Heres one of my favorite tunes. It's been done by a lot of people. A brief history of the tune follows below, copied from mattesonart.com
Train on the Island
Train on the Island is an old-time/bluegrass banjo and fiddle tune originally found in North Carolina, Virginia and Tenessee. The first recording was a field recording made in a make-shift studio in Bristol, Tenessee by Ralph Peer for Victor records during the famous 1927 Bristol Sessions (Victor 21070) on August 1, 1927 of J.P. Nestor (J. Preston Nestor, banjo) and Norman Edmonds, fiddle.
Nester and Edmonds:
John Preston Nester (J.P. Nestor) was born Nov. 26 1876 Hillsville in Carroll County Virginia (died in 1967). Norman Edmonds was born Feb. 9, 1899 in Wythe County, Virginia (died in 1976). Both men played together many year before the recording session.
With the release of the now famed Folkways Anthology of American Folk Music featuring "Train on the Island" many scholars and collectors became aware of a valuable cross-section of great folkmusic masterpieces recorded during the 1920s and 1930s by commercial record companies. However, as happens with any art form, some pieces among this collection (six LPs’ worth) of great pieces stood out above others. Among these standouts was a tune played and sung with fiddle and banjo. This tune, “Train On The Island,” has been considered a classic in every sense of the word by collectors. The singer played great mountain-style banjo and sang with much fervour. His name was J.P. Nestor, and this is the only name to be found on the original 78, and consequently, on the LP reissue. Little has been learned about him other than that he died a few years ago, and his middle name was Preston. He apparently went by the nickname of “Pres.” After recording four numbers on August 1, 1927, in Bristol, Tennessee, for the Victor company, Nestor and the accompanying fiddle-player were offered paid transportation to New York City to make more records [another account says they were offered a chance to record again when Peer came back to Bristol]. Unfortunately, Nestor flatly refused to leave the Blue Ridge Mountains of the Hillsville, Virginia, area, and was never recorded again, Thankfully, two of the songs recorded at the 1927 session were released. These were “Train On The Island” and “Black Eyed Susie,” released on Victor 21070. There has been some speculation that the remaining two songs recored at this session, “Georgia” and “John, My Lover,” were damaged – the masters – in shipment from Bristol to Camden, New Jersey.
The tune has a great drive, and has been played by many notable musicians. I discovered it in a performance by Richie Stearns and Rosie Newton, which seems to add a more plaintive note to the original, which I really enjoyed, and have adapted that to my own version of the song, which I hope to post later today.
The Recording by JP Nestor follows:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3rII2gxz6E
This can be contrasted with the Richie & Rosie Version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhHryl_5h98
Enjoy!