{"id":927,"date":"1988-07-13T11:00:24","date_gmt":"1988-07-13T18:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/?p=927"},"modified":"2026-02-22T13:49:25","modified_gmt":"2026-02-22T21:49:25","slug":"matr-bruce-springsteen-joe-ely-and-alejandro-escovedo-midnight-train","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/1988\/07\/13\/matr-bruce-springsteen-joe-ely-and-alejandro-escovedo-midnight-train\/","title":{"rendered":"Midnight Train"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-path-to-node=\"0\"><span class=\"citation-1\">&#8220;Midnight Train&#8221; is a Joe Ely deep cut from <em>Wheels of Fortune,<\/em> the 2004 comeback album for The Flatlanders, of which Ely was a founding member. <\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"jetpack-video-wrapper\"><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"758\" height=\"427\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/y_TyiFj-3uw?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/div>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"1\">The song is rich with the kind of roaming, restless energy and train imagery that makes a Springsteen collaboration feel almost inevitable, despite the track&#8217;s relative obscurity.<\/p>\n<p>It happened at SxSW 2012: Bruce joined his Texas buddies Joe Ely and Alejandro Escovedo for The Flatlanders&#8217; &#8220;Midnight Train.&#8221;<\/p>\n<div class=\"jetpack-video-wrapper\"><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"758\" height=\"427\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/DmLPWWvrT6I?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/div>\n<p><strong>Midnight Train<br \/>\nFirst performed:<\/strong> March 14, 2012 (Austin, TX)<br \/>\n<strong>Last performed:<\/strong> March 14, 2012 (Austin, TX)<\/p>\n<p>\u00a9 March 4, 2018<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>From SxSW 2012: Bruce joins his Texas buddies Joe Ely and Alejandro Escovedo for The Flatlanders&#8217; &#8220;Midnight Train.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8932,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,3612,5],"tags":[65,141,453],"class_list":["post-927","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cover-me","category-great","category-meeting-across-the-river","tag-alejandro-escovedo","tag-joe-ely","tag-midnight-train"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/flat.jpg?fit=800%2C800&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9w3Lk-eX","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":56175,"url":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/15\/kingdom-of-days-march-15-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":927,"position":0},"title":"March 15","author":"Ken","date":"March 15, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Bono inducts Bruce into the Hall of Fame, Bruce speaks and performs at SXSW, and more on a busy date in Springsteen history.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Kingdom of Days&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Kingdom of Days","link":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/category\/kingdom-of-days\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/42731839530_3e1a5e948a_o.jpg?fit=960%2C640&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/42731839530_3e1a5e948a_o.jpg?fit=960%2C640&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/42731839530_3e1a5e948a_o.jpg?fit=960%2C640&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/42731839530_3e1a5e948a_o.jpg?fit=960%2C640&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":18294,"url":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/2020\/05\/27\/matr-bruce-springsteen-and-friends-blowin-down-this-road\/","url_meta":{"origin":927,"position":1},"title":"MatR: Bruce Springsteen and Friends: Blowin&#8217; Down This Road","author":"Ken","date":"May 27, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Woody Guthrie's \"Blowin' Down This Road\" brings Bruce together with his fellow singer-songwriters. Hear him team up with Joe Ely, Joe Grushecky, Elliott Murphy, Alejando Escovedo, and Garland Jeffreys inside.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Cover Me&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Cover Me","link":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/category\/cover-me\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/woody.jpg?fit=500%2C500&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":56174,"url":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/14\/kingdom-of-days-march-14-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":927,"position":2},"title":"March 14","author":"Ken","date":"March 14, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"What's the big highlight on a day like this? Hall of Fame performances with U2 and Darlene Love? Guest appearances with Robert Gordon and Conor Oberst? A pristinely recorded 1972 rehearsal? You decide--there's too many to chose from.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Kingdom of Days&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Kingdom of Days","link":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/category\/kingdom-of-days\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/The-Early-Uber-Collection-Front.jpg?fit=800%2C685&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/The-Early-Uber-Collection-Front.jpg?fit=800%2C685&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/The-Early-Uber-Collection-Front.jpg?fit=800%2C685&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/The-Early-Uber-Collection-Front.jpg?fit=800%2C685&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":56453,"url":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/14\/kingdom-of-days-april-14-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":927,"position":3},"title":"April 14","author":"Ken","date":"April 14, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"On this date: Bruce assembles his new band for the first time and \"Terry's Song\" gets its first public performance. 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