Orange Blossom Special – Johnny Cash

The fiddle tune “Orange Blossom Special”, about the passenger train of the same name, was written by Ervin T. Rouse (1917-1981) in 1938. The original recording was created by Ervin and Gordon Rouse in 1939. It is considered the best known fiddle tune of the twentieth century and is often called simply The Special. It has been referred to as “the fiddle player’s national anthem”.

It happened during the maiden run of the new streamlined train at the Jacksonville Seaboard Railroad Station that Ervin T. Rouse and Robert Russell “Chubby” Wise saw this train. Rouse and Wise wrote the song as a fiddle tune. It has been called the best known fiddle tune of the twentieth century. The tune was first recorded by Ervin and his brother Gordon one year later in New York. Bill Monroe recorded Rouse and Wise’s tune in 1942 (with Art Wooten on fiddle) and popularized the tune. Johnny Cash named his 1965 album after the song. The song was also recorded by Bill Ramsey and Don Paulin.

The Orange Blossom Special was a deluxe passenger train operated primarily by the Seaboard Air Line Railroad between New York City and Miami in the United States.

The train was handled by the Pennsylvania Railroad from New York City to Washington, D.C., the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad from Washington to Richmond, and the Seaboard Air Line Railroad from Richmond via Raleigh, Columbia, Savannah and Jacksonville to Miami. A section went to Tampa and St. Petersburg, as a winter season only service.

Inaugurated on November 21, 1925, the service was the brainchild of SAL president S. Davies Warfield, who wanted to capitalize on the booming development that was taking place in Florida at the time. Warfield believed that Florida was a land of opportunity, and with the addition of fast, luxurious train travel, he could lure influential (not to mention wealthy) business leaders to the Sunshine State.