Lenny Walker
Singer-Songwriter/Entertainer/Raconteur
About the Artist
Music and trains have been Lenny Walker’s fascinations for as long as he can remember. Some of the first words he learned to speak were lyrics from Hank Williams and Bob Wills records. As a very small and determined child, he learned to read by deciphering record labels in order to play his favorite songs.
And always there were trains … Lenny rode the rails for the first time before he was a year old. His father, a third-generation railroad man, arranged family vacations by train every summer. The sights whirled by each time he ventured outside his own little farm community of Tracy, California. Later, when the boy grew older, he delightedly rode the rails by himself. He fondly recalls the brownies his mother baked and tucked into a little box for every trip. As Lenny gazed with fascination out the train windows, he felt exhilarated by the vast countryside, its towns and people.
At the age of eighteen, he went to work for the Southern Pacific Railroad as a brakeman. In 1964, he bought a guitar and started singing. After six years of working for the railroad and successfully entertaining part-time, he quit Southern Pacific to make his mark as a musician. In 1974, Amtrak hired him to entertain passengers on the New York to Chicago “Broadway Limited”. Over time, Lenny traveled throughout the United States singing in many and varied environments, polishing and refining his craft.
Because of his extensive repertoire of train songs and because of his knowledge of railroad lore, the “Railfair” entertainment committee approached him to perform in 1981. His opening act marked the inauguration of the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento. 1983 was Lenny’s first year on the fairs circuit, and since that time he continues to entertain in this way.
1992 marked the year Lenny’s career came full circle when Amtrak hired him again. Once more he rides to the rhythm of the rails. Again he exhilarates as the sights whirl past the train windows. And he might be found to hum a melody while he rides ... now as the train’s conductor. Lenny has learned to interleave both rail and musical careers. His Martin D-45 guitar often accompanies him on long-haul trips so he can work out new material during the layover between runs.
People of all ages respond enthusiastically to Lenny’s original, contemporary, and old-time country music. His flexible style also embraces folk, blues, and an occasional classical number. He is a bit of a jokester and a storyteller who speaks in a friendly, down-home manner. His repertoire includes some very amusing pieces. There’s the lyric about the “outlaw with the fastest sense of humor,” and the song that explains about dieting called “Chicken Cordon Bleus”. Some of his own compositions are tender and sentimental—some are sad or wistful memories. Lenny plays guitar with impressive deftness while his rich and powerful voice reaches out across the stage with stories—songs about the countryside and the people that’s he met, and songs about trains … always trains.