Freeborn Man - Keith Allison

 Freeborn Man is a classic guitar picking song and a bluegrass favorite. Billy Strings has (as of this writing) played it 88 times, with it appearing in about 8% of his shows. The song traditionally features a flashy guitar intro. Not sure if it qualifies as a train song, but it does mention "every mile of railroad track". It's a favorite of mine & it gives me an opportunity to post a bunch of videos of killer versions. Her are a couple of choice Billy versions.

The Song

Freeborn Man was written by Keith Allison & Mark Lindsay and released by Keith Allison in 1967. Keith Allison released a solo record that included Freeborn Man before joining Paul Revere & The Raiders. Heavy hitters picked up on the song pretty quickly. In 1968, Glen Campbell recorded a version. It had the beginnings of the big guitar intro.

In September of 1969, both Jimmy Martin & Jerry Reed released versions.

The version that I'm guessing had the biggest impact on Billy was the one that leads off the debut Tony Rice solo album. Here's a clip of Tony joined by Mark O'Connor, Sam Bush & Bela Fleck.

Secondhandsongs.com lists 37 covers of Freeborn Man, and that doesn't include Tony Rice's, so that tells me their list is nowhere near complete.