John Southworth Rides The Rails

On his debut album, Mars Pennsylvania, John Southworth sang about a life on the rails. Now, as he prepares to release his fourth album, the gloriously eccentric singer/songwriter is about to become a railroad boy himself.

Instead of going on the road to support the upcoming Yosemite, Southworth will do a cross-country tour by train. With a documentary filmmaker in tow, he'll travel from Halifax to Vancouver, stopping for solo shows in major cities along the way.

Although he admits that his ideal tour would probably be by horse and carriage, Southworth is looking forward to the adventure.

"It's going to be a fascinating experience just seeing the country in all its different forms and shapes from one end to the other without stopping, you know, just do it in one three week journey." he says. "I'm looking forward to seeing what happens."

One thing that will be happening along the way is a series of busker style shows in or around various train terminals.

"From the get go, I wanted to use this as an opportunity to interact with the train world as much as possible," Southworth explains. "So I just figured if I'm going to be travelling across the country, I might as well get out when there's a stop for more than 30 minutes and sing a few songs and say hello to the little towns. I'm always stopping in the big towns."

That won't be the only trick up Southworth's sleeve on the trip. Touching upon another song from Mars, he'll be bringing pumpkins to the rails.

"I'm taking with me a bag full of turnip seeds, maybe some pumpkins and I'm going to be planting some ceremonial pumpkins and turnips across the country, so that the next time I go — maybe in three years or four years — there will be this connection of pumpkins across the country... I just think it would be a neat art exercise or adventure to get up to. I don't know if I'm going to have time. You know, I might be digging and a guy goes 'All aboard!' or I'll just toss them from the window."

This won't be the first time that Southworth has taken seeds on his travels. In fact, he managed to plant a few on his recent tour of 19th century lighthouses in the Great Lakes region. Chances are that he'll take some along on the tour of North American lawn bowling clubs that he wants to take next year.

These adventures might seem strange and disparate at first glance, but he insists that there's a greater theme to his travels.

"Lighthouses, lawn bowling, railroads. They're all remnants from another world and I think that it's good to say goodbye before they go."

You can help John Southworth say goodbye on the following dates:
May 12 Halifax, NS @ Tribeca Lounge
May 15 Wakefield, QC @ Black Sheep Inn
May 17 Hamilton, ON @ The Staircase
May 18 Toronto, ON @ The El Mocambo (full band show)
May 20 Winnipeg, MB @ Dreggs Gallery and Cafe
May 24 Edmonton, AB @ Sidetrack Cafe
May 28 Victoria, BC @ Logan's
May 29 Vancouver, BC @ The Railway Club