Charles Blackwell and His Orchestra - Freight Train (single)

Producer and arranger Charles Blackwell certainly had his pulse on what British record buyers were looking for in the 1960s. At the age of 22 (that would be about 1965) , according to the All Music Guide, Blackwell was averaging one Top 10 hit a week in the British charts. Among his successes was Engelbert Humperdinck's Release Me (1967).

Blackwell recorded a few items under his own name, including this 1962 single for Columbia in the U.K. Death Valley was on the flip side and you can read about and listen to that tune in this previous post.

Freight Train was written early in the 20th century by Elizabeth Cotton. According to her she was 12 years old when she composed it. Cotton -- and Freight Train -- were rediscovered in the late 1950s during the folk music revival in North America and the boom in skiffle music in Britain. Country singer Rusty Draper had a hit with it in the U.S. in late 1957, while in the U.K. a version by the Chas McDevitt Skiffle Group featuring Nancy Whiskey made the charts.

In his recording Charles Blackwell featured a rock 'n' roll sax over a bouncy pop beat.

Freight Train



Neither side of this single is available on CD or via download. However, Blackwell did record another version of Freight Train for legendary producer Joe Meek that is included on the CD Those Plucking Strings, which is easily obtained.

Here's another Charles Blackwell single from 1962 in which he tackles the exotica standard Taboo. It's produced by Joe Meek.