(Alternate title: On the Road Again. Related "Casey Jones" songs: Casey Jones; Talking Casey; Freight Train Boogie)
Memphis bluesman Walter "Furry" Lewis (1893-1981) was an impressive bottleneck guitarist who echoed his vocal phrasings with an expressive set of sliding notes. Furry recorded 23 songs in the 1920s. With a background in medicine shows, Furry, like many of the other Memphis singers, made a living playing on the streets. After losing a leg in a 1917 railroad accident, music became a money making vocation. Fury collaborated in a jug band with Jim Jackson (Track 36), and associated with Will Shade (Tracks 66, 81) and Gus Cannon (Tracks 59, 72). After the 1920s, Furry worked for the city of Memphis until he retired.
Furry Lewis lived long enough post-retirement to experience a second career. He appeared in the movie W.W. and the Dixie Dance Kings with actor Burt Reynolds and toured during the 1970s as the opening act for rock musician Leon Russell. He also toured with a traveling rock ensemble group called the Alabama State Troupers who packaged differing styles of music mixed with rock. In fact, Joni Mitchell's song "Furry Sings the Blues" was written after a visit to Lewis' rooming house in Memphis during the 1970s.
Originally, "Kassie Jones" was released in two sections. Before the invention of magnetic tape in the late 1940s, master recordings were made on aluminum, shellac or lacquer discs. These discs could only hold approximately four minutes of sound. Hence, many longer songs were broken into two parts.
There are many songs dealing with the legend of railroad engineer Casey Jones. The best known arrangement of the song was written in 1909 by vaudevillians Eddie Newton and Lawrence Seibert. Lewis' version shares a melody similar to the African-American railroad song "Charley Snyder" and the hobo song "Jay Gould's Daughter" (Moses Asch, Josh Dunson and Ethel Raim, Anthology of American Folk Music, pg. 64).
FOR ADDITIONAL RECORDINGS OF LEWIS:
For his early career see: In His Prime (YZ 1050c); for his later career see Live at the Gaslight (Ampex a); Furry Lewis (FW 3823c); The Alabama State Troupers (ELK 75022a); Fourth and Beale (L7 9202c); Shake 'Em On Down (FTY 24703a); Back on My Feet Again (PRS 7810a); and the collections On the Road Again (ADE 1007a); Mississippi Delta Blues, Vol. 1 (AH 1041a); Memphis Blues Again (ADE 1009a); Shake 'Em on Down (AH 527c); Kings of Country Blues (AH 1084/5a); When I Lay My Burden Down (BIO 130c); Listen to Our Story (BR 58001a); Blues- Music from the Film (FW AS101c); Blues Rediscoveries (FW RF11c); The Rural Blues (FW RF202c); Blues Masters, Vol. 10 (RH 71135c); Blues Masters, Vol. 12 (RH 71129c); Beale Street Mess Around (RND 2006a); The Blues (SI 101c); It Came from Memphis (Upstart 022c); Ten Years in Memphis (YZ 1002c); Frank Stokes' Dream (YZ 1008c); Memphis Jamboree (YZ 1021c); Memphis Masters (YZ 2008c); and Before the Blues, Vol. 3 (YZ 2017c). For additional information on Lewis see Sam Charters, The Country Blues, pp. 101-106. For additional information on the Casey Jones story see Norm Cohen, JEMF Quarterly, No. 16 (Winter 1969) pg. 132.
OTHER RECORDED VERSIONS & VARIANTS include:
Traditional American Folk: as Casey Jones: Isaac Curry (BRI 001a); as the standard version of the song Casey Jones: rancis H. Abbott (LC AFSL68a); as Freight Train Boogie: Doc Watson (Poppy 5703a).
Folksong revival: as Kassie Jones: John Fahey (Varrick 019a); as Jay Gould's Daughter: Ed Badeaux (SFW CD 03534); John Greenway (RVR 12619a); Pete Seeger (SFW CD 2319c, COL 64772c); as the standard version of Casey Jones: Spider John Koerner (RDH 84c); Ed McCurdy (RVR 12-807a); The New Christy Minstrels (COL 2187a).
Country/String Band: as the standard version of Casey Jones: Johnny Cash (COL 1930a, COL 29a); Vernon Dalhart (VIC 20502b, Mark 56 794a); J.E. Mainer (RR 198a); Riley Puckett (COL 113a); as Freight Train Boogie: The Delmore Brothers (STR 962a); The Maddox Brothers and Rose (AH 437c); The Whitstein Brothers (RND 0229c); as Knocking Down Casey Jones: Wilmer Watts (PAR 3210b).
Bluegrass: as the standard version of Casey Jones: Tommy Jackson (Dot 3085 a); Charlie Monroe (CTY 538a); as Freight Train Boogie: Bill Harrell (REB 1655d, REB 1113c).
Blues: as Furry's version of Casey Jones: K.C. Douglas (CK 5002c); as Talking Casey: Mississippi John Hurt (VG 19/20c).
