“The Wabash Cannonball”

Artist: The Carter Family

Music / Lyrics: Traditional American ballad

Label: Victor, 1927

The origins of the traditional American song “Wabash Cannonball” are not completely clear. A very similar song called “Great Rock Island Route” was published in 1882 by J.A. Roff.; Tthere are also connections with a couple of mid-19th century Homestead Act songs, “Uncle Sam’s Farm” and “Bounding USA.” As for the train called the Wabash Cannonball that ran from Detroit to St. Louis, the train was named after the song, and not vice-versa. (The word “Wabash” itself comes from “Ouabache,” a named given by French Jesuit settlers to a river in Indiana.)

The Carter “family” consisted of A.P. Carter, his wife Sara Carter, and his sister-in-law, Maybelle Carter. A.P. was an important folksong collector. He was aided in his efforts by his friend and collaborator Lesley Riddle, an African-American blues guitarist who joined A.P. on his ethnomusicological collecting expeditions, with A.P. collecting lyrics while Riddle stored the tunes in his amazing musical memory. Maybelle Carter’s guitar style, also influenced by Riddle, became a key element in the Carter Family’s sound, and an important contribution to the American country music tradition. (see Style Notes below.).

The Carter Family recorded “Wabash Cannonball” in 1927 for Ralph Peer offor the Victor label. It was later an enormous hit for another seminal American country music artist, Jimmie Rodgers.

Musical style notes

“Wabash Cannonball,” like “Tom Dooley,” is a good example of a folksong ballad: multiple verses with the same melody, with one verse acting as a repeating refrain. Sara Carter’s vocal is a fine representation of the early country music style, with the slightly “reedy” tone and church-hymn phrasing later used to great effect in Bluegrass music. Maybelle Carter’s signature guitar style whichstyle, which became a staple among country acoustic guitar techniques, featured a combination of picked bass notes and strummed chords.

Musical “Road Map”

Timings / Comments / Lyrics
0:00-0:22 / Instrumental introduction
.
Listen here for Maybelle Carter’s famous acoustic guitar style, combining strummed chords with “picked” bass notes.
0:22-0:44 / Verse 1 / Out from the wide Pacific to the broad Atlantic shore…
0:44-1:05 / Verse 2 / Oh, the Eastern States are dandy, so the western people say…
1:05-1:25 / Refrain / Oh listen to the jingle, the rumor and the roar
As she glides along the woodlands, over hills and by the shore…
1:25-1:44 / Instrumental Interlude.
1:44-2:04 / Verse 3 / Oh, here’s old Daddy Cleaton, let his name forever be…
2:04-2:24 / Verse 4 / I have rode the I C Limited,
also the Royal Blue…
2:24-2:44 / Refrain / Oh listen to the jingle, the rumor and the roar
As she glides along the woodlands, over hills and by the shore…
2:44-2:56 / Instrumental ending