The Seldom Scene — a Washington, D.C., band formed in 1971 by musicians who kept day jobs and played largely for the love of it — quickly became one of the most influential acts in bluegrass, admired for adventurous song choices and an easy, harmony-rich sound. “Raised by the Railroad Line” is a song of place and memory, its narrator shaped by a childhood spent alongside the tracks and the trains that ran past his home.

The song was a strong piece of the band’s early repertoire and has remained associated with the Seldom Scene, a representative example of the literate, finely sung material that set the group apart.