Long Steel Rail
The Railroad in American Folksong (2d ed.)
Awards and Recognition:
Winner of an ASCAP Deems Taylor Award, 1982.
The largest and most authoritative source on railroad folksong
Impeccable scholarship and lavish illustration mark this landmark study of American railroad folksong. Norm Cohen provides a sweeping discussion of the human aspects of railroad history, railroad folklore, and the evolution of the American folksong. The heart of the book is a detailed analysis of eighty-five songs, from "John Henry" and "The Wabash Cannonball" to "Hell-Bound Train" and "Casey Jones," with their music, sources, history, and variations, and discographies. A substantial new introduction updates this edition.
"Norm Cohen's anthology of railroad folksongs will delight anyone smitten with the romance of the rails."--Newsday
"A masterpiece."--American Music
"Meticulously researched and clearly written, Long Steel Rail is now the sourcebook for American railroad folksongs."--New York Folklore
"A delightfully readable book for any armchair railroad engineer."--Choice
"Norm Cohen has not only filled a gap, he has applied mature scholarship, historical sensibility, enthusiasm, and love to produce a major work on folk lore, folk song, and the railroads' pervasive impact on popular culture."--Railroad History
To order online:
http://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/catalog/48etw3qg9780252068812.html
To order by phone:
(800) 621-2736 (USA/Canada)
(773) 702-7000 (International)
