TOP 40 DEBUT: December 22, 1979
PEAK POSITION: #38 (January 5, 1980)
Blackfoot were supposed to be the next great Southern rock band. The quartet of lifers (Rickey Medlocke, Charlie Hargrett, Greg T. Walker, and Jakson Spires) had been slogging it out in the trenches since 1969, relocating from Florida to Manhattan to North Carolina to Florida (again), while jumping from label (Island) to label (Epic) without much to show for it. They’d cut their teeth playing free shows in Jacksonville, FL, under the moniker Fresh Garbage. (The name change was part homage to the Native American lineage of three band members, part “We have to find a better name than Fresh Garbage.”)
Along the way, the proto-Blackfoot members crossed paths with two other up-and-coming Jacksonville acts: The Allmond Joys and The One Percent. Both those groups adopted new monikers as well; as the Allman Brothers Band and Lynyrd Skynyrd, they would eventually reign as the twin totems of Southern rock. And Blackfoot? They would be relegated to a footnote in history, but not before releasing two songs that, in a better timeline, would’ve become classic-rock staples: “Highway Song” and “Train, Train.”
“Train, Train” is a damn fine Southern rock anthem. And conversely, it’s a Southern rock anthem that strays well outside the confines of its chosen genre. There’s precious little twang, and barely a hint of country. The guitars surge dangerously close to heavy metal. It's almost ridiculously concise. (You could play “Train, Train“ twice in the time it takes to reach the fast part of “Free Bird.“) Start-to-finish, the entire track functions as a literal interpretation of the title, surging forward on a grinding rhythm like a runaway locomotive. Think Guns N’ Roses a decade earlier, if Axl and Slash had met up in Greensboro, NC instead of the Sunset Strip.
The most prominent characteristic of “Train, Train” is not the vocal, or the lead guitar. It’s the harmonica. The first 37 seconds are given over to an extended mouth harp solo, played to mimic the sound of a stream engine gaining speed as it pulls out of the station. Even when the full band kicks in, the harmonica never stops, reappearing at key moments to challenge those newfangled overdriven guitars to a draw. It’s Delta tradition taking over the Duane Allman role. It’s glorious. And it was all thanks to Rickey Medlocke’s grandfather.
“Shorty” Medlocke was born Paul Robert Medlock in 1910. He was a railroad man, an accomplished banjo player, and an unsung blues legend. Ronnie Van Zant would later cite him as the inspiration behind one of Skynyrd’s best songs, “The Ballad Of Curtis Loew.” Shorty's the guy who wrote “Train, Train,” and he’s the one playing harmonica. And as the man behind that harmonica, he’s also the track’s not-so-secret weapon.
Take away Shorty Medlocke, and Blackfoot would’ve still had a better-than-average hard-rock boogie on their hands. But let’s face it: In 1979, “hard rock boogie” didn’t exactly make you stand out from the crowd on FM radio. (Exhibit A: Molly Hatchet, yet another Jacksonville band, would peak at #42 a few months later with their own variation on this theme, “Flirtin’ With Disaster.”) And sure, maybe Southern rock aficionados would still remember Blackfoot for their other epic, “Highway Song.” (“Highway Song” peaked at #26 on September 1, 1979. It's the perfect shotgun marriage of “Free Bird” and “Turn The Page,” with about 1/100th the classic-rock saturation of either. It’s also a 9.)
But by bringing his grandfather into the recording studio, Rickey Medlocke ensured “Train, Train” would be bigger than the sum of its parts. Bigger than Blackfoot itself, honestly. “Train, Train” is folklore and Appalachian tradition colliding with Marshall-stack ferocity on the floor of a ruffneck bar. It’s the same train from “Tuesday’s Gone” that takes our narrator “out of this town.” It’s the “midnight train to Memphis” that runs from Rufus Thomas and Memphis Minnie to Gladys Knight and Chris Stapleton. And it makes “Train, Train” an essential piece of Southern rock tradition, from a band that got left at the station.
GRADE: 7/10
BONUS BITS: National treasure Dolly Parton (who will appear in this column soon enough) released several bluegrass albums around the turn of the century, each notable for tackling songs well outside the folk tradition (“Stairway To Heaven” and Collective Soul’s “Shine,” to name two). Here’s her delightful version of “Train, Train,” which makes the original’s Appalachian connection far more explicit.