Folk singer Arlo Guthrie has combined two worthwhile causes into a fund raising and gear gathering trip this week on AMTRAK’s City of New Orleans passenger train. Deeply affected by the events he saw unraveling on television after Hurricane Katrina dorwned the city of New Orleans, Guthrie decided to do something. On Tuesday night, I was extremely fortunate to be on the train that Mr. Guthrie and his entourage was taking from Chicago to Kankakee, Illinois. It was a great pleasure to shake his hand on the platform as he detrained.
Guthrie and several other musicians are making several stops along the train’s route to play benefit concerts. Tomorrow night they will be in Memphis. They will finish Saturday night in New Orleans with Willie Nelson. They are also collecting musical instruments to replace those destroyed in the flood. You can help by sending financial contributions to www.guthriefoundation.com.
Nighttime on The City of New Orleans,
Changing cars in Memphis, Tennessee.
Half way home, we'll be there by morning
Through the Mississippi darkness
Rolling down to the sea.
And all the towns and people seem
To fade into a bad dream
And the steel rails still ain't heard the news.
The conductor sings his song again,
The passengers will please refrain
This train's got the disappearing railroad blues.
Guthrie’s 1972 song The City of New Orleans brought attention to the decline of the passenger train in America, a sad situation that continues today.