Two points of interest.

Firstly, Robinson is also remembered for composing the cantata, Ballad For Americans, which on the Decca recording, featured Paul Robeson as the lead singer. He also composed the melodies for the songs Joe Hill, The House I Live In, and Black and White.

Secondly, the English radio producer, Charles Parker was heavily moved by, and heavily influenced by, Lonesome Train. Shortly after he got hold of a copy, the railywayman, John Axon, died while trying to stop a runaway freight train which eventually crashed at Chapel-En-Le-Frith, in Derbyshire.

Parker decided to produce a folk cantata, along the lines of Lonesome Train, to celebrate Axon's death, and hired the services of Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger. Not unnaturally, the project sprouted legs and evolved into the radio ballad, The Ballad of John Axon, which itself became a milestone in broadcasting history.

There is an autobiography by Robinson and Eric Gordon, called Ballad of an American, published by Scarecrow Press, which is well worth investigating.

Unfortunately, due to his communist affiliations, Robinson is now much less well remembered than he deserves to be. In fact, before being blacklisted, he had some success as a Hollywood composer, which included composing the music for the movie, Walk In The Sun.

Yet despite his leanings towards "serious" composition, I once asked the staff of a university music department if they could tell me anything about him. (I was writing a review of Robinson's biography at the time). None of them had even heard of the man. Sad.