When this posts, I'll be in the air, flying back to Atlanta on the red eye. I'm not a fan of the red eye, not least in that it lacks the glamor of bygone days. The great trans-Atlantic glory days of flight are now sadly gone (when first class served Fleur de France champagne). The poetry is gone.
Of course, people have been traveling during the wee hours since time began. The glory days of the rail roads gave a whole bushel basket of great songs, including Gladys Knight and the Pips as late as 1973, with Midnight Train To Georgia. By then the trains were a basket case, but twenty years before Chet Atkins came out with this instrumental. I'd say that it's pretty amazing how he gets his guitar to sound like a train whistle, but c'mon - this is Chet Atkins. He could make the guitar sound like a jet engine if he wanted to.
The only modern era player I can think of who will make his guitar sound like a train, horn or bell is Mark Knopfler (Dire Straits). He pulls off a bar's closing bell in "Sultans of Swing" that I've searched for many times (but not with single-minded dedication for hours on end).
ReplyDeleteGreybeard, you know Atkins and Knopfler made an album together, right? Good stuff, good stuff.
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