All aboard City of New Orleans for benefit tour

CHICAGO — Arlo Guthrie famously sang about the train called the "City of New Orleans." Now he's riding the rails himself, performing in cities along the route to benefit musical venues and musicians who suffered in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

Guthrie kicked off his Arlo & Friends benefit tour Monday night at Chicago's Vic Theatre. He and his fellow musicians boarded Amtrak's City of New Orleans on Tuesday night for the 70-mile trip to Kankakee, where he performed Wednesday.

Guthrie, who made the late Steve Goodman's song "City of New Orleans" a hit in 1972, said the idea for the tour came as he was watching television coverage of the hurricane's aftermath and saw that Amtrak had resumed its service to New Orleans on the City of New Orleans.

"I thought, there's something we can do — a light bulb went off, as it were," he said.

Guthrie will perform with various musicians during the 13-day tour, including his son Abe with his band Xavier, his daughter Sara Lee Guthrie, Cyril Neville, Guy Davis, Ramsay Midwood, Kevin Kinney with Drivin' Cryin' and the Burns Sisters.

Guthrie will disembark for shows in Urbana, Effingham, Carbondale and Memphis, Tenn. Willie Nelson is scheduled to perform during the final show Dec. 17 at Tipitina's in New Orleans.

The money being raised and equipment being donated will be distributed by MusicCares, a program of The Recording Academy, and Tipitina's Foundation to performers, along with churches, schools, clubs "and anywhere where music is being played," Guthrie said.

"We all saw images of famous people like Fats Domino being rescued, and if he's in those kind of dire straits, what must it be like for the nameless musicians who are playing these little clubs, mostly maybe for tips?" Guthrie said. "I really can't imagine what they've been going through these past few months."

Goodman's song — with its chorus of "Good morning America, how are you?" — was based on a train operated during the day by Illinois Central prior to the creation of Amtrak.

The name was discontinued in 1971, but Amtrak christened an overnight train that runs much the same route with the City of New Orleans name in 1981 — partly because of the popularity of Guthrie's recording, according to Amtrak officials.