • Northern Lights, Northern Rail, Take You To The Sky, Flying Fish

  • Peter Rowan & Red Hot Pickers, Hobo Song, Peter Rowan w/ Red Hot Pickers, Sugar Hill

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  • Doc & Richard Watson, Train Whistle Blues, Third Generation Blues, Sugar Hill

  • Doc Watson, Wabash Cannonball, The Ramblin' Hobo, Memories, Sugar Hill

  • Doc & Merle Watson, Hobo's Bill's Last Ride, Pickin' The Blues, Flying Fish

  • Doc Watson, Blue Railroad Train, Streamlined Cannonball, The Vanguard Years, Vanguard

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    THE TRAINS

  • Fred Eaglesmith, Freight Train, Drive-In Movie, Vertical

  • Norman Blake, Eastbound Freight Train, Flower From The Fields of Alabama, Shanachie

  • Dave Evans & Riverbend, Bummin' An Old Freight Train, Memories, Rebel

  • John Starling, Slow Movin' Freight Train, Waitin' On A Southern Train, Sugar Hill

  • Doc & Merle Watson, Freight Train Blues, Freight Train Blues, Rounder

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    THE HOBOS

  • Paul Geremia, Elegant Hobo, Welcome To Café Lena, Biograph

  • U. Utah Phillips, Queen Of The Rails, Starlight On The Rails, Good Though!, Philo

  • Ed Trickett, Old Wing, People Like You, Folk-Legacy

  • David Rovics, Song For Boxcar Betty, Live At Club Passim, independent

  • Rick Shea, Emperor Of The North, Sawbones, Wagon Wheel/Aim

  • Don Lange, Here's To You Rounders, Natural Born Heathen, Flying Fish

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  • Mitch Greenhill, Mobile & Tennessee Line, Shepherd Of The City Blues, Prestige

  • Tom Rush, Panama Blues, The Very Best Of Tom Rush/No Regrets, Columbia/Legacy

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  • Jeanie West, Tramp On The Streets, Country Bluegrass, Prestige

  • David Rovics, Hobo's Lullabye, Live At Club Passim, independent