Train Kept A-Rollin’ Tiny Bradshaw

THE TRAIN KEPT A-ROLLIN’ (Tiny Bradshaw)

“Train Kept A-Rollin’” (or “The Train Kept A-Rollin’”) is a song first recorded by American jazz and rhythm and blues musician Tiny Bradshaw in 1951. Originally performed in the style of a jump blues, it has been reworked into a “classic guitar riff song for the ages”. Bradshaw borrowed lyrics from an earlier song and set them to an upbeat shuffle arrangement that inspired other musicians to perform and record it. (More from Wikipedia)

“Train Kept A-Rollin’” is a jump blues song that was originally recorded by Tiny Bradshaw in 1951; the 1956 rockabilly recording of “Train Kept A-Rollin’” by the Johnny Burnette Trio is said to be the first rock and roll record to deliberately use distorted guitar. (The trio is also known as the Rock and Roll Trio but are not to be confused with the Johnny Johnson Trio, where Chuck Berry started out). This song even predates Link Wray’s “Rumble” in this regard (that instrumental came out in 1958), though Wray is still the man credited with bringing power chords to rock guitar.

(July 2013)

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“Train Kept A-Rollin’” (often given as “The Train Kept A-Rollin’”) dates from the year of my birth (1951) and was originally recorded by R&B singer Tiny Bradshaw. Bradshaw co-wrote the song with Syd Nathan (who used the pseudonym Lois Mann), a King Records executive who is credited with discovering many famous musicians, most notably James Brown.

(June 2015)