Abilene

#47 / March 11 Podcast

“Abilene” — the song of a country boy stuck in a big city and getting homesick seeing each train going by — was written by singer/songwriter Bob Gibson in the early 1960s.

Gibson was a very early arrival on the folk music scene in the late 1950s. In fact, Bob was already so well established by the time of the 1959 Newport Folk Festival that it was he who introduced to the stage a then-unknown Joan Baez. Gibson’s songs were recorded by everybody from Peter, Paul and Mary and Simon & Garfunkel to the Byrds and Bob Dylan.

Perhaps Bob’s best-known work is “Abilene,” which he wrote with John D. Loudermilk.

Bob always said he was inspired to write the song after watching cowboy star Randolph Scott’s film “Abilene Town,” which was set in Abilene, Kansas, the railhead town on the Chisholm Trail.

The best known version of the tune, of course, was George Hamilton IV’s 1963 rendition; it reached number one on the U.S. country music chart for four weeks and peaked at number 15 on the pop charts. But here in the Tri-State Area, our favor version was the one recorded the same year by a favorite son: Ironton, Ohio, native Bobby Bare on his 1963 album, 500 Miles Away from Home. 

Our Take on the Tune

Ironton, of course, also is wonderfully represented in our practice room these days in the person of guitarist Danny Cox.

Danny’s years of close attention to the greats like Chet Atkins and Jerry Reed has perfectly prepared him for this solid old song. And like his heroes, Dan is an innovator, not an imitator. Just listen as he crafts four — count ‘em, four! — choruses in this track, bringing fresh ideas to each one of them. Click here to hear The Flood’s 2022 rendition of “Abilene.”

In Other Business!

We have exciting news to share: You can now read The 1937 Flood Watch in the new Substack app for iPhone.

With the app, you’ll have a dedicated Inbox for our Substack and any others you subscribe to. New posts will never get lost in your email filters, or stuck in spam. Longer posts will never cut-off by your email app. Comments and rich media will all work seamlessly. Overall, it’s a big upgrade to the reading experience.

The Substack app is currently available for iOS. If you don’t have an Apple device, you can join the Android waitlist here.