Description
This is “The Madrones”, a band consisting of Steve and Kristi Nebel and J.W. Sparrow.
These songs all have trains in them, and train sounds that Steve recorded in Valemount, B.C. in 1993.
1. Thunder On The Highline
2. Wabash Cannonball
3. The Passenger Train’s Passing
4. Boogie Woogie Flying Cloud
5. Great Grandfather
6. Trains of Thought
7. Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul
8. Silverado and San Antoine
9. Cowboy Fireman
10. Thompson River
11. Freight Train
12. Old Great Northern Home
SteveKristi –
Kristi and Steve Neel, in collaboration with J.W. Sparrow have used their own recordings of the snorting sounds of the Canadian Pacific Railroad as a starting point for their fourth release, a collection of songs about trains. In many ways Thunder on the Highline is a logical move since the previous Nebel release, Taking Off, which dealt mostly with fishing and the sea in the Northwest region. In some respects train songs are the equivalent of sea shanties for rail-riding landlubbers. Rather than rely on all the old familiar tunes, the Madrones have written a new batch of songs. There are several standards, such as an electrified version of “Wabash Cannonball”, as well as a beautiful, understated instrumental version of “Frieght Train” with trains sounds interspersed throughout. The Madrones also do a song about the heroic “Cowboy Fireman” and an evocative instrumental called “Silverado and San Antoine”. The song that stuck with me long fter hearing it is a haunting original called “Trains of Thought”. Paul E Comeau, Nova Scotia, Canada