So Percussion: Music for Trains

There’s a long, symbiotic relationship between trains and American music. The clacking rhythm and miles of track gave a beat and a metaphor to early country and blues and later to rock ‘n’ roll. The same tracks that pumped people and commerce across the nation gave the jilted lover, the migrant worker and the poor farmer a path to somewhere else -- sometimes to take, and sometimes to just sing about.

With dwindling train travel and the growth of interstate trucking, train songs all but dried up. But this weekend, the Brooklyn-based modern music ensemble So Percussion brings a mobile, multi-media performance called Music for Trains to two Vermont towns. Contemporary musical works and a film about the iron and steel artery connecting Brattleboro and Bellows Falls will play for audience members as they ride the rails to live concerts.

Jason Treuting, a founding member of So Percussion, joins us on Word of Mouth to give us a sample of the project.

Performance Schedule for Friday and Saturday, August 8 & 9:

5:20PM – “Full ride” ticket holders board the Amtrak train in Brattleboro - reservations required - arrive by 5:05 to pick up tickets, picnic dinner and custom-made Playaway

6PM – Train arrives Bellows Falls – enjoy the outdoor farmer’s market (Friday only) and enjoy the video installation inside the Bellows Falls train depot

7-8PM – The “Bellows Falls Local” concert in Bellows Falls Train Depot, Depot Road, Bellows Falls

8:05PM – Board Connecticut River Transit buses departing from the Waypoint Center, Bellows Falls for Brattleboro

9-10PM – The “Brattleboro Local” concert at Brattleboro Train Depot, Bridge Street, Brattleboro

10:15 – Following the performance “full-ride” ticket holders board the Connecticut River Transit bus departing from the Transportation Center, Brattleboro arriving Waypoint Center, Bellows Falls

Visit the Music for Trains Website for more information.