Maps of Music

All Aboard! (1997)

Where the lyrics of All Aboard! take you, and where it was really made.

This was the final studio album of John Denver's career, and it came out two months before he died in a plane crash.

Place unknown

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All Aboard!: twenty-sixth and final studio album by American singer-songwriter John Denver
Released August 1997
Denver died in a plane crash two months after release
Album built around a theme of railroad songs
Styles: old fashioned swing, big band, folk, bluegrass and gospel
Posthumous Grammy for Best Musical Album for Children

Final album in Denver's studio catalogue
Released shortly before his death
Closes a studio career of twenty-six albums
Mixes older popular and folk forms with railroad imagery
Track selection draws on songs by writers such as Jimmie Rodgers, Johnny Mercer and Curtis Mayfield

1	Jenny Dreamed of Trains	4:38
2	Freight Train Boogie / Choo Choo Ch'boogie	2:45
3	Steel Rails	2:17
4	Waiting for a Train	2:40
5	I've Been Working on the Railroad	1:07
6	On the Atchison, Topeka, and the Santa Fe	2:11
7	Old Train	2:19
8	Daddy, What's a Train?	3:13
9	The Little Engine That Could	2:37
10	Last Train Done Gone Down	2:56
11	Last Hobo	3:23
12	People Get Ready	2:35
13	Lining Track	1:40
14	City of New Orleans	4:14
15	Jesse Dreamed of Trains (For Jesse Belle)	1:57

Born Henry John Deutschendorf Jr. on December 31, 1943, in Roswell, New Mexico; took the name John Denver on the advice of Randy Sparks, founder of the New Christy Minstrels.
Attended Texas Tech University and sang in the folk group "The Alpine Trio" before dropping out in 1963 and moving to Los Angeles.
Joined The Chad Mitchell Trio in 1965, replacing Chad Mitchell; the trio later became "Denver, Boise, and Johnson".

Solo artist; worked closely with producer Milt Okun early on and later with manager Jerry Weintraub.
Collaborated with friends Bill Danoff and Taffy Nivert, who later formed the Starland Vocal Band.

Left the trio in 1969 for a solo career; first album Rhymes & Reasons on RCA Records.
"Leaving on a Jet Plane" became a number one hit for Peter, Paul and Mary.
Breakthrough with Poems, Prayers & Promises (1971) and "Take Me Home, Country Roads", which reached number 2 on the Billboard charts.
Reached number 1 with "Sunshine on My Shoulders", "Annie's Song", "Thank God I'm a Country Boy" and "I'm Sorry" in 1974–1975.
Named Country Music Association Entertainer of the Year in 1975.
Starred in the 1977 film Oh, God! with George Burns.
Co-founded The Hunger Project and worked for environmental causes through the Windstar Foundation.
Died in a plane crash off Pacific Grove, California, on October 12, 1997.

Posthumous Grammy for Best Musical Album for Children
Track listing: 15 songs
Opening track "Jenny Dreamed of Trains" by Guy Clark and Vince Gill
Closing track "Jessie Dreamed of Trains" by Guy Clark, Vince Gill and John Denver
Covers include Jimmie Rodgers' "Waiting for a Train" and Curtis Mayfield's "People Get Ready"
Waylon Jennings is credited on "Lining Track"

The album contains 15 songs.
Its first and last tracks both have train-dream titles; Denver co-wrote the closing song.
Covers include the traditional "I've Been Working on the Railroad" and Steve Goodman's "City of New Orleans".
"Last Hobo" is credited to George Allen.