Train on an Island: Full View

Hi,





Here's Train on an Island: Full View (Click to enlarge)


Train On The Island (Painting Lyrics)

Train on the island, hear the whistle blow,
Go and tell my true love, I'm sick and I can't go.

Train on the island, heading to the west,
Me and my gal we fell out, perhaps its for the best.

Train on the island, listen to it squeel,
Go and tell my true love, how lonesome I do feel.

Bring me a drink of water, bring it in a cup,
Me and my gal we fell out, we ain't makin' up.

Train on the island, Hear the whistle blow
Go and tell my true love, it's as far as I can go.

Above you can see the full-view of my painting Train on an Island. Reproductions are now available. Just drop me an email if you are interested in this or any of my paintings: richiematt@aol.com

On the right you can see Norman Edmonds with his fiddle- his fiddle bow is also the tree branch. Directly above the girl is J.P. Nestor playing the banjo.

I'm also writing a series of bluegrass articles for World Wide Bluegrass on-line.

Take care,

Richard

Better: Train on an Island Close-ups

Train on an Island: Close-ups

Here are some close-ups of my new painting: Train on an Island



Close-up 1: This shows the steam engine similar to one that would be found in the 1920s when the song was first recorded. The engineer who "can't hold the wheel" can clearly be seen looking down from above at his true love who is walking on the other track. The train is going over a railroad bridge (coming) from an island. The colors are poor as this is taken in the shade.

Close-up 2: Depicts J.P. Nestor rising from the smoke and ashes to sing "Train On An Island." He's in the smoke cloud above the engineer. This shot was taken in the shade.

Close-up 3: Here's the full smoke picture

Close-Up 4: This was take in the direct sunlight so the colors are much brighter. This shows fiddler Norman Edmonds, who recorded the song in 1927 with J.P. Nestor, appearing magically from a bush on the bank of the island shore. Crazy, I know!




Close-up 5: This shows a girl walking down the track looking wistfully over her shoulder. Above her the engineer looks down. The lyrics can be seen at left- the porportion of the train is skewed becaue of the camera angle but you get the basic idea.

Close-up 6: the lyrics

Update: Train on an Island

Hi,

I've posted about 100 blogs on my new art site MattesonArt: http://www.mattesonart.com/
There's some good research on Rene Magritte, one of the artists featured on my site.

I'll be back to the Carter family someday.

The good news is I've finished my painting "Train on An Island." It features J. P. Nestor playing the banjo in the sky forming from a cloud of black smoke and Norman Edmonds, magically emerging from a bush, playing fiddle.

Nester and Edmonds made the first enigmatic recording on August 1, 1927, in Bristol, Tennessee, for the Victor company and Ralph Peer. Ironically it was the same session that the Carters and Jimmie Rodgers did their first recordings.

I'll have some pics soon.

Take care,

Richard

New Happenings

Hi,

As usual I'm getting a bit overloaded. Lauching four new web-sites is challenging! I've entered some detailed info and research on Rene Magritte, one of my art heros on my art-site blog:

http://www.mattesonart.com/blog.aspx

Some other news... I'm getting rolling on my next Mel Bay book, Acoustic Guitar Source Book, a collection of old-time and bluegrass songs. It's being engraved and should be out later this year if all goes well.

My blues/old-time/rock band Crossroads is still playing some and I've got a solo gig next week. Things are going better with my teaching at Mom's music.

I'll be writing a few more bluegrass articles later this month for an on-line publication and I'll get back to the Carter Family soon, promise.

Take Care,

Richard

Updated Bluegrass Research

Hello,

I've started 4 web-sites in the last week and altho I'm have a few technical problems with mojoportal operation system now, I've still managed to put a lot of info on my updated site:

http://bluegrassmessengers.com/

Check out my roots section with biographies:

http://bluegrassmessengers.com/roots.aspx

In the biography section there is song research too:

http://bluegrassmessengers.com/original-carter-family-songs--alphabetical-order.aspx

I've got a start on the details of the Carter family songs and will be putting lyrics and song details.

Don't forget about my new bluegrass art site:

http://www.mattesonart.com/bluegrass-series.aspx

That's all for now,

Richard

McMichen in Louisville

Hey,


On the left is a photo circa 1948 of Pappy McMichen's place (click to enlarge).


I moved to Louisville in June 2008. The house I bought is on Spring St. just a few houses from the Spring St. Bar and Grill which was previously owned by Clayton McMichen.

Who was Clayton McMichen? Clayton, nicknamed Pappy, was from the Atlanta region. He was probably the all-time greatest fiddler in Country music. He was a founding member of the Skillet Lickers one of the most popular string bands in the 1920s.

Pappy moved to Louisville in 1932 and his bands featured some of the best musicians in the country including Merle Travis.

More later,

Richard