'American Railroad' album on sale today

Jun. 17—"Americana Railroad," a compilation album of train songs featuring artists such as John Fogerty and Dave Alvin, goes on sale today, a perfect traveling companion for motorists in the city that originated the term "getting railroaded."

The husband-wife producing team of Saul Davis and Carla Olson have been working on this project exploring rock's roots for a decade, which Davis conceded was "a long time coming from conception to reality."

"It's not the easiest thing to sell," Olson added. A singer herself who has worked with Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Don Henley, Ry Cooder, Percy Sledge and other luminaries, she performs on three of the tracks.

Olson grew up in Austin, which inspired a lifelong love of trains. "There was a railroad track just next to the school — we came out of class and rushed out to catch the trains that would come by," she recalled. "We'd wave to the conductor and also beforehand put pennies on the track. We'd compare our smushed pennies."

Olson had a friend whose father would hop trains and disappear for months at a time. She went to Europe at 17 and toured the continent courtesy of a Eurail pass. "We'd get on a train and see what the end of the line was," she said.

Austin only had freight trains, not passenger trains, so Olson was delighted when she moved to Los Angeles and was able to travel via train.

Olson said trains can serve as resonant metaphors for everything from escape to death.

"It's a dreamer's album in a way," she said. "Trains do represent some measure of the things you want to do that you never act on. You see trains and you dream about going someplace you could never go. Train travel was the way to escape whatever troubled you. A dreamer's mode of getting out of town."

Olson discussed a couple of the bigger names on the album. Fogerty covers "City of New Orleans," Steve Goodwin's song made famous by Arlo Guthrie (whose father Woody is evoked in a couple of numbers on the album). "He was recording it for his own album, and we asked if we could use it," she said, noting that she and her husband added Mickey Rafael's harmonica to his demo. "He was so cool with that and loved what we did with it."

Dave Alvin, of the roots band the Blasters, would assemble bands to ride on trains and when the train pulled up to a whistle stop, they'd get on the platform and sing for people. He wrote a song, "Southwest Chief," about the experience.

"He wrote it on the way to the studio on a piece of notebook paper, brought it in, taped it to the mic stand with some gaffers' tape and said, 'I've never sung this one before,'" Olson remembered with a laugh.

Olson didn't land Jimmy Buffett or Jerry Jeff Walker for the album, but she shared a great story about the pair: Walker got blitzed on a train ride and the conductor set about throwing him off it. Buffett pleaded with the conductor, saying, "Don't you know what he's written?"

"The conductor replied," Olson said, "'I don't care if he wrote the Bible, he's getting off my train.'"

David Kronke can be reached at 812-231-4232 or at david.kronke@tribstar.com.