Song ID: Kendell Kardt with Jerry Garcia and Ronnie Montrose – “Black Train” (1971)
Here’s another track from Kendell Kardt’s unreleased 1971 solo LP, Buddy Bolden. It’s called “Black Train,” and it features Jerry Garcia on pedal steel as well as Ronnie Montrose on lead guitar and Hawaiian lap steel. Kendell wrote the song with Rig guitarist Artie Richards for a friend of Richards who had recently overdosed on heroin. (A pretty different version of this song, by the way, appears on the 1975 Warner Brothers Presents…Montrose LP.) Grim subtext aside, the song really smokes. So give it a listen and stay tuned – there’s likely more on the way. [Update: “Black Train” officially had three writers, as Richards has pointed out in the comments – Richards, Kardt, and Matt Fried.]
Kendell Kardt – “Black Train”
January 18th, 2010 at 2:33 pm
Wow!! I discovered this track being a Montrose fan and when doing a cover of Montrose’s version I tried my best to find if there was an “original” version, but I couldn’t find it anywhere!!!
Well, so I did a cover of a cover 🙂
Quite different from the original!
February 5th, 2011 at 2:56 pm
please send me the words to the montrose black train song thanks ,montrose fan from the beginning.wow great riff
December 13th, 2015 at 2:42 am
You should not be asking about the montrose version of this song. Kendall wrote this song with such raw emotion, you can literally feel it when he plays it. This is one of my favorite songs of all time. Recognize a great songwriter when he is in front of you, peasants.
June 3rd, 2016 at 5:41 am
Were it not for the radically reworked Montrose cover of this track (which Ronnie Montrose plays lead guitar on) it would have remained lost and unknown.
January 8th, 2017 at 6:14 pm
“Black Train” had 3 writers. Myself who started the song then turned it over to Kendell for assistance then he also worked Matt Fried
January 10th, 2017 at 8:19 pm
Thanks for clarifying, Artie – made an update above. Hope you’re doing well!
May 1st, 2021 at 6:15 pm
The Adobe Flash player is a thing of the past, unfortunately. Any chance of reposting these songs?
November 8th, 2021 at 9:16 pm
Would love to hear this song but alas Adobe Flash is kaput. Any chance of an mp3 upload please. Thank you.
November 28th, 2021 at 8:43 am
Sorry folks… it’s been awhile. Now updated!